Rev. Tom Lenhart

Sermon November 11, 2007

“Consecration: Looking Backwards and Forwards at the Same Time”

Haggai 2:15 b - 2:1-9 and 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-5 and 13-17

Let us pray.

Eternal God, in the words of my mouth, may your Word be heard; in the mediations of our hearts, may your Word be known; and in the faithfulness of our lives, may your Word be shown. Amen

            This is the special Sunday when we dedicate our gifts to the church and we acknowledge the generosity of so many. Those who give through gifts of time and talent -- planning, cooking and hosting spaghetti dinners, Art Auctions and Barns Sales, teaching, doing the work of the church at board meetings and in countless quiet moments supporting others in times of difficulty -- and those who offer gifts of money without which we could do none of the things that make this a faith community that truly makes a difference in people’s lives. And so it is that a collective and heart-felt thanks is due all of you who have pledged and contributed to the life of the church. As you will see from our picture of the church, we need just a little more support to reach our goal, then we can add our beautiful steeple to complete this picture.

  Have you noticed that we do not call this day Thanksgiving Sunday but Consecration Sunday? The verb “to consecrate” means -- as Webster’s Dictionary tells us – “to make or declare sacred” or “to devote irrevocably … to God by a solemn ceremony”.[1] The process of consecration involves more than simply a thank you to all whose gifts have been received though it does involve that. It requires a look back to recognize those who have come before us -- without whose gifts of time, talent and money there would be no church here as we know it. The road that leads to this day is long and starts long before your stewardship board met some months ago to plan this fall’s campaign. It starts truly with the saints of old, especially with Peter and Paul, who -- armed with enormous courage, remarkable talent and abiding faith -- forged the Christian Church against long odds. It includes those huddled few who left Europe to come here for opportunity and freedom and, most especially, for religious liberty to worship God in their own way.

Most directly our path to this moment begins with those stalwart few who in 1912 gathered together to form a Congregational Church in this community.  It includes those countless others who nurtured and then grew this church in the 20s, 30s and 40s. And then there was that generation -- some of whom are still here, who with foresight, courage  and faithful optimism elected to leave that small church building at the other end of Orchard Ridge Road and embarked on a journey  to build and then to worship in  a new stately church that we now call home. But our debt to our forbearers relates not simply to physical buildings but in a more fundamental sense to the spirit that inhabits this community. Look at the bulletin boards that dot this place and see the spirit of fellowship that jumps out from the fliers and notices. Come to a lay callers meeting and listen to the concern that members have for others here. Read the Annual Reports and soak in the commitment to education of all ages that is alive here. Think about the innumerable ways that we reach out to our wider community trying in our own way to love and respect and support our neighbors. None of that started yesterday or last week or last year. We have been bequeathed a vital community of faith. It is wonderfully progressive and yet respectful of tradition. And so when we dedicate our gifts today we are in part acknowledging those who have come before us without whom we would not be who we are today.

So consecration requires a look back.  But in so doing we must guard against being fixated on the wrong aspects of the past.  Our passage from the prophet Haggai makes this point. In 587 BCE the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the grand Temple built by King Solomon. The Temple was the heart and soul of the Israelites’ faith. Think about the importance even today of the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount (the remains of the last Temple) for our Jewish brothers and sisters. The destruction of the Temple was devastating. But to make matters worse many of the Jews were forced by the Babylonians into exile nearly a 1000 miles away in Babylon – present day Iraq. For more than fifty years the bulk of the Jews lived there clinging to their religious traditions but losing slowly their connection to their homeland and to their faith -- as those who knew Jerusalem and the Temple died and the exile community became more and more made up of those born in Babylon.

And then in 537 the Persian King Cyrus conquered the Babylonians.   He told the Jews to go home and rebuild the temple. And they did return. But the return was difficult and not the joyous event expected. Those Jews who had stayed behind did not welcome the returnees -- especially when they sought to reacquire the positions of political and religious leadership in Jerusalem. The passage from the prophet Haggai that we heard a moment ago comes from the fall of 520. It reveals a community in disarray searching for the way to rededicate themselves. They knew that the Temple was the key to their worship of Yahweh but they could not get on with building a new Temple. They had apparently broken ground but had gotten no where in more than decade. Why, because they did not believe they could build a Temple as grand as Solomon’s.  To this the prophet responds,

Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight nothing?

Though the words are elliptical I think Haggai is saying, do not be paralyzed by the supposed grandeur of the past. “The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former.” Get on with it. The past is important but do not be paralyzed by the details or by trying to duplicate what has been. The power of the past is not in the details which we must duplicate going forward. The Temple, the returning Israelites eventually built at Haggai’s urging, was not the same as Solomon’s. But it served nonetheless as the center around which the Israelites could re-consecrate themselves to God.

 But equally Haggai was telling the Israelites don’t be paralyzed by the gloom of the present. The real issue that overwhelmed the Israelites was not the fear that they could not build as splendid a Temple as Solomon’s but the fear that God had abandoned them -- that God’s promise made to Aaron and Moses to be with the Israelites always -- was no longer alive. The returning Israelites faced seemingly enormous obstacles to reshaping their nation and rebuilding God’s place on earth. They feared that God was no longer with them. Thus, it is that the prophet reassures them, “’… take courage, all you people of the land … work, for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you, do not fear.”  The gift of the past is in the repeated examples that God has never forsaken his beloved creation.

What we do in the future with our time, talents and money will not be the same as what our forbearers did in 1912, 1954, 1980 or even in 2000. The church, our community and the world are different today. What the past provides is a framework filled with traditions and wisdom for us but even more it reveals proof of the abiding promise of the Exodus that God is with us on our journey. We will be delivered even out of difficulties, indeed, out of our wildernesses though we too may wander for a while. This is important for us to remember as we dedicate our gifts to God’s service. They will be used in ways familiar and in ways unfamiliar, but always, if we open ourselves to faith and listen, God will be with us. In these anxious days of fluctuating stock prices and housing markets, corporate downsizing, environmental crises and seemingly intractable violence, the presence of a steadfast God, just as for the returning exiles long ago, can be transforming and revitalizing if we let God into our lives.  

Important as the past is in reminding us of God’s abiding promise to us and of the legacy we have been given by our ancestors in the faith, we must also look to the future as we consecrate our gifts. Nearly 144 years ago on November 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln stood on a battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and said in dedication these words

            We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

            We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it             far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--            that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to             that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

In that eloquent address Lincoln looked back to the ultimate sacrifice the soldiers had made during those three days in the summer of 1863, while the battle and the war hung in the balance –as they fought to preserve this nation which at its best embodies the noblest of ideals. On this Veterans’ Day it is appropriate to pause to recognize  all who have served this country, placing our collective goals above personal ones and seeking as best they knew to preserve this nation -- giving future generations including us the opportunity to make its best ideals a reality.  But if you look closely at Lincoln’s words, like Haggai’s they remind us that real consecration requires that we look not simply to the past but to the future.  The gifts we dedicate today will hardly be sacred if we put them into a money market account and watch the interest accumulate. The Israelites could not rededicate themselves by living with the memory of Solomon’s glorious Temple; they had to build their own. The battlefield at Gettysburg would not be truly consecrated if the war to preserve the Union had been abandoned and this nation lost.

            So for us as we dedicate and consecrate our gifts we must not look solely back to the richness of our heritage but must look forward and dedicate ourselves to using these gifts faithful. Our Temple in the future will not be exactly like that of the past but it must and will be God’s place just the same. For you see God is with us whether we are in the wilderness, or on Wall Street or on Orchard Ridge Road. What defines a church is that it is dedicated to God’s service. My favorite description of the church that you have heard before is found in Paul’s words to the Ephesians 

1.      It is the dwelling place for God (2:23).

2.      Christ is its cornerstone and binds it together (2:20 –21)

3.      It is the household of God and we are all members of that family. (2:19)

4.      There are no strangers or aliens in the church. (2:19)

5.      There are no dividing walls or hostility between individuals and groups in the true church. (2: 14, 16)

6.       It is the place of God’s proclamation of peace.

If you look at Paul’s list it is clear that the church is the place where we love and worship God and love and help our neighbors.  Such is the place we have been bequeathed. Our challenge is to use our gifts to continue that -- albeit in new and wonderful ways.  There are still more strangers to welcome into our community. There are still more walls of separation to be torn down in our world and renewed proclamations of peace to pronounced. These are difficult times in our world let there be no doubt. But with God’s help we in this church can make a difference. God perspective is not ours. It is broader, longer and more sure than ours. Think of the Israelites wondering in the wilderness for forty years. Talk about bleak conditions. I have often wondered if I had been there, whether I would have wanted to go back to Egypt.  Would I have contributed gold to the golden calf? I can’t say I won’t have.  It is easy to be overwhelmed by the difficulties and challenges of the moment. But the Israelites were lead to the Promised Land:  God never abandoned them and doesn’t abandon us.

            As we consecrate our gifts today the challenge for us is to let our past accompany us but not limit us. It is to remember that God is with us, making all things possible -- perhaps not in our time but in God’s. Our theme for stewardship this year has been “Catch the Spirit: Soar into the Future.” With the warmth of God’s love lifting our wings – we will use the gifts we dedicate today in marvelous ways. Thanks be to God

As I walked away from the polling place last Tuesday I was thinking about this sermon.    Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day. As I walked away I look down to see my shadow as the sun was behind me. It struck me that this was a little like true consecration. Our shadows are like our past—that rightly come along with us as we walk into the future. But what is key is the light of the sun. Without the sun there is no shadow and no bright light illuminating the way into the future. Consecration cannot occur on a cloudy day without God’s light. Our dedication of our gifts – consecrating them in the service of our faith -- requires that we let God’s light shine on us.  For you see you cannot have both the reminder of the past reflected in our shadows and yet light for the journey ahead without that divine illumination