Rearview mirror

Rearview mirrors are safety features found in all cars. When they were first introduced they were not introduced as a safety feature. Do you happen to know when and what they were originally introduced as and called? There are many theories as to the first rearview mirror but the first widely distributed mirror came in around the early 1920’s. A fellow by the name of Elmer Berger invented one to help drivers spot cops behind them, it was not a safety feature but a feature to help a driver know when to drive safely. The mirror was called a “Cop-spotter” and sold for about $4 when it hit the market. If you read about the rearview mirror you find that many had tried it prior to Berger but never distributed it on a larger scale. How many of you knew that?

The rearview mirror is not a feature of the car that is used much any more. With the invention of the back-up camera, most people only glance at their mirrors any more. The cameras give them a better picture of what is happening behind the car. For me, the rearview mirror is almost an after thought. The reason for this is that for most of my life prior to ministry I drove vehicles without rearview mirrors. And that habit of not looking to the rearview mirror still exists for me today. See, I drove trucks filled with bottled water, trucks with beds built up to hold commercial dishwashers and chemicals, and a Snap-On Tools truck. All these vehicles had no back windows so I got used to driving without the rearview mirror. In fact, when I would get into my car, the rearview mirror annoyed my line of sight because I was used to a windshield with nothing on it.

When used properly the rearview mirror is used to help ensure you have passed a vehicle you are overtaking on the highway. It is also used to help a person back into a parking space or back out of a parking space. The purpose of the mirror is not to see if the car behind you is tailgating or not. The mirror is there as an aid to see what is going on all around you. For you are responsible for knowing what is happening in six directions around the car and the mirror helps you see. I know some of you are thinking “Six?” there are only four possibilities. Well there are six, you have whats in front of you, behind you, to your left, to your right, above you and on the road/below you. You did not know you were coming to a drivers ed lesson, did you?

What does a rearview mirror have to do with us as Christians outside of being a safety feature/cop spotter for us today? Well, lets turn to the Old Testament and to the book of Haggai chapter 1 verse 15b to chapter 2 verse 9. At first I did not include 1:15b but the more I read the more I realized it actually ties the beginning together. So, grab your Bible, a pew Bible, or you favorite Bible app on your phone and read along with me. Now, hear the words of Haggai recorded in this text.

Haggai 1:15b–2:9 CEB

on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Lord’s word came through Haggai the prophet: Say to Judah’s governor Zerubbabel, Shealtiel’s son, and to the chief priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and to the rest of the people: Who among you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it appear as nothing to you? So now, be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord. Be strong, High Priest Joshua, Jehozadak’s son, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord. Work, for I am with you, says the Lord of heavenly forces. As with our agreement when you came out of Egypt, my spirit stands in your midst. Don’t fear. This is what the Lord of heavenly forces says: In just a little while, I will make the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land quake. I will make all the nations quake. The wealth of all the nations will come. I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of heavenly forces. The silver and the gold belong to me, says the Lord of heavenly forces. This house will be more glorious than its predecessor, says the Lord of heavenly forces. I will provide prosperity in this place, says the Lord of heavenly forces.

This message form Haggai to the Israelites is message from God. That should be obvious because Haggai is a prophet of God during the Old Testament times. Haggai’s prophecy comes after the Israelites had returned from Exile in Babylon. When the Babylonians took the Israelites into exile they had destroyed their town and the temple that Solomon had built. When the Persians defeated the Babylonian Empire, they released the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and to their old lives. The people, under the leadership of Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor, a descendent of King David, they begin to rebuild. First they are focused on their personal property and Haggai points out that is how their ancestors ended up in exile because they did not focus on God first. So the people turn to rebuild the temple.

Now, you have to remember, King Solomon’s temple was a glorious one. It was built with the finest material that King David could collect. So, the temple was a thing of beauty and glory. It was the marvel of its time. The period before the exile was a glorious time for the Israelites. They were living well and knew God was in their midsts. They were thriving in all that they did and their relationship with God and the number knowing God grew tremendously.

How many of you are sitting there thinking, what in the world does this have to do with a safety feature like a rearview mirror? Well, I asked myself that question all last week and God kept repeating the same thing to me. Which was my first sermon title “facing forward while looking back.” The Israelites were facing forward looking toward the future but they were constantly looking back to the past. They were looking back to what they had heard had been a great and glorious time. They could see Solomon’s temple clearly in their head and they wanted to build the temple back to that previous state but they did not have the skill, finances or time which Solomon had. This caused them to lose morale among them. The loss of morale probably began to cause division among the Israelites. I’m sure if you were to talk to some of our veterans, they would tell you the importance of keeping a good morale in their units. Because when you lose morale people begin to undermine the mission and cause division which makes it difficult to accomplish the mission.

Friends, we as Christians and members of Concord UMC get this way at times. We are reminded of a time when the church was growing and thriving and we desire the church to look like that again. When we look back in the rearview mirror of the church we see a wonderful image and desire it. The image is clear in our minds. There is no mistaking what we are looking at but the future of the church in its present state and in the future is like the sermon title slide, hazy and fuzzy. It is unclear to us and makes us desire to return to the glory days because that image is so clear in our minds.

But friends, that is what Haggai is warning the Israelites and us against. While we have found memories of the past that are clear in our minds, we cannot return to that because that was then and this is now. We have changed in such a way as individuals and a church, we cannot go back to that time. So, what can we do? We have to be willing to stop looking into the rearview mirror of the church and start looking forward. I do not mean we forget our past but we honor the past by striving to become a relevant church of today and into the future.

I was a big believer in church renewal and revitalization up until this past week. Church renewal and revitalization is a striving to make the church relevant and bring about growth within the church. The problem that was pointed out this past week is that renewal and revitalization has a meaning of returning to this past time where the church was thriving but it is impossible. The church will never be like the church of old. It will never be like the church that Brandon, Eric, Kevin, Mary and so many others grew up in. Why, because it was a different time with different leaders.

But, we can honor this past and the image of the church we have in our minds by pouring into the church and our relationships with God. We can honor the past by reaching out into the community to tell others the story of Jesus in our lives. We can honor the past by doing new things and trying different ideas. The reason why these are honoring the past is because a lot of what happened in the past was trial and error because as humans we change and so should the church. This means what worked yesterday might not work today.

All this can be summed up into one sentence from a commentary called Feasting on the Word. “To think of the past as a better and maybe more glorious time than the present seems to be a common human tendency.”

To think of the past as a better and maybe more glorious time than the present seems to be a common human tendency.

(Rivera, N. (2010). Theological Perspective. In D. L. Bartlett & B. B. Taylor (Eds.), Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year C (Vol. 4, p. 266). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.) We have a tendency to think of the past as a more glorious and wonderful time. I mean how many of you have ever said or thought, “I’d love to return to when I was ....” But, when you really think about it do you really want to return to that time when you had to deal with different struggles and pressures? I know, I don’t but that does not mean I do not honor that part of my life or the the life of the church.

This message from Haggai is a message of hope for the Israelites and for us. It reminds us that while we may be struggling now. While we may be envisioning a glorious time of the past church, there is no comparison of what is to come in the future. There is nothing in our past or present that is going to look like what God has in store to come in the end. When God’s Kingdom comes to Earth, the temple will be rebuilt to a glory never seen before. Our past will look like a time of struggle and pain compared to when Christ returns. The future is bright in more than one way.

Friends, are we going to keep looking in the clear rearview mirror or are we going to remove the mirror in order to strive into the unknown future ready to face the challenges. Are we willing to move forward and try different things in order to create a new church growing the kingdom? Are we willing to honor the past by reaching out to the community and to make changes that bring glory to God? Friends, the invitation sits in front of you are you ready to drive into to stop looking back while facing forward and begin to put your head down and strive forward into the new future of the church? I know I am, will you join me?