A Hope on which to Build A Life…

 They would dig a bit and then check the soil coming out.  Eventually I suppose they found either rock of some suitable base deep in the earth. All of these holes were filled with concrete and formed a stable and firm foundation for the slab laid over them. The slab is quite thick and very solid – enough to support the structure for the house. The foundation, contrary to what I imagined, took considerable time. It was a lengthy process and not rushed. It was rather obvious when I thought about this, that the foundation ought to be both very solid and require considerable care. If the foundation is not firm and stable, the house, above will not be stable or sure. The foundation is vital if everything else is to stand strong against the storms and wind that will surely come. Our lives are buffeted by the storms of life, rocked by grief and loss, challenged by illness, confronted by death, conflict, violence, poverty and the myriad other elements that challenge our lives. These experiences challenge foundations grounded in wealth, power, status, education, politics and various ideologies. There are moments in life when everything we have accumulated has no efficacy over the suffering and pain we experience when life unravels. What will hold us when everything falls apart? What will sustain us when we lose our way and feel desperation and despair?  There’s a story this week from around 2,500 years ago. It is from a very short book (around 2-3 pages) in the Hebrew Scriptures, called Haggai, after the prophet whose words it records (his name means festival). Haggai spoke into the lives of the Jewish people after the Babylonian Exile at the of the 6th Century BCE. Leading citizens, artisans and craftspeople, were taken into exile in Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar’s armies stormed the city of Jerusalem, defeated the armies, destroyed the city and the great Temple built by Solomon. When the Persians defeated the Babylonians, Cyrus allowed some people to return to Jerusalem, and they were despairing at the ruins and chaos of their city. 15 years later when Darius ruled the Empire, he sent others back, with resources to rebuild the city, wall and temple. It was an economic decision to extend the productivity of his empire. They returned to continues the task. When those who remembered the former Temple, or the stories told about that magnificent structure, they were dismayed by what they saw in the attempts to rebuild the temple. It was smaller, much less grand and contained none of the significant symbols of the old Temple – tablets of the law etc.  Whilst other prophets spoke into the rebuilding of the city and the people, through renewing the covenant with God, Haggai spoke about the new Temple. He reminded the people that the glory of the previous Temple was not in the gold, silver, timber and grandeur, but in the presence of the Living God who met them in that place. It was God’s presence that created the glory and wonder of the Temple and gave it its deep meaning and power – and that could be present again! As the people questioned where God was, what had happened and whether God still cared for them. Haggai and other prophets spoke into their crisis, proclaiming that after decades of faithlessness as a nation, of their failure to trust in God and live fully as the people of God, as light of justice and hope in the world, God was calling them back into a renewed covenant. God was inviting them to rebuild the Temple as a centre of life for the community, to worship and engage in the practices of faith, of justice, of mercy and peace. New symbols would emerge in their lives, but such symbols must never be ends within themselves but always draw people into a deeper awareness of and relationship with the Living God! This was their hope, the foundation that would sustain them through the difficulties of coming home to desolation, the hard work of rebuilding and of finding their way once again as God’s people. I read a story of Martin Luther King Jr, early in the Civil Rights Movement, after he was elevated into the role of leadership. It was difficult work and there were many threats to his and other leader’s lives. One night after a long planning meeting and during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he arrived home tired but buzzing. His phone rang around midnight, and it was another threat to his life. Overwhelmed and despairing, Martin sat down at his kitchen table with a cup of coffee. He wrestled with how he could withdraw from the leadership without appearing like he was giving up. It was all too much. Finally, in desperate angst, he rested his head in his hands and prayed for God’s wisdom and guidance. In the stillness of the house the answer came gently but firmly, that he was to pursue the path of seeking and working for justice. God would guide and sustain him in the work, and it would be okay. Martin Luther King’s hope was not in his own strength, wisdom, power or anything else. It was in God and that was enough! He persevered but it came differently and felt lighter, still difficult and pressured work, but in the strength and direction of God, who was the foundation. Later, on the night before he was assassinated, he spoke to a gathering in Memphis, encouraging them in the struggle. He spoke about, given an opportunity to live in any time and moment in history, he would still choose this very moment. He spoke about some of the successes and the challenges before them and then articulated the threats and struggles they had faced. He concluded by saying that he had been to the mountaintop and looked over into the Promised Land, the place of equality and peace for which they yearned. He said they’d get there! He may not make it with them – he certainly hoped so, but there were some crazy people filled with hatred, making serious threats. Even if he didn’t, he was at peace because God was with them and they would persevere and make it through. He was shot the very next morning. In Luke’s story this week (Luke 20:27-38) Jesus is in the very Temple that the people Hagai spoke to, rebuilt. It was later renewed and extended into a profound and magnificent structure under King Herod. There, in the last week of his life, he encountered opposition. Religious leaders trying to trap him and bring him down. His life and teaching that challenged the injustice and grasping after wealth and power, threatened them. People were drawn to the deep and powerful truth he spoke, and the religious leaders didn’t like it. They sought to trick him with inane questions trying to question resurrection. Jesus’ response silenced them as he broadened their understanding of life and faith – that God was God, and all things would be renewed in and through God. Resurrection life imbued and influenced the world now and we are invited to live into life in a new way that comes through letting go and building the foundations of life in God who is our hope!