2025 Anchored in Joy Negenuag 2:1-18, 6:15, 8:1-10
Anchored in Joy
Nehemiah 2:1-18; 6:15; 8:1-10
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Abbott Blevins
November 9, 2025
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me. Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites. So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue. So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate and so returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work. Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.
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So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
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all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also the Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
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Several men are in the locker room at the local golf course. A cell phone on the bench begins to ring, and one of the men picks it up, puts it on speaker phone and answers. All the other guys in the locker room stop to listen.
“Hello?” the man says.
A woman on the other end: “Hi honey, are you at the club?”
“Yes, I am,” he responds.
“Well I’m out shopping and I found this fabulous leather coat. It’s only $2000. Is it ok if I buy it?” the woman says.
“Sure thing, if it will make you happy,” the man says.
“Oh yes, it will make me very happy,” the woman assures. She continues, “I also stopped at the Mercedes dealer. The one I really want is $200,000. Is it ok if I buy it?”
“Absolutely, if it will make you happy,” the man says.
“Oh yes, it will make me very happy,” the woman assures. She continues, “Janie called. The house that I wanted last year is back on the market. It’s listed at $2.2 million. Is it ok if I make an offer?”
“Yes, of course, if it will make you happy,” the man says. “Offer $2 million, they’ll probably accept it. If not we can meet them at their asking price.”
“This house will make me so happy! Ok, gotta run. I love you!” the woman says.
“I love you too,” says the man.
When he hangs up the other men in the locker room are looking at him in astonishment, their eyes wide open, their mouths agape. The man turns to the other guys and asks, “Anyone know who this phone belongs to?”
That’s a fun little story—good for a chuckle. But I invite you to think about the little refrain in the story . . . the man says “yes” to an exorbitant purchase if it will make the woman “happy,” and she assures the man (presumably thinking the man is her husband) that the extravagant purchase will make her happy.
I think this story offers a bit of insight into our culturally conditioned understanding of what happiness is and how we acquire it. At first, we think the leather coat will make the woman happy. Then she needs a $200,000 Mercedes to make her happy. And then a $2.2 million dollar house. Where might the story go from here? A yacht? An entire island in the Mediterranean?
I don’t think I have to tell you that we do not obtain genuine happiness from the next purchase. “Retail therapy” is a short-lived elixir at best. And to be perfectly honest, happiness is an enjoyable, albeit fleeting emotion. What we really need in a world that feels unmoored, is the “extended release” version of happiness—an abiding sense of joy—a place inside us that we can return to time and time again even when the storms of change and challenge threaten to rock us to our core.
So the question I want to pose today is this: how can we anchor our lives in joy, thus infusing our lives with strength and resilience even when the world around us seems to be falling apart?
With that, let’s see what we can learn from the story of Nehemiah, part of which we read together a moment ago.
When we meet Nehemiah, he serves as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia—a highly trusted position given only to the most reliable individuals. The cupbearer was the first to sip from the king's cup to ensure its safety, a critical responsibility.
About 140 years before Nehemiah's birth, Babylonia destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, exiling the Jews to Babylon in what became known as the "Babylonian Exile." Roughly 50 years later, Persia conquered Babylon. The Persian king proved more favorable to the Israelites, gradually allowing them to return home. Over time, the Jews began assimilating into Persian culture, with Nehemiah rising to one of the most trusted positions in the Persian government—cupbearer to the king.
When Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem's ruined walls, he mourned and wept for days before asking King Artaxerxes for permission to return and rebuild. The king granted his request.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem under cover of darkness, Nehemiah inspected the walls for three nights before revealing his plans to the city leaders. Despite the massive scope of the project, Nehemiah led the people to accomplish the impossible:
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
(Nehemiah 6:15)
In less than two months, Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the wall in just 52 days!
Then in chapter 8, we read about how the entire city gathered to celebrate this accomplishment. The prophet Ezra read from the scriptures; the people wept. But Ezra and Nehemiah and the other teachers told the people:
“This day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
(Nehemiah 8:10b)
Like Solomon before them, they recognized that:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heavens . . .
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4)
After many decades of mourning, nearly 200 years of weeping because of the destruction of Jerusalem, it was finally time to laugh, it was finally time to dance!
“The joy of the Lord is your strength!” the leaders had to remind the people.
The same is true for us today.
It has been a difficult season for our church and for so many in our community. I don’t have to remind you of the ravages of Hurricane Helene upon our little tropical paradise. I probably don’t even have to remind you of how, just a few short months ago, our sacred space—our 73-year-old sanctuary—was taken down to the studs. I remember a terrible, sinking feeling when I walked in here one day, the ceiling ripped completely out, wondering “What have we done?” I knew it was a necessary step—the demo. We had to repair some failing rafters, we needed to run new HVAC duct work, we needed to bring our electric up to code, but I will tell you, from my perspective, it was sad and disheartening to see this sacred space in its devastated state.
The only thing that kept me from leaving town with my head hung in shame was the vision of a day—the vision of today as a matter of fact—the day when we would gather once again under new LED lights, with an amazing pipe organ, beautifully restored and new stained glass windows, refinished pews, beautiful new tile floor to replace the old carpet that made the place smell like your Grandma’s house, and exquisite new chancel furniture to complement the amazing organ casework. And then just this week—the hanging of our cross. The reason for it all—the glory of the cross and Christ crucified. As I watched the cross being hung this week, I found myself a little emotional—a little teary eyed. Not sad tears, but tears of joy. Seeing the cross raised up touched that place in me where that abiding sense of joy resides—that place inside us that we can return to time and time again even when the storms of change and challenge threaten to rock us at our core.
Today we’re like the people of Israel, coming together to celebrate the accomplishment of an incredible rebuilding effort—a project that required each of us to participate in whatever way we could: some of us planned and made decisions, some of us gave sacrificially, some of us prayed, some of us encouraged, some of us showed up even when we had to squeeze in Chapel Hall on folding chairs. This rebuilding effort was only accomplished by a community who caught a vision of restoring sacred space so that the next generations of worshippers on Clearwater Beach would have a beautiful, sacred, holy, God-infused space in which to gather to give thanks and praise.
And like Ezra and Nehemiah, I stand before you to proclaim:
“This day is holy to the Lord your God . . . for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Friends, we’ve had a difficult season here on Clearwater Beach. And on top of the community-wide challenges we’ve face, each person here has personal challenges they’re facing. This is truth; this is reality. To speak of joy does not discount that life can be hard. No, it’s the opposite. It’s holding both truths at the same time: life can be so, so hard AND we can find joy in the midst of hardship and challenges.
How can we anchor our lives in joy, thus infusing our lives with strength and resilience even when the world around us seems to be falling apart?
I’ve got two evidence-based practices I encourage each of us to try, two ways we can tap into that abiding joy despite what life might throw our way:
1. Choose joy daily. Every day, ask and answer this question of yourself: “what’s making me happy today?” It could be savoring your morning coffee, noticing something beautiful as you’re driving, or sharing a genuine laugh with someone. Research shows that brief, frequent moments of joy are more impactful than rare peak experiences. The key is intentionality—actively noticing and extending these moments rather than letting them pass by. Choose joy daily.
2. Schedule joy weekly. Put activities on your calendar that generate what psychologists call "eudaimonic well-being." There’s “hedonic wellbeing,” which focuses on pleasure and happiness. “Eudaimonic wellbeing” centers on meaning and self-actualization. We can work towards this deeper state through hobbies that give us meaning, relationships that matter to us, or activities aligned with our values. The scheduling aspect is crucial so that we make it happen and because it sets something before us that we can look forward to. Schedule joy weekly.
If each of us can practice this simple rhythm of joy, we will anchor our lives in joy, and we will be well on our way to fulfilling the command of scripture:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
The Psalmist understood the mindset of those who are anchored in joy, even in the midst of a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, when he wrote:
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5
Today, as we celebrate the rededication of this sacred space, we are living, breathing evidence that what the Psalmist promised is true: joy comes with the morning.
So today we rejoice in the Lord! Today we anchor our individual and collective lives in joy! Today we give thanks to God, remembering God’s faithfulness to us as individuals and as a church community. Today we recognize this truth: God has blessed each of us; God has blessed Chapel by the Sea!
May God continue to bless this faith community for the next 75 years and beyond. Well done, thy good and faithful servants. Well done, Chapel by the Sea!