“Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” (Haggai 1:15b-2:9)

     Artist Andy Warhol is said to have created with the saying, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.”  Whether he said it or not does not matter, what matters is that he was referring to something that is short-lived in the area of publicity, celebrity, or phenomenon for an individual . . . in other words, everyone gets their fifteen minutes of recognition.  Such is the case with Haggai . . . a prophet I doubt many of you have even heard of . . . yet, here he is this morning in our scripture reading.

     The year that Haggai gets his fifteen minutes of fame is in 520 BCE.  The people of God have returned to Jerusalem . . . returned to Israel.  With their return they came with a mandate to rebuild the temple, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians in 586.  Nearly two decades after their return, the temple still was in ruins . . . nothing had been done.  Into this scenario the prophet Haggai has been called . . . called to spur the people onward in rebuilding the temple.

     As we begin our reading this morning, we need to understand that we are two months into the project.  Prior to this little has been done.  To this the prophet basically asked the question: How’s this working for you?  Of course, the prophet does not wait for an answer but answers the question himself . . . the reason nothing has been accomplished is because the people have failed to properly prioritize the reconstruction of God’s house.  Now, two months later, we are given the impression that great strides have been taken in the building project.  Though it will be several more years before the temple will be dedicated, the reconstruction has progressed enough that there appears to be some concern about what is being built.  For some, what is being built is a shadow of what once was.  According to some it wasn’t going to be as good as what they used to have.

     Now remember, that the children of God were captives of the Babylonians for quite some time.  By the time Haggai’s ministry took place, anyone who was about 70 years of age or older would have had memories, however dim, of the first temple.  Think about this . . . someone once said,
“As I get older, the better I was.”  It is commonplace to note that as we age, nothing in our later years is ever as good as what we experienced in our younger years.  So, the prophet Haggai was having to face a sense of disappointment is what being built . . . it wasn’t as good as what the people once had . . . it wasn’t the same.

     One of the dilemmas of time is the fact that we live in “today”, but we remember “yesterday”.  What we forget is “tomorrow”.  Growing pains are real, and they hurt.

     I think that there is refuge in “yesterday”.  As we grow older, we seem to remember “yesterday” as this romanticized time in our lives when things were better and greater than they were today.  We proclaim that those were the “good old days”.  We even have songs about them . . . remember this one:

Those were the days my friend

We thought they’d never end

We’d sing and dance forever and a day

We’d live the life we choose

We’d fight and never lose

For we were young and sure to have our way

Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

We remember the good old days, but the fact is hard to dispute—whether we like it or not, the times they are changing.

     Someone once stated that if “you were not big enough to change the times, you have to change with the times.”  Haggai must confront the people in their reminiscence of what was in the past and point them forward to what is yet to come . . . and, this is only something that they can deal with in the present moment . . . today.  Haggai does not dispute the memories of those who remember the past.  Instead he shifts the people’s gaze to the future, moving beyond their present expectations of what is before them to the future of what God is yet to accomplish.  As Haggai proclaims for God: “The glory of the present house will be greater than the glory of the former house . . . and in this place I will grant peace.”

     Haggai reminds the people that in the present moment . . . in the “today” . . . they have the presence of God.  God is with them.  Haggai tells the people that they are to take courage, work, and have no fear.  This is not about a building.  What this is about is remembering the divine promise . . . God is with us.  Because of this, whatever is constructed as the new temple will hold the presence of God.  At the same time, Haggai knows that if the people get hung up on what once was, what can be can never happens.  Thus, it is that the prophet urges the people to trust in God . . . to believe that God is present, and that God will take care of business if the people stick to God’s will.  In other words, don’t worry . . . God will take care of it.

     What a powerful message.

     Yesterday . . . today . . . tomorrow.

     At some point in my life, I passed into that category of remembrance in which the “good old days” play a prominent role in my life.  I remember those “good old days” when things seem to be the epitome of the “best”.  Often this remembrance . . . this romanticized version of life . . . gets in the way of the present moment.  I have children who have grown up in a much different world than I grew up or live in.  They see the world differently than I do.  They see things differently than I do.  They experience life differently.  They know God in different ways than I know God.  Though we do not often clash over these differences, I think we both feel the frustration that comes when we discussed what is happening in the world today.

     None of my children are what I would call “church goers”.  It is not because they don’t believe in God or God’s goals for humanity . . . it is just that what they have experience does not fit what they know.  What they have encountered is a body of believers who remember what it used to be like . . . they remember the good old days.  The good old days don’t fit the experience of the present generations . . . that was yesterday.  Today is different.  The church they experience today does not fit the world they are living in.  Because of this they continue to search.  They continue to search for what they see in their experience of God as God’s will.  It does not always match up to what I remember.

      Even though I like the refuge of what “yesterday” holds, I understand where they are coming from.  God calls us to the future . . . to the future of what could be . . . of what could be if we just let loose and follow God’s will.  To be stuck in what the past once was is to deny the future of what could be.  Though it might be uncomfortable, the least I can do is to listen and consider what could be.  It is to let loose and allow God to be.  That was the message of Haggai.

     Haggai had his fifteen minutes of fame.  He revered yesterday, acknowledge the present—the “today”—as the moment we live, and pointed the people towards “tomorrow”.  Tomorrow held the promise of God.  A promise that we are to continually strive towards as we remember yesterday and hope for tomorrow. 

     Haggai was a mere blip on the screen of the faithful journey, but in his brief fifteen minutes of fame he reminds us that God is in our midst . . . always in our midst.  If we strive to do God’s will to restore the unity of God’s family . . . to love God fully and to love one another . . . we can move beyond the past through the present to the future.  With that we always have hope . . . yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  Amen.