Promises, Promises
A Sermon on Haggai 2:1-9
By Griff Martin
For Stewardship Sunday (November 10,
2019)
For the Beloveds of First Austin: a
baptist community of faith
What a gift for you this morning… a
sermon on stewardship and a sermon from the prophet Haggai. I know it is
exactly what so many of you got up hoping and wishing for this particular
Sunday. Stewardship Pledge Sunday and a minor prophet – it’s like coming home a
bit late and finding both parents sitting up waiting for you. So, let’s start
with prayer:
Incarnate and Resurrected God, we
ask that you once again take the Word and transform it into a living and
breathing new reality we can all together experience. Make us aware of your
presence here in this space and in these words God, for if we are present to
you then nothing else will matter, but if we are not present to you then
nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the Christ and the
Comforter. Amen.
It was the second Monday that I had
been home sick. I was tired of being sick, I was tired of having a fever and
everyone close to me was getting worried about me. This particular Monday we
were now on the 17th day of fevers that were getting close to 102 degrees every
day, and I was down, at this point, 12 pounds in 10 days.
So back to the doctor we went.
My doctor was out this day, so I got
to see the PA. I had already seen the PA a week prior and he thought I just had
a virus of some sort. I had seen the doctor who, at first, was convinced that I
was having gallbladder issues and would have to have my gallbladder out, and
then was convinced that I had a virus of some sort when my gallbladder turned
out to look just fine. I was tired of doctors because there was not an answer.
Until this PA took one look at me, one look at my chart, and one listen to my
heart and things went from standard office visit to one of those bad code
situations on Grey’s Anatomy or ER. He was convinced that I had
tuberculosis, and because I was a pastor and Abby was a teacher and my kids
went to a totally different school, that I was about to single-handedly shut
down the whole city.
So, I was put in quarantine and then
got to go the ER into another quarantine, which makes for very little wait time
in the ER. You walk in and say your name, and they say very quietly, “Oh you’re
the one…. Follow me and don’t breathe.”
And then I found the best doctor I
had seen in weeks. The ER doctor came in and took one look at me and said, “This
is all ridiculous. You do not have tuberculosis; I will put money on it… but we
are going to figure out what is going on because you are sick and have been
sick too long.” One chest X-ray later, several vials of blood later, the doctor
came back in: “Good news is you don’t have tuberculosis, so we can all take these
masks off… bad news, you do have a pretty serious case of pneumonia.” He then
walked me through exactly what had happened to me: I had gotten the flu, had
kept working and not rested, thus, I got a secondary infection – pneumonia, and
I was going to have to rest and drink fluids and take a very strong
antibiotic.
I can’t say I was elated by the
news, but I loved that I finally knew what was going on; someone was finally
speaking to me directly. Because it is hard to not know exactly what is going
on and to have folks talking circles around you when all you want is a direct
answer – what is going on?
Which is exactly how those who had
just returned from exile back to what used to be their home felt. There are a
lot of questions and not a lot of answers. They are finally returning home but
it’s not exactly like it had been; they are returning home, but they are still
under foreign rule. That leader, King Cyrus, has allowed them to return home
but they are still under his rule.
And they return home, but home does
not look like what it once looked like. The neighborhoods where they had grown
up have been destroyed. They need to be rebuilt completely, foundation up. The
life they once had here is gone. It’s going to be a total restoration project
and they are working hard to get things back, but it’s not the same.
And the temple, the place that has
been the center of community life, the very center of Jerusalem, has been
destroyed. And the temple had really been something. Under Solomon’s leadership,
this temple was quite a place.
No one quite knows what to do. Some
start rebuilding their homes; others start with the temple. Then they begin to
argue over if the temple is being rebuilt correctly and why it’s not exactly
like it was the last time and how the great days of the temple are now long
past them – only a memory. They complained about what they did not like about
the new temple; the changes that have been made.
Some walk away from the temple
project. Some point and declare that the faith is dead. Some say the days of
the temple are long past them. Others just loudly complain to anyone who will
listen about how things used to be and why do things have to change so
quickly.
Some go about their pet projects; they
give up on the temple and rebuild their homes and the neighbors’ homes. It’s
nice cash for them. If the temple project is not going their way, well, then
create something that will.
Everyone is a little scared. It’s a
world they had never been prepared to live in. There have been so many changes
so quickly and there is such little hope. Everything seemed a little or a lot
lost. Everything seemed different. It was hard to imagine what life was
supposed to look like. There is that question again: what is going on?
And finally, the prophet Haggai
stands up with an answer, an answer he claims is from the very heart of God. He
begins by reminding them of the old temple, and then points to the new one: are
you really thinking this can take the place of that? I am certain a few folks
are very eager at this point, thinking this is exactly what they have been
saying… “the way things were.” But that is not what God is saying at all…. What
God is saying is, ‘Remember the last temple? Well, I expect the same passion
and dedication to this one.’
Because the temple matters. And it
does not matter because it needs to be some opulent, huge palace, full of gold
and silver and jewels, something that takes your breath away when you walk in,
something that says our God is better than your God. That is not at all what
God wants. But God does want a temple, because the temple represents the heart
of the city, that this religious community is the center of life. God wants a
temple because of what the temple represents: shalom, peace, wholeness. The
temple represents God’s presence among them. It’s not about prosperity, it’s
about the presence of God among the people.
And in calling them to this, God
reminds them of a few other things, as well. Like how God has always been
present to them; how God will always be present to them. God reminds them of
the promises God has made and how God has never broken a promise.
And then God reminds them of what
belongs to God, and what belongs to them. Which is a pretty easy reminder,
because it all belongs to God. The silver and the gold are mine, thus says the
Lord.
It might be two reminders we need
today, as well: that God is present amongst us, and that everything belongs to
God.
And Haggai continues, ‘Because of
these truths, let’s get back to restoring the temple. Give all you can and let’s
get building.’
I don’t think it’s a stretch to see
that there are a lot of parallels between this story and us today…. a confusing
time period, when it seems that suddenly everything has changed or is changing,
a people who feel like we are living in a foreign land and everything we
thought we knew is no longer true, a time period when the church is being
rebuilt and it does not look exactly like it once did and that scares us, and
the question once again: what is going on?
Maybe we need Haggai once again to
remind us – to remind us that God is present among us. To remind us that it all
belongs to God. To remind us that our goal is to be rebuilding the temple of
God once again.
Which is why we do Stewardship
Sunday…. Because we are trying to rebuild the temple of God right here in
Austin and we have plans of what this will look like and we need to make sure
that we are going to have the funds to do it.
To make sure we have the funds to
rebuild the temple…. Which today looks like this: building 100 tiny homes at the
MLF Community First! Village so that at least 100 folks who are currently
sleeping on the street can have a home… having the funds to continue to make 3
Mobile Loaves and Fishes Food Truck runs a month (and I would love to see us do
more) when we provide daily bread for some of the most vulnerable people in our
city… to continue to support our local elementary schools that get overlooked
in our city… to continue to provide space for groups like Camp Gen which
focuses on girls’ empowerment… and AA and NA groups, and space for iACT
to host a group of students all summer whose moms are refugees and
learning the English language and having a space for their kids allows them to
keep learning English all summer when their kids are out of school. It looks
like continuing to be a church where the LBGTQ+ community is welcomed and
wanted and given a space and a voice that has long been unjustly denied by the
church. It looks like a children’s ministry where we focus on kindness and we
try to give our children the best faith we can, with as little to unlearn as
possible as they age. It looks like a youth ministry where we challenge and
teach students what it means to be faithful and good Christ followers and human
beings today, that we believe they can better the world. It looks like a free Midweek
meal for anyone who is hungry on Wednesday evenings, and not just a meal, but a
table to sit at and community to sit with. It looks like community groups and
Sunday school classes that are striving to figure out what it means to be
Christian today. It looks like free yoga class for folks that are just
exhausted by life today. It looks like a church that has a black box theater
and theatre group because we believe that art matters and can call us to more.
It looks like a church that is not scared to talk about the big scary issues
facing the world today and is trying to provide a space to have difficult
conversations that the world is failing to have. It looks like a gathering on
Sunday morning to worship God, to remind us of God’s presence, to hear a word
of hope and calling. It looks like a staff that is trying to maintain and
create a church that is truly church today. It looks like a community that
stands up for truth, a community that demands justice and a community that is
love in the world today.
And that takes your silver and your
gold.
But remember, it’s not yours anyway.
This year, the theme of stewardship
is Give More, Do More. You see, I am not a huge fan of the 10% tithe. It
does not make sense to me and to be honest, it does not seem all that Jesus-like.
I read Jesus and his call, and it seems to be, “start with what you have, and
don’t stop until you are way further than that.” Which means that for some of
us, we need to start with 1% this year. If we have never given a pledge to the
church, let’s start with 1% of our income for the next year with the hopes of
continuing to give more next year. And this means that those of us who have
reached that 10% number, well, we don’t get off the hook, because nowhere in
the Gospel does Jesus ever ask for just 10% of something. It’s consistently
more until you are giving all. So, for those of us that give 10%, what would 11
or 12% look like next year?
It’s the call to give more of your
silver and your gold.
But remember, it’s not yours
anyway.
We might hold it, but it’s not
ours.
One of my favorite spiritual
teachers, Paula D’Acry, faced what has to be one of the worst things a human
being can face. When she was 6 months pregnant with her second child, her
husband and first child were killed in a car accident. It was grief beyond
grief, and in the midst of that grief, she had her second child.
She said looking down at her new
baby, holding her that first day, she realized one of the great truths of
life…. In her words, “she was mine to hold, not to possess.”
This truth has changed how she views
life.
I think it’s time we learn the same:
what we hold is ours to hold and to give, not to possess.
So, may we be generous in our
pledges, because it’s time to rebuild the temple of God.
Amen and Amen.
*artwork: Generosity, by Mugur Kreiss, saatchiart.com/mugurkreiss
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