The Lord Was With Him

A Sermon for the 6^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 7-8-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Samuel 5:1-5,9-10; Psalm 48; Mark 6:1-13

Themes:         Jerusalem, David, the Temple, seeking control over life’s chaos

Title:               The Lord Was With Him

In honor of this week’s All Star Break for Major League Baseball, I would like us to consider for a moment some of the strangest rituals ever practiced on the baseball diamond.

Baseball players tend to be highly superstitious. You know that, right?!

These superstitions are very often special rituals or special objects – talismans – that are believed to ensure the player’s best possible performance.

On his way into the dugout, it is said that Joe DiMaggio would always run in from the outfield and make sure to touch second base.

It’s said that Wade Boggs would always eat chicken before a game, take exactly 150 ground balls during warm-ups, and then would always draw the Hebrew letters signifying “Chai” or life in the batter’s box before taking any pitches.

Tim Wakefield would always eat one pound of spaghetti before pitching a game.

Perhaps the strangest set of rituals was those of journeyman pitcher, Turk Wendell.

It’s said that Wendell had to wave to the centerfielder AND receive a wave in response before he would pitch. And after each inning in which he pitched, he would chew four sticks of licorice and brush his teeth. And then, whenever the catcher stood up while he was on the mound, he would then crouch down and stay down until the catcher resumed his crouch stance behind the plate. 

Why do baseball players do such strange things? Well, everyone is different, but I bet that all of us can relate to the underlying need of these men. You see, baseball is a strange, unpredictable game.

These little rituals give players some feeling of control in the face of so much uncertainty.

Well, my dear sisters and brothers: life on planet earth is strange and unpredictable.

How many of you struggle to gain some feeling of control in the face of life’s uncertainty, when dealing with so much continual change and variability in life?

To be a human being – to be conscious and alive on this planet – means being susceptible to a wide range of dangers and threats on a regular basis. Life is vulnerable; life is fragile.

This is just as true for human communities and nations as it is for us as individuals.

Just as you and I live every day with no promise, with no certainty, that we will see the sun rise tomorrow, so every human community also faces the real possibility that their community will collapse or disappear or disintegrate.    

This is precisely the dynamic that we see in this ancient history of the tribes of Israel: it is the saga of their on-going attempt to deal with this vulnerability, to gain some sense of control and certainty.

In this saga, it began with the ark. The prehistoric origins of this box called the “ark” are hidden in the mists of time. But it’s clear that this box came to symbolize the presence of God in the midst of the community. And this presence was looked to – with the eyes of faith – as the means by which they would be protected from their enemies.

This was vital to the ancient faith of the early tribes. As long as the ark of the covenant was in their midst, then their God was with them and God would protect them!

But then the Philistines came and defeated the tribes of Israel in battle and took the ark away!

And for years the ark wandered throughout the territory of the Philistines.

So the faith of the tribes was shaken and challenged. It didn’t work! Surely then, something else was needed to protect and safeguard the ark! And thus, to ensure the protecting presence of God among the people!

So the elders of the people decided that what was needed was a king! A king would protect the ark and would maintain the presence of God among the people, and thus ensure the future of their community! And so Saul was anointed as king, but he failed to follow God’s instructions. And he was not strong against their enemies.

David, however, was stronger and more faithful, and so David was chosen to succeed Saul.

This appeared promising to the people at first, but remember that this ancient history was itself edited and put together into its final form during the time of the Babylonian exile.

And why were the people in exile in the first place?

Because the kings failed! Because the House of David failed the nation. That was the consensus at the time.  

And so the faith that was placed in the kings to protect the community, to ensure God’s blessing and protection, that too was shaken and challenged!

Surely, something else then was needed! Ahh, the temple! In the next few weeks, we will hear the story of the building of the temple – the house of God whose primary purpose was to protect and safeguard the ark of the covenant. And thereby – I think you know the drill by now – to ensure God’s blessing and protection over the community of the tribes of Israel.

You can see this view of the Temple in our Psalm appointed for today. Tradition has ascribed the entire Psalter to King David himself, but you can see right here that, of course, this is impossible.

Replica of Second Temple

The Temple did not exist in the days of David! Yet Psalm 48 praises the Temple as the center of the world, the primary spot on earth where the presence of God could be found.

In the words of our Celtic Christian forebears, the Temple was seen as a thin place – or more truly, as the thinnest place of all, where the integration of the earthly and spiritual realms of reality was most complete.

Most of the Psalms that we have today in the Bible were written down during the time of Exile.

The kings had failed, and now the people looked to the Temple – to the rebuilding of the Temple after the Exile – as the one thing that would ensure the protecting presence of God among them.

Do you see the pattern, my friends?

Life is unpredictable. For individuals, for families, for tribes, for nations – in the ancient Near East, life was extremely fragile and vulnerable, more than we can even imagine today.

The desire of the people for a way to gain some control over this chaos is perfectly reasonable.

We all understand that feeling. The problem is that they were misguided.

Our Lord Jesus, of course, teaches us that this is so.

Think for a moment about the utter shock of his students when he explained to them that the entire Temple complex would be torn down and destroyed in just a few years! (cf. Mark 13:1-8).   

For nearly four centuries, the Jews had looked to that Temple as the sign and the promise of God’s abiding presence. Jesus knew that it would be destroyed, and yet he was not a bit bothered by that fact.     

Why not? He knew that no building could hold the presence of God, and that nothing can shield us from the trials of life.

So what do we - as followers of Christ - learn from the perfectly rational and yet misguided attempts of the Hebrew tribes to gain some certainty and some assurance in the various objects and rituals of their faith?

There are two sides to the coin of this teaching.

The truth is, as Christ teaches us by his own example, that there is no short-cut, no easy formula, no special object or ritual which will protect us from the uncertainties of life.

You and I cannot shield ourselves from the native vulnerability of life on earth.

God will not protect us from the difficulties and vagaries of life.

That is the hard truth. But there is also a tremendous gift of hope and freedom contained within it!

In Christ, we know that God is with us, no matter what.

It doesn’t matter how many crucifixes you have in your house. It doesn’t matter if you attend Mass daily or read the Bible daily. It doesn’t matter if you give all of your money to the church! It doesn’t matter if you tell everyone that you’re born again, or if you say “Hallelujah” all the time!

We all are tempted at times to try this kind of strategy, but there is no special formula to secure God’s blessing.

There is no special object that can ensure God’s presence!

Because that Presence, and that Blessing, are given as a free gift of grace.

THAT is the promise. We can’t manufacture that promise, and we cannot manipulate that presence.

We can only receive it as a gift, as a truth – as THE most important truth of our lives!

We can receive that truth, and we can rest in it.  

Now, I do NOT know whether any of the superstitions of baseball players help them in any way – though I doubt it very highly!

But I DO know that no matter what crazy and unpredictable things in life will come our way, God will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what.

And THAT is a real hope upon which you can build your life. Amen.  

Like the Days of a Tree

Sermon for Proper 28 C RCL (11/14/2010), offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Isaiah 65:17-25; Canticle 9; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19


We all know that change is difficult. Changes in our world, and particularly those changes that affect us personally, always seem uncomfortable and we often do not think clearly when confronting change. I think that many of us are like an elderly woman who recently attended a church meeting where the guest speaker was explaining all of the ways that our society has recently changed in regards to faith and the church. After this speaker then discussed all of the new things that churches need to do to stay relevant for people today, he opened the floor for questions. This elderly woman raised her hand. She was obviously nonplussed by these new ideas, so she asked, “Can’t we all just stay home and watch TV like the good Lord intended?”

Today, at the end of our annual cycle through the Christian year, we are given texts that speak to God’s vision for the end of time. We call this apocalypse, and it is always given to be a source of hope and encouragement for those who are oppressed, worried, stressed and anxious.

This text from Isaiah is written to those living in exile, those who are anxious and worried. This apocalyptic vision of Isaiah is meant to give courage and hope to those who cannot see any hope for their future. Into that darkness, that bleakness, Isaiah speaks a word of light, of hope, of truth.

No more shall they build houses, and create fruitful vineyards, and lose it all to those who are stronger than they. No more shall they be overcome by conquering armies who oppress them and force them to leave their homeland. No more, says the LORD. Because I am creating a new heavens and a new earth where illness and death and violence will not be the dominant power any longer. “They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25c). This is a vision of a different kind of future!

There’s an old story of from the days of slavery that speak to the kind of vision that Isaiah had here, the vision that is at the core of all apocalyptic talk.

Once, a young slave woman was out in the fields, toiling and laboring under the hot sun, when she broke. She lost her stamina. She decided to quit. So she put down her hoe and she started to cry and she said, “I can’t take it anymore! I can’t take it anymore! I wanna die!” But an old man was there with her in the field. He heard her cry and called out to her. “Don’t die, baby,” he said. “Don’t die. Get dressed up and come with me!”

“So I got dressed up,” as she tells her story. “I got dressed so fine, in the finest clothes you ever saw. You should’ve seen me! We went walking together, and we walked around through heaven. Everyone was there. It was beautiful! And then we walked straight down into hell and there I spit on the devil. And we came back to heaven, and I walked right up to the throne of God, and I was just about to talk with the Father, when – SLAP! – the whip hit my back! It brought me back to the field and knocked me to the ground. And there was the Master standing over me with the whip in his hand. I looked up at him, and I laughed with secret laughter. Because he had the whip, but I had all the advantage!”

He had the whip, but I had all the advantage. The apocalyptic vision allows us to look beyond the evident, to see the shape of a new, God-given future even in the midst of the chaos of our human society. But, a word of warning! Much care is needed when we walk into the arena of the apocalypse. This kind of language, this kind of vision is very powerful, and many people misunderstand it and many misuse it for their own advantage.

Have any of you seen the signs posted around these parts about the end of the world? The signs read: “Judgment Day is coming, May 21, 2011.” And at the bottom of the sign there is the link to a website: www.wecanknow.com.

The people behind this advertising campaign (and it is an advertising campaign, after all!) are convinced that through the correct interpretation of the Bible we can know the exact date on which God will supernaturally destroy the world and end human history. And, of course, they alone are the ones who have this correct interpretation. No one else has it! But they have it!

But did you hear what Jesus said? “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them” (Luke 21:8). When folks are fearful and confused, when people are anxious and worried about what is happening around them, then they become more vulnerable to these kind of shrill voices who falsely claim to have the secret knowledge which alone can deliver them from their distress.

Our Lord knows this about us human beings. This is why he gives us such common sense advice. Don’t listen to those voices; don’t be so foolish as to believe such lies.

Many of you will know that President Obama was on a tour of Asia last week. Perhaps many of you will also know that his trip to Indonesia was cut short by the eruption of Mount Merapi on the island of Java. Did you also hear about the appointed spiritual guardian of the mountain, Mr. Mbah Maridjan, the juru kunci, the servant of the Island’s Sultan, who died in the resulting lava flows?

The volcanologists, the scientists, warned everyone that the eruption was imminent. They could see it coming. But Mr. Maridjan was convinced by his secret spiritual sources that no eruption would take place. So the locals, who know him and trusted him as a local leader, were confused, and a number of people did not evacuate. And a number of people perished with him.

When crisis confronts you, when your world seems like it is changing for the worse, where do you turn for hope and guidance? To whose voice will you listen? I know that most of you are not anxious about the coming rapture and the end of the world, and thankfully, most of us are not facing such life and death kind of choices. But many of you are anxious about your test results, or anxious about what kind of people your children will end up being, or about whether or not you will have a job and money to pay the bills in the months to come. Some of you are anxious because your town is changing and becoming very different than it used to be, or perhaps even because your church is changing and becoming very different than it used to be.

Whatever it is that is the source of your anxiety and fear about the future, let those with ears to hear listen and heed the truth: there is no place where you will find comfort and security outside of the unfailing love and mercy of God. There is no secret source of hidden knowledge, no easy fix. Be wary of those who speak in that way. You already know where to turn. You must trust and rest in this Love of God that will never leave you or forsake you.

At the end of our apocalyptic Gospel reading today, Jesus offers words of promise and hope: “They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:16-19).

I confess that this text confuses me a bit. Obviously, if those disciples are to be put to death, I would imagine that this would include damaging their hair in the process! And this is indeed what happened to them on this earth. But, by their endurance, they gained their souls.

And by your enduring trust and love and commitment as disciples of this wise and loving Master, even in the face of impending trouble and change, you will gain your souls. By seeing with the eyes of faith, you can laugh at those things in your world that seem to threaten you. By steadfast endurance, faithfulness and fidelity, you will find a life, secure in Christ, beyond the reach of any worry or anxiety. Because in Christ, no matter what the outward circumstances might suggest, we have all the advantage. Thanks be to God. Amen.