Only God - sermon for August 12, 2012

A Sermon for the Proper 14 (RCL B) 8-12-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            2 Samuel 18:5-9,15-31-33; Psalm 130; John 6:35,41-51

Themes:        the death of a son, waiting upon God, the bread of life

Title:             Only God  

My friends: I tried to come up with a good joke with which to begin my sermon this week.

I really did. I like to laugh; it’s good for you, too, you know! Good for your health.

But I couldn’t do it. After all, today we need to talk together about tragedy and pain and loss.

This morning, as we continue our journey through the saga of the first Hebrew kings, we are invited into David’s intense experience of grief and sorry at the death of his son.

Now, I could not read and meditate on this story of the death of Absalom this week without connecting it with the death of another man’s son a little closer to home.

For those of you who do not know the context, Absalom was David’s son. The Bible presents the rebellious and destructive behavior of Absalom as a direct consequence of David’s own rebellion and his own destructive behavior in the episode with Bathsheba and Uriah.

David had raped and killed and rebelled against God. Now his son Absalom, the one next in the line of succession for the throne, was also raping and killing and even rebelling against his own father, the King.

His rebellion leads to a decisive battle, and the young man dies.

In spite of the betrayal, David is heart-broken over the death of his son, Absalom. And he wept.

In Philadelphia this week, there was another father who was heartbroken over the death of his son.

In a way, Garrett Reid had also betrayed and rebelled against his father, who of course is Andy Reid, the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles since 1999.

Garrett Reid also followed a destructive path which led to his demise, even though he too – like Absalom – had been blessed with tremendous advantages and wealth by his father.

But wealthy or poor, king or peasant, we all experience grief and pain and loss at some point in our lives. Think through your own experience. Think about what you have seen and heard in the lives of those around you.

Now consider this question: why do some people fall apart and get crushed by this kind of grief, and never recover? And why do others come through grief and loss and actually grow from the experience, and become stronger as a result?

Why are some able to handle tragedy and grief and grow through it, and others are crushed by it?  What is the difference?

This is the question that was asked by Jim Collins in his latest book “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.”

I had the privilege of hearing Jim present the findings of his latest research on Thursday at the Global Leadership Summit. Jim Collins is one of the brightest minds in the world of business management. This latest Collins book studied a number of businesses which had experienced the same amounts of uncertainty – what people call good and bad luck.

Some of these organizations had succeeded even in the midst of uncertain, chaotic and difficult environments, and others had not.

Why? What is the difference?

Of course, the research is too extensive to go over it all right now (you might want to read the book for yourself!).

But the groups that thrived in difficult times all had certain habits and traits which made them different from the rest.

These traits had to do with discipline, flexibility, and preparation.

I believe that it’s the same with us as individuals as well.

Those who are able to overcome and grow – and even become stronger when experiencing times of intense grief and pain and loss - are the women and men who have prepared themselves through spiritual disciplines, those who have been training their hearts to trust in God alone, those who are willing and able to place their lives into the hands of God and say “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”

You’ve heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect.”

I don’t know about the perfect part, but perhaps we could change this to say,

“Spiritual practice prepares one to overcome the trials of life.”

The other question that invariably arises when people suffer the kind of terrible grief and loss that David and Andy Reid experienced is this:

Why does God allow such tragedies to happen? Why does God not prevent such horrible things from happening?

There is no real answer to this question. How can any of us know what is in the mind of God?

Even if God were to tell us why, it is doubtful that we could understand the answer!

“God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways.”

Our minds are just too small and limited.

However, one thing I do know is this. God uses tragedy, grief and loss in our lives.

Hear me, loud and clear: God does not cause these things. God is completely and totally good, and no evil comes from the Lord.

God does not cause the death of a young man like Garrett Reid, nor that of any other who tragically suffers from illness or sudden accidents or violence.

But God often uses times of struggle and pain and heartache like this in order to bring us to our knees, to bring us to a place where we are at the end of our rope, where we know that we have nothing left in the tank and that the only thing left for us to do is to turn to God in trust and faith.

Remember David’s pain and loss – brought about not by God, but as the consequence of his own foolishness and greed and sin.

And do you remember also that place to which this pain and loss brought David?

We heard about it last week when we prayed together the 51^st Psalm, that famous psalm of confession and contrition.

It says this: “The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:18).

Some of you might be experiencing pain and grief and loss right now. Some of you have in the past. The rest of you will in the future.

Please know and understand that God does not want you to feel this, and God never causes it.

But, if you have not yet let go and given over the control of your life,

if you still trusting in your wisdom or your cleverness or your special tricks or your strength to get you through,

if you have not yet fallen down on your knees and surrendered your life – all of it! – to God, then the Lord will use your grief and your anguish as a tool in order to bring you to that place.

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

It is impossible for us to answer the why questions of our life with any clarity when we lose those we love, when tragedies strike, when the pain of loss overcomes us.

We cannot know why these things occur.

But we can know where God is leading us, and where God is calling us.

And where God longs for us to be.

Like clay in the hands of the potter. Soft, supple, pliable, flexible, ready to be shaped and molded for God’s purpose, for God’s mission in the world.

Perhaps this is why David, in spite of his horrendous failures, was known as a person after God’s own heart.

We all fail at times, after all. We are all broken sinners.

But to deal with his broken heart, David did not turn to vices or to any other crutch, nor to his own strength and pride.

He turned to God and brought his pain and brokenness into the healing light of God’s presence. 

All of us experience hardship and pain and grief in our lives. All of us – even kings and the wealthy and powerful.

Will you be ready for it? Will you pray and study and strength your soul NOW so that you will be prepared when it next comes your way?

And will you allow God to use those things, to take you through them to a place where you could never get otherwise? 

Will you learn to trust in nothing else but the goodness and grace of God alone?

So may it be among all of us who are called by the name of Christ. Amen.