Selected Sermons

SCOC's Twentieth Anniversary
September 28, 2003

Zechariah 8:1-13
By Tim Reimer

"Four Visions in One Harness"

Say "cheese" everybody! We are sitting squarely in the lens of a photographer today. The photographer's name is Zechariah. He is standing two thousand five hundred years away and yet he seems to see us clearly. Look at the last photograph in the history of St. Clair O'Connor (written recently by Peter Rempel and designed by Bill Bryson) and you will see children playing in the streets here and seniors walking along the sidewalks, all together enjoying a pleasant sunny day. Now listen to the words of Zechariah:
Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets (Zech 8:4-5).

Zechariah is describing a vision he has. A vision of a thriving, peaceable community, where there is so much stability that people can expect to live long, healthy lives, and so much security that children can play carefree in the neighbourhood. Those who worked to build this community at St. Clair and O'Connor twenty years ago (many of whom are with us today) likewise had a vision. The caption under this photo reads, "From the beginning the planners had an intergenerational community in mind."

Today we celebrate the twentieth birthday of this community. If we wanted to, we could take this opportunity to look back and evaluate how well we have done in making that vision a reality. A twentieth birthday is a fitting time to do such evaluation because it marks a kind of coming of age, a standing on the threshold of adulthood.

(I celebrated my own twentieth birthday in Japan, during a summer of service during which a group of young people were exploring ministry options.) We could ask, What kind of an "adult" will St. Clair O'Connor be? A twentieth anniversary is an especially appropriate time to evaluate an "intergenerational" community, since, by some definitions, twenty years is one generation. Is there a new generation of visionaries on the horizon? But before we launch into an evaluation of this particular vision, some might want to stop me and say, "Wait a minute! Who says that this "intergenerational idea" is the vision that was to guide the building of this community?" There were other dreams and ideals that we wanted to build into St. Clair O'Connor. Some wanted to see it become a place that would serve the needs of the growing senior population in East York. Others, while affirming the first two visions, thought it would be a great place to preserve and develop the best of Mennonite heritage, with a library, an art collection, with concerts, and even a children's choir. Now we have not just one vision, but three or four. To evaluate our progress on each one of these might be worthwhile but it would likely be more complex and time consuming than we would want.

Instead, I challenge us this morning to remember one thing: Why do we have a vision at all? Where does vision itself come from? What is vision per se based on? To get a clear picture of this singular vision, perhaps we could check in with our distant, yet very accurate, photographer.

"Zechariah, this vision of yours, was it basically the intergenerational vision, or what was it? Cultural? Was it a socio-religious vision? Political?"
Zechariah might answer, "Visions? I had plenty of visions, of horses, of measuring tapes, of golden lampstands, of flying scrolls, a woman in a basket . . .
In fact, by the time you reach my sixth chapter I already had seven visions. And in Chapter Six it was a vision of four horses, and even they were off in all directions. Verse 7 says, "When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the earth!"
"Hold on, Zechariah! What is the heart of the matter? We here at SCOC are wanting to know what ties this all together."
Then the old seer would respond and say, "Read your intergenerational verse again, and don't forget to emphasize the first words in the verse."
So, let us read this verse again: Thus says the LORD of hosts, old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the LORD of hosts.

There is indeed an array of visions that the prophet saw. In our chapter, chapter 8, there were ten things. But all of them come from God. Thus says the LORD of hosts, ten times in the chapter. There is nothing inherently wrong with having more than one vision, even more than one ideal that is to be realized in the same community. It is visions that provide the "horse power" for a project like this. But these visions and dreams will be most effective if they are placed into one guiding harness so that they can pull most effectively and dynamically.

What is that harness? It is the redeeming grace of God that saves us, that heals us, that forgives us, that defines our very identity.
If we build an intergenerational community, it is because we believe that human beings are restored and renewed by God's grace. If we celebrate culture and heritage, we do it out of a heart of thankfulness that we are a rescued people. This is the basis of all our visions and dreams.

Let's do a second take on a well known quote of Menno Simons: True evangelical faith can lie sleeping. But if it does, it has dreams, it has visions, and it wakes up again empowered by the Good News of Jesus Christ. Once inspired by this vision, it can no longer lie sleeping, it builds community, it includes the marginalised, it celebrates families, it establishes community for the elderly.

This is the Good News of God's grace in Jesus Christ. In this light I read again the concluding verses from our text in Zechariah: 9 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Let your hands be strong-- you that have recently been hearing these words from the mouths of the prophets who were present when the foundation was laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the LORD of hosts. Thus says the LORD of hosts, there shall be a sowing of peace; the vine shall yield its fruit, the ground shall give its produce, and the skies shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. Thus I will save you and you shall be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.