Responsibility is a tricky thing.  Everybody wants it.  The challenge in raising teenage children is that they are reaching an age where they want more responsibility—but often aren’t ready for it.  How much responsibility is appropriate?  Where and when do you give them responsibility and where do you not?  I once heard a great statement for parents about the responsibility of raising kids.  “Parents are responsible to their kids, they are not responsible for their kids!”  Do your duty in raising up your children to be good Christians and good citizens—that’s being responsible to your kids.  What they do with that, the choices they make and the actions they take are their responsibility…not yours!  Responsibility is a tricky thing.  Typically, we want more responsibility in our workplace—often linked to the prestige and salary increase that usually go with it—but we look for promotions and the inherent increase in responsibility that comes with it.  All of us want responsibility.  But when we fail, we don’t want it.  Responsibility is a tricky thing.

When we fail, we want to shirk responsibility, we want to point to someone else and say, “It’s their fault!”  We seek for excuses, not responsibility.

I heard a great excuse awhile back.  It came from Jack Brickhouse who was the Chicago Cubs’ play-by-play announcer for years.  The Cubs, of course, are the poster children for failure.  Their last World Series championship was in 1908.  Think about it: Since the Cubs last won a World Series, transportation has gone from a new and untrustworthy thing called an automobile to jet airplane travel and two or three cars in every garage; two world wars have been fought; Teddy Roosevelt was president and 17 presidents have served since then!  Commenting on the Cubs’ futility, Brickhouse once said, “Everyone is entitled to a bad century.”

Everyone wants responsibility…until we fail.  Then we don’t want it.  We look to lay the responsibility elsewhere.  Did you know that the House of Representatives passed a resolution that is known as the “cheeseburger bill?”  The purpose of the bill is to stop lawsuits against fast food restaurants for health problems.  A 56 year old man sued McDonalds, Wendy’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Burger King, blaming them responsible for his two heart attacks, diabetes and weight problem.  A 15 year old high school boy and his mother also filed a lawsuit holding fast food restaurants responsible for the boy’s obesity.  He weighed nearly 400 pounds!  And so, our Congress is taking valuable time to consider a bill to bring responsibility back where it belongs in the first place.  I’m not sure where the bill is now in the process, but the House of Representatives passed it.  By the way, the “cheeseburger bill’s” official title is the “Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act.”

Responsibility is a tricky thing.  We all want it…until we fail.  Then, we run from it!

So, it is an important moment when Nehemiah gathers the Israelites together to assume responsibility for what they have built—not just the wall, but the Temple, the restoration of their worship, the restoration of Israel.  Basically, what Nehemiah calls the people to is to assume the responsibility that is theirs as the people of the covenant.  He does this through a covenant renewal ceremony where the people are reminded of their history with God, of God’s faithfulness to them and their response of assuming their responsibilities as God’s covenant people.  It is about much more than a building.  It is about being a people of God.

For Nehemiah, the commitment to assume the responsibility of being a follower of God was rooted in God’s Word—the Law given through Moses.  This is reflected in the people’s acknowledgement of a “curse and an oath” to follow the Law of God—a clear reference to the curse and blessing of Deuteronomy 28.

Nehemiah also gives us some insight to understanding the Word of God in the light of our circumstances, our time and place.  In their review and commitment to the Law, for example, the language about the Sabbath is updated to apply to not buying anything from the neighboring peoples on the Sabbath.  The Law called for remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy.  You know that from the 10 Commandments.  But what does keeping the Sabbath holy look like?  Interpreting what that meant initially led to an agreement among Jews to not do business or trading on the Sabbath.  Now, in Nehemiah’s time, with the reality of close neighbors who are not Jews, the application of the Sabbath law includes not buying anything from them on the Sabbath or any holy day.  Contributions to the temple are another example.  The Law spoke of a half-shekel to be given for the maintenance of the house of God.  Here, in Nehemiah, the people commit to giving a third of a shekel.  The footnote in my Study Bible says that a third of a shekel instead of a half shekel may have been due to the financial circumstances of that time.

So Nehemiah sets an example before us of the next step in a builder’s vision—that of assuming responsibility not only for the work to be done, but for the work that follows.  Assuming responsibility includes acknowledging our own history with God, seeking to apply the Word of God to the circumstances of our lives, and insuring that the covenant continues.

Therefore, our building campaign is about much more than the building.  Yes, the building is important but it is not the end all of the builder’s vision behind the campaign.  It is very much about assuming the responsibility God calls us to as a church, as a people of the covenant.

And, as it was understood by the people gathered there with Nehemiah, so also is it understood by us—as a follower of God, our responsibility is given in God’s Word.  Our responsibility includes being called to live out the Great Commandment—to love God with all our heart, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39).  Our responsibility to this building campaign includes our commitment to live out the Great Commandment the God we worship here calls us to.

Our responsibility also includes the Great Commission—to go and make disciples of everyone (Matthew 28:18-20).  Interesting to note, as we think about a building, that we are called to go and make disciples.  It is about much more than a building!

Our responsibility includes the call to be witnesses for Christ—in our neighborhood, surrounding communities, and throughout the world (Acts 1:8).  Our responsibilities include being salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16), to bring relief to the oppressed, to care for the poor, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless (Luke 4:18, 19; Matthew 25:31-46).  And if that’s not enough responsibility for you—in keeping with last week’s theme of those who are able stepping up in the building process for those who aren’t able to do so—Christ tells his followers that everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded from them and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked (Luke 12:48b).  How’s that for responsibility?  The more you have, the more you get!

Nehemiah, the builder with a vision for taking on a work to restore the wall around Jerusalem and, in so doing, bringing glory to God, gathers the people together for a covenant renewal ceremony in which they remember their history with God and His covenant promises and in which they promise to assume their responsibilities to see that the story continues.  Our celebration of this sacrament is, in its own way, a covenant renewal ceremony.  Here we remember God’s history with us—God bringing a new covenant to us through the gracious acts of Jesus Christ.  Can we participate in it today in a similar way as the people of Nehemiah’s time, committing to our responsibilities as a people of God?  Our work is not yet done.  We’ve not yet reached our financial goal for our building campaign.  In reaching for that goal, can we say, with the people of Nehemiah’s time, “We will not neglect the house of our God?”  We’ve barely begun the specific projects of the campaign.  There’s much, much more yet to be done.  Can we say, along with the people of Nehemiah’s time as we undertake the work to be done, “We will not neglect the house of our God?”  And, of course, there is much work yet to be done in the responsibilities given us as a people of God.  The “house of our God,” or put another way, the ministry and mission God calls us to do, to take responsibility for, extends far beyond the walls of this building.  There is much more work to be done.  In this covenant renewal ceremony this morning, can we say, along with the people of Nehemiah’s time, “We will not neglect the house of our God?”  I hope so.  But, let us be forewarned that words are not enough.  They must be supported by action.  Dr. H.G.M. Williamson, in his commentary on the book of Nehemiah, ends his comments on this very section of Nehemiah with these words: “[This passage] should serve as a warning that declarations of good will or intent are of limited, if of any, value unless they are translated into specific reforming activity.  Neither Old nor New Testament has any place for confessions of faith that leave life-style and practice unaffected,” (Word Biblical Commentary 16; Ezra, Nehemiah, p. 340).  Are we prepared to assume responsibility for the work that is ours as the Body of Christ known as Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church?  Can we say, and support with action, “We will not neglect the house of our God?”

Let us reflect on how we will answer that question.