August 4th, 2020
Mike Bill, Senior Pastor
There is an interesting passage I recently heard referenced in regard to our current context of church in America. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail the return of Israel from exile. After 70 years in a foreign land, apart from their land, families, and the temple of God, the way is cleared for their return. Many come back, many do not, and many aren’t sure when and if they can. Those who return begin to rebuild the city walls, their houses, and the temple. Ezra 3 records an interesting summary of their initial worship service:
With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:11-13)
I think the Christian life is marked by the combination of victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, celebration and lament. Life seems to bring this confluence of “the best of times and the worst of times,” sometimes in the same day or week. There have been days where I have facilitated a funeral service and a wedding. There are many days when, like Paul, “we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
It is very important that we continue to journey alongside of one another in the coming days. Things look different. Things feel different. We are “back in church” in some ways and yet still “not quite back.” We have different levels of concern over Covid-19. We have different opinions as to what should happen in our workplaces, schools, and church. It is hard to be the church together when we have limited opportunities to be together.
A couple of instructions that I think Ezra, Nehemiah, and others would give us:
There is an interesting passage I recently heard referenced in regard to our current context of church in America. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah detail the return of Israel from exile. After 70 years in a foreign land, apart from their land, families, and the temple of God, the way is cleared for their return. Many come back, many do not, and many aren’t sure when and if they can. Those who return begin to rebuild the city walls, their houses, and the temple. Ezra 3 records an interesting summary of their initial worship service:
With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:11-13)
- Sounds of joy at the return to Jerusalem and the temple.
- Sounds of weeping because “it’s just not the same.”
- Shouts of victory because God is faithful and is worthy of praise.
- Shouts of remorse because those who once stood next to us are not here today.
I think the Christian life is marked by the combination of victory and defeat, joy and sorrow, celebration and lament. Life seems to bring this confluence of “the best of times and the worst of times,” sometimes in the same day or week. There have been days where I have facilitated a funeral service and a wedding. There are many days when, like Paul, “we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
It is very important that we continue to journey alongside of one another in the coming days. Things look different. Things feel different. We are “back in church” in some ways and yet still “not quite back.” We have different levels of concern over Covid-19. We have different opinions as to what should happen in our workplaces, schools, and church. It is hard to be the church together when we have limited opportunities to be together.
A couple of instructions that I think Ezra, Nehemiah, and others would give us:
- Choose unity. There is way more that unites us then the things that divide us. And Satan loves to cultivate suspicion, superiority, doubt, and criticism…don’t give him a foothold in your life!
- Be patient with one another. Every person you know is struggling in different ways. We need to lean into one another during these days when things are most uncertain. Oddly enough, it was easier to do this in March when it was all new, mandates and restrictions were strictly enforced, and so much was unknown.
- Either way, make some noise! The last phrase of the scripture above says that the “sound was heard far away.” Weeping and rejoicing… Those outside of Jerusalem didn’t know what was going on but they knew that something was going on. And, further, they knew it had something to do with the Hebrews being back in Jerusalem. You see, even when life is chaotic, God can get the glory. Even when our realities are producing different responses, the people around us have the opportunity to see God.
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