November 16 -- Swords into Plowshares

Grace to you and peace from the one who comes to us in peace, whose vision is peace, and who calls us into the way of peace -- Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

This is a fascinating story today.  It may seem fragmented, jumping around from chapters 36, 37, 2.  And I’m guessing that you’re not entirely familiar with the characters here -- Kings Hezekiah, Sennacherib...

The seasons have changed and the prophecy of Micah is coming to fruition.  Last week the Southern Kingdom of Judah was living large, neglecting the least and poor and the stranger.  Micah warned them that these were not God’s ways, and called them to practice justice, loving kindness and humility.  Now the Assyrians, led by their victorious King have been destroying and conquering every nation and city in their path and now they’re literally knocking at the doors of the mighty Jerusalem.  And this is that scene that we have in so many movies where there is a brief dialogue before the fighting explodes.

King Sennacherib challenges the God of the Israelites, here.  “What has your God done for you?  Look how much I have conquered, and I’m about to take your city, and make you all my slaves!  Stop believing in your imaginary God, and start believing in me: the one driving the armored tank, the one sitting on barrels of money, the one dressed in the finest suits, the one with the sweetest pension, the securest future, the smartest children, the most beautiful homes, the best entertainment, the most exotic landscapes, the most delicious restaurants.  Surrender to your God and come over to our side.”

King Hezekiah is scared but faithful he goes into the temple to pray.  He falls back on the words of the prophets, and the story of his ancestors.  

We’ve been here before too.  Remember the Israelites at the Red Sea?  God makes a way out of no way.  That doesn’t happen as quickly in this case.  The Israelites do indeed get conquered by the Assyrians, eventually the end up in captivity in Babylon.  That would be like a foreign power taking us all away to another country for generations...

It’s amazing the faith Hezekiah had, the vision that Isaiah had has survived, when you think about it!  Isaiah’s words come at the end of this horrific scene, which changes how we hear them -- “In the days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains...all the nations shall stream to it...God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”  

All evidence is to the contrary.  And yet, this is God’s vision, sisters and brothers in Christ.  That’s true for us today too.  All evidence is to the contrary, and yet this is God’s vision.  AK47, hammered into gardening tools, tanks turned into swing sets.

There’s a fine line here between total disillusionment, pie-in-the-sky dreaming vs. letting a vision that we may never see in our lifetime shape us, mold us, direct us, even confront us because it is the vision of God: the original state of blessedness.  If we don’t have a vision for peace, we can’t walk a way of peace.  

Richard Louv talks about how kids today, studies show -- with all our talk about the destruction of the environment -- don’t have a vision for a green future.  They just expect the world to be brown and grey, at the rate we’re going.  

When God’s vision for peace is not implanted into the imaginations of people of faith, then its awfully difficult to work for peace.  Isaiah plants that vision.  Swords into plowshares.  Spears into pruning hooks.  There is a transformation that has to take place.  Isaiah calls us to transformation from war to peace.  From fear to hope.

I want to shift gears slightly here, but stay on this theme of transformation, and talk about this capital campaign and building here at Shepherd of the Valley:

...because I’ve experienced a transformation.  As some of you know, I haven’t always been on board with this project.  I’m scared about money and talking about it.  I’m scared about you all not agreeing, and so then we split up.  I’m scared about the future and about our vision and mission of “extending God’s welcome to all” being lost.  I’m scared by stories I hear from other churches that get themselves into debt and slowly start to disintegrate.  Am I starting to sound like I’ve been listening to King Sennacherib at the gate of Jerusalem.  “What’s so great about this God you serve?!  It’s not going to work out!” laughs the King. 

There’s a fine line here too, between total pie-in-the-sky dreaming and letting a vision of grace and peace shape us, mold us, direct us, even confront us.  I think we are being called here -- in this season of the life of Shepherd of the Valley -- to steward our resources.  

I’ve said to a few of you before -- at this point I think this project is simply good stewardship.  We know we’ve got some serious plumbing, electrical, and structural issues that we’re going to need to fix anyway.  Why not make some modest changes to our facility while we’re at it, changes that are not pie-in-the-sky, but rather changes that we need.  One or two more classrooms, a larger kitchen, a small fellowship hall, handicap-accessible bathrooms, a sacristy that altar guild doesn’t have to weave through the crowd to prepare the Holy Table...and a little more storage space.  

I don’t think we’re dreaming out of our heads.  I think we’re visioning faithfully.  And we’ve got the energy, and the seed money, and a year of professional consultation, and many, many conversations, and a 90% vote in favor of moving forward with a capital campaign, and we’ve got the leadership.  For me this is not just an issue of stewarding our money, and our facilities, but we’ve got, you’ve got such incredible leadership in this congregation.  Such incredible dedication and love for one another, for this church, for this community and this preschool.  It’s like God has put all these blessings before us, and now we stand at this exciting place, and are invited to take the next step -- the financial commitment.

By now you probably received the letter I sent, sharing what Heather and I plan to give to this campaign and the general fund.  That was a challenging thing for me to put our financial commitments out there for all to see (both proud and ashamed), and I don’t expect everyone to do the same.  But I did it, as pastor of this congregation, as a way to explore, maybe open, the faith conversation and spiritual growth that comes from committing yourself intentionally to a challenge like this.

I talked to Pr. Phil about this...“I want you to feel good about it.”  Whatever you commit next week, say a prayer of thanksgiving as you fill out that figure.

The gift of this campaign for me is that God -- in many ways, through so many of you -- has transformed (hammered) my distrust, any resentments and fears, my doubts into hope and joy, into excitement about where this congregation is headed.  This is God’s doing.  I trust now, that our vision will not be lost, that we will continue to hear our rally cry of “Extending God’s welcome to all we meet along the way”.  That all will continue to be welcomed through these doors.  And that we will continue go out of these doors to extend that welcome... 

We stand at an exciting crossroads, and God is calling us to stay faithful -- maybe scared but faithful, like King Hezekiah -- but always falling back on the words and stories of the prophets and our ancestors in the faith.  And God is calling us, I believe, to take the next steps in our faith journey, both individuals and families, and as a congregation.  

Sisters and brothers in Christ, God promises never to leave us, and always to bless us with grace and peace.  May that peace that passes all human understanding dwell in your hearts, as you live out your call, as we live out our vision this day and always.  AMEN.