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In the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month and on the twenty-first day of the month, sixteen years after they had returned to Jerusalem, those who had been exiled gathered together at the Temple for the Feast of Booths, an eight day celebration honoring Solomon’s bringing the ark of the covenant into the Temple and a celebration of the Temple’s dedication.  The feast also commemorated Israel’s release from bondage, honoring the fact that they lived in booths as they traveled to Sinai. 

When they gathered at the Temple on this day to give thanks to God and to share stories with one another about their faith and their journey, they were liturgically immersed in reality that God’s activity in their lives had constantly moved them beyond times of despair and destruction to times of hope and thanksgiving. Together, they remembered the past and the present for the sake of the future.  It was a rich celebration, and yet to a certain degree it was a celebration somewhat wrought with discontent and even disappointment.

The temple, which had been destroyed 67 years earlier, was in the process of being rebuilt. In general, this was a good thing. They needed a place to present their offerings and to practice their rituals. However, when some of those who gathered saw the foundation of the new temple and began to imagine what they thought the building would actually look like after construction was complete, they were profoundly discouraged. What they envisioned was not going to be as glorious as it had been or what they believed it should be.

They registered their complaints about the temple to one another while lamenting the fact that their crops had been poor that year, and other years, that the land was once again, too dry, that life was harder than it needed to be. Then they talked about there struggles while in exile wondering aloud about what God might think about this matter and what God would think about the unsatisfactory temple they imagined..  They longed for the peace and prosperity of what was-- before the exile, not necessarily remembering those days and their struggle fully.

The prophet Haggai listened to their complaints and laments and took them seriously. But he clearly understood their complaints about what should have been were actually a reflection of their doubts about God and God’s presence in the midst of their struggles and longings.

Haggai, a mouth piece of God, responds to those doubts saying, “Take courage!”  Remember who God is and all that God has done.  Take courage, says Haggai, God’s spirit abides with you, so do not fear.”  As in the past, God will hear your prayers, and God will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land and restore things to the way God intends them to be.  But it takes your courage, your faith, your hands and heart to make it happen. Human hands and hearts remain the most frequent means of God’s activity in the world. 

The task of each and every generation is to take courage in God’s goodness and to work on behalf of God’s purposes. The temples which need the most growth are not structures that rely on bricks and mortar, dry wall and paint.  The temples, which need constant building and rebuilding, are our courage, our faith and our trust in God’s promise of peace and justice, of restoration and love.  It is the building and rebuilding of our faithful response to times of trial and despair and challenge.  God seeks our dedication to the task of our building a community of faith which is dedicated to the faithful activity of creating systems and institutions that take courage rather than institutions that are steeped in nostalgia for the past as if it were all good.  It would be safe to say, we would be building a temple yet undone.

General Synod, the biennial gathering of the United Church of Christ, no matter the year, the theme, issue or business to be discussed, Synod is an exciting event.  In some ways it is like a family reunion where people gather to reacquaint one’s self with folk you only have a chance to see face to face, once in a while. In the market place, the exhibit hall, you experience crafters from around the world and vendors excited to sell you their wears. The gathering is an opportunity to experience creative worship filled with amazing music and provocative preaching and speaking. 

Business meetings, while sometimes filled with tedious details, often confused by which amendment we are now voting on, energize delegates and visitors as together they seek to articulate an understanding of what God is calling us to do and to be in the world.  Synod is a time and place where we who are United Church of Christers have the opportunity to see our beloved church sometimes at its best, sometimes at its worst, but most of the time in its it glory.

At General Synod 23 in Kansas City Mo. June 2001, there was a particular moment when the church was challenged to take courage and to be at its best in the face of what could have been an unforgettable worst moment. Certainly, what was being erected before our eyes was disappointing and discouraging.

It began the afternoon the Rev. Fred Phelps, pastor of an independent Baptist church in Topeka Kansas, and several from his congregation arrived to protest the United Church of Christ’s commitment to be an Open and Affirming church. Phelps and his followers believed and still believe it is their Christian duty, their duty to warn us of God’s anger and wrath due to our welcoming and celebrating gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered people into the church.

The protestors who came stood across the street, yet, just outside the entrance to the Civic Center where most delegates and visitors came in and out.  Their words, written and spoken were hateful. The posters were large and graphic not easily ignorable. The tone of their voices dripped with kind, almost sweet disdain.  What had been built… The question, “Who among us, this day, remembers the vision of Christ’s church in all its glory, a church where no one is to be turned away,” was on the minds of many.  

Some leaders of the church recommended that we not engage with the protestors especially verbally as it would either give them an opportunity to spew even more hate, or at best heighten the tension of the moment.  Some spoke to them anyway.  You see, when you are about justice, it is hard not to speak out about injustice.

Tensions grew.

Then something amazing happened.  A small group of youth, 14 or so, who had grown impatient with the verbiage-- and needed to find a way, a helpful and effective way to engage the struggle--, went to the nearby craft store and purchased sidewalk chalk.

They walked into the crowd of protestors, chalk in hand, bent down and began to write things like—God is love. God loves Gay people. We love gay people. God loves all people. We, the United Church of Christ, love all people. Love.  Acceptance. Peace. Hate no more. The 14 or so youth uttered not one word. But what they said with chalk spoke volumes! No one, and I mean no one was able to escape the truth of grace that filled those tense moments.  There was hope for the future.

When we saw Fred Phelps and his congregation gathered, just across the street, yet, in the midst of our celebration, a celebration where we gave thanks for God’s presence on our journey, a celebration in which we looked towards the future of our mission and ministry, building on the constancy of God’s love and grace, it was clear things were not as they should have been. Temples of faith were being built and rebuilt.

“God shook up the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.” God’s inspiration was needed and it was given. As the youth wrote in silence, the richness and splendor God promised was poured out.  The generosity of God’s justice and peace was undeniable.

Sadly, the work of the youth does not appear to have had an impact on Fred Phelps and his followers.  They continue to spew hatred and disdain even in the most private spaces of people’s lives. Even though there was a five million dollar judgment imposed on him for his actions in the cemetery at the funeral of a fallen soldier.

I don’t think for a minute his convictions have changed. But I do know and believe what those youth built in our midst that June day in 2001 continues to give life to courage in the midst of destruction; to hope in the midst of despair

Take courage!

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