Delivered November 19, 2006
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
Our lives are not only stories in themselves, they are full of stories - as is all of life. The Bible is a story made up of many stories. This morning in particular we are thinking of Heather and the story of her life, and how she contributed to the story of God and Petitcodiac Mennonite Church. Sometimes, when we hold two stories side by side - juxtaposed - each story helps us understand the other better. I hope that's true this morning.
Playing With Three Strings by Harold M. Schulweis
We have seen Yitzhak Perlman
Who walks the stage with braces on both legs,
On two crutches.
He takes his seat, unhinges the clasps of his legs,
Tucking one leg back, extending the other,
Laying down his crutches, placing the violin under his chin.
On one occasion one of his violin strings broke.
A great deal of time had passed since the humiliation and dispersion of the once-great nation of Judah. Jews of Nehemiah's time - those who had been dispersed throughout the world - were at least two generations removed from those horrific events. They had found a certain measure of security and peace and financial success in the foreign lands in which they lived. The memories of Jerusalem lived on only in the stories told by the oldest Jews who had been born several generations after the deportation. In Judah itself most of the Jews still living there were the poor and less fortunate, those without lands and resources. Most of the land remained a ruin - a visible symbol of the psyche of the former nation of Israel. There were a few Jews who had come home with enough money to rebuild their small corner of Israel's Promised Land, but by and large, the mighty nation of Israel had been destroyed. There were a few Jewish officials in the area of Jerusalem. They had done what they had to in order to re-establish themselves in their homeland, and if it had meant marrying outside of Jewish families, who would fault them for it? Otherwise men like Tobiah and Sanballat would have made life miserable for them with outrageous taxes that would eventually lead to confiscation of their land. They had no choice. Who was there to stand up for Judah and the Jews any longer? YHWH certainly wasn't! It was everyone for themselves, otherwise they would all die.
Then Nehemiah showed up - another do-gooder from Susa. These religious fanatics were always coming from Persia or some far-off place with big plans from YHWH to rebuild everything in Jerusalem. Hah! They had no clue what life was like in Judah now. It was all the Jews could do to keep body and soul together some days. Who had the energy - or the desire, for that matter - to rebuild the walls? They would just be torn down again, just like all the other times. Yes, it would be wonderful to have Jerusalem rebuilt, for YHWH to be worshiped once again in Zion, to have things at least a little bit how it had been. But people had tried in the past. Look where it had gotten them. Nowhere.
On one occasion one of Yitzhak Perlman's violin strings broke. The audience grew silent but the violinist did not leave the stage. He signalled the maestro, and the orchestra began its part. The violinist played with power and intensity on only three strings. With three strings, he modulated, changed and Recomposed the piece in his head He retuned the strings to get different sounds, Tuned them upward and downward.
Nehemiah refused to be influenced by "what life was like in Judah now." Nehemiah knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that not only was it God's will that the walls of Jerusalem be rebuilt, but that they would be rebuilt now. Nehemiah had been called, equipped by God through his natural abilities, his education and experience and four months of intense spiritual searching for the will and plan of God. It would happen because Adonai/YHWH was in this plan and Adonai's plans would be accomplished.
The Jews of Judah - wherever they were and whatever state their religious beliefs were in - were still Sarah and Abraham's descendants, children of the Promise. While they hadn't behaved like it for quite some time, they could once more become People of the Book. It wouldn't be easy and it would never be the same. Perhaps the Jews would always dream of once more being a powerful and influential nation. That might or might not happen. But whatever happened, they could still be the People of the Book, the children of Israel - the chosen of YHWH/Adonai. But what if God's original plan were put in place - that God would lead Israel as her king, that Israel would allow God to transform them into a people who had become God's image in the world, who embraced God's love and law as a way of being. They would be God's visible, tangible loving presence to all the nations, inviting all people to join them in this kingdom of love and grace. This remained impossible as long as the people of the Promise remained without hope, far from Judah and each other - far from God.
So, while Nehemiah's stated task was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he was also, in a very real sense, contributing to the rebuilding of the hope of Israel. If the walls could be rebuilt, all was not lost. A lot had been lost, but not everything. The temple would never be as beautiful and magnificent as Solomon's temple had been - but it was rebuilt. Jerusalem would never be the same, but it would continue as the locus of Jewish faith, the center of the Jews' universe - the place where God had once lived. Jewish faith and practice would change because of the dispersion of the people - but it could continue in different forms. None of this, however, would come about if there wasn't a significant shift the Jews' understanding of themselves. Only God could transform them from a defeated, broken, scattered, divided and purposeless bunch into a people with a firm knowledge of who they were as God's people, that they were called by God and had been given the gifts with which to work at that calling. It was this transformation that would give them purpose for their existence. Only then could they reclaim their heritage the People of the Book.
The audience screamed delight, Applauded their appreciation. Asked later how he had accomplished this feat, The violinist answered It is my task to make music with what remains.
Nehemiah came to Jerusalem not knowing exactly what he would find. He knew there would be rubble where the walls had once stood around Jerusalem that needed to be cleared away. He may not have known whether any of it could be used in the rebuilding. He knew there was spiritual and psychological rubble, although he didn't say it that way. "Should you not walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?" 9b It was obvious that the Jews of Judah had lost their way, the way of Adonai. Those Jews who were lending money to their poorer neighbours were charging exorbitant interest to the point where they were foreclosing on land and possessions. Some people were forced to sell their children into slavery. These Jews were not living God's law of love and care for the other. They had continued in the same behavioural patterns that had brought about the demise of Judah in the first place. God destroyed all that the Israelites believed stood for God and their faith. The splendour of Solomon's temple was completely gone. The glory of Jerusalem, the city of God - Zion itself - lay in rubble. The People of the Book were scattered. There were only remnants and memories left. Nehemiah came with the power of God's call strong in his mind, with the will to do God's will and the determination to listen only to God's voice. Nehemiah's faith allowed him to accept and fully embrace his God-given task and reject anything that would deter him. Nehemiah may have looked over the motley crew of the Jews of Judah and wondered - as any of us might - What in the world is God thinking? Can anything be salvaged out of this mess? Can these people even stack a rock on top of another so it will stay? And will they stick it out? Oh, God - what am I doing here? Oh, yeah. I almost forgot.
The violinist answered It is my task to make music with what remains. A legacy mightier than a concert. Make music with what remains.
Nehemiah stuck it out, as tough as it must have been. The wall was completed in the incredible amount of 52 days, "for the people had a mind to work." In spite of the constant agitation, aggravation and downright nastiness of the Locals, the wall was rebuilt. Nehemiah turned a liability into an opportunity when he discovered that Judean Jews were ripping off their poorer neighbours. After carefully considering the situation, Nehemiah confronted the offenders and challenged them to repent and begin living by the Book - the Ten Commandments. He was doing all he could to bring Jews back to Jerusalem while these guys were selling their own families for profit! Talk about dysfunctional family systems! Perhaps Nehemiah understood that if there wasn't a significant shift in the Jews' understanding of themselves as God's people, the children of Israel could be doomed to vanish into the mists of time, victims of their own stubbornness and hard-heartedness. But if they would dare to hope, to take the risk that God would keep God's promises ...
Make music with what remains
Complete the song left for us to sing,
Transcend the loss,
Play it out with heart, soul, and might
With all the remaining strength within us.
All metaphors break down at some point, and I believe that in order to transcend loss, loss must be first grieved. There has been much loss here at PMC recently. Foremost in our minds, of course, is Heather's home-going and what her loss will mean to Dick and to us. This congregation is significantly different than it was only a year ago -Siegfried died last fall, Frank and Donna are now attending another church, Werner and Joanne are serving Christ in Edmonton and Wolfgang and Hannah are no longer with us as regularly as they used to be. It's different - it may hurt. It's change. And when we've lived with our loss long enough, we will be ready to hear God once more. God calls us, as Nehemiah was called - and Miriam - and Moses - and Sarah - and Abraham - and Deborah - and Ruth - and Samuel - and David - and Abigail - Mary and Joseph - Elizabeth and Zechariah - Simon Peter and Andrew - Joanna and Susanna - James and John - Saul - Priscilla and Junia - the church in Jerusalem - the first century church - the faithful who followed God's ways throughout history, who were true People of the Book. Let us, as followers of Jesus at Petitcodiac Mennonite Church, complete the song - or the verse or the movement - left for us to sing. Let us, as followers of Jesus, whom we believe to be the Promised King of Israel, transcend the loss of broken relationships and forge healthy and, therefore, stronger ways of being the church. Let us play this new God-song with all our heart, soul and might With all the remaining strength within us. For God calls, equips and enables us as God's people to accomplish God's purposes. God calls us, equips us and enables us to rewrite, retune, rework and rebuild our lives and our congregational life with what God gives us - with what remains to us.
Yitzhak Perlman may never have played with three strings before, but he did it. And he did it masterfully. God had fully equipped Yitzhak Perlman for such a time and Yitzhak had prepared himself through study and practice. What is it that God has called and equipped Petitcodiac Mennonite for? What is it that God has created Petitcodiac Mennonite Church to be? God has always known the challenge that now faces us. It is our task now to discover the rest of the song, to transcend the loss and make music with what remains. It is our task to discover, perhaps, what it is that remains. Perhaps there is more to us than we have yet realized, than we know, than we even suspect. Somewhere within us may be the unrecognized ability to "play with only 3 strings." And the truth of humanity is that we would never search for that ability to play on 3 strings if the 4th string hadn't broken first. As we search for "what remains," as we step into new territory and out of what has become usual and normal and comfortable, as we begin to play with 3 strings with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, who knows what wondrous music we may discover and make together?
On one occasion one of the violinist's strings broke.
The audience grew silent but the violinist did not leave the stage. He signalled the maestro, and the orchestra began its part. The violinist played with power and intensity on only three strings. With three strings, he modulated, changed and Recomposed the piece in his head He retuned the strings to get different sounds, Tuned them upward and downward. The audience screamed delight, Applauded their appreciation. Asked later how he had accomplished this feat, The violinist answered It is my task to make music with what remains.
A legacy mightier than a concert.
Make music with what remains.
Complete the song left for us to sing,
Transcend the loss,
Play it out with heart, soul, and might
With all the remaining strength within us.
As so many have done before us, as God calls us to,
let us make music - together - with what remains.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church