Ezra 3
8In the second month of the second year after their arrival at The Temple of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, in company with their brother priests and Levites and everyone else who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity, got started. They appointed the Levites twenty years of age and older to direct the rebuilding of The Temple of GOD. 9Jeshua and his family joined Kadmiel, Binnui, and Hodaviah, along with the extended family of Henadad--all Levites--to direct the work crew on The Temple of God.
10When the workers laid the foundation of The Temple of GOD, the priests in their robes stood up with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise GOD in the tradition of David king of Israel. 11They sang antiphonally praise and thanksgiving to GOD:
Yes! GOD is good!Oh yes--he'll never quit loving Israel!
All the people boomed out hurrahs, praising GOD as the foundation of The Temple of GOD was laid. 12As many were noisily shouting with joy, many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first Temple, when they saw the foundations of this Temple laid, wept loudly for joy. 13People couldn't distinguish the shouting from the weeping. The sound of their voices reverberated for miles around.
"Tears and Laughter"
Well....here we are, the first official Sunday. (Last Sunday being the practice run.) In many ways even though I just arrived here, it seems as if I have been here for many years. For the past several years we have met in many ways, I have preached here, participated in seminars, have led adult retreats, and traveled to Ireland with you. More recently, in the past few months my two children, Daniel and Christa have been participating in youth group. Who knew that in the years we have been developing a relationship, that one day that relationship would become official as I was appointed to be your pastor. As we begin this new stage in our relationship I look to the deepening of our connection, and know that in the coming weeks and years we will experience much. Just as I found a home in Freehold, we will find a home here together. There will be prayers sent out to celebrate joys and sorrows…meals to cook as people find themselves in a place when trying to think what to put on the dinner table is overwhelming in the midst of a tragedy…sermons preached, learning experiences…loss and joy…tears and laughter, all entwined together. On this day of new beginnings we find ourselves at a mixed place…one both of celebration, and sadness. One of the district superintendents in our conference likened the way we change clergy to this: at the loss of a loved one, you find yourself introduced, at the funeral to the one who will take their place. So it is with we who call ourselves United Methodist…there is no interim process….your minister announces they are leaving and then you turn around and hear your next appointment. This morning we find ourselves, myself included at that mixed place…grieving a loss, yet celebrating what is yet to be.
Which is how we get to this text from Ezra this morning. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were written as the people of Israel return from their years of exile in Babylon. Cyrus of Persia had unexpectedly issued an edict authorizing Israel's return. While he probably had an ulterior motive other than kindness behind his actions, he nonetheless did release the captive Israelites and freed them to worship again. The former captives return to Jerusalem with a mixture of joy and sorrow...joy at the very thought of returning, sorrow at the reminder that you can never really go back to the way things used to be, and there is much to rebuild. Our text today speaks as the people begin to rebuild the temple. It is to be built on the same spot as the former temple, and will allow the people a central place in which to worship again. We read as the foundations for the new temple are laid down and God is praised. A great shout goes up from the people as they witness what will mean their return to worship. But at the same time, the older priests, who served in the first temple before it was destroyed find themselves weeping at the loss of what was-a reminder of the reality that things will never again be the same. And so there is this very poignant verse: People watching couldn't distinguish the shouting from the weeping. The sound of their voices reverberated for miles around.
It seems the appropriate text for our worship this morning-people couldn't distinguish the celebration from the weeping. As I said earlier we both celebrate and mourn this morning. In many ways we are always doing that as human beings. We are reminded of that in our funeral liturgy as we come together to celebrate God's presence and promises to us, yet mourn a loss at the same time. We are reminded in our texts often, about living in between the promises-of the kingdom being established but at the same time not yet. Life is in reality one great paradox. And we live into the hope of a time when that tension will be resolved and the promise found in the book of Revelation will come to be a reality.
But for now we live in that paradox, and know well what it means to gather in such a way that people watching us can't tell the laughing from the crying. In the midst of paradox we also are called to figure out what is precious and real, and good....what we want to carry forward from the past and present to bring into the future. At the same time we are called to figure out what it is time to let go of. A month or so ago as I was waiting for the kids to finish at youth group here, Blair and I got talking about things that no longer exist. Somehow we got on the topic of purple mimeograph ink. Think of it this way-how many of you remember that scent? How, as much as you didn't really want to take the test, you looked forward to those freshly printed sheets of paper to be handed out so you could catch a whiff of the ink? We date ourselves by the ability to remember that smell. For it is lost now. I suspect that just by asking the question, for those of you that remember the scent, you have just had some flashbacks to school days. While that scent reminds, at least some of us, what the past was like, no one is suffering any great loss by not having had that experience. (In fact, given the health consequences, we're better off that many don't know that smell!) That scent, like other issues in our past does not need to be carefully cherished and nurtured into the future.
On the other hand, in the midst of transition we need to work at discerning what does need to be remembered and nurtured into the future. The priests of the temple wept because they remembered what was and mourned that loss. Even in their joy of returning from exile, they still could know their great loss. This morning even as we celebrate we know loss. During the consultation interview back in January, one of the questions I asked the SPRC was to talk about the influence the various clergy who have been appointed here have had on you. The committee talked in terms of who defined ministry for them, who influenced them. We bring those losses to worship this morning, as we miss the daily presence of those who influenced us, even as we cherish the memories of their presence.
In the midst of grief it is difficult to catch a vision of what tomorrow looks like. Yet, as God's people, it is the very thing we are called to do. We give thanks for those who are able to pull us, to call us, to prod us to the tomorrows of our lives....particularly in those times when we would much rather sit down and weep under the willow trees of Babylon and cry "how can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land."
People couldn't tell the laughing from the weeping. What an appropriate text to describe this morning. For it is a time of both loss and celebration, of weeping and of laughing. We give thanks for the past that has nurtured us to this day, for the incredible journeys and connections that have already joined us together. As you reflect on the places you have been in this church and the places where you will go, know that, like the scent of purple mimeograph ink, some things will fade into the past and be lost, but other things will be exactly that which keeps us on our faith journey and nurtures us, and becomes integral for being faithful followers of God.
And the bottom line as always is that as the people of God, there is nothing greater than the foundation promise that God is with us. God was with us in creation, in the call of Abraham that formed a people, in the prodding of the prophets, in the life and death and life of Jesus Christ...and God will always be with us, continually revealing news ways of being with us. God is with us today...as we celebrate and grieve...and as we move into a future as yet unknown. Amen.