The prophet Samuel was the greatest prophet in Israel since Moses. Between Moses and Samuel, there were prophets but none of them had that sense of being the one through whom God guided his people of Israel.
We hear that Samuel was born after the prayer of his mother, Hannah, was answered. Hannah, who was one of two wives of Samuel’s father, had never been able to have children. But, she prayed and prayed, even weeping as she was praying at the temple one day. And, the head priest Eli saw her and thought she was drunk. He said: “Woman,put away your wine.” Then, she said: “I am not drunk. I am praying with all my heart because my heart is deeply wounded.” Then, Eli felt pretty awful I think about what he had said to her because he was deep down a good priest. And, he said, “Woman, whatever your prayer is, may it be granted by God.” And, the answer to that prayer was a little boy born to Hannah. Hannah promised God that she would dedicate him to serve as a priest of the Lord with Eli. And, after the boy was weaned – probably not til 4 or 5 years old, she may have delayed the weaning a bit too. But, eventually she took the little fellow to Eli, with a little priest’s robe she had made and left him there. And, so Eli trained him up to be a priest.
Eli had two grown sons, but they were rotten, taking bribes, sleeping with prostitutes at the temple, etc. I always feel like Eli saw in Samuel a chance to amend his mistakes in raising his own sons. And, apparently, Eli did a great job with Samuel, because he grew up to be a great judge and priest over Israel.
But, now we pick up in our history towards the end of Samuel’s life. It says:
The elders called a meeting, because Samuel was old, he had appointed his sons to serve as prients, and his sons did not walk in his ways. They said: “appoint us a king, so we can be like the other nations.” This struck a nerve deep in Samuel, who had been raised on the prophecies of Moses. Moses had warned against having a king, because a king would oppress his own people.
And, according to our scripture, this desire to have a king among the people of Israel, struck a nerve deep in the heart of God. But, God says to Samuel: “They have not rejected you, but have rejected me from being their king.” But, go, do what they want you to do, but first warn them about what having a king will be like.”
The first time I really read this passage, I did a double-take. What? God doesn’t want them to have a king, but God is going to give them a king? And, Samuel seems to have felt that way too.
I think we see here some of the mystery of God’s relationship to human beings. God’s will was that Israel be led by a prophet, one who listened for and spoke the Word of God. Before Samuel the Word of the Lord was said to be rare in Israel, but with Samuel, the Word of God came to Israel again. The real crisis involved in Samuel being near death was that the Word of the Lord would have no one to receive it and pass it on. Israel would be without a prophet, without one to receive the Word for them and speak it to them. They would be without the Word of the Lord.
If Samuel’s sons were all they had as priests over Israel, the Word of the Lord would depart from the worship and governance of Israel, at least in so far as it was presided over by Joel and Abijah. But, if a king was appointed, it would reveal Israel’s rebellion against the Word of the Lord, because the Word of the Lord comes to prophets, not kings.
I imagine this conversation between God and Samuel:
“Look, Samuel, you have been just as bad a father as Eli was to his sons. But, he was a good father to you. Could you not have learned something from all this?” Now, you put me in a hard place as you have left Israel in a hard place, because your sons are rotten – really rotten to the core. Do you have any replacements to suggest? Is there a true prophet hiding out somewhere that you haven’t told me about?”
Samuel just says: “O Lord, I was going to ask you the same thing.”
God replies: “The answer is ‘no.’ You are the true prophet of Israel, but your days are numbered.”
Go and appoint them a king.
Samuel: “This is not exactly how I envisioned my life coming to an end. Having to appoint a king that will oppress the people, and leaving Israel without a man of God to hear and speak the Word of the Lord.”
God: “Well, Samuel, this is not exactly how I envisioned the history of my people, but I do thank you for your service. You have been a good prophet. So, finish your task. Your task is not to dictate to me, but to obey me, even when it is unpleasant. I have shared with you that this is unpleasant to me as well. That should be enough for you. And, who knows what will happen in Israel before you die. I always think of something good.”
Samuel: “Yes, you do, Lord. You never give up. I don’t know why, but you never give up. Thank you, Lord. I will go and do as you have asked me.”
And, Samuel in obedience to God appointed Saul as king over Israel, and Saul led them in their battles and for most of his reign Israel got the upper hand over their enemies, but Saul had trouble knowing how to obey the Word of the Lord that came through Samuel, the prophet. Saul would seem to do pretty well, but then he just couldn’t get things right with God or with the prophet, Samuel. In time, God rejected Saul as king over Israel. Samuel had a hard time accepting this as well, but he spoke the Word of the Lord. And, after Samuel grieved Saul’s rejection, God called Samuel to get up and anoint a king of God’s own choosing – a king who would follow God with his heart. And, Samuel went and anointed David, a young shepherd, the seventh son of Jesse.
The prophet Samuel was near to the doings of God. He was involved in the working out of God’s plans and responses to human beings in those days of Israel. It was a great and sacred task to partake in holy things like this. But, it was very difficult on Samuel, who had to take actions he didn’t really want to take: anoint Saul as king when the prophet knew God had never wanted a king but was simply allowing this rebellion in Israel. And, it was hard on Samuel to then pronounce and carry out the rejection of Saul as king when it was time for that. God had led him to anoint Saul, but that action was now put into question by God telling Samuel that Saul was rejected as king.
None of us have been where Samuel was. None of us has shared a conversation quite like that with God, or at least not at that level.
But, then again, maybe we have been where Samuel was in some ways. If you have been in thought or prayer before God, you may have wondered as Samuel wondered: “Why does this go on that is against your ways, O God? Why does this horrible situation or condition or injustice or suffering continue when it is not really what you want for human beings? O,God why do you allow a person to just throw their life away when you have created them to live fully and to rejoice in you?”
Samuel wondered why God would let Israel become like other nations and have a king to rule over them. Samuel may have also wondered how God could let Samuel’s sons become so corrupt, even as Samuel begged in many prayers that they would turn around and walk in his ways.
God may have wondered why Samuel didn’t take more time to prepare his sons, and why Samuel was so ineffective in training them to be priests. Of course, God didn’t have to wonder. He knew. Because God knows that we human beings fall short of the glory of God, which is to say most all of us are really underachievers in a profoundly tragic sense.
And, then we turn around and blame our sorry state of affairs on God, not realizing we have put God in an almost impossible position as we are generally proud of what we should be ashamed of and ashamed of what we should be proud of. Yes, God has had a difficult time dealing with a mixed up human race: so much good about us all, and then so much that is twisted and destructive. But, God has never given up. God has continued to come up with a new plan of saving again and again.
But, it is hard to save someone who is bent on their own self-destruction. That was God’s struggle with Israel. The Israelites so often bought into the success strategies of the Canaanite culture. They tried to get along and worship the gods of the Canaanites. They tried to fit in and not stand out, so they could go along and get along with other peoples. But, the Israelites were always putting themselves in the hands of other rulers, other religions, and being abused and oppressed. Only God would protect them – in a sense and most importantly, only God could protect them from themselves.
But, God’s ways are not our ways. He comes over our way a long way to understand and help us understand. If it had been a human ruler in charge, when Israel asked for a king, the human ruler would have just said no and punished those who asked. But, God was in charge who understands things that are very deeply a part of human life and understands things too deep for us to grasp about how the Divine works out his will in history. God basically said: “I don’t want you to have a king, but I’ll let you have a king. I am warning you of the problems of having a king.” And, God did not give up on redeeming his people. God goes farther than we are willing to go with people; God gets dirty in the mess of history and rules from within it. And, God, sometimes sooner, and sometimes later, comes out with the victory – a victory God can share to bless others.
God could have had a victory immediately back then, I suppose, if he were a different kind of God. If God was really like a human king, he could have just made the rules and punished those who disobeyed. But, history shows that though God has brought punishments, that is not God’s chosen way of governing humans in this world. If God was not really after a victory he could share with us, then his course would be an easy one in life. But, God will not be victorious and let the world fall into destruction. God has always wanted a victory for humanity,not one against humanity. And,this takes wisdom, and perserverence, and a love that cannot be defeated by all the forces of resistance and evil among us and among creation itself.
Scripture presents God as a Warrior often in the Old Testament, and at a few points in the New Testament as well. This is a powerful and important image of God. For, God is a warrior for the body and soul of every human being on this earth. And, God goes to battle again and again against the powers of evil that twist and destroy human life; he goes to battle to save the bodies and souls of human beings. And, God gets bloodied in the process. Isn’t that the meaning of the cross? God will go so far to save that he will not spare his own Son, his own Being from being beaten and mocked and executed on a cross of wood?
Remember our God whom we love: he is the God who leaves behind the safety of heaven and comes down to do battle for the lives of human beings right here on earth. And, our Dear and Holy and Good God suffers in the process. We know this from that cross of wood that once stood on Golgatha, with the Son of God hanging on it. We know this from the thanksgiving that wells up in our hearts. And, we know that the suffering of God is a redemptive suffering. When God suffers, redemption and salvation come into the world, into our lives, into those places in which God suffers.
O, God, how can you have allowed yourself to get so drawn into and mixed up in the affairs of humanity? How can you who are holy have taken on the burdens of human beings like us, who are unholy? We have put you in so many difficult situations again and again. You could have given us up. It seems to us you should have given us up. How can we be worth all the struggle it takes to redeem?
Your Love remains the only answer we can find, and Your Love is a mystery far beyond our imagining and greatest hopes. Whatever we seem to ourselves and others, O Lord, we are above all loved by you. Whatever our neighbor seems to us or herself, she is above all loved by you.
Why have you become so involved and burdened with human affairs? Because of your love. Because of your love. Because of your love, we live and move and have our being. Because of your love, we stand up as we hear your pardon. Because of your love, we live on when we feel no reason for living. Because of your love, we love even when hated by others. Because of your love, you chose a king after your own heart, even if having a king wasn’t your idea in the first place. Because of your love, the world exists. Because of your love, Samuel kept on speaking your Word of Truth. Because of your love, we got up this morning. Because of your love. Because of your love. As loveless as we are at times, we love, yes, we love, because of your love. Amen.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Rev. Elizabeth Peterson singing at the Tennessee Theatre Sept. 5, noon
05 Sep 2011 at 12:00PM
Mighty Musical Monday with Liz Peterson and Daniel Neer
Get TicketsSend an InvitationDescriptionThe guest performers for the September 5 James A. Dick Mighty Musical Monday Program will be Liz Peterson and Daniel Neer. In addition to the singing performers, Bill Snyder and Freddie Brabson will play selections on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. A lunch consisting of a sandwich, chips, and a cookie may be purchased in the lobby for $5.00. In addition several snacks may be purchased at the concession stand such as soft drinks, bottled water, popcorn, candy. There is no charge for the program.
Mighty Musical Monday with Liz Peterson and Daniel Neer
Get TicketsSend an InvitationDescriptionThe guest performers for the September 5 James A. Dick Mighty Musical Monday Program will be Liz Peterson and Daniel Neer. In addition to the singing performers, Bill Snyder and Freddie Brabson will play selections on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. A lunch consisting of a sandwich, chips, and a cookie may be purchased in the lobby for $5.00. In addition several snacks may be purchased at the concession stand such as soft drinks, bottled water, popcorn, candy. There is no charge for the program.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Misunderstandings and Understandings
Often it seems like it doesn't take much to cause a misunderstanding between two people or between groups of people. Even where understanding has been the mainstay, it seems like even there, a misunderstanding can sprout up like Jack's beanstalk!
We human beings are prone to misunderstandings, but we also need understanding so badly. And, we do have the ability to understand each other, but sometimes that ability gets paralyzed by weariness in life and other burdens in our lives.
In the early church, there were very many misunderstandings, and Paul's letters reflect these situations of conflict: between members of the church at Corinth; between members of the church at Rome; between the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter; between the Jerusalem Apostles and Paul and Barnabas; between two church members at Phillipi.
Paul tried very hard in writing his letters to help people come to an understanding of each other by God's grace. Paul knew there are just so many factors in life that tend to make understanding fragile and difficult to sustain. But, he knew something much greater than our tendency to misunderstand each other. He had experienced the reconciling power of God's Spirit in Christ. Paul, a Jew, had not only experienced himself reconciled with God but also reconciled with people he had formerly condemned as unworthy of salvation and respect - the Gentiles.
The Spirit of Reconciliation from God stirs within us a desire to mend that which is torn, bring understanding where there is misunderstanding, and escape the confines of our own little worlds to live together in God's big world.
But, we all have our failures, and have to step back and take stock of where we are before God and with our brothers and sisters. I am doing that today. I have stepped back, hopefully out of my own limited views of things, opening myself to a larger view of others and life itself. And, I hear that advice of Paul to that church at Corinth that had so much trouble with misunderstandings and conflicts. He writes to them in the 1st Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13:
"I will show you a still more excellent way . . . " And, he describes that way revealed in Jesus Christ, poured out upon earth through the Holy Spirit, and as Paul says: "poured out in our very hearts." Romans 5. And, Paul bears witness to something much greater than himself, much greater than his ideas, much greater than any words of inspiration. He bears witness to the love of God which is eternal, which endures, which heals, and which is shared with human creatures like you and me if we can open ourselves to its coming. Read 1 Corinthians 13 today with these thoughts in mind.
I close with a prayer of Howard Thurman:
Lord, open unto me
Open unto me — light for my darkness.
Open unto me — courage for my fear.
Open unto me — hope for my despair.
Open unto me — peace for my turmoil.
Open unto me — joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me — strength for my weakness.
Open unto me — wisdom for my confession.
Open unto me — forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me — love for my hates.
Open unto me — thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me!
Amen.
We human beings are prone to misunderstandings, but we also need understanding so badly. And, we do have the ability to understand each other, but sometimes that ability gets paralyzed by weariness in life and other burdens in our lives.
In the early church, there were very many misunderstandings, and Paul's letters reflect these situations of conflict: between members of the church at Corinth; between members of the church at Rome; between the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter; between the Jerusalem Apostles and Paul and Barnabas; between two church members at Phillipi.
Paul tried very hard in writing his letters to help people come to an understanding of each other by God's grace. Paul knew there are just so many factors in life that tend to make understanding fragile and difficult to sustain. But, he knew something much greater than our tendency to misunderstand each other. He had experienced the reconciling power of God's Spirit in Christ. Paul, a Jew, had not only experienced himself reconciled with God but also reconciled with people he had formerly condemned as unworthy of salvation and respect - the Gentiles.
The Spirit of Reconciliation from God stirs within us a desire to mend that which is torn, bring understanding where there is misunderstanding, and escape the confines of our own little worlds to live together in God's big world.
But, we all have our failures, and have to step back and take stock of where we are before God and with our brothers and sisters. I am doing that today. I have stepped back, hopefully out of my own limited views of things, opening myself to a larger view of others and life itself. And, I hear that advice of Paul to that church at Corinth that had so much trouble with misunderstandings and conflicts. He writes to them in the 1st Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13:
"I will show you a still more excellent way . . . " And, he describes that way revealed in Jesus Christ, poured out upon earth through the Holy Spirit, and as Paul says: "poured out in our very hearts." Romans 5. And, Paul bears witness to something much greater than himself, much greater than his ideas, much greater than any words of inspiration. He bears witness to the love of God which is eternal, which endures, which heals, and which is shared with human creatures like you and me if we can open ourselves to its coming. Read 1 Corinthians 13 today with these thoughts in mind.
I close with a prayer of Howard Thurman:
Lord, open unto me
Open unto me — light for my darkness.
Open unto me — courage for my fear.
Open unto me — hope for my despair.
Open unto me — peace for my turmoil.
Open unto me — joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me — strength for my weakness.
Open unto me — wisdom for my confession.
Open unto me — forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me — love for my hates.
Open unto me — thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me!
Amen.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sermon Notes, not sermon from August 28
(Ecclesiastes 3) For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.
Thanks be to God for the words of wise man of Israel.
This book of Ecclesiastes records the teachings of a wise man of Israel. But, it comes as a surprise to some who have gotten their Christianity more from T.V. preachers than from the Bible. I mean, “could it really be,” some might ask, that a book of the Bible would begin by saying: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity?” Which is another way of saying: “Life is meaningless.” It comes as a shock to those who have gotten their view of what is in the Bible more from preachers than from reading the Bible themselves.
One thing is for sure, not many preachers read from this book from the pulpits of their churches. Maybe they read from it more often when they are facing the struggles of life and feel alienated and alone. Who knows.
But, throughout the centuries, many Bible readers among Jews and Christians have come to love this book for what it expresses. Just listen to these words.
And, the conclusion, the insight is this: “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
IT IS GOD’S GIFT THAT ALL SHOULD EAT AND DRINK AND TAKE PLEASURE IN THEIR WORK. If you want to reduce Ecclesiastes to a Creed, I guess this would be it. But, this book doesn’t go the way of Creeds; it speaks the language of experience, not the language of abstract concepts or theological confession..
This book is a guide for how to affirm the goodness of life amidst the turmoil of a sin-shattered world. Ecclesiastes knew his scripture well. He knew those beautiful lines from Genesis one: “And, God saw all that he had made. And, behold it was very good.” But, to celebrate the goodness of life after the brokenness of sin, takes some struggle at times. Ecclesiastes, like the Psalmist in Psalm 73, wants to be true to the generation of children he is instructing. He doesn’t want to leave them with hopelessness and despair. But, he knows the world they live in, and so he strives to face that world honestly and speak a word that is true.
He, an old man, wants to leave them with something that can endure the storms and questions and disappointments of life. He knows they need a word that rings true amidst the real experiences of this world: a world that he acknowledges is full of injustice and suffering and senselessness so often.
And, so he spoke these words that continue to ring true.
Some people come to church looking for clear answers to the difficult questions of life: questions about human suffering and injustice and pain and sorrow and death and disappointment. . questions about happiness and meaning and purpose.
And, real honest to goodness conservative people often find these answers in real honest to goodness conservative churches. And, real honest to goodness liberal people often find these answers in real honest to goodness liberal churches.
But, for those of us who don’t really buy the conservative or liberal ideology, the simple answers offered by liberals and conservatives just put us off, or at least leave is still seeking something more. In Ecclesiastes, we find a teacher, who looks at life as it is, and begins to teach us how to live within it in faith. I think his great first emphasis is on intellectual honesty and religious humility.
I think it is a fair question to ask of our Christian religion: are we seeking escape from the reality of life through our faith, or are we seeking to understand and engage the reality of life in faith. I continue to insist that God is a God of reality and doesn’t hand out that opium for the masses that popular religion has often promoted. I continue to believe that true faith allows us to embrace reality and engage fully in living.
I think there are a great number of people who are alienated from church and Christianity who don’t buy the simple answers to the hard questions of life that the church is offering.
For some of us, it may be troubling to come to church and hear some moral or theological confusion and expression of disappointment bordering on despair in our worship, but for others it may be uplifting to come to a place of worship and hear some honest questioning and even expressions of complaint and doubt right alongside a sincere dedication to worshipping a God who is above all human categories and understanding. That’s what you get in this book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes.
God is in heaven; we are upon earth. God is eternal; we are mortal. God created the world. We are part of God’s creation. And, it is a struggle to take it all in – to reflect on what it means to be mortal in relationship with the immortal God. It is a mystery how we who are mortal are some how touched my the eternal.
Struggling with the real issues of life that cause our hearts to feel pain and even tempt us to give up, that’s where many of us live a good bit of the time, or at least often enough that it deeply influences who we are. We sing the positive uplifting hymns with joy, “Come Christians, Join the Sing,” and “Now Thank We All Our God,” but then we sing those deeply brooding spirituals from a place very deep in our hearts and lives. Spirituals like: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” or “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”or “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”
We live out our lives often in this gray area: we believe while we doubt; we hope while we worry; we have good days and bad; good hours and bad.
And, Ecclesiastes lived there . . . many of his days. And, King David lived there, and surely king Saul seemed to have lived on the darker side of the gray most of his days as king.
And, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 103: “God knows our frame – that we are dust.”
What many people in this world are listening for in the church is a profound note of humility . . A humility that worships God and presumes nothing . . . because it is that profoundly humble faith and praise of God that gives us hope in the reality of God, and gives others hope that there is really something there other than human presumption involved in religion. It is this profoundly humble and honest faith of Ecclesiastes that can go through the valley of the shadow of death.
For me, Ecclesiastes represents that humble faith, that pure faith so well. His questions about life and his desire to find some truth in life persist . . . And, he finds his way to a battle-tested, time-torn faith. Maybe it is a little less glorious than that of some other Biblical witnesses, but nonetheless a profound faith that is enough to reawaken the will to live in those who are worn out by life . . . enough to rekindle a love of life in all its strangeness and fragility and disappointment. Ecclesiastes seems filled with a sense of the mystery and beauty of life, even if he is also troubled by the unfairness and suffering of life.
I’ve said before that if Ecclesiastes had been a musician, he would have played the blues . . . if he had been a sacred song writer, he would have played the Spirituals, the real brooding ones that go to the depths of human suffering and remain right there in the songs of faith: “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child . . . “ “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord . . . “
Because the Blues talk about life as it is – not as we wish it to be – the Blues tell it like it is.
Lay awake at night,
Oh so low, just so troubled.
Can't get a job,
Laid off and I'm having double trouble.
Hey hey, to make you've got to try.
Baby, that's no lie.
Some of this generation is millionaires;
I can't even keep decent clothes to wear.
Laugh at me walking,
And I have no place to go.
Bad luck and trouble has taken me;
I have no money to show.
by Otis Rush
Ecclesiastes looks out at the world, and he speaks honestly about what he sees. Injustice where there ought to be justice; fools in places of power where the wise should be. Life passing by just too fast, taken away too soon so often.
And, then he looks back at life again. And, what really troubles him so much about life is that it is full of such promise and beauty so that losing it and seeing it twisted and crushed is very painful. He expresses the give and take, the breadth, the mystery of life so well in these opening verses of chapter 3.
And, to a certain extent he just gives up trying to figure it all out. He accepts that the mystery of life is ours to marvel at, but not to understand fully. But, the work of this day, the chance to eat and drink and enjoy life with each other. That is our lot – something we can grasp. God has graciously given it to us. And, Ecclesiastes would have never appreciated it so well and so deeply if he hadn’t puzzled over life so much, because that’s part of what it is to be human: to have the desire to figure it all out, but yet not be able to figure it all out, but only some of it. As he writes: “God has put a sense of eternity in us, but we cannot comprehend it.” We are those who can think ourselves into the mystery of life, even the mystery of God, but then we must surrender the mind and give way to the heart and give praise to the One above all. We can think on the mystery of life and even the mystery of God, but cannot comprehend it. Whenever we think we have comprehended it and got it in a formula, then we have stepped out of faith.
Ecclesiastes short statement that it is ours to enjoy the days of our lives and to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all our toil is a great affirmation that calls us to give thanks for the gifts of God. But, I think his reflection on life in this holy book reveals to us that it is a very precious gift to be able to puzzle over life, to be able to wonder why things are as they are, to be able to yearn for justice and peace and happiness and even to question why the universe often seems indifferent to our yearnings. This may be much of what it means to be made in the image of God, but to still be a creature of God.
It is a peculiar and a glorious destiny we have as human beings. The Psalmist wondered about it: “O God, what is man that thou are mindful of him?” “Yet thou hast made him just less than the heavenly beings!”.
To truly value our ability to wonder over life, our ability to think and feel deeply and yearn for goodness and justice and love, and then at the same time to realize that we can not think our way to heaven, nor think our way to security and control over the earth. That is faith. To value our reason, but to realize when it comes down to it, we are closer to the other animals than we are to God in our grasp of the universe. That is the faith of Ecclesiastes. So, go enjoy the good life God has given, and eat and drink and talk and laugh and cry and sing and work and do all that you do to the glory of God whose ways are far beyond our understanding, but who has also put within us these remarkable hearts and minds that we have.
It is a strange and glorious thing to be a human being. And, there are no easy answers about how to do it well. But, there are examples of how to live life honestly and to the glory of God. There are examples like Ecclesiastes who would not accept the easy religious answers of his day, but who thought his thoughts and felt his feelings and tried to put it all together in a system of thought, but then one day found himself rejoicing in the simple goodness of life and couldn’t let it go. As he said: “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” What he found was a living faith and a will to live and he gave God thanks and glory for it all. Let us continue in this holy tradition and pass on this will to live honestly and fully in the beauty and mystery of human life. Amen.
Thanks be to God for the words of wise man of Israel.
This book of Ecclesiastes records the teachings of a wise man of Israel. But, it comes as a surprise to some who have gotten their Christianity more from T.V. preachers than from the Bible. I mean, “could it really be,” some might ask, that a book of the Bible would begin by saying: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity?” Which is another way of saying: “Life is meaningless.” It comes as a shock to those who have gotten their view of what is in the Bible more from preachers than from reading the Bible themselves.
One thing is for sure, not many preachers read from this book from the pulpits of their churches. Maybe they read from it more often when they are facing the struggles of life and feel alienated and alone. Who knows.
But, throughout the centuries, many Bible readers among Jews and Christians have come to love this book for what it expresses. Just listen to these words.
And, the conclusion, the insight is this: “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil.”
IT IS GOD’S GIFT THAT ALL SHOULD EAT AND DRINK AND TAKE PLEASURE IN THEIR WORK. If you want to reduce Ecclesiastes to a Creed, I guess this would be it. But, this book doesn’t go the way of Creeds; it speaks the language of experience, not the language of abstract concepts or theological confession..
This book is a guide for how to affirm the goodness of life amidst the turmoil of a sin-shattered world. Ecclesiastes knew his scripture well. He knew those beautiful lines from Genesis one: “And, God saw all that he had made. And, behold it was very good.” But, to celebrate the goodness of life after the brokenness of sin, takes some struggle at times. Ecclesiastes, like the Psalmist in Psalm 73, wants to be true to the generation of children he is instructing. He doesn’t want to leave them with hopelessness and despair. But, he knows the world they live in, and so he strives to face that world honestly and speak a word that is true.
He, an old man, wants to leave them with something that can endure the storms and questions and disappointments of life. He knows they need a word that rings true amidst the real experiences of this world: a world that he acknowledges is full of injustice and suffering and senselessness so often.
And, so he spoke these words that continue to ring true.
Some people come to church looking for clear answers to the difficult questions of life: questions about human suffering and injustice and pain and sorrow and death and disappointment. . questions about happiness and meaning and purpose.
And, real honest to goodness conservative people often find these answers in real honest to goodness conservative churches. And, real honest to goodness liberal people often find these answers in real honest to goodness liberal churches.
But, for those of us who don’t really buy the conservative or liberal ideology, the simple answers offered by liberals and conservatives just put us off, or at least leave is still seeking something more. In Ecclesiastes, we find a teacher, who looks at life as it is, and begins to teach us how to live within it in faith. I think his great first emphasis is on intellectual honesty and religious humility.
I think it is a fair question to ask of our Christian religion: are we seeking escape from the reality of life through our faith, or are we seeking to understand and engage the reality of life in faith. I continue to insist that God is a God of reality and doesn’t hand out that opium for the masses that popular religion has often promoted. I continue to believe that true faith allows us to embrace reality and engage fully in living.
I think there are a great number of people who are alienated from church and Christianity who don’t buy the simple answers to the hard questions of life that the church is offering.
For some of us, it may be troubling to come to church and hear some moral or theological confusion and expression of disappointment bordering on despair in our worship, but for others it may be uplifting to come to a place of worship and hear some honest questioning and even expressions of complaint and doubt right alongside a sincere dedication to worshipping a God who is above all human categories and understanding. That’s what you get in this book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes.
God is in heaven; we are upon earth. God is eternal; we are mortal. God created the world. We are part of God’s creation. And, it is a struggle to take it all in – to reflect on what it means to be mortal in relationship with the immortal God. It is a mystery how we who are mortal are some how touched my the eternal.
Struggling with the real issues of life that cause our hearts to feel pain and even tempt us to give up, that’s where many of us live a good bit of the time, or at least often enough that it deeply influences who we are. We sing the positive uplifting hymns with joy, “Come Christians, Join the Sing,” and “Now Thank We All Our God,” but then we sing those deeply brooding spirituals from a place very deep in our hearts and lives. Spirituals like: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” or “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”or “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?”
We live out our lives often in this gray area: we believe while we doubt; we hope while we worry; we have good days and bad; good hours and bad.
And, Ecclesiastes lived there . . . many of his days. And, King David lived there, and surely king Saul seemed to have lived on the darker side of the gray most of his days as king.
And, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 103: “God knows our frame – that we are dust.”
What many people in this world are listening for in the church is a profound note of humility . . A humility that worships God and presumes nothing . . . because it is that profoundly humble faith and praise of God that gives us hope in the reality of God, and gives others hope that there is really something there other than human presumption involved in religion. It is this profoundly humble and honest faith of Ecclesiastes that can go through the valley of the shadow of death.
For me, Ecclesiastes represents that humble faith, that pure faith so well. His questions about life and his desire to find some truth in life persist . . . And, he finds his way to a battle-tested, time-torn faith. Maybe it is a little less glorious than that of some other Biblical witnesses, but nonetheless a profound faith that is enough to reawaken the will to live in those who are worn out by life . . . enough to rekindle a love of life in all its strangeness and fragility and disappointment. Ecclesiastes seems filled with a sense of the mystery and beauty of life, even if he is also troubled by the unfairness and suffering of life.
I’ve said before that if Ecclesiastes had been a musician, he would have played the blues . . . if he had been a sacred song writer, he would have played the Spirituals, the real brooding ones that go to the depths of human suffering and remain right there in the songs of faith: “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child . . . “ “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord . . . “
Because the Blues talk about life as it is – not as we wish it to be – the Blues tell it like it is.
Lay awake at night,
Oh so low, just so troubled.
Can't get a job,
Laid off and I'm having double trouble.
Hey hey, to make you've got to try.
Baby, that's no lie.
Some of this generation is millionaires;
I can't even keep decent clothes to wear.
Laugh at me walking,
And I have no place to go.
Bad luck and trouble has taken me;
I have no money to show.
by Otis Rush
Ecclesiastes looks out at the world, and he speaks honestly about what he sees. Injustice where there ought to be justice; fools in places of power where the wise should be. Life passing by just too fast, taken away too soon so often.
And, then he looks back at life again. And, what really troubles him so much about life is that it is full of such promise and beauty so that losing it and seeing it twisted and crushed is very painful. He expresses the give and take, the breadth, the mystery of life so well in these opening verses of chapter 3.
And, to a certain extent he just gives up trying to figure it all out. He accepts that the mystery of life is ours to marvel at, but not to understand fully. But, the work of this day, the chance to eat and drink and enjoy life with each other. That is our lot – something we can grasp. God has graciously given it to us. And, Ecclesiastes would have never appreciated it so well and so deeply if he hadn’t puzzled over life so much, because that’s part of what it is to be human: to have the desire to figure it all out, but yet not be able to figure it all out, but only some of it. As he writes: “God has put a sense of eternity in us, but we cannot comprehend it.” We are those who can think ourselves into the mystery of life, even the mystery of God, but then we must surrender the mind and give way to the heart and give praise to the One above all. We can think on the mystery of life and even the mystery of God, but cannot comprehend it. Whenever we think we have comprehended it and got it in a formula, then we have stepped out of faith.
Ecclesiastes short statement that it is ours to enjoy the days of our lives and to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all our toil is a great affirmation that calls us to give thanks for the gifts of God. But, I think his reflection on life in this holy book reveals to us that it is a very precious gift to be able to puzzle over life, to be able to wonder why things are as they are, to be able to yearn for justice and peace and happiness and even to question why the universe often seems indifferent to our yearnings. This may be much of what it means to be made in the image of God, but to still be a creature of God.
It is a peculiar and a glorious destiny we have as human beings. The Psalmist wondered about it: “O God, what is man that thou are mindful of him?” “Yet thou hast made him just less than the heavenly beings!”.
To truly value our ability to wonder over life, our ability to think and feel deeply and yearn for goodness and justice and love, and then at the same time to realize that we can not think our way to heaven, nor think our way to security and control over the earth. That is faith. To value our reason, but to realize when it comes down to it, we are closer to the other animals than we are to God in our grasp of the universe. That is the faith of Ecclesiastes. So, go enjoy the good life God has given, and eat and drink and talk and laugh and cry and sing and work and do all that you do to the glory of God whose ways are far beyond our understanding, but who has also put within us these remarkable hearts and minds that we have.
It is a strange and glorious thing to be a human being. And, there are no easy answers about how to do it well. But, there are examples of how to live life honestly and to the glory of God. There are examples like Ecclesiastes who would not accept the easy religious answers of his day, but who thought his thoughts and felt his feelings and tried to put it all together in a system of thought, but then one day found himself rejoicing in the simple goodness of life and couldn’t let it go. As he said: “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” What he found was a living faith and a will to live and he gave God thanks and glory for it all. Let us continue in this holy tradition and pass on this will to live honestly and fully in the beauty and mystery of human life. Amen.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Finding a Harbor for My Soul: Thoughts after the sermon on August 21
Sometimes a sermon ends and the preacher is left thinking: "I just wasn't able to finish that - I started in a direction, but I just didn't have the clarity to get to where I was going."
And, that's what I felt after yesterday's sermon. It was one of those where I said what I had to say and was willing to sit down and hope those who heard could take the sermon where it needed to go for them. Better, I was hopeful that the Spirit of the Living God could use a relatively meager offering from me to bless those gathered.
As I move into the Monday work world, I take with me one thought from the thinking I was going through in that sermon yesterday about finding "harbors" for our souls in daily life. I think a real key is to have eyes for the good, to be able to find the good, the peaceful, the joyful, the funny in daily life. I will be gathering up my files and going to court today for 16 clients. I will be talking with prosecutors, officers, probation officers, inmates, other defendants who are out of jail, their families, court officers, my fellow public defender's office staff, and maybe a church member or two by phone or my fellow pastor throughout this day. I'll probably talk with my wife a couple of times, maybe my mother once as well.
It occurs to me that I will be interacting with a lot of people today. And, with each interaction, with God's grace, I might be able to provide a little harbor for others if I treat them with respect and kindness. Maybe part of that sermon yesterday should have been more about becoming a harbor for other people's souls and less about finding a harbor for our own souls? That would have been more in line with Jesus' way.
And, that's what I felt after yesterday's sermon. It was one of those where I said what I had to say and was willing to sit down and hope those who heard could take the sermon where it needed to go for them. Better, I was hopeful that the Spirit of the Living God could use a relatively meager offering from me to bless those gathered.
As I move into the Monday work world, I take with me one thought from the thinking I was going through in that sermon yesterday about finding "harbors" for our souls in daily life. I think a real key is to have eyes for the good, to be able to find the good, the peaceful, the joyful, the funny in daily life. I will be gathering up my files and going to court today for 16 clients. I will be talking with prosecutors, officers, probation officers, inmates, other defendants who are out of jail, their families, court officers, my fellow public defender's office staff, and maybe a church member or two by phone or my fellow pastor throughout this day. I'll probably talk with my wife a couple of times, maybe my mother once as well.
It occurs to me that I will be interacting with a lot of people today. And, with each interaction, with God's grace, I might be able to provide a little harbor for others if I treat them with respect and kindness. Maybe part of that sermon yesterday should have been more about becoming a harbor for other people's souls and less about finding a harbor for our own souls? That would have been more in line with Jesus' way.
Monday, August 15, 2011
COMMUNITY FORUM ON AUGUST 25, 2011 AT 6 P.M.
OUR TOPIC FOR THIS MONTH'S COMMUNITY FORUM IS "THE ROLE OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN THE CIVIL WAR."
OUR SPEAKER WILL BE LOCAL HISTORIAN, BOB BOOKER.
A MEAL WILL BE SERVED AS WE MEET IN THE DOWNSTAIRS FELLOWSHIP HALL, ENTRY AROUND BACK OF CHURCH.
OUR SPEAKER WILL BE LOCAL HISTORIAN, BOB BOOKER.
A MEAL WILL BE SERVED AS WE MEET IN THE DOWNSTAIRS FELLOWSHIP HALL, ENTRY AROUND BACK OF CHURCH.
Yoga at Fourth United Presbyterian Church
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN IN OUR YOGA CLASSES TAUGHT BY A LOCAL YOGA INSTRUCTOR WHO TEACHES YOGA AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE FOR CHRISTIANS. YOGA IS A COMBINATION OF EXERCISES AND MEDITATION THAT HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED SINCE ANCIENT TIMES TO RELAX AND RENEW BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT.
CLASSES WILL BE HELD EACH TUESDAY EVENING FOR FOUR WEEKS, BEGINNING THIS TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE GATHERING HALL OF THE CHURCH. FOR DETAILS (WHAT DO I WEAR? WHAT DO I BRING? WHAT IF I BEND OVER AND CAN'T GET BACK UP?), CALL REV. ELIZABETH PETERSON (405-5983).
CLASSES WILL BE HELD EACH TUESDAY EVENING FOR FOUR WEEKS, BEGINNING THIS TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE GATHERING HALL OF THE CHURCH. FOR DETAILS (WHAT DO I WEAR? WHAT DO I BRING? WHAT IF I BEND OVER AND CAN'T GET BACK UP?), CALL REV. ELIZABETH PETERSON (405-5983).
Friday, June 24, 2011
Emmanuel, Shiloh and Fourth United Presbyterian Church Together At Fourth United Pres. on June 26, 11:00 a.m.
We will have a joint worship service to celebrate with Shiloh and Emmanuel Presbyterian Churches as we conclude our Vacation Bible School week. Our service will start at 11:00 a.m. and after service we will enjoy a meal together in the downstairs fellowship hall.
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