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Twinbrook Baptist Church Rockville, MD 2nd Sunday in Advent December 10, 2006 Pastor: Kip Ingram |
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The first inhabitants of this area lived here several thousand years ago, and were called by later archeologists, Montgomery Indians. In fact, several prehistoric sites within the city have been discovered and documented. By about 1700, however, most of the Indians had been driven out by early European colonists, and land patents were obtained by those who chose to settle in the area. A group of houses sprang up in what is now the downtown area, and the small village was called either Owen´s Ordinary or Hungerford´s Tavern. It became a small rest stop on the road that ran from George Town to Frederick Town, a road known as Rock Creek Main Road, a road later called Rockville Pike. In 1776, at the Maryland Constitutional Convention, a proposal was made by Dr. Thomas Wootton that Montgomery County be established, and a location for the courthouse was chosen in what is now downtown Rockville. After this, the village was referred to mostly as Montgomery County Courthouse. In 1803, when the area was formally entered into land records, the name of Rockville was listed, and many believe it came from nearby Rock Creek. During the Civil War in 1863, Gen. Jeb Stuart marched through with 8000 soldiers and occupied Rockville on his way to the battle of Gettysburg. A sizeable population of African-Americans, most of them originally slaves, settled into what is now known as the Lincoln Park area of Rockville, establishing their own schools and businesses in the neighborhood. In 1946, four developers bought 200 acres of farmland from Lillian Small in a beautiful area on the edge of Rockville, an area which featured two streams which flowed into Rock Creek, and thus it was called Twin-brook. The neighborhood grew quickly in the next decade or so, with GIs settling here after the war along with others working in the Washington area. In the early 1960s, the schools became integrated, and neighborhood housing and local swimming pools began to reflect these changes. Over the decades since, Rockville saw its population continue to increase, with both housing and apartments continually on the rise, and business growth advancing. As the next generation of residents come into the neighborhood, the population is becoming more and more pluralistic, with different nationalities and cultures and faith groups. And it is increasingly divided between the more established neighborhood residents and the more fluid, and sometimes less affluential, residents of temporary forms of housing. The population of Rockville, according to the most recent census is 57,100, and it is the third largest city in Maryland. This city has seen many changes over the yearsBgood changes as well as some bad and questionable ones. It is in the nature of things to change, otherwise we stagnate and lose vitality, and cities are no exception to this universal truth. So prehistoric tribes give way to farmland settlers; settlers give way to the establishment of towns and businesses; inherited patterns of slavery give way to realities, first of ”separate but equal” then of integration; where a pastoral setting of land once was, now a neighborhood of homes and streets cover the area; where a small but growing neighborhood once was now a highly populated city of business and traffic finds its way; where people of similar nationality and background once made up neighborhoods and schools, now people of many different nationalities and backgrounds live and go to school and work side by side. Yes, the city of Rockville has seen many changes over the years, but how do we relate to these ongoing changes as people faith? Does God care about Rockville or about cities in general? Last Sunday I talked with you about the time of Jeremiah, a time in 587 BC in which the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, its temple torn down and its people taken into exile in Babylon. Now in the following years the empire of Babylon was defeated by the newly emerging Persian empire. So King Cyrus of Persia issued a decree in 538 BC allowing the Jews to return to the city of Jerusalem. Spurred on by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the exiles returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple, completing it in 516 BC. It was a good start, but as the years wore on and turned into decades, the glorious return to the city gave way to religious and moral neglect as people turned away from God´s best for their lives and their city. In 445 BC, the Persian King allowed his cupbearer Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and lead an effort to rebuild the broken down and abandoned walls of the city, an important task for security, but even more, an important symbol for city renewal. Nevertheless, some years after Nehemiah, the city of Jerusalem still suffered from religious and moral neglect. The temple offerings and attendance were overlooked by many, religious faithfulness in marriage was ignored as people married into other religious faiths and abandoned their own, hope gave way to just surviving and getting by and looking out for me and mine, and many people rationalized their neglectful actions by asserting that one day God would come and make things right in the city of Jerusalem. The city had gone through many changes, and its changes had not been good ones. Then along comes a prophet called by God and gifted with a message, and the prophet Malachi, whose name literally means ”messenger” says, thus says the Lord: ”See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to the temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delightBindeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner´s fire and like a fuller´s soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.” Malachi challenges his city listeners with regard to real, positive change. He says, in effect: you say you want the messenger of God to bring in the day of the Lord, but you have misunderstood the nature of his coming. God wants right and faithful living in the city, but as things stand now, it´s not happening. You talk a good game, but real positive change is what God wants. So who can stand when God´s messenger comes? There must be a place for positive, faithful change in order for God to come and renew life among those in the city. Malachi uses two images to talk about the importance of change which God wants to bring. He says, that it will be like a refiner´s fire and a fuller´s soap. The task of the refiner was to create enough intense heat so that the useless dross was burned away and the precious metal, like gold and silver, was left in its simple, valuable form. The task of the fuller, on the other hand, was to take soap, usually a kind of lye made from the ashes of certain plants which grew in salt marshes, and use the soap to wash or bleach dirty clothing, typically by a process that involved cold water and some form of scrubbing. What do both these images have in common? They are about change agents who seek to bring out the best, they are about transformative effort. You see, change is inevitable for cities like Jerusalem, but not all change is necessarily good. And the prophet Malachi is reminding the people, is reminding each of us, to seek out that kind of change that will issue in right and faithful and compassionate living, that kind of change which will be pleasing to God. They brought children to Jesus, and the disciples scolded them for it. Evidently, some of the earliest followers of Jesus wanted his movement to be a childless movement, with priorities and values on other things. After all, the thinking goes, children are good in some ways, but everyone knows they take time and energy, ongoing patience and costly resources. Jesus was about the things of God, challenging the religious movers and shakers of his day. He had a religious movement and a community of followers to build. He didn't have time to be with children. So the disciples scolded the parents and children for coming to Jesus. As we think of our own city, and what God might want for it, the message of Malachi reminds us that God still wants change agents for good, that God still wants people who will bring out the best in our city life, spiritual refiners and fullers, focused on transforming realities in light of better possibilities. We spend a lot of time, through the offices of city government, working on ways to manage change and growth for the future, working with businesses and various interests in development, so that various forms of change will happen in intentional ways. And this is a good thing for cities to do. But we as people of faith also need to think about the values in city change and growth, about the well being of our residents, and the services and opportunities that will help each person to thrive. Some of you may recall several years ago, CMR organized a protest by churches and religious groups in the city at a city council meeting. A number of us joined many other people on that evening to let our voices be heard. Now, CMR had printed up for that evening ribbons to give to people, ribbons which simply yet profoundly said: ”Preserve the Spirit of Rockville.” I have kept my ribbon ever since as a reminder that we as a people of faith are also a city people, that we are called by God to be concerned with the values and changes in our city and how they will affect each person who lives here. So, I offer you three ways in which we can be positive change agents for God in our city: First, stay informed about city policy and its moral and spiritual implications. Read the paper about local issues; attend forums of discussion hosted by city leaders; stay aware of the decisions made in our city by its leaders. One way we can do this is through the public leadership of the Executive Dir. of Community Ministries of Rockville, this used to be Kasey Kasemann but is now Mark Polutenow. It is part of his responsibility to form good working relationships with city council members and others in leadership. In some ways, he represents our presence as a spiritual change agent for concerned churches and faith groups in our city. We must work against the temptation to view city life only in terms of ”me and mine.” You know how this kind of thinking goesBjust take my trash and get the snow off my roads and leave me alone about everything else. We all should stay informed about city policies and issues to the degree that we can. Second, join with other faith and ministry groups to provide meaningful resources to others. We do this through the Manna Food, through Chase House Shelter for Men, through the newly established Mobile Med, through Emergency Assistance, through Habitat for Humanity, and many other ways. We are able to join with other faith groups that we can share with around common values, and we can encourage this both in our individual and in our congregational efforts. Third, be the church; be the people of God. We have a unique identity; we have heard good news in Christ; we are part of God´s story to share with our world. Our first task and our most fundamental task is to be God´s people, to be the gathered church who worships regularly and shares our life together. When we are the church, we can provide an alternative to the questionable values of violence and greed and selfishness so prevalent in our society. So to be agents of change, it starts with each of us before God, listening to the call for our lives. When you drive through downtown Rockville, as you go along Route 28 (also known as Jefferson St.), you come to a point where it is joined in a fork in the road by Montgomery Avenue. On your right is the Rockville Methodist Church and the CMR building. But just past it is a little triangular patch of land surrounded by protective fencing, and labeled Baptist Cemetery. In the 1800s and early 1900s, this site had been part of the Baptist Church in Rockville, until the church moved to Adclare Street down by the Interstate. When the church moved, they left this small, historic patch of ground to the city for preservation. In this cemetery resides the graves of an influential mill owner and his family, a miller by the name of Samuel Veirs. Every day people drive down a busy street called Veirs Mill which bears his name and memory and influence in the city. It is a symbolic reminder of his life as a positive change agent in the city and as a person of faith. He and his family literally left their mark for good in the city of Rockville. Now to be sure, we won´t all have streets named after us, but that is not the real point. We are all called to be people of faith and positive change in our lives, called to leave a legacy for God and good. This we can do as people of faith, as people of the city, presenting our life offerings in ways that are pleasing to God. |
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