Some years ago there was a shipwreck off the coast of the Pacific Northwest.  A crowd of fishermen in a nearby village gathered to watch the ship as it was smashed on the rocks. A lifeboat was sent to the rescue, and after a terrific struggle the rescuers came back with all of the shipwrecked sailors but one. "There was no room in the lifeboat for him, so we told him to stay by the ship and someone would come back for him," shouted a young man.

"Who will come with me?" shouted a young man.

Just then a little old lady cried out, "Don't go. Jim, my boy. Don't go. You are all I have left. Your father was drowned in the sea; your brother William sailed away and we've never heard from him; and now if you are lost, I'll be left alone. Oh, Jim, please don't go."

Jim listened patiently to his mother's pleading, then said, "Mother, I must go! It is my duty. I must go!"  The onlookers watched as the men in the lifeboat fought their way toward the wreck.  Anxiously Jim's mother wept and prayed.  They saw the boat start back, a frail little shell tossed about by the angry waves.  At last it came close enough to hear, and they shouted, "Did you get him?"  And Jim shouted back, "Yes, and tell mother it's William!"  (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 326.

How rich a prize - a gift to be garnered was found in that story, but also a great risk to be extended.  The work of ministry to which we are called has even greater rewards and is also not without perils ... not without a call for us to be moved far from the comforts of shore.  For the people of Nehemiah and Ezra’s time, they experienced much risk.  The people had been in exile in Babylon, some for 2 and 3 generations and now they were returning to their homeland - returning to a city that needed to be rebuilt - and note that the city was not necessarily being rebuilt just like it was before, but it was being built to the time and for the people of the current city.  Things were changing and the city had to change with it. 

In the midst of that rebuilding, the people placed before the center of their work - the center of their living ... the reading of scripture.  They stood for the reading - they prepared themselves to hear the word - to be awed - they stood for they knew that that which was being done, the reading of the Word, had importance and effect.  The reading of scripture had a place and not just for ceremonial function, but for the effect of changing lives and shaping the people. 

As the scripture was being read, for over 4 hours mind you, the people were listening and were being taught by teachers that interspersed the crowds.  And as the people were hearing, they did not receive the Word with rejoicing, but with sadness - in fact they were weeping.  Years before, as a people before the exile, they had not allowed the Word to shape their lives and that had caused much pain in their society.  As the people were hearing the Word, they realized that they had not followed the Word in seeking justice and right relationships.  As they wept about the past, Nehemiah told them to weep know mourn, for this was a holy day - almost like a new start.  This was a day to rejoice and give thanks and to feast.  And not to feast alone - to not gorge oneself, but to allow the whole community to be fed.  The people were told to share their food, to allow the differences that had been allowed to fester and hurt in their earlier society to not be present in their new city.  That rejoicing could be a way of life for them if justice and righteousness were apart of their celebrations.

Many of us have heard the old Gospel Hymn: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.  The third verse is particularly powerful: Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you - Ye dare not trust your own.  Put on the gospel armor,  Each piece put on with prayer; Where duty calls, or danger, Be never wanting there.

A hymn written 150 years ago and inspired by the dying words of the evangelist Dudley Tyng who said: Let us stand up for Jesus.  As we together gather to hear the Word, how are our lives changed.  Do we approach the Word with awe and expectation, do we believe that in hearing the Word, our lives and our community can be reshaped, do we hear the Word’s call and rejoice and then set our feet and hands upon the task of doing God’s Work.  Or, is fear and the memories of our past limiting our view a bit ... limiting our seeing God’s hand - preventing our hearing God’s Call for us?  Change is a hard thing to adjust to on occasion.  Mark Twain said: The only person who likes change is a wet baby.  Mark Twain, Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3. 

Maybe, when it comes to change, we can be a little like - and maybe, even a lot like the people of Nehemiah.  Maybe, we dwell too much in the past and judge the future, in its success, in how we were a faithful people back years ago.  Maybe, being a people of faith is not necessary having the same things that we had here 20 or 30 or 50 years ago.  Maybe, being a success is stopping and standing in awe and with expectation, hearing God’s call lived out in new ways.  Our past has been a gift and an example of what God did for us then - let us with humble and hopeful hearts - expectant hearts in fact, lunge forward to meet the challenge of living out the Gospel in our lives, in our community, knowing that God is calling us always to new life - new ministry - and not alone do we persevere and move forward, but with the very presence of God.