Maybe it’s been a minute since you read the book of Haggai, and if so, let me share with you a bit of what is happening here. Haggai is a prophet who delivered messages to God’s people after they had returned from exile in Babylon. As they made their way back to the wiped-out city of Jerusalem, there was much to be done for the city to be inhabitable again. The people quickly got to work on their homes and restoring their fields, but the temple Solomon had built and dedicated in 1 Kings continued to lay in ruins.
This is the situation that Haggai is speaking to. Life had gotten back to “normal” for the Israelites, but they had forgotten God’s house. Verse 8 says, “Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.” The point of all this is that the Lord did not find it wasteful to invest resources in the physical structure of the temple. The temple was the place where God dwelled with the people – the place where they found forgiveness and came together as a community. The emphasis on rebuilding the temple isn’t nearly as much about the physical structure as it is about what happens there.
The vision for Hope for the next 30 years and beyond is to be a refuge for the community. Not because we want people to think that Lutheran Church of Hope is great, but because we want them to meet and experience our great and holy God – the God who changes lives and meets us where we are. Yes, the Holy Spirit is with us everywhere, but people say it again and again: The air “feels different” inside these walls. Maybe it’s because there are almost always two or three who are gathered here, and maybe also because Hope already is a place of refuge for so many – and can be a place of refuge for so many more.
Prayer
One of our core values at Hope is “Lost people matter to God, and so they matter to us.” As you pray today, spend some time asking God to reveal to you how lost people might be found through Building Hope for Tomorrow. If there are places in your heart that are cynical or skeptical, ask God for wisdom to understand what that might be about, and then direct some of your mental energy toward discovering what God is revealing to you.