Stones or Stories

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Nehemiah 1:1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah
In April of 2018, the Chicago Tribune reported that a $70 million dollar campus that would serve to educate some 1,200 students would begin construction. The construction of the 135,000 sq. ft. educational facility made headline news not because the budget was extraordinary nor the campus extravagant. Rather, the reason that the campus made the Chicago city news is due to what occupied the grounds prior to it becoming a center of educational enhancement and educational improvement. These same grounds were once the location where victims of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Civil War veterans were laid to rest. In 1854, the county opened a poorhouse and farm and gradually added an insane asylum, infirmary and tuberculosis hospital to the property. At its peak, a thousand people a year were buried on the grounds.
It is estimated that this stretch of land which will soon become home to halls of higher education, has been the resting place for over 38,000 unmarked graves.
4071 North Oak Park Avenue, Chicago Illinois, The address of these grounds that have served both as a location of nurturing growth and nameless graves serves also a landmark for each in this building tonight. You see, each of our lives, like this piece of property will either be dedicated as a place of growth and increase or a place of stagnation and death. A place where stories are written or gravestones are placed.

I want to teach tonight on the topic “stones or stories”

The story that unfolds in the 13 chapters of the book of Nehemiah begins with the informative phrase, “The words of Nehemiah”. This story of rebuilding and restoration in the face of adversity is the story of Nehemiah.
The book of Nehemiah, one of the 12 books of history is the story as told in the words of one man that answered a high calling.
In this first chapter, Nehemiah’s brother, Hanani brings him news that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down and the gates burned with fire.
Nehemiah
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