Work to Do

Indeed. Thank you, choir. That was wonderful, what a wonderful way to be prepared to prepare the people for me to come and share a word with you all. And thank you all for being here. My name is Reverend Scott Bostic. I'm a United Methodist pastor, and I'm currently serving beyond the local church as the deputy director of the Washington Interfaith Network, which Foundry is a part of. For those of you who don't know, the Washington Interfaith Network is a broad based, multi-race, multi-faith organization rooted in congregations and associations across Washington, D.C. Together, when members take public action, they organize their communities, hold decision makers accountable, and build power to create change across D.C. It's a joy for me to be back with you again.

I say back because this is not my first time here at Foundry. I recognize many familiar faces among you. I first came here many years ago, over a decade ago, when I was serving at Asbury United Methodist Church, down at 11th and K. For a brief time this was my worshiping home, as my family worshiped here. When I was in between appointments many years ago, I've helped with weddings here, I've helped with celebrations of life, I've helped with special services during Holy Week, and other times when I've gotten a phone call from Pastor Ben or Pastor Ginger saying, hey, are you busy?

It's a joy to be with you now on this Sunday morning, with an opportunity to share a word with you all from Nehemiah. So here again, beloved, these words from the book of Nehemiah, chapter six, verses eight and nine: "Then I sent to him, saying, no such things as you say have been done. You are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands would drop from the work and it would not be done. But now, strengthen my hands."

Will you pray with me? O God of love, speak to me. God of grace and of mercy, speak through me. God of power and of justice, speak in spite of me, that on this day, in these moments, your will would be done. Speak, O Lord, for your people are listening. Amen.

I thought it might be good to start off with a confession. I'm not a huge fan of Dolly Parton's music. Country music just isn't really my thing. I do want to be clear, though, that I have deep respect for her talents as a singer, for her talents on and off screen, and for the mighty work that she has done beyond the stage and behind the microphone.

So go back with me in time, if you will, to 1980. There's a movie that Dolly starred in called 9 to 5. Some of you probably just thought it was a song, but oh no, it was so much more. There was a spinoff series and a musical too, though maybe we won't talk about the musical. In this movie, Dolly was one of three legendary actresses who told the story of three frustrated, harassed, and mistreated women whose boss is described as the most sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot on the planet. Sounds familiar. Their response to this hateful person was to work behind him and in spite of him to make changes to their workplace. Now, those of you who have seen the movie know there's some other stuff going on, but we're in church, so if you want to know the rest of the story, go watch the movie.

Among the changes they make in their workplace are implementing several programs that the workers love, including in-office daycare, equal pay for everyone (one of them had gotten in trouble for asking what one of their male colleagues made), flexible work hours, and a job-sharing program allowing employees to work part time. The boss didn't know they had made these changes, and when he came back he was furious, but his chairman came in and was elated because the productivity of their department had increased by 20 percent because of these changes.

That got me thinking about how these changes came to be, not just in movieland but in our world, through the work of organized labor. That, after all, is what this weekend is all about. Not the unofficial end of summer, not one last trip to the beach or a last chance to wear your boat shoes for the season. It's not about the barbecues or the parties or the days off, well, actually, maybe it is about that last one. Labor Day is about celebrating how those who worked for reform in our workplace and labor laws fought to get people a weekend, time off, to end child labor and send kids to school instead of to factories. Coincidentally, my family watched the news this weekend, which is its own great labor story, about things like paid leave and family leave, unemployment benefits, and rules about hiring and firing, so many things that many of us take for granted, and maybe did until the last two years. It got me thinking about how some people said that these proposed changes, each time, were threats to the status quo which benefited them, those in power, and therefore they hurled their own threats and insults at the people who wanted to make these changes. Those in power were afraid of what might happen if people knew their worth and knew that somebody cared about that.

Now, our scripture and story for today picks up in the midst of things in the story of Nehemiah. Some of you know that Nehemiah is a book that is part of the Hebrew Scriptures in the section known as the histories. It's different from some of the other books in the history section, like Esther and Ezra and First and Second Chronicles, in that it is told from the first-person perspective. Scholars call it the Nehemiah memoir, because we're hearing the story from Nehemiah's perspective, so he has moments to add his own commentary, his own personal reflections on what was happening.

For those who haven't read the book, or haven't read it in a while, it opens in the first chapter with Nehemiah in Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire, serving as cupbearer to the king, who we think was Artaxerxes the First, for the history buffs in the room. Word comes from Jerusalem about the state of the walls and the troubles of his people. In response, Nehemiah prays to God, praying that God will fulfill the promises God made to Moses to uplift and care for God's people. His prayer includes an important confession, because Nehemiah knew that the people were in exile, that the walls had been destroyed for a reason, and it was because of the people's unfaithfulness. It was because of the people's actions that Jerusalem had fallen and that they were in exile in the first place. But he prays that God would receive their prayer and grant restoration to the people if they would repent and return to the Lord.

That is where we get to our first lesson, before we even get to the text from Nehemiah: it starts with God and prayer, but please don't stop there. Too often people go to God and pray. We pray for ourselves, we pray for the people around us, we pray for the world, for the problems going on around us, for tragedies that we hear about, and then we stop. We don't follow up on our prayers with the response that God is calling us to take, the response that God has empowered and emboldened us to take. We, as faithful followers, have a responsibility to pray, to seek God first, and to act in response to the needs of the world around us as God is calling and leading, not as social trends would have us do, or social media influencers or politicians or even some pastors, but as God Almighty is calling us and has shown us again and again that we are called to respond through loving our neighbors, not just with warm, fuzzy feelings and sweet, kind thoughts, but with concrete, tangible actions.

So Nehemiah, from his position of power at the hand of the king as cupbearer, requests and is granted permission to travel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. He's given written permission so that should anyone question whether it was okay for him to do this, they would know he had the blessing of the king. The king was so moved by and behind this effort that he even provided wood from his own forests and cavalry and troops to escort Nehemiah and their resources back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, at that point in time, had already had the temple rebuilt, that was the main thrust of the story in the Book of Ezra, and we learn early on in Nehemiah's adventures that in addition to being a faithful servant of God and a loyal servant in his position to the king, he is also wise. That wisdom would serve him well in the ways he would deal with the many challenges ahead. But humbly, Nehemiah recognizes, as he says several times, that his success, the way things were able to work out, was not because of him. It was because of God's faithfulness, because God's gracious hand was upon him.

Now, as you might remember or imagine, Nehemiah showing up on the scene to rebuild the walls upset some people, especially the leaders around Jerusalem, because someone was coming to care for the people of Israel. Remember, not everyone went into exile after the fall of Jerusalem. Many remained in the land but were ruled by others. Some had already returned, as I mentioned, to rebuild the temple, as recounted in the Book of Ezra. But they still did not have a Jewish governor who was steadfast and faithful to God. Throughout the chapters leading up to chapter six, Nehemiah had faced opposition from people outside the city and from some people inside the city, not all of whom were faithful followers of God. It took some wisdom for him to navigate these different challenges in this tricky landscape, as people plotted to disrupt the work and even attack the city.

Why? Because they knew the practical and symbolic meaning of the walls being rebuilt. Practically, it meant there would be a place of refuge for the people of Israel, should someone in future days come to attack or try to harm them. Now, I'm not advocating for walls in general, but in those days a walled city was a safer city, because when raiders came, people had a place of shelter and knew they would be safe. Symbolically, it marked the return of this space to being a city that was looking out for the Hebrew people. It symbolized strength and protection and care.

Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem to build the walls was so zealously supported that people came together, not just in Jerusalem but from across Judah, because they believed that Nehemiah cared for them, and through him they were reminded of God's care for them. That gave them the courage to work, even though it was dangerous and upsetting to their enemies, even though it caused internal challenges for them as a people, because coming together to do the work of rebuilding the walls meant fewer people in the fields, fewer people to guard the city. And yet, in spite of all of this, Nehemiah, in his wisdom and in his seeking of God, was able to create a more caring and loving society, and they were able to get the work done.

This may surprise you, but in the midst of their work there were people taking advantage of those who were less fortunate. Can you imagine that? People coming together to do work, things not going well, and somebody trying to profit off of that? It's absurd. People were troubled, wondering how they would be able to get it all done, how they would build the wall, how they would keep one another safe, how they would bring in the harvest. Let me be clear, there wasn't some fast-track, no-bid contract that went out and the wall just got built. It was the people themselves who had to come together, many of whom were not masons and builders, to rebuild the wall, to care for their own safety. Nehemiah's wisdom and God's gracious hand guided him through the internal and external challenges to complete the work he set out to do.

So now we're at Nehemiah chapter six. The walls are complete, the gates are not yet built, but they've got everything they need to build them. And here come again the enemies from outside. They've seen how the people have come together to complete this work, and they know once the gates go up, they'll have problems. So enter Sanballat and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab, and all the neighbors who were displeased when Nehemiah showed up in the first place, back in chapter four, when the wall was only half its height.

They sent word to Nehemiah, saying, come, let's meet and talk about this work you're doing. Nehemiah's wisdom told him that nothing good could come from meeting with them, because they wanted him to go twenty-five miles outside the city to talk. So he responded, saying, I must focus on my work, why would I stop to come and meet with you? Three more times they sent him the same message, saying, come meet us in this deserted place outside the city so we can talk, and three more times he sent the same reply: I'm working, talk to you later. He was focused on what he needed to do.

So they tried to switch it up, using a tactic that may seem familiar to some of you. They set up an information campaign to discredit Nehemiah, sharing it with anyone who would listen, that's what the open letter refers to, instead of a sealed letter there was an open letter, a town crier walking around telling everybody what was in this letter being delivered to Nehemiah. Moreover, Sanballat and his crew paid people to go into the city and pretend to be prophets, to spread rumors that Nehemiah wanted to set himself up as king. They did this even knowing that Nehemiah had received letters from the King of Persia himself approving this work. But they were troubled, because they knew Nehemiah cared about the people, and he wanted to put an end to their ability to exploit the people of Jerusalem. They thought that if they could get rid of Nehemiah, the work would falter and they could go back to doing things the way they liked.

Beloved, there are people in our world today, just as then, who count on cities and communities and states having weak and ineffective leadership, on people not having the things they need to care for those under their charge. We see it all the time here in D.C., we've seen it even more in the past two years. Think back to last year's attempt to take a billion dollars out of D.C.'s balanced budget, a balanced budget, from a Congress that hasn't passed one of its own in twenty-five years. The weakness of others was what they were relying on to give them a sense of power and control, and that is at the core of most, if not all, oppressive thinking: the thinking that someone else has to be down in order for me to be up, that someone has to be of low state, dehumanized and dismissed, in order for me to feel powerful and strong. This, of course, dismisses the teachings of the Torah and of Christ, perpetuating the fear that comes with feelings of scarcity.

But Nehemiah doesn't give in to his own potential for fear as these lies and falsehoods are spread about him and the work of the people. He responds flatly and plainly with the truth, and then gets back to work. Verse eight, he begins: "Then I sent to him, saying, no such things as you say have been done, you are inventing them out of your own mind, for they are all wanting to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done." And then comes Nehemiah's prayer: "But now, strengthen my hands." The late Reverend Doctor Ralph Klein, the former dean and professor emeritus of Old Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, says it might be better translated, "but in fact, I redoubled my resolve." I redoubled my resolve. Whether it was an explicit prayer by Nehemiah or an act of faith built upon his steadfast faith in the God who had brought him thus far, Nehemiah resolved, in the face of hate and oppression, threats of violence, and attempts to demean him, with resolve and fortitude.

We need that kind of resolve and fortitude today, beloved, because there are gaps in the walls meant to protect us, and in some places the walls have been torn down to the ground. That means we have work to do. From the pervasive and perverse actions of gangs of federal agents, with the assistance of our own MPD, roaming through the streets of our city, attacking people based on their ethnicity, as well as those who step out to protect them, to the National Guard troops whose planned presence here until 2029 is intended to normalize something that, as a veteran, I assure you is far from normal, through fear and intimidation, to keep people from exercising their rights and looking out for their neighbors. With all that, there are gaps in the walls and we have work to do. From threats by the executive branch of our federal government to refuse to allow whoever the people of D.C. elect as their mayor to take power, to the past refusal by certain leaders to swear in members of Congress because they didn't want them to take office, to the continually unfolding attacks on our electoral process here and across our country, beloved, there are gaps in the walls and we have work to do.

From the continued objectification and domestic terrorism being wrought on Black and brown communities, to the emboldened, systematic efforts to create a permanent caste system of people living in poverty without the resources they need to survive, let alone thrive, we have work to do. When people who are experiencing homelessness and those who are housing insecure can't get an ID because a couple of people in the D.C. government don't see a problem, when people can't pay their healthcare bills or their utility bills or the gas in their car or the groceries they need to feed their families, there are gaps in the walls and we have work to do. I know it can seem overwhelming, because it is overwhelming. But I know that we're not alone, that we have one another to do this work together, some working, some watching over us, like they did in chapter four of Nehemiah, some working and some caring.

I know that we have wise leaders, like your pastors and so many others throughout our city, our region, our country and our world, who are not just telling us but showing us with their actions what it means to show up and care for others, and how important it is for us to continue building those muscles of care for one another, especially in these moments when the threats are not just real but at the gates and inside the city. As it says in Galatians 6:9, "let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at the harvest time if we do not give up." If we do not give up, beloved, don't give up.

Paul and Nehemiah knew a thing or two about the good and necessary work they had to do. They knew a thing or two about the challenges of working in dangerous and oppressive environments. They knew a thing or two about internal and external threats to their work, and they certainly knew a thing or two about having something that God put on their hearts, that they knew, that they knew, that they had to accomplish. I think if Paul had been around in Nehemiah's time, he might have sent him a note similar to the one he sent to the church in Philippi, where he says, in chapter one, verse six, "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it."

The same is true for us today, that the one who began this great work will see it through. Paul says, "I am confident of this." Given all that he had seen, all that he knew, all that had happened around him, given the threats that were levied against him, given the fact that his very occupation and his work was illegal and punishable by death, he was confident, not pretty sure, not "I think" or "I'm hopeful," but confident that the one who began a good work in you, he said. The one who began a good work in you, choir. The one who began a good work in you, Sarah. The one who began a good work in you, and you, and all of you, and all of us, would see that work continue to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Beloved, there's trouble in our city, there's trouble in our nation, and we have work to do. And we are not alone. So may we go forth from this day with the courage and the resolve, like Nehemiah, to finish the good work that is before us. May it be so. Amen.