Back to Normal?

This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying,

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,

saith the Lord of hosts.

Zechariah 4:6

My church is doing a series on “Rebuilding the Temple”, and the Sunday sermon was taken from Zechariah 4.

Pastor prefaced the sermon by mentioning Sandy, saying that water (and light) is a revealing agent.  Water washes away dirt.  It also washes away the things we believe are important.  He said that Sandy was a baptism.  People in the states affected by Sandy have been longing for a return to normal.  Pastor challenged that desire by asking, “What if normal was a bad idea to begin with?”  During times of distress, people tend to come together and help one another.  Going back to normal, for some, can mean going back to being impatient and rushed and stressed and selfish and materialistic.

The sermon triggered a memory.  Two or three years ago, I attended Passover Service at a Messianic Jewish Church.  (If you’ve never attended that type of service, I would highly encourage it!  You’ll be blessed.)  Rabbi spoke about the symbolism of passing through the Red Sea, saying that it was also a baptism.  He said, “If there are no tears, there’s no testimony”.

My takeaway from both sermons is that we can rebuild and we can go home; but we cannot go back with the same heart and mind.  Another pastor said that a baptism is an outward sign of an inward change.  Once we’ve been baptized, there should be a change.