Change Has Come To Highlands; Haggai 2:3-9

 

Rev. George Miller

July 24, 2022

Haggai 2:3-9

 

“Take courage, says God.  My spirit abides with you, do not fear.  From this day on, I will bless you.”

 

A major change in Highlands County may have taken place on Tuesday at the County Commissioner’s meeting.

 

A 5^th generation cattleman was seeking the rezoning of his orange grove to be turned into a housing development.

 

City planners were against it, as it would create urban sprawl.

 

Commissioner Roberts, also against it, invited representatives from Archibold to share speaking point and concerns.

 

Then something happened.  Amidst all the data, a multi-generational citrus owner came forward, trying their best not to cry, discussing the devastation that greening has done to our citrus industry.

 

Next, a representative of 1,000 acres of orange groves shared that 80% of the land could not produce this year, leaving long time grove owners looking at other alternatives to survive.

 

“We never asked for the greening.  But it’s here,” he stated, asking why the owners should be forced to hold onto land that they are losing money on.

 

An elderly neighbor, with the help of a larger-than-life walking stick, made his way to the podium, sharing he doesn’t want to see a development next to him, but he supports the landowner.

 

When time came for the vote, a sacred reverence manifested. 

 

Commissioner Tuck shared the need of affordable housing. 

 

Commissioner Roberts eloquently spoke of how he came to the meeting knowing exactly how he was going to vote, but after hearing everyone, he admitted the decision was hard…

 

The Commissioners voted unanimously for the rezoning.  A humble sadness surrounded this victory; a change has officially come to Highlands County…

 

Moving to Highlands can be a shock- few major stores, a few shops.  Yet there’s an appeal of Highlands, a reason people come here. 

 

But it’s going to change.

 

We started seeing this while driving to Sarasota.  Each month there is less and less country road as hotels, 7-11s and shopping centers are going in to meet the needs of the people moving to FL.

 

Our local paper features a series about changes in Avon Park in which they’re creating a hemp-based industry that will take the place of citrus.

 

Last week, the folks at Highlands Ridge were met with auction signs in the nearby orange groves that surround them and provide great privacy.

 

There’s the continued debate about Downtown’s proposed water park, the concerns of the Historical Society.

 

Let’s be honest- things have not been the same at Emmanuel since COVID, and they never will, no matter what.

 

For those who come after us, they will never know.  Those who are young enough to deal with change will be OK.  Those who remember how things were, that’s different.

 

How do we respond to change? 

 

Do we allow the rubble of a ruined past to permanently surround us? 

 

Do we work together to create something totally new? 

 

Do we allow space and time to grieve what has been forever lost?  How do we move on?  Is God still with us?

 

Today’s author would say “Courage.  Courage is how you move on.” 

 

Haggai would say “Not only is God with you, but God is moving with you towards a future that you can’t even begin to imagine.”

 

Today’s reading is just 2 chapters, but it incorporates 7 decades of history.

 

A review- 67 years ago the enemy came in and destroyed Judah.  The buildings are bombed out, economy destroyed, the farmland decimated.

 

The Temple is in shambles and 67 years later it still looks horrible.

 

Folk have rebuilt their homes, tried to reboot the economy.  Crops are barely growing- they’re harvesting 20 measures when they used to get 50.

 

Haggai says “Hey- the time has come.  While you’ve resumed your lives, the Temple still lays in ruins.  You say nothing you do seems to work out, and wonder why.  Meanwhile God’s home looks like an episode of HOARDERS.”

 

Haggai speech stirs up the people. 

 

“It’s time for us to get together and for life to move on.  It’s time to receive Heaven’s gifts, go up the hill and get lumber.  Let’s see what God can do.”

 

The priests, politicians and people listen, start to rebuild the Temple.

 

But 4 weeks into it, sadness falls.  The reality of what’s been lost and their collected trauma makes itself known.

 

“Why bother?” people say.  “This will never be like it was.”

 

The elders grieve.  Gone are the days of 2 lane roads, booming orange groves.  Familiar faces are no more, friends have aged, many have died.

 

A sense of mortality and what’s been lost settles in; the people are frozen.

 

So Haggai speaks a word from God

 

He says “Were things really as good as they seemed?  Does different mean it’s incapable of being glorious?”

 

Haggai says to them “Take courage oh people.  Take courage for the Lord of Hosts is with you.”

 

“Take courage because God’s Spirit is with you.  Take courage because God will rain down upon you the gifts of Heaven.”

 

God says to them “I have not forgotten you.  I made a promise to your ancestors in Egypt that I am with you.”

 

“Take courage,” God says.  “I will shake things up so that you are blessed.”

 

Haggai says “See how God can make all things new.  Stop being stuck in the past and dwelling on images of former glory.  From this day on, move forward and see how God will bless you.”

 

His words don’t imply that things will be simply smooth; they offer no timeline.  He focuses them on one brick at a time, one small victory with each step.

 

Knowing that no single building could ever contain the full presence of the Lord, he calls upon them to let go of the past and be faithful to the present.

 

As a result, the Temple is finished in 5 years after languishing for 6 decades.

 

By March 12 of 515 BCE the people enter into a space that is bigger, more beautiful than the one that was before.

 

But even if it wasn’t grander, it doesn’t change that fact that God remembered God’s promise and God is with them…

 

…Just as God is with us, even though things have changed much since 2020, even as things change ever so swiftly now.

 

Soon Highlands won’t be the small, sleepy town of orange groves.  With certainty we’ll be seeing more shops and big-name stores.

 

Who knows what Emmanuel UCC will look like next year, next decade?

 

Things are not the same; things will not be the same. 

 

We mourn.  We grieve. We remember.  We move on.

 

We take courage.  We work. We watch. 

 

We wait to see what God is yet to do, trusting in God’s promise, trusting that God is ready to pour down blessings upon us.

 

But to receive that blessing it means that we too are willing to have courage, that we too are ready to step into a new tomorrow.

 

Let the light of Christ be our courage.

 

For that, we can say “Amen.”

 

Running From An Inclusive God; Jonah 1:1-6

 

Rev. George Miller

July 17, 2022

Jonah 1:1-6

 

Today is an important day for my family and me. 

 

July 17, 1946 is the day my Mother, Carol Ann, was born.

 

July 17, 1995 is the day we buried my Father, Herbert Allen.

 

July 17, 2005 is the day that I was ordained in the UCC.

 

For anyone who’s heard my messages, you know that I’m not a big believer in Heaven as a place we got after death, and certainly not a Heaven that is exclusive.  If anything, I believe Heaven is right here on earth, right now.

 

Nor do I believe in Hell.  It goes against the core of my being to think that the God who formed us, knows us by name, would delight in having anyone suffer for eternity.

 

If anything, I believe there are those who experience hell on earth, and that is enough for a lifetime.

 

However, I am willing to believe that if there is a Heaven where we go after we die, I believe everyone gets to go.

 

I believe that God is so compassionate, so great, so awesome, that God will love us into Heaven even after we take our final breathe.

 

This is my belief.  Yours may be completely different.

 

I believe that if Heaven is real, God will love each and everyone into it, no exclusions, no matter what horrible things or tragic mistakes we have done.

 

Not all pastors believe that.  Not all Christian churches preach this.  Inclusivity doesn’t sell. 

 

Inclusivity does not build large congregations or stir excitement the way anger and exclusivity does.

 

Ministry at Emmanuel UCC is not about earning a spot in Heaven, but living as though Heaven is already here and we get to play a part in making Heaven known around us through-

 

our worship, hospitality, Shepherd’s Pantry, Garden of Hope, Trips to Biloxi, concerts for Haiti’s students and being Open and Affirming.

 

Sadly, many of our neighbors still worry about the afterlife, if they are good enough, that God does not love.

 

This was experienced 3 weeks ago at Sebring’s Pride.  It was a grand event.  About 300 people were present, beautiful, strong, unapologetic.

 

We were blessed to be invited as a guest speaker.  After the march, a Mother came up to me.

 

Her son, who was gay, committed suicide 6 years ago.  Every Christian representative she talked to told her that her son was in Hell. 

 

We were the 1^st to tell her that is not true.  I shared with her the theology of God’s grace and love, a love that can bring anyone into God’s Kingdom.

 

With tears in her eyes, she said “Thank you,” that for the 1^st time she had a sense of peace.  We hope she still has that peace and is holding onto it.

 

For as we learn in the book of Jonah, chapter 4, verse 2, our God is a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishment.

 

Jonah is not the first place we hear God described this way.

 

Exodus 34:4, God passes before Moses saying, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

 

In Number 14:18, Moses repeats these words back to God when God is angry, making God remember who God is.

 

Psalm 51, 103:8, and 145:8 repeat this sentiment as does Nahum 1:3.

 

Nehemiah 9:17 tells us that even when the Israelites wanted to turn from God and return to their slavery in Egypt, God did not turn away from them.  

 

Yes, plenty of Scripture talks about God’s wrath, God’s anger.  But that’s often directed at those who knew better, like religious and city leaders.

 

Yes, plenty of Scripture talks about God wrath and anger, but its often about injustice, unethical behavior, and people’s complicity in cruelty.

 

It’s sad that so many churches and preachers want to define God as the angry Poppa who will send all but a select few to Hell.

 

It’s sad, because so much scripture tells us, point blank- the Lord is a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and ready to relent from punishing.

 

It's so sad because that’s the God we witnessed via Jesus at the well, in the Upper Room, by the seashore.

 

I can’t speak for you, but that’s the God I believe in.  That’s also the God Jonah believed in, which is why Jonah ran away in the 1^st place.

 

Jonah is a story that is often known for 2 things- a giant fish and for Jonah running away from God’s call.

 

Many pastors identify with Jonah, as we too have often run from our call.

 

But in closer reading, Jonah did not run away from God because God called Jonah.  Jonah ran away from God because he knew who God was.

 

Jonah knew that the Lord was gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to forgive.

 

That’s why Jonah ran.  Jonah ran because he knew exactly who God was, and this made Jonah mad.

 

To help us better understand, here’s the backstory.  Jonah was a faithful Jew living in Israel.  During this time, Israel was being oppressed by Nineveh.

 

Nineveh had all the power.  They had the people, the money, the army, the ability to wipe anyone out.

 

Think of Nineveh as Russia and Israel as the Ukraine.

 

So when God calls Jonah to give a message to Nineveh to cry out against their wickedness, Jonah says heck no.

 

Instead of doing to Nineveh he goes to Tarshish, 3,000 miles in the opposite direction.  Tarshish was a place of opulence- a land of gold and silver, peacocks, and great apes. 

 

It’s as if God had called Jonah to go to Russia, but instead he flees to Orlando.

 

Why does Jonah flee?  As we hear in chapter 4, Jonah knew that God was willing to forgive the Ninevites.

 

Jonah knew that if they repented and changed their ways, God would not act in anger, God would not rain down fire.

 

This angers Jonah.  Upsets Jonah.  He doesn’t want God’s grace to be given to his enemies.  He wants to see God sending Nineveh to hell.

 

But Jonah knows God well enough to know that’s not what’s going to happen.  So Jonah runs to the land of gold and silver, and he learns that you can not run from the God of Love.

 

And when Jonah does go to Nineveh, when he does cry out to the nation, they listen.  The King, the people, even the animals fast, mourn, change their ways.

 

This pleases God, and the entire nation is saved.  But Jonah is not pleased.

 

He scowls, he sulks, he complains, he gets so angry he could die.

 

God sees this.  God knows what’s in Jonah’s heart.  God speaks to Jonah.

 

With great distress, Jonah says “See- this is why I fled.  I know that you’re gracious, you’re the giver of 2^nd, 3rd, 4^th, 100^th chances.  What I wanted was for you to wipe them all out.”

 

To which God says “Should I not be concerned about Nineveh?  Should I not care about their citizens, their animals, their land?”

 

Jonah is not just about a person who flees, or a giant fish.  It is a mirror-

 

a mirror held up to us for those times we are angry, those days we desire vengeance, we want to exclude, those times we are so angry we want to die.

 

Jonah is about God, and who God is.

 

That the God who created the world, who delivered us from slavery, who gave us the Sabbath, the God who came to us in the person of Jesus Christ, is the God of Jonah.

 

God is the who we encounter in Exodus, Nehemiah, Nahum, the Psalms.

 

God is not an angry Poppa sending us to an eternal Hell.  God is the Loving Father who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, overflowing with love, and eager to forgive.

 

Does such news make you angry, or does such news light up your heart and inspire your life?

 

Who is the God you are willing to place your trust in?

 

Amen.

Daniel's Truth; Daniel 1:1-21

 

Rev. George Miller

July 10, 2022

Daniel 1:1-21

 

Last week’s message began with the statement “Into a world full of darkness, get well soon.”

 

Today’s reading takes place in a completely dark world and a deeply dark time in Israel’s history.

 

Daniel is a book featuring stories we often use to teach our children when they’re in Sunday School. 

 

Stories like Daniel in the Lion’s Den or Daniel in the Fiery Furnace.

 

Because, after all, what could be more appropriate for children than stories about being torn apart by large cats or teenagers being burnt to a fiery crisp!

 

The stories in Daniel are taught to our children like fairy tales…which is basically what they are.  Modern scholars agree that Daniel, as a historical person, never existed.

 

If he did exist, there have been so many stories told over so many centuries by so many different people in so many different languages that we can no longer say what is fact or what is fiction.

 

If someone named Daniel did exist, he’s become the Johny Appleseed or Robin Hood of the Bible. 

 

In UCC terms, we would say that the Book of Daniel is not filled with “fact”, but it is filled with what we call “truth.”

 

“Fact” is what can be proven as having actually happened; “truth” is more like the lesson we can learn.

 

In other words, “The Wizard Of OZ” is not fact, but its “truth” is timeless- “There’s no place like home.”

 

Even 300 years before Jesus, religious leaders didn’t see Daniel as “fact.”

 

They saw Daniel, like Dorothy, experiencing great “truth” that could inspire people to hold onto even when the landscape was different.

 

Though Daniel is more fairy tale than fact, the world it takes place in is very real, very scary, and very dark.

 

Once upon a time, in a land far away, the King of Babylon attacked Judah, leaving the Holy City in ruins.

 

The Babylonian King stole the religious objects from the Temple, putting them in storage to be used in unholy acts.

 

He kidnapped the people of Judah, taking them 600 miles away in chains.

 

The Israelites undergo humiliation and persecution.  Their boys are given new names so they don’t sound so “ethnic.”

 

Their holy scriptures and sacred texts are ripped up, burned to bits.

 

They are made to dishonor the Sabbath; some are forced fed the foods they were forbidden to eat.

 

Mother’s who chose to circumcise their children are killed, as are the ones who perform the circumcision.

 

The King of Babylon has taken away every bit of liberty, dignity, privacy, and religious rights that the Israelites have.

 

The penalty of going against the King is death.  The penalty of advocating for life, liberty, and wellness, is death.  The penalty of worshipping God is death. 

 

Can you feel the darkness that hovers over this story?  It may feature teenagers, it may be taught to our children, but it is dark, and its world is scary…and yet there is light.

 

Daniel is part of a group of handsome teen boys brought before the King to be taught about literature, arts, and language so they can serve the palace.

 

This sounds so uncomfortable, with not-so-subtle hints of grooming.

 

To ensure the teens grow up big and strong, the King orders them to eat the same rich, decadent food he gorges himself on.

 

Daniel declines.  He lets it be known that he won’t eat swine, he will not drink wine. 

 

He asks a favor- give my friends and I a 10-day trial in which all we have is vegetables and water.  See how we do.

 

10 days later, turns out that not only are they well, they are healthier and in better shape than the others.

 

Daniel and his BFFs continue to keep kosher; their wisdom, skills, intuition, and ability to dream increase.

 

The King of Babylon is blown away, pleased with Daniel and his gang.  They receive a high place of honor in the court.  Daniel lives to see the Exile come to an end.

 

Light comes into a world of darkness, but it’s light that comes at great risk.

 

We can ask many questions about today’s text, make many assumptions.

 

Health food connoisseurs can say “see.”

Adventists will say “Praise the Lord.”

Dieticians probably eat this up.

 

This could be a story about food- what you put into your body makes a difference.

 

This story could be about principalities- by declining to eat the same food as the King, Daniel is basically saying “I refuse to be complicit in any acts of injustice against my people.”

 

This story could be a testimony that when it comes to God and holding onto our faith, we should all be willing to die cruel, painful deaths- but that sounds a bit extremist.

 

What can be said about today’s reading is perhaps much more calm, subtle- the almost silent, invisible way that God weaves Godself into the long arc of history.

 

The almost silent, invisible way that God brings God’s light into the darkest of places.

 

Here Daniel is, 550 miles away from home.  He is definitely not in Kansas anymore. 

 

Yet, he finds a way to remember who he is, and to remember God.

 

Though Daniel has no access to a Temple, his sacred books are stripped away, he’s given a different name, though he’s made to work for the enemy as a house servant, Daniel finds a way, to hold onto his God.

 

By holding onto God, he holds onto his identity.

 

Can we hear how enslaved people from Africa and Indigenous Americans could find kinship with Daniel and other characters from the Bible?

 

Daniel has been stripped of his name, place of worship, and familiar foods, and yet he keeps on keepin’ on.

 

In doing so, he becomes an evangelist for God.  All he does, says, every obstacle he faces becomes a testimony to those around him.

 

The palace master who saw Daniel get healthy had a chance to learn about God.  The people who threw Daniel in the lion’s den and saw him emerge, got to know about God.  Those who tried to annihilate Daniel through a fiery furnace, got to know about God.

 

Even the King of Babylon, who had destroyed the Temple, burnt their books, and desecrated the religious plateware, had no choice but to witness the majesty of God when Daniel stood before him, shining like a natural man.

 

Daniel may not be much on historical fact, but it is rich with truth-

 

Every event in life can be a moment where God is made known, every obstacle can be an opportunity for God’s light to shine.

 

Does Daniel need to be a real person for us to learn this lesson?  Does Daniel need to be all facts to inspire?

 

How much of Daniel’s story inspired Paul when he was in jail?  How much of Daniel inspired those who endured the Crusades and the Holocaust?

 

How much can Daniel inspire us, as we continue to discern who we are, and what it means to live in a land in which our faith is being hijacked by those who intend to hurt and want to hate?

 

Daniel, regardless if his story is fact or truth, has a lesson to teach us.

 

Let that lesson be that into a world full of darkness, the light of God still shines, and that light shines from us.

 

Let us give thanks, let us give glory to God.                                         

 

Amen.