An Investment in Hope
Jeremiah 32:1-3,6-15; 1 Timothy 6:6-19
A carpenter was hired to fix a squeaky floorboard in an old house. He walked in, listened carefully, and after just a few minutes, hammered a single nail in one spot.
The squeak was gone.
The homeowner, amazed, asked how much do I owe you?
The carpenter said, That’ll be $100.00.
“A hundred dollars?! For one nail?,” said the homeowner.
“The nail is only $1,” said the carpenter. “Knowing where to put it is $99.”
In the DNA of this church are several carpenters. It all started in 1963 when Burt and Janet Carpenter opened their home to 17 families who wanted to start a Baptist church in Weatherly Heights. October 6 will be 62 years since that organizational meeting. But there are also several “small c” carpenters I want to name too. For example, many offered their skills as builders on those beloved trips to Kentucky through the years - building homes in the hills of Appalachia. Glenn Crocker, Pete Garrett, Eugene Worley, Bob Hershberger, Jim Harshanko, Connie Allen. Eddie Hunt built the front porches on several of those houses. Some volunteers came on those builds with real skill and took others under their wing to teach them. I wonder if any of you here today learned something about carpentry on one of those mission builds (or from one of these named)?
There have also been a few in our congregation who have been true craftsmen such as Leonard Mitchum (better known as “Mitch” or Susan Cox’s father), and the late Mike Williams and Glenn Crocker. The cross behind me was crafted by Mike and Glenn after the completion of this sanctuary in 1988. Mitch built some of the beautiful pieces in the narthex and in the hallway behind the sanctuary. The table where we sign prayer shawl letters is one of those. He also built the cross on the back wall that hangs above the door. I wonder if he imagined all the worshipers who would walk under its blessing as they come and go from this sanctuary?
These names, these ministries, these symbols tell the story of a group of people who have been acting in faith for more than sixty years. Those 17 families crowded into the Carpenters’ living room believing that God wanted them to plant a church in this neighborhood – long before they knew about Kentucky mission trips and kindergartens and prayer shawls and English classes and food bags for backpacks. They invested in a future hope. They “bought the field” long before they knew what would come of it.
In today’s scripture, the prophet Jeremiah buys a field. But before we get to that, a little context. Jeremiah never married and never had children. Why would he? He’s been telling the people of Israel and Judah for 40 years that the Lord’s judgment was coming and the ones born in this generation would all end up in exile. So, now, here they are. Jerusalem is again surrounded by the Babylonian army and Jeremiah is under house arrest of sorts. This is what Jeremiah predicted – that the city would fall and the King would be captured. King Hezekiah doesn’t want him to undermine people’s morale anymore than it already is, so he is holding Jeremiah captive in the “courtyard of the guard.” The King wants to minimize Jeremiah’s voice and control the messaging, even if he is speaking the truth.
As he did the day he went down to the potter’s house, Jeremiah has a vision of something that is to come. The word of the Lord came to him with the message that his cousin, Hanamel, would come to make him an offer to buy his field in the land of Benjamin. And just as it was shown to him, it happened. Hanamel came to find Jeremiah in the King’s court and said exactly that. It might be helpful to understand that there was a system in place – when a piece of property came up for sale. The owner had to go to the person who was next legally in line, with the right to purchase it for a set price. They had the first right of refusal. We can assume that with the city under siege, on the brink of collapse, and Jeremiah with no heirs, Cousin Hanamel went to him out of obligation and expected he would say no.
But Jeremiah, having heard the offer in a vision from the Lord the first time was now hearing it for the second time and he was ready to answer.
Sometimes we have to hear it twice – or more – to know the right thing to do. Jeremiah said, yes, I will buy the field. This real estate deal was more than believing that one day they would return to normal life and this land would benefit him. There was a sacramental significance to his action.[1] It was a sign of God’s future intentions with God’s people. Jeremiah described painstakingly the details of the transaction. He signs and seals the deed of purchase before witnesses. He weighed out the silver to pay Hanamel. He had two copies of the deed. One was sealed as a permanent record of the original and the other was left unsealed as a working document of the terms and conditions of the sale.[2] Jeremiah gave the copies to his scribe with the instructions to store them in a clay jar where they would be preserved and protected. A clay jar. A container that had symbolically represented God’s relationship to God’s people more than once in Jeremiah’s ministry.
Jeremiah bought a field in the middle of a take-down, a siege! Why in the world would he do this? Surely his financial advisor would have waved him off this deal! But Jeremiah trusts in God. And through him God initiated the “here not yet.” Frank Yamada wrote, “In the middle of the city’s impending destruction, Jeremiah makes an investment in the future stock of Judah’s eventual restoration.[3] In the midst of perilous times, buying the field is a symbolic action of hope. Jeremiah trusts in a future that is still a long way off and hard to imagine.
Would you say we are living in perilous times? Maybe it depends on who you are. But we all feel the hostility among neighbors - divided over, well, many things; the magnitude of global conflicts, the pressures of economic strain, unequal access to healthcare, education, and how all that impacts the people on the margins the most. Our communities are in desperate need of divine hope.
Jeremiah bought a field. He had no idea what would be planted and grow there. Grain? Grapes? A new generation? It was a field that held the promise of a future. And it was a simple act that embodied hope.
In times that feel perilous, we form an assembly line in the Lighthouse and fill bags with kid-friendly foods. It’s a simple act, but for 420 children - many dealing with food insecurity – this is an act that embodies hope.
Jeremiah signed a deed. In perilous times, we sign our names to a letter and send it with a blanket knitted together with love and prayers. It’s a simple act but to someone who recently received a diagnosis, it is an embodiment of hope.
Jeremiah sealed the deed in a clay jar. In perilous times, we post signs on our outside doors that assure our ESL students that we are a sanctuary space where they can safely meet. It’s a simple act, but for someone who is looking over their shoulder; and who doesn’t take their freedom for granted, it is an open door that embodies hope.
“Perilous times REQUIRE the faithful to put into embodied action the hope that God has announced, which is already here, but not yet.”[4]
You heard today that after a long time talking about it, an endowment fund has been established. It’s a simple act, really. Churches in good financial standing like ours – with zero debt – who are only trying to fund their annual budgets – see establishing an endowment the same way Jeremiah thought about buying the field.
With God’s help, we are planning for a future that we cannot see, but a future that I am certain God is calling us to. Giving to an endowment is an act of faith. It’s like signing a deed and sealing it away in clay jars. The endowment team has decided that we want to build the principal to $500,000 before any interest is drawn from it. When we hit that goal, we will celebrate the foundation being set that will ensure Weatherly’s commitment to embody hope here on Cannstatt Drive; and anywhere else we can dream to go!
This fund is an investment in the future stock of Weatherly’s witness in this community. In these perilous times, it may seem like a simple act, but to those who live on the margins of our city and who need to know that God wants to be in covenant relationships with them, Weatherly’s bold inclusion, faithful thinking, and progressively Baptist witness is the embodiment of hope. Establishing the Legacy Table Endowment Fund is a bold step with sacramental significance.
The Kentucky building crews had a special way of memorializing former builders and carpenters after they died. When they placed the board, the header above the front door, their names were inscribed there. In legacy and in spirit, they were still part of the building crew. “The Legacy Table” was named in honor of all those C/carpenters who built this church and its ministries. It was built on the hope that decades upon decades later people would still be worshiping under these crosses, teaching in these classrooms, singing in these pews, growing in faith, and building longer tables.
[1] Clements, R. E. Interpretation Series Jeremiah, p. 193
[2] Yamada, Frank M. Working Preacher commentary Jeremiah 32, 2010
[3] ibid.
[4] Ibid.