Prophet motive

Haggai 2: 1-9
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
November 10, 2019

Have you seen any news of the “OK Boomer” posts on social media?

It’s a response to people of any age who long for the past, who criticize Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z for their work ethic, for their screen and spending habits, parenting style, or life choices. “OK Boomer” is a shoulder-shrug, an eye-roll that basically states, “I’m not going to explain myself or engage in this debate any longer because you have failed to listen.” Some people are dismissing this as another culture war that divides us. A few days ago in the NY Times, an opinion piece declared that instead of “OK Boomer” we should be saying “OK billionaire” and fighting the rich.

But it’s not as simple as that. We can’t separate age and class much as we’d like to. And it’s not just billionaires, of which there are 607 in the U.S. Currently there are 18.6 million millionaires in the U.S., more than any other country in the world, with an average age of 61 and a net worth of about $3 million. Where are we in comparison to that statistic? How much is really enough especially when there are people, even whole nations, who don’t have anywhere near enough. In truth it’s not just age or money, it’s about privilege and power and how they’ve been abused and how that needs to change.

The prophet Haggai had a similar culture war on his hands. The first exiles to return, about 50,000 of them, have journeyed home from Babylon to Jerusalem. Some of them were old enough to remember the temple that Solomon built that was destroyed, but most of those returning, like the prophet Haggai, were born in Babylon with no memory of the previous temple. To complicate matters even more, they are greeted by those who decided to stay amongst the ruins, kinsfolk who intermarried with other faiths, who would eventually become the kingdom of Samaria. Some sources say those who stayed behind offered to help rebuild the temple with the returnees but were flatly turned down; others say the Samaritans were the problem.

Because of this conflict, construction of the new temple has been delayed. The people insist they don’t have enough resources to build the temple like it once was and yet Haggai calls them out on their new homes while God’s house is in ruins, much like the power of evangelical Christians in politics even as young evangelicals are leaving the church. Or we who wish for the church we knew even as late as the 1990s and the increasing numbers of those who are unaffiliated or unchurched. Sadly the refrain could just as easily be “OK Church.”

Haggai then tells the governor and the high priest and all the people that it’s time to get to work and get building and to not be afraid. Haggai reminds the people of when they left Egypt, how they stepped into the unknown, the courage they had, and God was with them. God promises that the future temple will be even better than the previous one. The people did not know that 420 years later the temple they built would be destroyed. They could only trust that just as God had been with them before, God would be with them in the future, whatever that future would be.

When we give of our resources and invest our time and energy we expect to see a return of some kind, which is what the Romans called, what is still known today as, quid pro quo. It literally means ‘something for something’. Diana Butler Bass, in her book Grateful, writes that the Roman system of giving and gratitude was also used as a means of power and control: “I do something for you, so that you must do something for me.” If one did not return to a ruler the expected proper tribute in exchange for what the ruler provided to their subjects, one was declared an ‘ingrate’ and a punishable debt was incurred. She goes on to say, “Gratitude was not a feeling. It was the law.”



Two thousand years later we still experience human interactions of all kinds as transactional, that there must be something for something, like an eye for an eye, and we can see how it has corrupted politics, economics, human relationships, and our relationship to the earth. ‘Something for something’ sounds like an equal and moral exchange but the last thing it is, is free and thus it is neither equal nor moral.

The opposite of quid pro quo is pro bono, which means “for the good, for free.” It’s giving with no strings attached, with no expectation of something in return or how the gift will be used. It’s the kind of giving that challenges our fear of scarcity and our sense of entitlement, but it’s also the kind of giving that has the power to transform both the giver and the receiver.

We don’t know what the future of the Church will be—what the future of this church will be. It probably will not be the church we remember or even the one we know now because the only way something grows and transforms is through change. In our fear we cling to the impossible: we want things to change but we want to keep what we have. Each year in our budget we flesh out, we embody what our faithfulness will look like but more often than not, we are asked to be church in ways we did not anticipate. God says to the people, “The silver is mine. The gold is mine.” Which is another way of saying it’s not ours—it’s entrusted to us—not as something for something, but for the good—our good, the good of all—for free.

It’s okay to look back, to remember, learn from it and to be grateful for all that has brought us to this day—all of it. We give not because we have received something and so must give something or because we expect something in return. We give courageously to that unknown future for the good of all, for free, so that all may have enough, so that all may be free. Civil rights activist, faith leader and millennial Valarie Kaur said to the annual meeting of the newly-formed Southern New England Conference of the UCC, “For we, we will be somebody’s ancestors someday. And if we get this right, they will inherit not our fear but our bravery.”



If we get this right, those who come after us will inherit not our fear but our bravery. 

OK, Church? 

Amen.



Benediction – Maya Angelou


Let gratitude be the pillow upon which
You kneel to say your nightly prayer.
And let faith be the bridge you build
To overcome evil and welcome good.