Let Us Rise Up and Build
Friends, it’s time to rebuild.
If ever there were a time for rebuilding, it is now:
It’s time to rebuild our lives;
It’s time to rebuild our families;
It’s time rebuild our communities;
It’s time to rebuild our country.
This pandemic has been apocalyptic in the sense that it has been revealing, and what what’s been revealed about us has been ugly. There is a lot of work to do.
And yet, I can tell you that I personally have more energy for the season ahead than I can remember having before.
Let me tell you how I got here.
(And share some pictures from our summer.)
43 Weeks Straight
Every spring, it’s the same: by the end of May I find myself getting weary and worn out from preaching.
The pattern I generally follow is to take summers off and then basically preach every Sunday during the school year. For example, I preached a sermon every week from August 18, 2019 through June 7, 2020—43 weeks straight!
The hardest thing about preaching—by far—is doing it every week. No matter how good last week’s sermon was, you start at zero at 6 PM every Sunday evening. After a while of preaching every week, you find that you have nothing to say worth hearing.
After 43 weeks straight, I needed a break.
This year, of course, we had the added stress of a worldwide pandemic this spring, so I really needed a break.
Summer Break 2020
One of the many great things about Munger is how kind our folks are to me and my family. When we leave town for the summer, no one complains (at least to my face!); folks understand that if I am going to be in the pastoral ministry for the long haul, I need to pace myself. The most important thing I have to offer as a leader is my energy, and if I don’t steward my energy well, I have nothing to offer.
And so we pulled out of town on July 2 and returned back into town on August 13, exactly 6 weeks later. 5,500 miles! Now that’s a road trip, Clark.
But Wherever You Go, There You Are
We were in beautiful places this summer—from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and we spent time with family.
And yet, wherever you go, there you are.
Just because I was in beautiful places with people who love me didn’t mean that I was immediately renewed and on fire for the task ahead—I was still carrying my worries and frustrations with me. About halfway through our summer break, I was feeling pretty discouraged and not looking forward to coming back to Dallas. In prior years, we’ve been excited to get back to church, but this year, there was no church to get back to, at least not in the normal sense, and so I was dreading coming back—like so many other people, I was sick and tired of the changes the pandemic has placed in my life.
Lifeguard Stand Prayer
One of the places we went this summer was to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was clear that I needed God to give me a sense of hope and direction for the future, and so I got up early every morning and walked down to the beach and sat in the lifeguard stand, read my daily psalm, and prayed.
Let Us Rise Up and Build
After a couple of days of lifeguard stand prayer—”Lord, give me something!”—I felt really drawn toward the story of rebuilding in Ezra-Nehemiah. “That’s what we need to be about!” My wife had the idea of pulling a small group of folks together in the Munger sanctuary so I could have some friendly faces to preach to, to make things are normal as possible. It all seemed good.
I know it sounds like a Sunday school story, but it’s true: after a few weeks of committed prayer, I felt like I had a new fire for the future and a clear direction in which to walk.
“Let us rise up and build.”
(That’s from Nehemiah.)
I decided that in the immediate future, my task is to (re)build, and inspire others to do the same.
I couldn’t wait to get back home and get to work.
“This Was Filmed In Front of a Live Studio Audience”
So, for the past 4 Thursdays, I’ve filmed my sermon in front of a small “studio audience” in our church sanctuary, and it has been so life-giving to me!
The story of Ezra-Nehemiah is fascinating and filled with wisdom, and I think we can learn a lot from the stories of those great men about what it will take to rebuild in our own time.
#1 “When You Can’t Figure Out What God is Up To” [August 23]
#2 “Even the Swiss Family Robinson Got This Right” [August 30]
#3 “What If You Don’t Want What You Think You Want?” [September 6]
“When God Needs To Change You Before He Changes Your Circumstances” [Coming 9/13]
Will You Join Me?
Starting this Monday, September 14, at Munger we’ll be reading through the book of Nehemiah (more info to come—this past Wednesday we finished up reading through all 150 psalms! ); I’m continuing to preach through the book (last night’s sermon really got me fired up).
I hope you’ll join me in reading and I hope you’ll watch any sermons you’ve missed—we are releasing each week’s sermon every Sunday morning.
I don’t know when we’ll all be back in church together again, but I know this:
we’re one week closer.
Friends, It’s time to rebuild.
Who’s in?
P.S.
I took this picture at church 2 weeks ago as I was getting ready to lead evening prayer. Something about it just gives me hope.