"All The Paths of God"

Joshua J Sander
2/26/12
First Sunday in Lent
Candidating Sermon at Trinity UCC, Biglerville PA
"All The Paths of God"

Psalm 25:1-10
Mark 1:9-15

Good morning!  I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am to be here worshipping with you today.  I hope you’re excited, too.  And I recognize that it’s probably a little weird to have a new guy preaching and leading worship--after all, you don’t know me all that well yet.  It has been my experience, however, that there is a space between what the preacher thinks they’re saying and what each member of the congregation hears.  I believe that God uses that space no matter who is standing in the pulpit.  In fact, Mr. Rogers once referred to it as “The God Space” and it is my most sincere prayer that you find God working in that space this morning.

On the other hand, I do want to get to know all of you, and want you to get to know me.  So aside from trivia about Mr. Rogers, here are some things that like:  I like movies and television.  I like all kinds of games--card, board and video.  I like an extraordinarily varied amount of music.  I like to read poetry and fiction.

I love my wife.

And she and I share a love of words.

So it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite parts of the Bible is the Book of Psalms.  The word Psalm comes from a Greek word, “Ψαλμοί” (Psalmoi), which literally means “songs sung to a harp.”  The songs we find in the Book of Psalms are both songs and prayers and can be read as poetry, just like any song lyrics can.  I know that “Bang a Drum” has probably never been sung to a harp, but I still think that it’s a modern Psalm.  I bet that if you stop and think about it for a while, you’ll find that some of the music you listen to might also be a modern Psalm--and if you think of some, I’d love to hear what they are!

But there’s more to my love of the Psalms than just the fact that they’re songs and prayers and poems all rolled into one thing.  I also love the Psalms because they show us that the ancient Hebrew people struggled with the same big God questions that we do.  There are Psalms of thanksgiving, Psalms that praise God, and lots and lots of Psalms of Lament.  We don’t use the word “lament” much in our everyday language anymore, and when we do we usually mean “sad” or “in mourning.”  But laments are really much more than that--they are a way of expressing much bigger emotion.

When I was a child there was a playground song that went, “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I guess I’ll go eat worms!”  And that’s a lament.  When something happens that’s so bad that all you can say is, “How could this happen?” that’s a lament.    When Jesus is dying on the cross and he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” that’s a lament.  In fact, Jesus is quoting the opening verse of Psalm 22, which is about persecution as well as the mercy and salvation of God.  The Psalm for today, Psalm 25, is another good example of one which both laments persecution and uplifts the goodness of God.

We’ve already heard the first half of Psalm 25, the rest of it goes:

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.  Who are they that fear the Lord?  He will teach them the way that they should choose.  /  They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land.  The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.  My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.  /  Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.  Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.  Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.  /  Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.  O guard my life, and deliver me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.  May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.  /  Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles.

If you think about it, this Psalm is all over the place.  It bounces from “save me and punish them” to “you’re so good and I’m not, please forgive me and teach me to be good.”  It ricochets from “all God’s paths are steadfast love and faithfulness” and “God will reward us” back to “forgive all my sins” and “Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.”

Yup, this Psalm is all over the place, and honestly that’s one of the reasons I love it.  Because I know that I’ve had days when it felt like the world was out to get me.  I’ve had days where it felt like I could do nothing right.  I’ve even had days where I felt like I must have done something to deserve the trouble I was having.  And I found it comforting to know that whatever I was feeling, the Psalmist has felt it, too.  Not only did the Psalmist feel it, but they made it into a song--and then they prayed it.  And then it was written down.  And then it became Jewish scripture.  And then Christian scripture.

Think about it this way.  There are places in the Psalms where the Psalmist says really horrible things to God.  And they didn’t get punished.  Far from it!  Their words got recorded in the Bible!  And if they can say those things to God, there’s nothing we can’t pray.  In fact there’s no wrong way to pray.  “If you want to tell him somethin’ you ain’t got to fold your hands, just say it with your heart, your soul, and believe it, and I’ll say ‘Amen.’”

On the other hand, prayer is a conversation.  It’s a two way street.  You can say anything you want or need to say, but it’s only fair if you listen to the answers as well.  When I read today’s Gospel lesson, one of the first things that strikes me is the way that Jesus listens.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.  And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.  And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."  This message comes first and foremost:  You are my child.  I love you.  I’m proud of you.

And this message is accompanied by the image of a dove.  Today the dove is a symbol of peace and has been for so long that sometimes we forget why.  The symbol goes back to the story of Noah and the ark.  The dove is peace, yes, but it is the peace that follows a great and terrible storm.  It is the peace of flood waters receding after the destruction is done but before the rainbow covenant to never destroy us with water again.

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.  Jesus is Baptized and then he spends forty days and nights in the wilderness fasting and praying.  Why?  Because the Spirit drove him there.  The whole thing is pretty awe-inspiring.  I imagine that seeing the heavens literally torn apart so the Holy Spirit can fall on you and force you out into the wilderness with nothing but your wet clothes on your back would be--overwhelming at least.

So I find it easy to imagine Jesus in the wilderness, having a long and intense conversation with the Spirit of God about what Jesus was supposed to be doing with his life.  Hopefully we all know enough of the story of Jesus’ life and teachings to know that it wasn’t at all easy.

What the Spirit was insisting that Jesus do was going to be hard and often thankless work.  Not only that, but it would be violently opposed by both the religious and secular authorities of the day.  It was going to hurt.  Worse than we can imagine.  So yes.  Jesus must have been tempted to run in the other direction--to just go home and quietly do carpentry, start a family, have a normal Jewish life.  It’s almost exactly like the image of having Satan on one shoulder and an angel on the other giving you the pros and cons of both sides of the choice you have to make.  And of course, the angel wins out in the end.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."  Jesus emerges from his time of fasting and prayer with a new message from God.  The Kingdom of God is nearly here.  Repent and believe.  The word “repent” literally means “to turn around and go in the opposite direction.”  It’s what you do when you figure out that you’ve been going exactly the wrong way.  After all, it’s better to go in the direction God teaches us:  All the paths of God are steadfast love and faithfulness.

So how do you know when you’ve stepped off the path?  Once again, Jesus is the example to look toward.  Jesus didn’t stop praying after that first trip into the wilderness.  He made time and space for prayer throughout his life--it’s mentioned over and over again in the Gospels.  I know that it’s easy to let your prayer life slide as you go about your busy lives.  But there are so many kinds of prayer.  I’m officially challenging all of us to find one--or two, or three--that work for you.  Tell God whatever you want or need.  And then take the time to listen for the Spirit.

How will you know when you’re hearing the Spirit?  The Spirit is insistent.  The Spirit forces you into uncomfortable places, places that stand outside of society.  And it is all too easy to succumb to the temptation to do, well, anything else besides what the Spirit is insisting that we do.  And if we’re honest, we already know what those things are.  Deep in our hearts we know what steadfast love and faithfulness is.  We have examples of humans with all their failings puzzling it out in the Biblical witness.  We have the life and teachings of Jesus.

So let me say it again:  I’m challenging all of us to sing songs, to write Psalms, to say words given to us from long ago or merely yesterday.  I’m challenging us to talk with God out loud or in our own heads or to simply bang a drum.  I’m challenging us to tell God whatever we want or need to in whatever language comes easiest to us.  And I’m challenging us to listen, always listen, because the Spirit is speaking to us.  And once we’ve heard what the Spirit is saying, I’m challenging us to repent, to turn around and go in the new direction we’ve been shown, and believe in the Good News.  Amen.  And amen.