Rebuilding the Temple

AM Psalm 31 • PM Psalm 35
Haggai 1:1-15 • Rev. 2:18-29 • Matt. 23:27-39

Today’s reading from Haggai emerges from a particular historical moment but, I hope, can still resonate for us in our own time. Haggai, one of the 12 “minor prophets” in the Hebrew Bible, describes a time between the destruction of the temple of the kingdom of Judah—known as “Solomon’s Temple”—by the invading Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. and the rebuilding of the temple, which commenced in 516, leading to the dedication of the Second Temple in 515.

The prophesy of the Lord, spoken by Haggai, criticizes the faithful of Judah for not getting the rebuilding process in motion. “Is it right for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?” The prophesy accuses the Judeans of selfish neglect: “You have sown much and harvested little; you eat but you never have enough; you drink but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes”....“(My) house lies in ruins while all of you hurry off to your own houses.” The Lord’s prophesy then follows with specific directions about the rebuilding.

What might it mean for us today to “rebuild the temple?” Some data from the Pew Foundation sheds light on this question. According to a survey conducted in March 2021, 42% of respondents reported they had attended church services within the last month, compared to 33% in July 2020. In March 2021, 65% of respondents reported they had watched a church service on television or on line, compared to 72% in July 2020. So “in-person” church participation is rebounding a bit.

I thoroughly admire everything the clergy and leadership at St. Paul’s have done to keep our church alive during the past 18 months, and I’m personally overjoyed to see the pews filling up again on Sunday mornings. But I think there’s work for all of us to do to help “rebuild the temple.” While recognizing that there are some folks whose medical conditions preclude their attendance, never the less we can reach out and urge folks to come back—or simply just come for the first time—to this beloved place we call our church home. I’m confident that our stewardship and perseverance will, in the not too distant future, lead to the robust levels of attendance and participation we experienced prior to the pandemic’s onset.

Written by David Jolliffe

At St. Paul’s, David sings in the choir, helps with community meals, and chairs the Tippy McMichael Lectureship committee.