Sunday, January 23, 2022
/The Third Sunday of Epiphany
Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a; Luke 4:14-21
The Rev. James M.L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Two weeks ago I left church on a Sunday afternoon after services. When I got home, I realized I was tired. When I get tired – my brain focuses on one thing: take a nap. Naps are desirable to me because I am an introvert – and on Sundays I play the role of the outgoing “extrovert.” This tires me usually, but this Sunday I really felt exhausted.
I knew in the long run the nap was not a good idea. I knew I would be isolating myself – tuning out was at the time not the right solution. I decided that even though the day was half-over, I could restart. I could re-energize. And I did.
Instead of napping, I went in the back yard, picked up the dog poop, took my son to exchange a broken BB gun for a new one, paid bills. Nothing about these acts qualify as heroic, but there was a war waged within me between what I really wanted to do (isolate and nap) and what I could do that would make things better (paying bills on time, new BB gun, etc.).
The theme of this morning’s sermon is this: it is never too late to start over.
Today we hear a reading from a book of the Bible called Nehemiah, and the story is all about starting over again. In order to appreciate the reading, some context is necessary. About one hundred years before the events in today’s reading from Nehemiah, Jerusalem was conquered by an invading empire we call the Babylonians. The Babylonians burned the city of Jerusalem to the ground, and emptied their sacred temple of all its appointments, perhaps including the ark of the covenant. Citizens of Jerusalem were forced into Babylonian exile, where they lived for decades.
Eventually, the citizens of Jerusalem were allowed to return and begin rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. This was no small task. The city walls had been destroyed and there was rubble and disorganization everywhere. The book of Nehemiah tells the story of Jerusalem’s reconstruction. Nehemiah, for whom the book is named, was the governor of Jerusalem during the people’s return and reconstruction. The walls that lay in ruins were rebuilt in less than two months once the people had been galvanized into action by Nehemiah’s leadership.
When the walls were completed, the people gathered around Ezra the priest, who publicly read the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). This public reading is the first of its kind in the Bible, and the Hebrew word for it is “miqra” which is also the name of our annual read through of the Bible at St. Andrew’s. The day Ezra read was on the first day of the seventh month, which became New Year’s Day in the Jewish calendar - Rosh Hashanah.
Even though the city was destroyed, the temple ransacked, the city walls demolished – it wasn’t too late to start over. It wasn’t too late to rebuild and begin anew.
I have a friend who is involved in a twelve-step recovery program called Alcoholics Anonymous. When this person decided to start living a life without alcohol, they took what is called a “Desire Chip” which is a round metal chip that represents their desire to live alcohol-free for twenty-four hours. This person lasted about eight hours, went out and drank. The next day this same person went to the same Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, stood up in front of everyone, and took another desire chip, intending to live alcohol free for twenty-four hours.
This time my friend drank after four hours. The next, day, same meeting, another desire chip, another failure. Again and again this process repeated itself. This person told me they had accrued so many desire chips that they could make a belt out of them. Today, this person has thirteen years. We can always start again. Nehemiah teaches us that God is a God of second chances. It takes courage to start over, and God is always pitching a tent among those courageous enough to rebuild their lives. AMEN.