“BETTER TOGETHER”
Scripture Text: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-12
As I prepared for this morning, I imagined a couple of
different things happening while preaching this sermon. First, I pictured myself standing up here
forgetting what to say next, drawing a blank in the middle of my sermon. If this were to occur, then I would definitely
be mourning and weeping after worship, as the text puts it.
The second thing is that by not having a manuscript to
organize my thoughts, the sermon would make absolutely no sense and I would
ramble on and on (I have a tendency to do that you know). People would lose
interest and eyes would glaze over. If
that were the case, then all of you would walk out mourning and weeping after
worship.
I share this with you because these are very real concerns
that I bring with me to worship. I want to
recognize that we all bring concerns with us to worship – personal or
church-related. Some people may be
nervous coming to church because they’re afraid of standing alone in the narthex
with no one to talk to them. Other
people may be leery about getting hit up to serve on another committee here. There are folks concerned with coming to
worship because they don’t know the Gloria Patri or they don’t understand the
long, boring sermon from the pastor. Although,
I should remind you, Ezra read from the book of the Law of Moses from morning
until
We all have concerns at one time or another and in some
instances those concerns keep us from coming to worship. I’ve recently spoken with couples
(non-members) getting married here this summer.
In our meetings, I always invite these couples to experience worship at
First Congregational to get a sense of the community. These couples appeared apprehensive and
expressed concern about whether they would be welcomed and accepted or not. Some members stop attending worship if they
are ill or a family member is ill because things are too overwhelming. We have this impression that sharing our
concerns or issues is a sign of weakness.
The fact is we all have concerns about faith and life.
These concerns are not unlike the issues faced by the
Israelites in our story this morning. You
see, the Israelites were once a mighty nation.
Under King David the Israelites ruled the earth and other nations feared
them. But in 587 B.C.E. the Babylonians
came in and conquered the Israelites. They
became a people without a homeland, living in exile. It wasn’t until decades later that a remnant
group of people came back to
When the people came back, they restored the walls of the
city. Along with this physical
establishment of instituting a new day for God’s people, there were also social
and religious reforms as well. Nehemiah
helped shape a new identity for the Jewish people. That is where we pick up the story this
morning.
“All the people gather
together into the square before the Water Gate.” The people are gathering for worship to hear the book of the
Law of Moses. It’s important to note that
in this text we have the first bit of evidence of written material, the first
body of literature for the Jewish faith.
Ezra, the priest, is reading to men, women and children, anyone who
could understand. I imagine the Jewish
people brought many concerns with them to worship. What would worship be like after such a
lengthy time in exile? How would the
people get along with each other after generations of being a part? Would they understand the laws and ordinances
of God? What would life be like now in
this new era? That’s a lot to consider for the Israelite people.
Ezra is reading and interpreting the book of the Law of
Moses. He tells the people, “not to mourn and weep, this is a holy day
to the Lord your God.” It had to have been difficult for the people
not to mourn and weep. I assume the
people were overwhelmed with a range of emotions; they were bringing a load of
concerns with them. The important point
is that the people did come together for worship.
About a year before coming to First Congregational Church,
my parent’s church called a new pastor. I’ll
never forget my mom calling me to share with me about Hat Sunday. (I thought people came to church wearing
hats.) Actually, Hat Sunday was whenever
there was a fifth Sunday of the month. Folks
would walk into church and write down a topic or scripture text on a 3x5 card
and place the card in the hat.
Just before the hymn preceding the sermon – something we do
here – the pastor would pull out a card and have the hymn time to prepare his
thoughts. My mom said to me, “That’s so impressive.” I answered, “Really!” My mom responded, “Don’t you think so?” I flat out told her, “No! I don’t!” I continued by saying, “Mom, the guy is just
too lazy to prepare a sermon during the week.” Her reply was, “I never thought
about it that way.”
As time passed Hat Sunday got worse and worse. After a couple of years, the quality of worship
and sermons altogether were poor.
My mom called me one Sunday afternoon really upset. She didn’t know what to do anymore. She said, “I don’t understand the sermons;
people have stopped attending; it’s awful here.” I told my mom, “If things are that bad and
you don’t get anything out of worship, then maybe you need to find another
church.” “I can’t do that,” my mom says,
“I’ve been a member here for almost 50 years.
I’m not going to let some pastor
run me out.” She continued, “I love
these people. I look forward to seeing
them every week. I’m not going to walk
away from this community. We will find a
way to get through it.”
I think about it now and realize that my mom understands
what it means to be the church. She has
a greater understanding of worship than I give her credit.
As the text states, “The
joy of the Lord is your strength.” Reflecting
on the concern that I bring this morning, I feel kind of silly for worrying
about preaching without a manuscript. Worship
is not about my Preaching program – even though the little red light is
flashing right now. Worship is not about
whether I do a good job or a bad job. Worship
is about being authentic, coming just as I am, and knowing that you will all
love me and support me no matter what happens.
We come to church to center our lives in that which is
greater than our individual lives. Wherever
we find ourselves in life, whatever may be happening around us, we gather for
worship to ground ourselves in Jesus Christ which offers us a meaningful,
purposeful life.
We come to worship because the Christian community offers support
and care when we have concerns. The community
of faith is the place where people will walk with us when we are sad, where
people will pick us up when we are down, where people will help us along the
journey of life.
We come to worship to experience the presence of God here
and now which empowers us to live to our fullest potential as the body of
Christ. We trust the community of
believers will strengthen us and encourage us in facing whatever it is we
encounter throughout our lives.
My hope is that all of you experience the love, support and
care of the God revealed in Jesus Christ here at First Congregational Church. I hope each of you will feel comfortable in
coming as you are, bringing your concerns, and know the community of faith will
be with you in handling whatever situation may come your way.
Time and time again we have seen the strength that comes
from community. After the 9/11 tragedy, people came to worship to find help and
support from God and one another. Following
Hurricane Katrina, people came together, united with one another, to work
towards rebuilding communities along the
We are better together, stronger together, than we are
isolated and alone. We are better
together, stronger together, than we are in our individual lives. We are better together, stronger together,
when we bring our concerns, when we come as we are, opening ourselves up to God
and to one another.
Praise God for the opportunity to worship, for the gift of
community, for the time together where we are nourished, transformed and sent
out in the name of Jesus Christ. Thanks
be to God! Amen and Amen.
Sermon preached by Reverend