As you know during the middle Eighteenth Century a couple of positive significant changes were gradually impacting the American Colonies.Throughout the various colonies folks were at that time experiencing what we now call the “Great Awakening.”This era produced a new excitement for Christian religious experience and for passionate preaching.The result was a vast time of Christian revival which focused not so much upon church doctrine but on personal experience, which is incidentally, one of our United Methodist themes.One of the great leaders of the Great Awakening was a Methodist pastor named George Whitefield.
It is interesting to note as a sideline that one of the great gifts which the Methodist gave to America and back home in England was an emphasis on the individual and education.John Wesley and the early Methodists were the ones who began religious societies, in which people came together as often as possible for study of the Holy Scripture, prayer, and “exhortation.”It was from this movement that the first church schools began in America.The Sunday school for example can trace its roots back to 1766 right here in America.Our educational system in the church, including this great FairHavenDay School, found its life through the Great Awakening and the belief that all people are important to God and therefore should understand all about God to the level that each is able.
During the same time as the Great Awakening the same independent type of understanding of life caused a small seed of the thought of independence to come into the mind of a few and then to grow to be a vast vision of many.Certainly during the middle and late Eighteenth Century it was becoming more evident that the status quo wasn’t the best at least for those of us on this side of the “pond.”
Out of this mix of political and religious life came a young Methodist pastor named Francis Asbury.He entered the American colonies in the 1770’s as one of Wesley’s appointed General Superintendents.Asbury found America to fit his ideals and for the next forty some years Asbury traveled and preached as a Methodist pastor in the colonies, in the America Federation, and into the first two decades of United States independence.
By the time of his death Francis Asbury was well respected by all in the United States, but the respect was not an immediate gift.During the revolution just about every English born pastor return back home for the sake of personal safety.Asbury decided to stay.He worked when he could but often spent time hiding out with friends when it was rumored that his health and life had been threatened.
At the end of the war when many denominations were hurting for leadership Asbury literally climbed out of an attic and went to work.He challenged the American Methodists to move on, to preach, to build the church and when ever able to build churches as places in the communities in which they were to be located which would be focal points of the religious life of the entire area.In 1784 it was Asbury who saw to the organization of the MethodistChurch in America.It was our privilege therefore to become the first American born church.
Mr. Asbury came to my mind this week because I was studying a prophet by the name of Haggai.Haggai may well have been near or even a little beyond 70 at the time this work was put together.It is speculated that Haggai might have been part of the Babylonian exile.For sure his leadership, his God given authority, and his presence, like that of our own Francis Asbury, helped the people to strength their faith and practice their religious life after the end of a traumatic time in history.In even a far greater way than that of Asbury Haggai challenged, even demanded in God’s name, that the people of Israel, the people who had returned to Jerusalem fulfill an obligation and a promise.I know we all are thankful for those whom God placed in life to help us to remember how important faith is.For the people in our scripture today it was one like Haggai, the prophet.For the early American Methodists and for the former colonies there was Francis Asbury.
In a nutshell the problem of Haggai’s ministry was simple.When the people returned to their home in Israel and in Jerusalem after Cyrus released them in 538 B.C. the people made a promise.In Jerusalem there was no holy temple, no symbolic or actually dwelling place for God, no reminder of God’s presence and power.The temple of God had been brought down in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians.It was a half century later in 536 B.C. that construction on a new temple was begun.
I have an odd remembrance here.During the years we were in Northern Ireland, the company which placed my dad there as a managing director was in the process of building a director’s home.Ground was broken before we moved there.The home was finished just a few months before we came back to the United States.Why such a long time?Only excuse went something like this:“Well, it’s Ireland, there were other priorities.”
The Israelites had the same issues.Work on the temple began in 536 B.C.Unfortunately in 530 the work stopped because of other priorities.The altar was already in place by then so folks could make appropriate sacrifices. So why bother with completing the walls, roof and adding interior features?
The problem was that the people put God out of their thinking.Consequently, the lives of the people fell into disrepair, they lived life, but had forgotten the little touches of faith and kindness which faith provides.They had perhaps become selfish or better still self centered, maybe even stingy or at the least had turned a blind eye to things of charity and faith.
The scripture today documents that by 520 Haggai received a challenge from God to speak.Haggai was their friend, he had been with them in exile, and he was one of them.The people listened to Haggai for these reasons and more.
Haggai’s argument was multi-fold.First, he reminded the people of their recent lack of prosperity.He stated boldly that God wasn’t pleased with them and God pulled away support so that they would remember.Secondly Haggai reminded them of their own prosperity.He was saying to them; you all have homes of wood and stone but what does the Lord have?In other words, you place your attention on yourselves so much that God doesn’t seem to fit into your plan for life at all.Thirdly, Haggai said something like this; I know you all remember the old temple, we recall its beauty and its unique architecture, size and the way it dominated the community.Maybe you haven’t the heart to build one that is far less in comparison.Don’t worry, your efforts will be blessed, the new temple will soon be filled with the glory of God because God will see to it.
Then Haggai reminded the people that when the temple is completed, they themselves and the generations to follow will find God’s peace within its walls.The call as I read it with a little poetic license is that the temple restored, or in the process of restoration, will serve to be a reminder, an inspiration, a living presence of God’s covenant, and of God’s choice to be with God’s people, forever.
It is interesting to note that, at least according to a few Biblical historians, this discussion and the restart of the temple rebuild takes place during the Festival of Booths.This is the celebration of the Hebrew year when the people remembered God’s presence with them in the journey home from the exile.Building, rebuilding, or completing the job on the new temple, would serve as a visible reminder of God’s purpose and of the love and care God has for God’s children.
One of the little items I saved from my parent’s home was an old greeting card that belong to my great – great grandmother.It was still in its original envelope from the 1860’s when my mother acquired it.I know little about the family as their son, my great grandfather; left England in his early 20’s and never returned home.There was very little contact with the English family by the American family, including my grandmother.
The card, which my mother received from a distant cousin while we were visiting in her home during the years overseas, was of significance.On the front there was a little brown bear.Held in its paws there was a small folded piece of paper.When the paper was opened one would read these words: “bear with me dearest.”The story goes that when the great – great grandfather was out of town, which he often was, the great – great grandmother kept this little card on her night stand.On occasion when she was feeling a bit along she’d read the note.It was his gift to her that served as a visual reminder of his love and faithfulness.
In a much greater way the people of Jerusalem, those who had been given freedom and the chance to return home, needed a viable and visible sign of God’s presence, God’s strength, God’s sovereignty, God’s love, and God’s faithfulness.The temple became for them a place in the midst of the community where God could be met and experienced, as we would say, up close and personal.
From the temple experience the people would go out to live their lives with faith, charity, integrity, and the knowledge that we need as well, that God is here for us, and that God’s love sends us out and gives us the strength to face life every day, and even now and then, to inspire us, as God must have inspired those of history, to touch life and lives around us with the assurance of God’s love.
Now, I must admit that I missed something as I was putting all of this together last week.I read the line in verse eight of chapter two in which God declares that all the silver and gold is his.When I first read this I thought that the message implied that God is the ruler of all rulers, and that all there is is under God’s control.In other words that one of the ways to motivate people is to recall that God gives and God takes away and that everything that we have is only a temporary gift because all good gifts come from God.This may be so in the case of other scriptures, but not exactly here.
I found another thought in regard to God owning all the gold and silver.When Cyrus set the Israelites free he did more than say, “go home!”Cyrus did free the Hebrew people but he also did all he could to return the riches, even the material riches, from the temple, which had been plundered by the Babylonians.These riches were being held in trust by the Jerusalem community.The riches of the temple were great.Basically God had all the gold and silver, literally all of these were God’s because all of them came from the temple, God’s home.The quote I misread could say this, which makes sense; there are enough resources to build the temple.All the temple needs is for the faithful to go to work.And to us it could be something like this, all you need in life to make your life work; I give to you with love.
From our Christian perspective when Jesus came, the promise of God’s love became alive.We talk, for example, about the riches of God’s grace and the preciousness of God’s love in Jesus, even greater than silver and gold.The challenge here is a simple one, wherever we go, God is with us.We need what God provides.Whatever challenges we face, there is God’s strength for the moment and more.God will empower us to be what we are created to be.God will give us courage to face the challenges of the moment and to do so every day and moment of our lives.
Haggai told the people to go and to finish building the temple.Jesus tell us to be Kingdom builders.Both call us to see the presence of God in life and to use God’s love for all the purposes of life, and in all the days of life.If we put God’s love first, there is no challenge that we face alone, and there is no person who doesn’t have the power to share God’s love and to bring God’s love home.
There is an interesting story that Susan sent to me last week.Probably some of you have seen it as I’m sure it is one which hit the internet with fervor.Here goes:
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.When the class began he picked up a very large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with gold balls.He then asked the students if the jar was full.They agreed that it was.He then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.He shook the jar gently.The pebbles rolled into the open areas around the golf balls.He asked again if the jar was full.They agreed it was.
He then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.The sand filled up everything else.He asked once more if the jar was full.The students responded with a unanimous voice, “yes.”Certainly a jar full of sand can hold no more.He then produced two cups of coffee.He poured the two gradually into the jar.The coffee filled the empty space between the sand.The students laughed.
“Now,” he said, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.The golf balls are the important things such as God, family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions, things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house and car.The sand is everything else, the small stuff.
“If you put the sand into the jar first there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.The same goes for life.If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.So pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.Play with your children.Take time to get medical checkups.Take your partner out to dinner.Play another 18.There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter.Set your priorities.The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.He smiled, “I’m glad you asked.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there is always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”
A cute story it is.Obviously it was written from a personal and secular point of view.It does, however, apply as much, if not even more to the most important priority we all need to keep, that is our walk with God.Jesus helps us understand and gives us the power to follow and focus.In the time of Haggai it wasn’t as easy, yet it was an effective plan.The people build the temple.It was their way to remember God’s presence and love.
Let us do the same.May we know always that God is with us.May we experience God’s love through Christ.May we always remember to put God first and then all the rest will follow.Let us begin by counting the blessings God gives and by celebrating the love God shares which demonstrates in the life of the church at its best.
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