Naming the Trouble to Rally the Team
Nehemiah 2:17; 1 Chronicles 12:32
When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC, the walls remained broken and the gates burned for more than a hundred years.
By the time Nehemiah arrived, the destruction was no longer fresh. People had returned from exile. The temple had been rebuilt. Worship had been restored. Jerusalem was being inhabited again.
But the walls were still broken.
And maybe that’s the part that gets me.
Fresh devastation is hard to ignore. When the rubble is right in front of you, nobody has to tell you that something is wrong. But what happens when the brokenness has been there for generations?
People learn how to live around it.
I think that’s what makes Nehemiah’s arrival so interesting. After only a few days in Jerusalem, Nehemiah gathers the people and says, “You see the trouble we are in.”
And part of me wants to say, “Of course they do.”
The walls had been broken for more than a hundred years. Nehemiah hadn’t discovered something nobody else knew about. The people had seen the broken walls, the burned gates, and the rubble. They had built their lives around what was still broken.
So why did this moment become different?
Maybe it was because Nehemiah did not rally the people by ignoring the problem or blaming them for it. He named the trouble honestly, but in a way that invited them to see it together. And I think we can see that in three small words he uses as he speaks to the people:
“You see the trouble we are in.”
“Come, let us build.”
“That we may no longer suffer disgrace.”
We. Us. We.
Nehemiah could have arrived and asked why the people had allowed the walls to remain broken. He could have pointed at the problem and placed responsibility on those already living there. Instead, he joined them. Their trouble became his trouble. Their future became his future.
And before he ever asked anyone to pick up a brick, he made it clear that whatever happened next would not be about them helping Nehemiah accomplish his vision. This was going to belong to all of them.
Maybe that’s where a rally begins. Not with someone standing in front of the crowd telling everyone what they need to do, but with someone stepping into the crowd and saying, “We’re in this together.”
And I think we’ve seen an example of that kind of leadership in our own church. Our lead pastor has called us to pray and fast, but more importantly, he has led the way himself. He has invited us into something he is already doing.
Because there is something that happens when you becomes we. The problem is no longer somebody else’s. The work is no longer somebody else’s. The future is no longer somebody else’s.
It’s ours.
And I can’t help but think about that as we look toward the future of Cuyahoga Valley Church. Over the last several months, we have been hearing more and more about where God is leading us. A new mission statement. New ways of inviting people in. A Discipleship Pathway. Soon, we will have the full picture of the vision and direction in front of us.
And I think this is an opportunity for us to pay attention to Nehemiah’s language.
We. Us. We.
The future of any church cannot be carried by a few people while everyone else watches from the outside. It has to become something we discern, carry, and build together.
Nehemiah had a burden from God, but when he stood before the people, he didn’t say, “Here is what God has called me to do.” He said, “You see the trouble we are in.” “Come, let us build.” “That we may no longer suffer disgrace.”
That may be part of the opportunity in front of us right now. As the vision becomes clearer, we can move from watching what God is doing in Cuyahoga Valley Church to seeing ourselves as part of it.
Not, “What are they going to do?”
But, “What might God do through us?”
Not, “Where are they taking the church?”
But, “Where might God be leading us?”
We. Us. We.
Question to Consider
Where might you have become so accustomed to something being broken that you’ve stopped naming it—and where might God be inviting you to stop saying “they” and start saying “we” and “us”?
Prayer Prompt
Prayer for the courage to name what is broken and the humility to move from “they” to “we” as God invites us to move forward together.
