500 Years

500 Years from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


Haggai 2:1b-9
1b…the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, 3Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? 4Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadek, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, 5according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you, do not fear. 6For thus says the LORD of hosts: once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; 7and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the LORD of hosts. 8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. 9The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Matthew 4:18-22
18As [Jesus] walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.


When we wake up, well I know we’re going to be, we’re going to be the church who wakes up thanks to God. When we go out, yeah I know we’re going to be, we’re gonna be the church who goes along with God…

We’ve served Christ five hundred years, and we’ll serve Christ five hundred more, just to be the church who serves a thousand years to build on what God has done before.

The people of Judah had returned from exile. Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern day Iran, had sent them home from their captivity. The Prophet Haggai notices that while the people have been rebuilding their homes, they have forgotten to rebuild the temple, which had lain in ruins since it was destroyed by the Babylonian armies some seventy years earlier. So in 520 BC, Haggai starts bothering people about rebuilding the temple, “the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: 2Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.” He bothered anyone who was nearby, whether they were listening or not.

That was roughly 2500 years ago.

When we’re working, well I know we’re going to be, we’re going to be the church who’s working hard for God. When we follow, well I know we’re going to be, we’re going to be the church who’s following our God.

We’ve served Christ five hundred years, and we’ll serve Christ five hundred more, just to be the church who serves a thousand years to leave our nets upon the shore…

A Rabbi begins his ministry, receiving a baptism from John, spending 40 days in the wilderness being tempted, and then proclaiming the good news of God, when he comes upon a couple of families of fishermen: “As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother…As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee…” He calls them to follow him, and they do, setting off a ministry that will lead to the cross, the empty tomb, and the birth of the church at Pentecost.

That was roughly 2000 years ago.

When we witness, well I know we’re going to be, we’re going to be the church who’s witnessing for God. When we reform, well I know we’re going to be, we’re going to be the church who’s reformed by our God.

We’ve served Christ five hundred years, and we’ll serve Christ five hundred more, just to be the church who serves a thousand years to nail objections to a door…

The Church in Rome was short on funds. They were in the midst of a building campaign and needed to make their budget goals, so they got creative. Like a monopoly player who needs just a few more dollars to build a row of hotels, they figured they could sell get out of jail free cards.

Or rather, get out of purgatory, the place where, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, saved sinners atone for their misdeeds in life before proceeding on to heaven.

And it wasn’t exactly free.

A contribution in this life led to an easier workload in the next, or could spring the soul of a loved one out of purgatory and into heaven.

Suddenly heaven was not something to be earned, it could be bought.

To a young law-student turned Augustinian Monk named Martin, that didn’t set well. He didn’t want to split the Church, he was protesting the corruption he saw in the Church, and wanted to try and reform it. He wrote out 95 bullet-point arguments (called Theses) and, if stories are to be believed, nailed them to the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenburg Germany on October 31st, 1517.

That’s 500 years ago this Tuesday.

It’s kind of fun that the same year our congregation turns 70, Protestant Christianity turns 500. Lots of major anniversaries to celebrate this year. Bunches of opportunities to look back at our history. Uncountable chances to say “remember when...?”

With all this history swirling around us this year, it’s tempting to join Haggai’s audience in the nostalgia of “former glory.” The Church in which we are serving is not the church in which many of us grew up. That disconnect can be a source of grief, even though it often means that new life is right around the corner. “Haggai prompts those who have known the past with God to realize what it means for the future.” God is about to shake things up. For Haggai, that meant rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. For Martin Luther, that meant the Protestant Reformation, for the Presbyterian Church of Lowell...

We’re only beginning to see what God is about to do. “The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts;” We know that “in a little while, [the LORD] will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and [the LORD] will shake all the nations.” Right now, as churches across the country decline, and struggle with resources, and compromise their ministry for the sake of their survival, we’re seeing some shaking, but we have only begun to see the glory of God, bringing the splendor of all creations into his Church.

For 500 years, the ideas of Martin Luther have defined Protestant thought. Grace alone, scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone, to the glory of God alone. Those ideas spread on the back of a new technology, the printing press, allowing Luther’s and the Reformers who followed him, to spread their ideas far beyond their own congregations. After 500 years, if we want to continue to be the Church, we’ve got to be ready to be re-formed according to the Word of God.

If you want to keep fishing, you’ve got to leave behind your nets. We’ve been fishing these waters for a while, and the old nets aren’t working so well anymore. The Church in which we are serving is not the church in which many of us grew up. If we want to keep fishing, we’ve got to leave behind our nets.

Because the church of the next 500 years is not going to look like the church of the past 500 years. When Jesus walked up to those fishermen on the seashore, Haggai’s temple was 500 years old. And yet Jesus did not bring about a great awakening of temple worship. Instead, he called people to follow him, and to become fishers of people. “Their past has not been obliterated; it has been transformed by Jesus’s call to follow.” So they left their nets, but they kept fishing, but now they were fishers of people.

If we want to keep fishing, we’ve got to leave behind our nets. Following Jesus means that the tools we trust will sometimes not be enough for the task to which the LORD calls us, and if we want to see how the new temple will be greater than the old one, we’ve got to be willing to set those tools aside. We’ve got to follow Jesus before all else.

Be careful that you don’t get so attached to the nets that you end up caught in them yourself, rather than what you’re fishing for. If you want to keep fishing, you’ve got to leave behind your nets. The old temple that stood for centuries was not rebuilt by Haggai, a new temple was built, and it stood alongside the synagogues that were born during the exile. A new way of worship and community for the people of God. When Jesus called the disciples, God was doing a new thing, and churches started in people’s homes, and the disciples became apostles.

Roughly 500 years later, the Church completes the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that unites all Christians (mostly), and the church is an international institution as well as the body of Christ.

Roughly 500 years later, The Great Schism separates Western and Easter Christianity into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

Roughly 500 years later, Martin Luther dares to suggest that we leave behind the tradition of priests being the sole interpreters of scripture, and put a Bible in everyone’s hands.

That was 500 years ago this Tuesday. How is God about to change the Church again? How will we put down our nets and follow Jesus? I know that the old social structures on which the church used to could rely are breaking down, and those nets won’t catch people anymore. The Blue laws are gone, and won’t come back. “People cannot be coerced into the kingdom. Our task is to share a faith that is exciting enough to be contagious.”

I don’t know the particulars, but I’m excited to find out together.