One of my favorite among all of those television home renovation shows that are everywhere on television these days is the show called, “Rally ‘Round The House”. The premise of the show is that house needs a little extra something, and friends, co-workers, neighbors get together with professional carpenters and gardeners, and electricians, rally around the house and do some amazing renovations, especially outside around the house. I like the show because it is about honoring people who have contributed to their community. A home that is the gathering place for neighborhood children, but whose front yard needs a little pizzazz gets a newly landscaped yard.

An elderly woman who has been a good friend and neighbor loves to garden but is no longer able to get on her hands and knees to reach the soil and plant her flowers and vegetables. People get together, and construct a backyard garden with trellises and benches, and waist high flower boxes so that she can garden while standing.

Two brothers, one a teacher and the other a social worker give much of their time to helping children. Friends and family renovate their backyard and make it an island paradise.

Haggai’s call to rally ‘round the house of God was about remembering the past, living in the present, and trusting God to shape the future, for the Hebrews after the exile. “When Cyrus conquered Babylon, he not only published a decree allowing the captives to return to Palestine, he also encouraged them to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. They started the project, then for reasons that are unclear, the work stopped. Finally, five years later, the work began again and the temple was finally completed (The New Oxford Annotated Bible-New Revised Standard Version. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991, 1994, p.1217).

The two chapters that are the book of Haggai cover just a few months in the life of the returned former exiles including the building of the second Temple. Darius is now the king. What motivated them to build? We know they were reluctant at first, we do not know why. Maybe they thought they would not be able to raise the money. “If we build it now, how will be pay for it? It’s just not a good time to build. We should save our money. Besides I just built my house, I’m too tired to build anything else”. Perhaps no one would chair the building committee. Maybe they thought they would be pulled back into exile, and they didn’t want to build something they would not get to use. Maybe they just didn’t feel like it. “We just got back from exile…sure the temple is in ruins, but we’ll live it with for a while. Then God speaks to the prophet and says, “These people say the time is not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house”. Then the words of God come from the prophet’s mouth as he says, “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins” (Haggai 1.2b-4)?

The people take God’s point, they rebuild the temple, and the ones who never saw the former temple are thrilled. They had never worshiped in a temple before. They were raised in exile, they practiced their faith under a canopy of cloth or under a canopy of stars. Finally a building of our own from which to worship God. But others were crushed. It was a long time ago, but they remembered the glorious Temple Solomon built, and this one just did not measure up.

They said, “it’s not like the old temple. I remember the former place, I know its been many years since I saw it, but I will never forget it. The courtyards and the buildings and the gardens and the people were beautiful. This is not the same”.

“But many of the…old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping” (Ezra 3.12-13).

Amid all the shouting with joy and cries of anguished disappointment, Haggai asks the people a question – who remembers this house in all its former glory? How does this one compare? Is it worthy of you? Who here remembers THIS house of faith in all its glory? Who of you remembers when the pews were full each week? Who here was in the wedding band class, when young married couples had a class of their own? Who got married on this chancel? Who was baptized here? Whose children and grandchildren have continued to be active in this house of faith, so that it is glory for you when you gather with your family here? Won’t that be a great day when our pews are full again, when our Sunday School classes meet as many needs as possible, when even more generations of people gather here for worship and ministry?

The longing for a return to the former glory is not just here. Remember what it was like when Christian values were concerned with more than sexual issues? Sexual responsibility is a moral issue. But so are civil rights and justice for every citizen. So is decent education and decent health care. So is nutritious food and shelter for people. So are issues of war and peace. I long for a return to a time that we knew about twenty years ago, when a theological discussion, or a conversation about values was not an occasion to call into question another’s faith, another’s morals, or their patriotism. Some of us remember a simpler society, when dad worked in the world, mom stayed home, and as Garrison Keillor likes to say, “all the women were strong, all the men were good looking, and all the children were above average”. Life was perfect, at least that is the way we remember it. But the drug store commercial reminds us that there is no town called “Perfect”, and the perfection we remember is more imagined than real. There were intense theological and political conversations battles even then, but we did not talk about sex, politics, or religion in polite society. Women have always worked outside the home, and raised children for no pay, low pay, or good pay. There are places where women, men, and children are averages, and that is fine by them.

Some of you who remember what Camp Christian was like with its old cabins and its old kitchen and dining room and you have not yet gotten used to the new cabin clusters and the newly built kitchen and dining room. It’s just not the same.

Those feelings of grief for what was, the longing for what used to be is real, but God calls us forward, and shows us new things that help us see with transformed eyes and hearts what God would have us to see.

“Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory” (v.4)? Beloved, let’s not be so concerned with the former glory, that we close ourselves to the glory yet to come. Listen as God says to the people in Haggai’s day and to us, “Take courage, take courage, work to make this place what you want it to be, and remember, I am with you. I was with your ancestors in Egypt, and in all of those places that led you to this moment, and I will be with you. Find inside yourselves the ability to move forward in spite of the fear and danger you feel. Know that the Holy Spirit of God is in this place and in our lives, and because it is, we can rise up and accomplish great things.

A people want their house of worship to look better, to provide broader ministry, to be out in the community, bearing witness to the care of all of God’s creation, from the air we breathe to the people we love, to the nation of our citizenship. What do we do? We rally around the house and trust that God will use us to make it all that it can be.

What can we do? We can do like all those landscapers and carpenters, painters, and electricians and rally ‘round this house. When we do, we may use those renovation tools. And we will need another tool. We will need courage. Haggai believes courage is so important to the people that he tells them to take courage three times. Take courage leaders and set a vision before this people. Take courage people and follow your leaders into some new and wonderful places. Take courage and rally round this great house that so wants to be greater, and more filled with splendor than it ever was.

I believe it is within us to rally ‘round this house and to become splendid from the inside out, it will be filled with peace and God will be glorified. When we do the greatness we remember about this house will be magnified. We will know, when we rally ‘round this house, the One who owns the building, whose grace and mercy and love got it built and keeps it maintained is here with a promise. God alone is the owner of this house, we are its stewards, its caretakers. (New Interpreter’s Bible, volume VII. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996, p. 724).

We will know who owns the house and we will know what the house looks like. Paul reminds us “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal and in the heavens” (II Corinthians 5.1b). The eternal house is mirrored in this earthly house of worship. Let’s finish building a house of worship that is also a house of service and compassion, and learning. Let’s you and I work together to build a house that is warm and welcoming. We hold our memories of church dear, and we should. But at the same time, we really don’t have to make this church look like it used to look. We can’t actually. If we are serious about valuing our faith in Jesus Christ, valuing our diversity in all of its glorious forms, valuing children and their parents and caretakers, and valuing worship that frees us to respond as God leads us, we will be different. We will look different, we will sound different, we will move differently, we will feel differently, and we will praise God for the difference! I want us to become so different from whatever is holding us back from the growth and the vitality we seek, that we scare the living daylights out of it and send it away forever.

We have been great, but look ahead, even now the promise from God is that if we will work faithfully and courageously, there will come a time when this house of God will be more splendid than we can imagine. God has all we need; God holds out for us peace and prosperity. God wants us to claim the promise that we can rebuild and transform this house of faith. So, I want us to rally ‘round God’s house because God never ceases to rally around us. We are blessed in this house just because Christ loves us. We are redeemed and sustained with hope and strengthened day by day by God’s work and word to see a splendid vision.

When we rally ‘round this house, we can with God’s help become a church that is so much greater than our what has been. We will be in this house, a place of joyous worship, transforming education, active outreach and evangelism, where every person will be loved and nurtured, and every visitor will be welcomed warmly and sincerely. We can make this corner jump so that whatever happens in this house, as we rally around it, will leave us still able to proclaim from every one of its rooms, the good news of Jesus Christ. We will know that it is not about whether it is worthy of us, but it’s about whether we treat the church as the house of the living God that it is.

At the General Assembly in Charlotte last year we sang, “I see a church with a vision. I see a church on a mission. I see a church with her doors opened wide and the poor and the rich worship God side by side. And the young and the old have both put down their pride. And yes, we who seem different don’t have to hide. And all of God’s children can sweetly abide. I see a church who has made her mind up, and she’s building her hopes on things eternal. She’s holding to God’s unchanging hand!” (“I See A Church” word and music by Bill Thomas. 2003. Sedity Music Company).

That is the church I pray for us more and more to become. It is the church, the household of faith that I see in my dreams, and the house is filled with splendor. It is the church we are on our way to being in reality. God continue to bring the day, and as you do, may Jesus Christ be praised. Amen.