Text: Haggai 1:12-15

Title: Spirit Work

Thesis: The Holy Spirit gives us the courage to do the work of God

Time: Epiphany, 1 Sun, C

What is it the Church of today needs?  In one church what had a dark, poorly lighted sanctuary somebody stood up and said, “I make a motion we buy a chandelier.” Immediately, somebody else stood up and said, “I’m against it for three reasons.  Number one -no one knows how to spell it order to get it.  Number two –there isn’t anyone in the church that can play it.  And the third reason –we need more light in here!”  What is it the Church of today needs in order to fulfill her mission of making disciples for Jesus Christ? And for our congregation, what do we need so that we can shine the light of God’s love in our community?

No doubt if the people living in Jerusalem in 520 B.C. wrote out a list of things they felt they needed the list would have been long.  They had just returned to Jerusalem, having lived for some fifty years in slave-like conditions in a foreign land.  But finally, they are allowed to return home, even if they return with nothing else than their faith in God and their hope for a better future.

There would be many things needed as they took up the task of rebuilding their lives –as they built houses to live in, as they built a temple to worship in, as they started jobs and renewed friendships, what would be one of the most important things they need?  More important than anything else they need is this, what Haggai tells them in Haggai 1:13, “Then Haggai the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying I am with you, says the Lord.”

To remember that God is with them is the most important thing they need.  These are not idle words, or words in any way disconnected with the people of Jerusalem.  No, they go directly to the heart of their faith, they are words of the covenant.  Just as God approached Abraham their ancestor promising, “And I will be with you,” so does God continue to promise his presence among his people.

Even for our church, I believe the most important thing we need is to remember that God is present with us.  For us to hear the voice of God, to sense the presence of God just as we read God stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people, for us to know that what we do is God’s work is important as we consider the reason why we exist as a congregation.

So how do we hear today God saying, “I am with you?”  How do we have spiritual ears that is aware of God’s presence, blessing our efforts and strengthening us for the task of making disciples?

An American Indian was in downtown New York, walking with his friend who lived in New York City.  Suddenly, he said, “I hear a cricket.”  “Oh, you’re crazy,” his friend replied.  “No, I hear a cricket.  I do! I’m sure of it!”  “It’s the noon hour.  There are people bustling around, cars honking, taxis squealing, noises from the city.  I’m sure you can’t hear it.”  “I’m sure I do.”  He listened attentively and then walked to the corner, across the street, and looked all around.  Finally on the corner he found a shrub in a large cement planter.  He dug beneath the leaves and found a cricket.  His friend was astounded.  But the Cherokee said, “No.  My ears are no different from yours.  It simply depends on what you are listening to.  Here, let me show you.”  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change –a few quarters, some dimes, nickels, and pennies.  And he dropped them on the concrete.  Every head within a block turned.  “You see what I mean?” he said as he began picking up the coins.  “It all depends on what you are listening for.”

It all depends on what we’re listening for.  As the church today, we can listen to the voice of the world.  The world tells us that our message is outdated, that mainline churches are losing mass numbers of members, that there are alternatives to expressing one’s spirituality rather than joining a church.  As we hear the world we hear a discouraging voice.  But as we hear the voice of God speaking, we hear God saying, yes even today I am with you.  Just as I was with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and the people of Jerusalem at a time when they had nothing but their hopes and dreams, so am I still with my people.

I believe that one of the best ways we hear God speaking is as we listen to the voices of those in need.  It’s the way that Jesus taught his disciples to listen for the voice of God.  How many times do we find Jesus walking along and stopping to help someone in need, with some disease or birth defect or grave illness?  As Jesus reaches out with love towards others, the disciples come to understand God’s love for all people.

As we interact with our community, even here in Broadmoor, we do we hear?  Do we hear the voices of children that call out for love?  Do we hear the voices of parents calling out, how do I raise my children when I’m overburdened with work and paying bills?  Do we hear the voices of widows and widowers wondering how to fill their hours lived in loneliness?  As Jesus’ disciples we can share with them and others, God promises to be present, we can bring the light of God’s love.

Important in the ministry of Haggai is for the people to learn that listening for the voice of God is something they do together.  To rebuild their lives, to be successful, they cooperate, working together towards a common vision.  How many churches, or friendships or marriages could benefit from the idea that a successful, healthy relationship is found in working together?  For example, in Haggai 1:14 God not only stirs the spirit of the political leader Zerubbabel or the religious leader Joshua, God stirs the spirits of all the people.  Even down in chapter 2:4, when Haggai reminds them to continue the vision they started he calls upon all the people.  [read text]

As a congregation, our success in making disciples for Jesus is found as we together listen to the voice of God and work together towards a common vision. 

The network CBS shared a story of two women who lived in a nursing home.  Both women suffered from an incapacitating stroke.  Margaret’s stroke left her left side restricted, while Ruth’s stroke damaged her right side.  Both of these ladies had been accomplished pianists but after their stokes had given up hope of ever playing the piano again.  The director of the center had an ingenious idea.  He sat Margaret and Ruth down together at a piano and encouraged them to play solo pieces together.  They did, and a beautiful friendship developed.  Together, they played beautiful, masterful music together.  It’s a reminder for us as a church of what we can accomplish together.  What no one of us can do alone, we can accomplish together.

And as we share, as pastor, as St. Luke United Methodist Church, we can live our lives in a way that glorifies God as we uphold one another and share with our community that through Jesus Christ there is hope, there is a way that we can find happiness and joy and fulfillment.  So today, let our dreams, our visions, our hopes of the future be common, so that God may be revealed as a God who loves, a God who provides a better way, a way out of darkness and sin, so that all may have reason to rejoice.

This I share with you in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.