July 4th, 2010
“How Deep and Wide Is God’s Protection ?”
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 139
I don’t know how I have spent almost a year and a half with you and not read to you my favorite Psalm. It certainly is not the most popular piece we find in the Psalter. It is not the most widely read like the 23rd Psalm or the 100th Psalm. As a matter of fact it is a long Psalm with a wide variety of sentiments and feelings coming from the writer. It is not one of the nationalistic Psalms that praises the nation and God’s guiding hand leading us, like I read last year at this time: “If God had not been in charge, we never would have made it.” No this is a Psalm that talks to the individual believer, not the nation, about how far and wide God’s protection covers. How deeply the Holy One knows us and has formed us and hangs in there with us: like the Shepherd finding the lost sheep, or the woman searching for the lost cost, or the father receiving the prodigal home. This is definitely a Psalm that Jesus was acquainted with.
Psalm 139 talks about not how we search for God, but how God searches for us. How far we can run from God, like Jonah ran to Tarshash – the farthest known city in the Middle East. Where can we go in order to escape God’s Spirit? How God’s guiding hand knows us and leads us. And right when you think that all is good in the world, the writer makes a statement about his enemies and those who appear to oppose the Holy One. The Psalmist hates them with a perfect hated. That certainly does not fit in with the teachings of Jesus when he said, “love your enemies.” But you must remember the Psalms were written to explore the fullness of feelings of the writer. Yes it does reflect the attributes of God. It is more about the writer’s feelings about God and country and enemies and blessings. And when you look at your feelings, don’t they embrace a whole range of emotions.
That’s how we look at the Psalms. They cover a whole range. Listen to the word of God.
I want to offer a few thoughts for today’s celebration of our nations birthday. It is the day we declared our independence from English Rule. We did not like to be told what to do when we knew our situation of living in the colonies better than King George, who ruled all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. And as heroic as those founding Fathers were who signed such a document declaring separation from our English parents, it was certainly not a decision that everyone supported. There were many Loyalist, who lived here, who remained committed to the crown and supported the British throughout the war ofIndependence. We began the seeds of democracy as a divided country. And that was one of our strengths and weaknesses. It was a strength in that we allowed for a diversity of opinions to be heard. as opposed to the absolute rule of a king. It was a weakness in that we allowed for a diversity of opinions to be heard, which in a democracy where the majority rules, certain ones in the minority remained angry. And that sentiment has stayed with us for 234 years since the signing of that declaration which ended up as a statement of war. We started as a divided country and our history rings true that we will remain divided in matters of governments and politics and representation, yes even in beliefs.
We are proud to be American’s in that we pull together when tough times come our way. I would like to compare our earlier days to that of a small community, like the Amish, who when a barn burns down, all the Amish families gets together and rebuild a new one in a day or two. We try and help each other out during times of need.
Our history as a nation also has its low points. As the Psalm exclaims, we have our hatreds as well. During our early years, President Andrew Jackson forced 5 indigenous Indian tribes to move from their homes East of the Mississippi to out West. Such people as the Seminoles and Creek and Catcall were forced to leave and live in unknown territories. The Cherokee protested and the legal battle went all the way to the Supreme Court and they won their case. But they were pushed out as well, resulting in the trail of tears, where 4 out of 5 died along the journey.
We were not fast learners, for a hundred years later we continued to support slavery in the south because we did not want to infringe on a states right for any person to earn a living and make a good profit even at the expense of an entire race of humanity. It was one of the causes of the Civil War. Our own Presbyterian Church divided over such an issue and we justified our economic riches by supporting the institution of slavery with quotes from God’s Holy Word.
As a nation we have been an independent cuss that has allowed for the American dream of the most poor and disadvantaged and stranger to start anew in this country. My wife’s grandfather came to Florida from Scotland because of hard economic times over in Europe in the late 1800’s. We have welcomed those who want to work hard, make a living, raise a family and live their dreams of independence and rugged individualism. But all has not turned out that way. Not all want to work hard or those who work hard don’t always make a good living.
We still remain divided over basic issues of politics, government, states rights verses federal rights, as well as religion just to name a few. And some of that is all right and some we’ve just got to come together on. When it involves our survival, we get serious: WWI and WWII we pulled together, but Korea and Viet Nam were not as clear. 911 will always remain etched in our memories. We’re not always clear on a number of issues or politicians or the way we are governed or not governed.
That’s why when it comes to matters of faith we find in the Psalms, we encompass a whole range of feelings. And the predominate feeling found in Psalm 139 is that no matter where we are in our feelings for this country or the way were governed or not governed, how upset we get with elected officials or how much we support those who want to “get rid of the incumbents,” it all boils down to how are you are in your relationship with God? Are you feeling condemned or accepted? Are you lost or found? Are you joyous or angry? Are you indifferent or just not sure? Are you sad or satisfied?
For how you deal with your spiritual life will determine how you deal with your fellow countrymen and countrywomen. It will determine what kind of citizen you will be. It will determine if you are going to help or hinder in the community in which you live and breathe and have your being. When it comes to a relationship with God, the focus is not on our country right or wrong, the focus is on you and your spirit. Are you in line … in tune with God’s creative, saving, life giving force on your life?
For there is no place you can go that God is not present. No mountain you can climb or valley so deep that God is not there. No village so desolate or metropolitan city where God’s presence does not preside. No place in your heart so lonely or exaltation so high that God does not cry tears of sadness or laugh with joy with you.
God is here as we experience this cup and bread, the love we find in Jesus. Let’s experience the fullness of this Psalm, this day of remembrance, the emotions we have in searching and have God find us.
Dr. Sheppard Lawrence
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Gainesville, FL
May 30, 2010
"What Does the Trinity Mean to Me?”
Scripture Lesson: Isaiah 6:1-8
The vision of Isaiah: What a mind-blowing experience. Something of which I would dare say none of us have ever gone though. I’m not sure we would want to or could have that kind of vision. I’m not sure we would know what it was if it hit us.
I think the closest experience I could compare it with is a rock concert. With all the lights and flashes and pyrotechnics going off. I’ve not witnessed such a scene but I’ve heard younger generations describe it. It certainly wouldn’t be my cup of tea. For me it would be the closing night of the Montreat Worship and Music Conference where we hear the culmination of the children’s, youth and adult choirs, the hand bells and the drums. It could be the night my family and I flew out to Arizona to watch the Gator football team play Ohio State for the national championship. What an experience.
We felt we were a part of something much bigger and larger than just a football game. I’m certain the fans from Ohio did not feel the same. Which is true of any religion experience: what might move one as the hand of God and bring a sense of awe or the spirit, might not mean the same to one who does not believe or have the same investment.
The priest, Isaiah, certain was invested. He was a part of the temple staff and it was his duty to make sure the worship center was ready for the praise and sacrifice to the Holy One. Somehow he got the spirit. It appears to be a complete surprise, without any of his for-knowledge. It just happened that he was ready: in the right place at the right time.
Immediately upon experiencing something greater than himself …something beyond this worldly, day to day grind, he was humbled. He experiences the Lord, high on the thrown, a common picture for 742 BCE and he is floored: “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.” Not only does he speak for himself but he speaks for those people he is serving. He knows that in the midst of absolute purity and goodness, he is stained. And he takes the first step in realizing he is in the divine presence: he senses that God is so big and we are so small.
With this Memorial Day Weekend upon us the television stations have been showing a number of war movies. One of my favorites is Sergeant York starring Gary Cooper. Alvin York was a WWI hero who grew up a farmer in the Hills of the Three Forks in Tennessee. He works hard to purchase a coveted piece of bottom land so he can marry his sweetheart and make a better living. At the last minute the land is bought out from under him and he gets angry and goes on a drunken binge. He was not a religious man, but he experienced the Almighty in a thunderstorm on the way home from the bar and is struck off his horse by a bolt of lightening. The electricity melts his rifle and even the shoes on his mule. York realizes that he has been saved from death for a purpose and he so called “find’s religion,” or even better, “religion finds him,” and he devotes his life to serving God.
My father, who was a veteran of WWII, who fought at Gwadle Canal and throughout the Pacific and later in Korea before he was injured was an extremely poor church attendee. But he told me many times that there were no atheists in foxholes. He certainly had a respect for all that was holy.
From the Isaiah experience, once the order is established: that God is holy and in charge … that we are not holy … that we blow it continually in the ways we mistreat those around us by gossip and passing on damaging information whether we mean to or not. We confess to God and to one another, “I’m sorry.” “Woe is me … for I’ve messed up.” And it’s when you fail to say or to act on those thought’s and word’s … when you see yourself as perfect and the one who is solely “in charge,” that you move away from looking at God as God and putting yourself upon the thrown. You see yourself as judge and jury and never wrong and deny the true power of all that is holy.
When we confess that we blow it and have taken the role of the Almighty away from the Almighty, that is the moment of true repentance and confession. And when that happens, because of what God has revealed in Jesus: his life, teaching, sacrificial death and resurrection, we receive forgiveness. Jesus practices and promises it: Isaiah through a burning coal on his lips experiences it, Roman Catholics through talking to a priest and receiving penitence and we Presbyterians by going to God and one another and saying: “I’m sorry, I hurt you and I ask for forgiveness.”
When we put God in charge, we take a subordinate position. God is in charge and we are not. You ask any military man or woman about the chain of command and if it is not followed, all disciple and order is threatened. And there are consequences for not following orders. There are consequences for not following the orders given to us by God in the 10 commandments, by not following the teachings of Jesus and the prayer to forgive as we have been forgiven, by not following the teachings of the church and traditions that have been passed down through the generations. There are consequences for our misbehavior and misdeeds. That’s why we listen and obey when the spirit, through our conscience or through the teachings of God’s word tells us that we are going down the wrong path.
If we continue down that road it will affect our personal lives, our community, our family. We seek is listen to what God is saying to us through the word … through the church and though our involvement in the community. We seeks to stay in relationship with one another.
And that’s what I want to say about the nature of God. God created us to be in relationship with God and with one another. We are a family. The nature of God is that of a family. Each one has their assignment: Traditionally and in the language of the church it is, Father – creator, Son – redeemer, and Spirit – sustainer. How we related to God is how we relate to ourselves and each other … through a community. And with any organization there is a chain of command. In the military, in the household, in the church. Break down that relationship and you break down the family.
There are many analogies we can use for the family of the Trinity. The nature of God for instance, like the element H20, comes to us in three states: the liquid we drink, the steam that boils from our tea kettles and ice that is solid. The doctrine of the Trinity is like that but must always remain a mystery, one God, three persons, because we cannot explain it. It is a family and what gets that family through fusses and fights and the swing of emotions from “I like you and need you around” one minute to “I can’t stand your guts,” the next remains a mystery as well. But the most help I’ve received in looking at the Trinity is from Paul Young’s book, The Shack. It is a book that drains your emotions about a man’s search for God and his finding the Trinity in a playful and joyful experience: God the Father is Papa, a black woman who enjoys cooking and always has a smile on her face. Jesus, the son works in a carpenter’s shop and the spirit, Sarayu, is an Asian woman who floats in and out of the scene and takes the main character beyond time and space adventures. Each of the Trinity enjoys the other. Each respects the other. No one is on top or bottom. They all work together in an attitude of mutual subjection. They work as a family who makes mistakes like breaking dishes while they are drying them off and supporting each other when mistakes are made.
That’s the most helpful view I can find of how we can relate to God who is revealed in 3 ways … who Isaiah saw in a awesome vision … who we see at work in the church when we hear God speaking to us through God’s word and through acts of kindness …through thunder and lightening and rain all the way to the “still small voice” that comes when we least expect it. Let’s follow and listen and submit to our Lord’s leading.
Dr. Sheppard Lawrence
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Gainesville, FL
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