In the last week of August in the year 1814, British troops were marching on Washington. President James Madison left the Capitol building and fled Washington DC. Even the guards abandoned their posts at the White House. But First Lady Dolly Madison remained. She was determined to save a portrait of George Washington that hung over one of the great fireplaces. The portrait was enormous—8 ft tall and 5 ft wide—and it was framed in thick heavy wood. A slave named Paul Jennings managed to get the portrait off the wall and then tried to break the wooden frame. Afraid he would damage the painting, another man used a knife and cut the canvas out of the frame. Because the paint was brittle, they couldn’t roll the canvas up, but had to lay the entire thing flat in a wagon before they could drive it out of the city to safety. After the portrait was safely off, Dolly Madison and Jennings followed.

That night, British troops set fire to the Capitol buildings—including the White House and the Library of Congress—and burned them to the ground. Only one book, a few historical documents, and the portrait were saved. But why save a portrait? Even a portrait of the first president? Dolly Madison had no idea what the outcome of the war would be. But her actions were a tangible sign of hope for the future. Historian Anthony Pitch comments: Dolly Madison saved that portrait for us—she took a risk and staked a symbolic claim for the generations of Americans who would come after her.

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In our Scripture reading for today, the prophet Jeremiah also takes a risk, and does something tangible to stake a claim for future generations. In the year 588, the Jewish people living in Jerusalem faced a political threat much greater than the British. The tides of power were shifting in Palestine. A Babylonian King was on the rise to the north but the Jewish leaders had sided with Egypt to the south. All too quickly, Egypt was on the run and the Babylonians were marching on Jerusalem. God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah was a word of judgment against King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. God called for Zedekiah to submit to Babylon, but the King and his court refused. He trusted in the powers of his court, rather than turning to God. But Jeremiah faithfully persisted in declaring God’s word. At first King Zedekiah ignored Jeremiah, then he got angry. Finally, the King put Jeremiah on trial for treason, and kept him under guard at the court.

By Chapter 32, the Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem and begin to lay siege to the city. King Zedekiah picks this moment to offer his protest against Jeremiah’s prophesying.

READ 32.1-5

Jeremiah’s response to the King is to offer another word of prophecy. He begins by conveying God’s word in speech, and then conveys God’s word through action.

READ 32.6-8

Jeremiah affirms that this is the word of the Lord. But what he doesn’t say—and what is implied in the text—is that acting out this word is a fool’s errand. The family farm in Anathoth has already been over-run by Babylonians: the land that God tells Jeremiah to buy is worthless. God’s word must be another sign of judgment, like the many other signs Jeremiah has enacted up to this point. Buying worthless land demonstrates that the King is on a fool’s errand, clinging to power that has already been taken from him.

In verses 9-14 Jeremiah enacts the prophetic words he has already spoken, and then he recounts the process of buying land in tedious detail.

READ 32.9-14

These details are important. They emphasize the legal and public nature of the prophet’s actions. By following every detail of the legal processes, Jeremiah makes the word of God very concrete. His actions give God’s word a tangible, material form.

But the key to this chapter comes in the last verse of our reading. After all the transactions, and duplicate copies, and public witnesses, God surprises Jeremiah by interpreting the prophetic act this way in 32.15:

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

What seemed at first to be a fool’s errand, and a symbolic act of judgment against Jerusalem, God now reveals to be a sign of hope—a tangible and public, sign of hope.

Jeremiah’s faithful, prophetic actions stake a claim of hope for future generations.

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Our situation at Moorpark seems quite different from the First Lady’s, and the Prophet’s. We are not under direct siege—there are no enemy troops marching up the 23, or cutting across LA Ave. There is no need to flee the city and we haven’t been called to purchase land.

Well, actually, the land you see through these windows has already been purchased. The call to buy the land has already been answered. Today the call to this congregation is to build . . . and by our building, to stake a claim for future generations.

So the question arises: What kind of a claim are we staking?

And what does our new sanctuary have to do with Jeremiah’s prophetic act?

Notice that Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 32 is not an oracle—the prophet does not predict the future. Rather, the prophet makes God’s words tangible and material by enacting them. For Jeremiah, prophetic actions and prophetic words were public signs that pointed to God’s work. Prophetic action required a prophet’s total commitment:

a commitment of mind, body, words, and wallet

Our own building process actually has a lot in common with Jeremiah’s purchasing process. We too responded to God’s call with action, and the plan for our sanctuary is finally coming together. You have spent hours planning in committees, drawing sketches and designs, meeting with lawyers, with Presbytery, doing financial assessments, addressing city ordinances, studying topographical maps, getting permissions, staging public hearings, and doing everything “to code.” Like Jeremiah’s prophetic actions, our response to God’s word is tangible—material, and carefully planned out.

We have learned by experience that prophetic acts are often mundane, and time consuming. Prophetic action demands the expertise and the patient coordination of the whole congregation. And prophetic acts are not magic tricks. Buildings and land do not just appear out of thin air. They require the commitment of personal funds. For Jeremiah, as for us, the financial investment is risky. While Jeremiah’s risk meant buying worthless land, our risk means building on land that is over-priced. The value of land and buildings in Ventura County has sky-rocketed. Some say the housing market is unsustainable.

Yet, the prices continue to rise—leaving many families and single income households out of the market altogether. Building houses on our lot could bring a lot of money.

Building low-cost condos could potentially house a lot of families. But building a church in this county, at a time when people cannot afford to move in or move out, and even middle income families have trouble paying their bills . . . is simply risky business.

It might even seem like a fool’s errand.

But, like Jeremiah, we have faithfully put up the money. And we have committed ourselves and our future earnings to this investment for many years to come. And, like Jeremiah, we do not know beforehand what God will do with our actions. Jeremiah’s example leads us to believe that when we respond to God’s word with faithful action, God will surprise us.

Knowing that God surprises, let me offer some humble observations about building as a prophetic action. The need for more space and more room is very clear.

But I believe your experience goes deeper than wanting to grow in size and numbers.

The more I get to know you, the more I see that your faithful actions grow out of your experience of God’s faithfulness.

And I have seen that you chose to ask the question in this way:

“God made room for us . . . will we make room for others?”

Each of you knows—in your own lives—how God has made room for you. And in our life together as a congregation we experience God’s hospitality every Sunday, every time we open the Scriptures together, or share a meal, or make a visit, or entrust our stories to one another.

And the stories go like this:

Because God made room for us, we were called and claimed in baptism.

Because God made room for us, we have been fed in communion at the Lord’s table.

Because God made room for us, we have found a place to minister through music and drama, through teaching and serving on committees, through buying flowers and serving as ordained deacons, and elders, and pastors.

Because God made room for us, we have been welcomed to a vast and yet intimate feast where God’s riches are poured out daily through the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Because we have known God’s hospitality, our hospitality grows, and we make room for others.

Because we have been guests at Christ’s table, we are able, in turn, to serve as hosts.

Listen once more to the way God surprised Jeremiah:

See I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is anything too hard for me? . . . I will bring my people back to this place, and I will settle them in safety. They shall be my people and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may stand in awe for all time, for their own good and the good of their children after them. (Jer 32.27, 37-39)

May the new sanctuary of Moorpark Presbyterian Church stand as a prophetic act that points to God’s faithfulness.

May our united actions stake a claim of hope not only for our children, but for the children of generations to come.

And may the doors of God’s sanctuary, stand open to extend God’s invitation through us, living as a prophetic people. AMEN

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Benediction: Will you please stand?

A prophetic act points to God’s work when we put God’s word into tangible, material action. So now its your turn. Take hold of the chair in front of you, or to the side.

Christ offered you a seat at the table. By your actions, and by your building, offer a seat to those whom you have not yet met, who may be different from what you expected, and whom God has called to be a part of this worshipping people.

Offer a seat, at the table. Stake a claim, and expect God to surprise.