Nehemiah 1

When I read Nehemiah 1, it took a few readings before I started to connect to the text. On the third reading, it was 1:3 that started the picture.  As he talks about these people that have been in exile and returned to a city that was destroyed, I couldn't help but think of the places I've lived that have never been touched by war, but have been torn to ruins by internal forces.  I thought of the boarded up Brightmoore Community Center 5 years ago, and the Youth House in Mission that was burned down after a gang fight there in 2009.

I find myself thinking about how these things both bring feelings of despair to the people who consider them home, but also become iconic to people who are not from there. It is what people picture when they think of that place, and they draw conclusions about the people and communities from those icons.

Nehemiah's response to this icon of destruction and despair is to mourn for the city, to cry for what has happened in this place. But then his secondary response is to plead to God for mercy, to ask God to remember those people. I wonder if I spend enough time in prayer for the communities I have grown to love? I think my natural reaction to seeing that situation play out anywhere, is to want to get involved and try to fix things, but I wonder if in our "fix it" mentality- we lose sight of who actually has power in the situation.



I absolutely adore the last line of the chapter.

I was cupbearer to the King.

I think it's such a great transition into the next chapter, though I did have to look up what the implication of being a cupbearer was. Turns out, it's like being an adviser and confidant. I'm excited to see what becomes of that in Chapter 2.