As If For the First Time

Nehemiah 8, selected verses

August 5, 2007

Rochelle A. Stackhouse

The choir is singing these beautiful Navaho and Hopi songs this morning, and it reminds me of some time I spent in a Dakota Sioux community in Minnesota a number of years ago. As we worked together to rebuild a small church ruined by a flood, one of the tribal elders pondered why non-Indian Christians were so interested in Indian religion. Part of the reason, he thought, is that so many Christians have really lost touch with the deep truths and practices of their own faith. He challenged us to remember who we were as their traditional religious practices helped them remember who they were.

The story from Nehemiah is of a people doing just that, remembering who they were. When Ezra stood up to read the newly recovered books of the law, what we know of as the first five books of the Bible, many of the people in the crowd were hearing it for the first time ever, or for the first time in many years. They listened not only with attention, but with passion. “Oh yes,” they might have shouted, “this is who we are, this is our story; there is a God!” They also wept, Nehemiah tells us, as they might have said to each other, “we have lost our way and abandoned the ways that were meant to give us life, security, community and love. Can we find our way back?”

Nehemiah heard all this, and he told the people to rejoice, for the stories and the laws were God’s gifts to them, gifts to ground and shape them into a joyful community of people who loved each other and who loved God.

So this morning, I want to invite you to connect with the people of the Jerusalem Nehemiah was busy rebuilding, and listen to a small part of what they would have heard. Listen, as if for the first time, for the law is meant to be a gift to us all.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt, you must not act as though anything else has a higher claim on your loyalty than I do.

You must not, therefore, make idols, valuing things more than you value me.

You must not use my name as a curse or a justification for the wrongs you may do.

Remember to take time for Sabbath, time to be holy. For even God rested after creating the earth.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not kill.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not tell lies about other people, or spread gossip.

You shall not so desire what others have that it impacts your relationship with them or with God.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

Remember, this is who we are. And we have something more that the people of Nehemiah’s time

did not have. Jesus came to remind us who we are and say the old laws and stories in new ways. Listen, and remember who we are.

You have heard it was said, “do not kill,” but I say do not be angry and hold grudges against anyone or insult anyone.

You have heard it was said, “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” but I say love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

You have heard it was said, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” but I say to you that vengeance is God’s alone and that you should give to anyone who asks you for something.

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the words of the law and the prophets.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another, as I have loved you. These are the greatest commandments.

When the reading in Jerusalem was done, Nehemiah told the people to go and drink wine and eat food, and to send food to those who did not have enough. Jesus calls us today to do the same.

Receive the word of God as a gift, a foundation, a solid rock on which to stand. Remember who you are, and go forth rejoicing. Amen.