Wall-Breakers!

     Just a few minutes ago, the Columbia Seminary Gospel choir (directed by Marcus Yates) led chapel.  Under his leadership and the accompaniment of Professor Tribble on the piano, the choir invited us into a lively, dynamic, grace-filled, and abundant conversational journey as a community.  I cannot thank them enough for the liberating worship that they led today.  We opened the worship by insisting that the Holy Spirit was welcome in this place!  What truth and grace there is when we open ourselves to Holy Spirit and her guidance!

     A few days ago, I posted a sermon entitled "Breaking the Fourth Wall."  http://our1wildandpreciouslife.blogspot.com/2012/11/breaking-fourth-wall.html  Of late I have been fascinated by the theatrical concept of "breaking the fourth wall" in which the "audience" is directly addressed and invited into the story in a very tangible way.  This metaphor is challenging me to rethink the way I worship.  How often do we have "fourth walls" in worship in which the congregation is more of an "audience" rather than the living body of Christ?  How often is worship simply a play in which those leading (I am a member of this group more often that not!) "do the action" while the congregation simply observes from "behind the fourth wall?"

     Today, the CTS Gospel Choir gave us a brilliant example of what it means to break the fourth wall in worship.  As a congregant sitting in the pew, I was invited by these "wall-breakers" to join the chorus of witnesses who proclaim God's grace!  The fourth wall was shattered and no longer was worship a simple producer/consumer relationship; the congregation was invited to contribute to the praise and proclamation of the word and the line between worship leader and congregant was blurred.

     Let us give thanks for our Sisters and Brothers in Christ who proclaim God's word in a way that invites all to join in the story which both begins and ends with God's faithful and good Word!  Let us continue the conversation and, as such, I welcome your thoughts on how we might continue to break the fourth wall in the worship that we are called to do!

Acceptance...then love

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/27/163016950/from-a-calcutta-prison-to-the-classical-stage

     I was driving in my car this morning as the local NPR station kept me company amid Atlanta traffic.  An article came on that caught my attention.  The following article speaks of a classical Indian dancer who began  (what I believe can be rightly called) a ministry by teaching male inmates at a local prison how to dance.  She originally came to watch the female inmates perform but was struck by the body language of the men.  Their bodies communicated, in her words, that they were people without a future, with nothing to look forward to. She then began to teach them traditional Indian dance.  The male inmates, murderers, rapists, thieves, and the like, started to see her as a mother who loved them.

     What struck me the most about this article is the way in which the woman, Alokananda Roy, spoke of her journey with these men on the margins of Indian society.  When speaking of the affection that grew between her and the men, she simply said, "all I did was accept them.  The love came later."

     For some reason, this phrase struck me.  Acceptance first.  Then love.

     ....I'm not sure why but I can't get these words out of my head.  Is it possible to love without accepting?  Is it possible to accept without loving?  Does one always have to precede the other?

     Does this challenge you as much as it does me?  

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Many thanks to Ferris Bueller for breaking the fourth wall!

John 18:33-38

            Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’

     There is a term in the world of theatre known as the “fourth wall.”  Perhaps the best way for me to describe it to you is for you to imagine that this space is a stage.  From where you are, you see three walls; one on either side of me and one behind.  Whether you know it or not, there is an invisible “fourth wall” that separates the audience from the stage and, therefore, from the actors and the action.  This fourth wall allows the audience to passively observe the narrative of the play while the actors proceed to live in their fictional world.  However, in the 19^th century there was a movement called theatrical realism.  In this time, a technique known as “breaking the fourth wall” was popularized.  During a particularly dramatic moment, the play would “freeze” and an actor would approach the audience and address them directly, thus, breaking the “fourth wall.”

     Perhaps a more contemporary example of breaking the fourth wall might be in the classic comedy film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  As the movie opens, Ferris Bueller goes about his business getting ready to spend a glorious day skipping school.  After perfectly delivering his well-practiced routine of convincing his parents he is sick, they leave the room and Ferris Bueller directly looks into the camera and tells us, “they bought it!”  Throughout the entire opening scene, we watch him get ready for his grand day out and he shares with us his methods for feigning sickness in his pursuit of playing hookey.  From the very get go, this breaking of the fourth wall connects us rather intimately with this much-loved character of Hollywood.  As we continue the movie, we feel as though we are truly the ones accompanying him on his adventure.

     Although I’m not sure that Ferris Bueller was fully versed in the dramatic techniques of 19^th century theatre, his actions cause the fourth wall to be broken as the barrier separating stage and audience is torn down and the audience is thrust into the action of the story.

     The writer of today’s text from John’s gospel was, I think, well ahead of his time for he breaks the fourth wall as well.  Only, instead of doing so in a 19^th century theatre or in the bedroom of Ferris Bueller, the writer of today’s text does so in the headquarters of Pontius Pilate as he is interrogating Jesus prior to his crucifixion.  From behind the fourth wall, we are witnesses to a frustrating exchange where both characters attempt to dodge each others’ questions. 

     “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Pilate ask.

     “Do you ask this, or someone else?” Jesus asks in return.

     “I am not a Jew, am I? What have you done?  So you are a king?” Pilate asks. 

Through all of this back and forth, Jesus maintains his cool while Pilate (and perhaps you and I, as well) get thoroughly confused, perhaps even to his (and our) wits’ end.  Suddenly, we watch Jesus take control of both the tempo and the texture of the conversation as he changes the subject to truth.  Apparently, as we listen from behind the fourth wall, Jesus tells Pilate that he has come to testify to the truth and that all who belong to the truth listen to his voice.  It is at this crucial moment, that Jesus freezes, the lights dim, and Pilate turns to us, you and me, and asks us directly, “What is truth?”  The writer of today’s text cleverly breaks the fourth wall as suddenly you and I are now responsible for answering Pilate’s “simple” little question!  What is truth?  Three little words that open up quite the can of worms! Well if you and I are to answer this question then we certainly have our work cut out for us, don’t we?  We live in a world that screams “truth” at us every day.

• This is truth! screams the magazine on the gas station shelf that tells young women and men that they must be skinny and sexy to be loved.  
• This is truth! screams the Klansman protesting against immigration in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
• This is truth! scream the Israelis and the Palestinians who shoot missiles at each other. 
• This is truth! scream the Presbyterians as we argue over ordination standards. 
• This is truth! scream the lies of this world.

     When you think about it all of these self-acclaimed truths (which you and I know to be lies!) are based off of static truth as belief.  For example… 

• What the magazine with the pencil-thin model is claiming to be truth is based off of the belief that we must be thin, airbrushed, and fake in order to be accepted and loved.  
• What the Klansman is claiming to be truth is based off of the belief that by being privileged, white, and male he is superior to anyone who is not also privileged, white, and male.  
• What the Israelis and Palestinians are claiming to be truth is based off of the belief that each is entitled to certain things. 
• What the liberal and conservative Presbyterians are claiming to be truth is based off of the belief that each knows what God has in store for the church of Christ.

I submit to you that each of these beliefs that we cling to in our human desire to have the answers leaves us frustrated, antagonized, militant, and, perhaps worst of all, exclusive.  I submit that when we enslave truth within the confines of mere belief, we make ourselves comfortable behind this “fourth wall.”  We observe truth, we theorize it, we speak of it from a safe distance without truly getting our hands dirty.

But when Pilate breaks the fourth wall in today’s passage and asks us “what is truth?” we are challenged to rethink truth, to step away from truth as mere belief and live into truth as action.  When we step back and look at John’s gospel as a whole, we see truth not as something that is believed.  Rather, John would have us experience truth as something that is done.  In the beautiful irony of this passage, Pilate speaks of this movement away from truth as belief towards truth as action with one of the questions that he asks Jesus.  If you look back at the passage, Pilate does not once ask Jesus what he believes, rather in seeking the “truth,” he asks Jesus what he has done. 

     You see, a curious and unpredictable thing happens when the fourth wall is broken:  you and I are no longer at home in the audience.  Rather, we are called by name to approach the stage and do something.  We are called to do truth and not fight over it.  We are called to do the truth that Jesus embodies in a very physical way. 

• For the Truth that meets us in the passage did not spend his final hours with his disciples teaching them doctrine; he spent these last precious moments breaking bread and pouring wine. 
•  The Truth that meets us in this passage is not preparing to state his beliefs; he is preparing to die. 
•  The Truth that meets us in this passage will not give a grand treatise stating his beliefs; he will hang on a cross. 
•  And the Truth that meets us in this passage will not send out a post-resurrection email stating what we are to “believe” at the sight of the empty tomb; he will rise from the grave and defeat death and save us and invite us to respond.

     We worship Jesus Christ, the Truth, the Alpha and the Omega, who alone is our King, whose only credentials are that he is the one who has always done truth, is always doing truth, and will always do truth forevermore.  It is for this reason that you and I are gathered in the presence of the Lord this day to praise the One who allows truth, true truth, to be done.  

• For when at the Lord’s Table bread is broken and wine is poured, there truth is being done!  
• When water is poured at the font that seals a child of God into family of God, there truth is being done!  
• When a group of counter-protesters in Charlotte dress up as clowns to ridicule the hate-filled speech of the Ku Klux Klan, there is truth being done!  
• When a gentlemen, who once slept in the homeless shelter in the basement of an Atlanta church, returns years later to volunteer at that same ministry, there is truth being done!  
• When members from across this presbytery gathered to worship with you all back in May, there is truth being done!  
• When the members of this community here at Silver Creek assembled fifteen baskets of food to be given to local families this Thanksgiving, there is truth being done!

Truth is being done because breaking the fourth wall creates motion…it creates a motion that is created by God, redeemed by God, and sustained by God.  But, friends, I announce to you that this motion, this creative and grace-filled truth of doing is only possible when we agree to leave the seats of the audience and approach the stage.  So I ask you, what are the fourth walls in our lives that still need to be broken down?  What are those barriers which need to be shattered that, once demolished, will allow us to do the truth that God calls us to do?  Friends, it is both my duty and privilege to announce to you that God’s truth is being done this day and you and I are invited to leave the audience, cross the fourth wall, and do truth!

Truth is being done not by our merit but by the saving grace of Christ our King who embodies truth, who lives it!  We will live into this truth yet again this year as we approach the season of Advent.  As we approach Christmas, Advent will prepare us for the breaking of an even larger fourth wall, a wall that could never be brought down by you, me, Pilate, or any of the Jews or Romans; Advent prepares us for the night when God erupts into the world, our world, in a very real way that breaks down the fourth wall between heaven and earth.  And as this fourth wall is broken, we will prepare to be taken out of the audience and into the story, a story where truth is being done, a truth that was and is and is to come.  To him, Christ our King, be all glory and dominion both now and forever.  Amen.  

Prayer of Confession inspired by texts for "Reign of Christ" - Proper 29 - Year B

            Eternal God, 

                 you alone are the Alpha and the Omega;

                      the one who is, and who was and who is to come.

                 We confess that we too often do not listen to your voice.

                      Instead we allow ourselves to be seduced

                      by the easy and vicious lies of this world.

                 O Lord, forgive us our sins.

            Merciful God, 

                 love us.

                 Free us from our sins.

                 Make us to be your kingdom.

                 Turn us toward your truth

                      that we might testify to it forevermore.  Amen.

Pouring Out Our Soul - Sermon on 1 Samuel 1:4-20

     During our worship together last week, we were led by the “director,” so to speak, of Psalm 107 through several scenes.  These vignettes, through several broad, sweeping motions, invited us to ponder the ways that we, as God’s people, have cried out to the Lord who then showers us with steadfast love
     We wandered with the “wanderers” who found no way in the desert wastes
          until the Lord led us by a straight way to an inhabited town. 
     We sat with the “sitters” who sat in darkness and in gloom
          until the Lord brought us out and broke our bonds. 
     We loathed with the “loathers” who could not bring themselves
     to receive their God-given nourishment
          until the Lord sent out his word to heal us. 
     We staggered with the “staggerers” who were at their wits’ end
          until the Lord brought us out from our distress and gave us quiet.

     Today’s lectionary passage, however, gives us no generic participles to describe groups of people in common situations.  Rather, we have a name, a person, a beloved and specific child of God:  Hannah.  But this specific child of God has a very specific problem:  the Lord has closed her womb.  While the inability to have children is a certainly no less a source of grief today as it was in the days of Hannah, our modern culture does not view this condition with the same social stigma with which it was in her days.  Back then, a woman who could not conceive was considered worthless, a good-for-nothing waste whose physical barrenness mirrored the devastating public humiliation of a person without a purpose.
     A few weeks ago, we experienced the irony of the story of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, whose name meant “son of honor.”  Likewise, this passage is steeped in irony for this woman who is considered cursed and purposeless is called Hannah whose very name means “God favors me.”  Clearly not, it would seem, for not once but twice the author of today’s passage reminds us that the Lord had closed her womb.
     Peninnah, her rival as another wife to Elkanah, has no such problem.  She, the author of today’s text tells us, has many sons and daughters; fitting perhaps for a woman whose name means “pearl.”  The focus, however, is not on this “pearl’s” sons and daughters but rather upon her incessant taunts and snares directed straight at Hannah, as if she needed a reminder, had her womb closed by God.  It is just too much; she weeps and does not eat, and goes to the house of the Lord to pray year after year after year after year.  Like the folks we met in Psalm 107, she cries out to the Lord in her distress.
     This day must have felt like every other, crying out to God for the umpteenth time, returning exasperated and saddened from hearing nothing in reply only to return home to the cruel barrage of insults from that “pearl” of a woman, Peninnah.  This time, however, she prays at Shiloh.  The time period of today’s story takes place towards the end of the period of Israel’s judges and just before the period of her kings.  The judges, you might remember, were leaders of Israel whose stories are familiar to us; Gideon, Samson, Deborah and the like.  The kings of Israel to follow were Saul, David, Solomon and then a number of others after the nation split.  In the interim period, in which we find today’s story, Shiloh was the central place of worship for all of Israel.  This is where the entire nation gathered for feasts, celebrations, worship, sacrifices, and the like.  Therefore, this place in which we find Hannah pleading with God is no private worship space, no solitary meditation chapel or prayer room.  Rather, this is the place where the Israelites come to worship.  This cry was a public spectacle!
     Perhaps this is the reason that Eli is concerned with her behavior which does not come across as decently and in order.  As she prays silently, only her lips move.  Therefore, Eli accuses her of being drunk.  However, this assumption by Eli is quickly corrected when Hannah replies to her with a clever, evocative, and heartfelt pun that no drunkard could ever muster.  “No, my lord,” she answers, “I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.”  Pouring out my soul.
     I began working on this sermon thinking that I would frame this story as nothing more than a concrete example of the generic stories that we journeyed through last week in Psalm 107.  A child of God is in distress, the person (whether a wanderer, a sitter, a loather, or a staggerer) cries out to the Turner, the God of abundance, and is delivered by the Lord from her distress.  Now, that being said, Hannah’s story does seem to fit rather seamlessly into this salvation narrative.  The Lord hears her cries, brings forth life to her barren womb, and makes Hannah to conceive and bear Samuel, a great leader in the future of Israel’s history.
     However, if we limit this story to this truth alone, important and vitalizing as it is, we lose the specificity of Hannah, the nuances of this story that challenge us to go deeper.  Hannah’s little phrase “I am not drunk, I am pouring out my soul before the Lord” does just that.
     As I was preparing for this sermon, I ran across an article by Marcia Mount Shoop, a pastor up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  She says that this passage has many layers of meanings but at the end of the day, it is really a story about being “spiritually awake.”  She continues to say that “her prayer of groaning makes her an icon not simply of the mother of a son who is prophetic and powerful, but of a human being who knows herself to be known and loved by God.”
     Perhaps, then, today’s passage is about worship for, after all, worship could be defined as that act when we “present” ourselves to the Lord, where we know we are known and loved by God.  Hannah, in her pain and in her suffering and in her lament, knew where she needed to go.  She needed to rise up and present herself in the presence of the Lord.  Hannah knew that she needed to present none other than her real self, not some prettied-up, tamed, restrained, moderate, meek, costumed, masked self.  But her real self in all of her humanness, in all of her beauty and all of her pain, in all of her strength and all of her weakness, in all honesty.  Hannah knew that worship was not a time for her to “sprinkle” out her soul to the Lord.  This was no time to “drip” out her soul to the Lord.  No, Hannah’s worship in this public place of Shiloh was where she knew she needed to pour out her soul to the Lord.  Hannah knew what it was like to be “spiritually awake.”
     We have a lot to learn from Hannah for we, you and I, are not always spiritually awake during the act of worship.  Hannah challenges us to be honest with ourselves as we move through the journey of worship with all of its mystery and grace, its questions and its answers, its bread and its wine, its praise and its lament.  Hannah’s honesty in her worship challenges us to rethink the way we worship and present ourselves before the Lord in our very own Shiloh here as this worshiping community.

• Take the moment of the “Call to Worship” – during this moment we are gathered in the presence of the very God who created everything, who called Moses through a burning bush, who rained fire from heaven at Mount Carmel, who names us and loves us and knows every hair on our head, who alone possesses the power to both create this world and bring it to an end!  Does our embodiment of this moment reflect the “spiritual awareness” of Hannah?
• Perhaps we need to rethink the way we confess our sins in light of Hannah’s wisdom.  After all, what is confession if it is not pouring our out souls to God and confessing that which we do and that which we are that prevent us from living as we should.  We confess to God, knowing that, if left to our own devices, we would forever be tormented in the hellish fires of our own depravity.  After that, we are assured that through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ we have been no less than plucked out of the jaws of death to live as a redeemed people.  Does our embodiment of this part of worship reflect the honesty of Hannah?
• Or perhaps look at the prayer for illumination.  A musical prayer for illumination from Nigeria has the congregation singing “wa, wa, wa, emimimo, wao, wao, wao,” which means “Come, come, come, Holy Spirit, come immediately, come right now, come this very minute!!”  Hannah asks us if our prayer for illumination reflects this desperate need of the Holy Spirit to make any sense out of this mysterious and salvific word of God.  
• Finally, perhaps Hannah would challenge us to look at the mindset of our Affirmation of Faith.  When we stand to profess that in which we believe, we proclaim the truth.  We stand in defiance and proclaim the Way, and the Truth, and the Life in the midst of a world that screams lies in our faces veiled as truth.  It is no small thing that we stand together to proclaim our allegiance not to the lies of this world but of the truth of the world that was and is and is to come under Christ our King!  Does our embodiment of this defiant prayer reflect the defiance of Hannah as she defends her actions in the temple at Shiloh to an ignorant Eli.

     Friends, in my time with you it has become clear that the family that is Silver Creek Presbyterian Church has had a long and rich history of meaningful worship.  There is certainly no lacking of faithful worship in your history!  But in the rough and exciting waters that we are navigating, how might we take courage from Hannah and come before the presence of the Lord in new and creative ways that awaken our “spiritual awareness?”  How might we more fully embody our entire selves into the worship we are called to do?  How might we pour our souls out to the same God who heard Hannah’s cries and restored life to her barren womb? 
     Perhaps Hannah’s faithful worship reminds us of the need to keep our eyes open.  And perhaps not only our eyes but our ears, mouths, hearts, minds, and arms as well!  Hannah will remind us to pay attention for she was not the only woman who carried a gift from God within her womb.  For as we approach the season of advent, we will be reminded of another woman who poured out her soul to God in order that she might bring into this world a savior who would pour out his soul for you and for me.  So in the weeks to come, as we prepare ourselves yet again to welcome into the world the savior who first welcomed us, remember Hannah’s courage and be not afraid to pour out your soul to God.  For I announce to you that the very God to whom you pour out your soul is the very God who will turn around and fill it with life!  Thanks be to God!

Texts for November 25th

     Friends in Christ, below are the lectionary texts that I will preach on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 25th).  I welcome your comments and feedback.  As always, feel free to give your insights and questions either publicly on this blog or privately via my email at smfearing@gmail.com.  Grace and peace, Stephen.

John 18:33-38

     Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’

Revelation 1:4b-8

     John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

     Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

     To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and madeus to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
     Look! He is coming with the clouds;
          every eye will see him,
     even those who pierced him;
           and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
     So it is to be. Amen.

     ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, 

          who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. 

Joy Too Abundant For Words

Many thanks to Sally Ann McKinsey Sisk, Rachel Hood, and Chris Vogado for their leadership in the worship service that inspired this post.  With much appreciation to John Fawcett for his musical invitation to see (and hear) things with a fresh grace.

     I have always loved words.  Of late I have become enchanted by the power of God-speech.  Today I was reminded that God-speech sometimes is prophetically uttered without words because, sometimes, words just won't do.
     At the chapel service today at Columbia Theological Seminary, this week's chapel leadership team led us in a reading of "the Prodigal Son."  Two readers came forth and began to read the familiar words:  "Then Jesus said, 'there was a man who had two sons...'"  It is not without a small amount of embarrassment that I admit to you that I almost immediately checked out after the second verse.  I, like so many others, have heard this story countless times and know exactly how it ends.  But, as I have discovered, the Spirit has a holy and unpredictable way of reorienting us in fascinating and invigorating ways.
     As the story continued and my mind wandered away (perhaps ironic given the content of the story), something happened that ripped me from my distraction.  As the prodigal son returned home to find the father awaiting him eagerly with joyful celebration on the agenda, the liturgists uttered these words of the passage:  "Now the elder son was in the field...and he heard music and dancing."  At that precise moment as the reading continued, a friend and colleague of mine, leaning casually against the wall of the chapel with guitar in hand, began playing music that immediately reoriented me to the story in a way I have never experienced before.  The tune was soft and yet playful and warm.  A very physical joy enveloped me as I heard the beautiful, celebratory music.  Simply put, the music forced me (I use that term intentionally) to feel the passage in a new way.
     I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with the elder son as his father explained to both of us why there was such an abundant feast going on inside for our jerk of a brother.  We found that the music, more so than the words, expressed to us that this is a time of joy.  And what's more, this joy in this moment was too abundant for words alone to embody.  So perhaps the best way to understand God's grace is to stop talking about it and go inside and join the feast!

1 Samuel 1:4-20 - your thoughts?

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

          I will be preaching on the following passage at Silver Creek Presbyterian Church this upcoming Sunday (November 18th).  I welcome your insights and questions regarding this text.  Please feel free to comment here on the blog or to share with me privately via smfearing@gmail.com.  Many thanks!

                                Grace and peace,

                                Stephen

1 Samuel 1:4-20

     On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year after year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?’

     After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: ‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,and no razor shall touch his head.’

     As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, ‘How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.’ But Hannah answered, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.’ Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favor in your sight.’ Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

     They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.’

The wanderers, the sitters, the loathers, the staggerers, and the Turner - a Sermon on Psalm 107

     The following sermon was preached at Silver Creek Presbyterian Church on November 11, 2012.  The original title of the sermon was "Feasting on the Verbs" but I decided to rename it "The wanderers, the sitters, the loathers, the staggerers, and the Turner" after the characters that found me during the journey of this sermon.  As a side note, the opening rhetorical pattern ("this sermon is not for you if...") is borrowed from a sermon by Walter Brueggemann which can be found in The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011).  Finally, the pictures that are posted in between the sections of this sermon were taken by me on a wonderful walk around Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia on November 10th.  Enjoy!

            This sermon is not for you…if you have never wandered.

            This sermon is not for you…if you have never sat in darkness or in gloom.

            This sermon is not for you…if you have never loathed what actually heals you.

            This sermon is not for you…if you have never staggered along the journey of life.

            If none of these verbs sound familiar to you…then this sermon is not for you.  However, if, like me, you have experienced or are living them at this very moment…then this sermon is especially for you.  This story is for you because the Psalms are our story.  So perhaps, if we listen closely enough, we will note that the voices of Psalm 107 might not be as far removed as previously thought.

I

            I like to think of the author of Psalm 107 as a stage director, who has crafted several “scenes” and invites us to journey from one to another to arrive at the end of the story changed.  Furthermore, the psalmist cleverly uses verbs to direct us in the movement of this passage.  The psalmist begins the narrative with a verb directed, rather bluntly, toward you and me.  “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.”  Give thanks.  There you have it:  our first verb.  The psalmist then directs our gaze from our verb and toward two verbs that belong solely to God:  gather and redeem.  Simply put, we give thanks because God gathers and redeems.  Now, thanks to the verbs of the Psalmist, you and I know exactly what to look for in the rest of the story.

II

Our first scene opens as the “Wanderers" take the stage.  They have two big verbs:  the find no way and then they faint.  We watch this scene with a great deal of empathy for we all, I suppose, at some time or another, search for that “inhabited town,” that place where we will have purpose instead of meaninglessness, that place where our hunger and thirst will be perished and wandering will give way to exploring and fear will give way to curiosity.  After finding no way and fainting, the Wanderers cry out to the Lord.  And then the One who has gathered and redeemed delivers and leads.  The Lord hears their cries and leads them by a straight way, a just and upright path, to an inhabited town where their stomachs are filled and their thirst satisfied.  As we begin our movement to the next scene, a musical interlude reaches our ears that we will hear again throughout this story:   

“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind. 

For he satisfies the thirsty,

and the hungry he fills with good things."

III

            The second scene begins as the moving Wanderers exit stage left and we turn stage right to see the “Sitters.”  They, it would seem, do not even possess the energy to wander.  Instead, they sit in their darkness and gloom, prisoners of misery and in irons.  However, this is no unjust circumstance, for they have rebelled and spurned.  They have fallen down under the weight of their own hard labor.  In their misery, darkness, and gloom, they repeat the refrain of the Wanderers and cry out to the Lord.  This time, the Psalmist gives God three new verbs in response to this gut-wrenching plea for salvation:  saved, brought, and broke.  God saves them from their distress, brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder.  The movement to the next scene continues as the musical refrain begins again: 

“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind,

For he shatters the doors of bronze,

and cuts in two the bars of iron.”

IV

            The third scene opens with the “Loathers.”  They are called as such because, according to the Psalmist, they loath any kind of food.  In sharp contrast to the Wanderers who wander the desert in search of the smallest scrap of sustenance, the Loathers cannot bring themselves to be nourished by the smorgasbord sitting right in front of them.  Why, we might ask?  Because they are sick through their sinful ways and endure affliction by their own iniquities.  Their sickness is so prevalent that they draw near to the gates of death.  The Psalmist does not let them off the hook by giving them a passive verb such as “were drawn.”  No, the Loathers are active agents in their own distress and draw themselves near the gates of death.  Once again, the pattern continues, and the Loathers join the chorus of the Wanderers and the Sitters and cry out to the Lord.  The Lord, in response, saved, sent, healed, and delivered.  God saved them from their distress by sending out God’s word to heal them and deliver them from destruction.  And as the camera turns to the next scene, the refrain again continues:

            “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

                        for his wonderful works to humankind.

            And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,

                        and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.”

V

            Our fourth scene introduces to us the “Staggerers.”  Perhaps worried that we might lose attention during this rather long narrative, the director throws us a curveball by introducing to us these characters.  Unlike the Wanderers, the Sitters, and the Loathers, the Staggerers are not victims of their own doing but instead find themselves amidst a storm of God’s own doing.  In the chaos of the stormy wind and the incessant barrage of waves, their courage melts and they reel and stagger like drunkards, so much so that they are at their wits’ end.  To no surprise, the Staggerers join their sisters and brothers the Wanderers, the Sitters, and the Loathers, and cry out to the Lord in their trouble.  The Lord responds and brings them out of their distress, makes the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.  And the Psalmist tells us that they were glad because they had quiet, because God brought them to their desired haven.  Together at last on the stage in front of us, the Wanderers, the Sitters, the Loathers, and the Staggerers sing the refrain that, by now, is familiar to our ears: 

            “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

                        for his wonderful works to humankind.

            Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

                        and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

VI

            The fifth and final scene introduces the main character (who actually gave the script to the director in the first place).  This character goes by many names (“Lord” perhaps being chief among them) but in this scene is called “The Turner.”  He is called as such because the Turner turns the rivers into a desert and turns a desert into rivers.  The Turner is introduced as the one whom all along has possessed the ability to turn the Wanderers into sheltered ones, the Sitters into freed ones, the Loathers into healed ones, and the Staggerers into glad ones.  The Turner allows all of the characters we have met so far to sow and plant and receive a fruitful yield.  Through the blessing of the Turner, they do not decrease but multiply. 

VII

            As the curtain comes down on and we are left pondering the story of the Wanderers, the Sitters, the Loathers, the Staggerers, and the Turner, the director comes out front and addresses us directly, saying:

            “The upright see [these things] and are glad;

                        and all wickedness stops its mouth.

            Let those who are wise give heed to these things,

                        and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”

           

            This is much to consider, indeed!  There are many wanderers, sitters, loathers, and staggerers in this world, but there is only one Turner.  Only this character can bring us from the depths of our despair and the prison of our misery.  Because of this good news, the Psalmist invites us to be wise and heed these things, to realize that this story both begins and ends with the Turner’s steadfast love.  The Psalmist also lets us in on a little secret:  the lowering of the curtain did not actually end this story, for it is only intermission.  Much to our surprise, you and I are no longer members of the audience but then again perhaps we never really were in the first place.  We are active participants in the story of God’s steadfast love and we will never be the same for God has gathered and redeemed and we must give thanks!

Feasting on the Verbs - The Verbs of Psalm 107

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
     As I prepare to preach on Psalm 107 this upcoming Sunday at Silver Creek Presbyterian Church, I thought that it would be helpful to map out the verbs (and their "owners") in the psalm.  Below is the result of my findings.  What a feast!  I welcome your comments and insights!

                       Grace and peace,
                       Stephen

Verbs that are attributed to God in Psalm 107

Verbs that Belong to God in Psalm 107

Past Tense

• Brought (3x)
• Saved (2x)
• Delivered (2x)
• Redeemed
• Gathered
• Led
• Broke
• Sent (out)
• Healed
• Commanded
• Raised
• Made

Present Tense

• Turns (2x)
• Is (Good)
• Endures
• Satisfies
• Fills
• Pours
• Makes
• Shatters
• Cuts
• lets live
• does not let decrease

Verbs that Belong to "some" (or "us")

Past tense

• Cried (4x)
• Went (down) (2x)
• Bowed (down)
• Fell (down)
• Melted (away)
• Wandered
• Mounted
• Fainted
• Reached
• Sat
• Rebelled
• Spurned
• Reeled
• Staggered
• Saw
• Loathed
• Drew near
• Were (sick)
• Were (glad)
• Were (at their wits' end)

Present Tense

• Thanks (6x)
• Establish
• Sow
• Plant
• Multiply
• Say
• See
• Tell
• Give heed
• Consider
• Extol
• Praise

Psalm 107

Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
     I am preaching on this text next Sunday (November 11th) at Silver Creek Presbyterian Church near Rome, Georgia.  I welcome your thoughts/questions/insights of this text as we engage in this holy word.  You are invited to comment on this blog.  However, if you would rather share privately, please feel free to email me at smfearing@gmail.com.

                        Grace and peace,
                        Stephen

Psalm 107

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures for ever. 
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
   those he redeemed from trouble 
and gathered in from the lands,
   from the east and from the west,
   from the north and from the south. 

Some wandered in desert wastes,
   finding no way to an inhabited town; 
hungry and thirsty,
   their soul fainted within them. 
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he delivered them from their distress; 
he led them by a straight way,
   until they reached an inhabited town. 
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   for his wonderful works to humankind. 
For he satisfies the thirsty,
   and the hungry he fills with good things. 

Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
   prisoners in misery and in irons, 
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
   and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 
Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;
   they fell down, with no one to help. 
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress; 
he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
   and broke their bonds asunder. 
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   for his wonderful works to humankind. 
For he shatters the doors of bronze,
   and cuts in two the bars of iron. 

Some were sick through their sinful ways,
   and because of their iniquities endured affliction; 
they loathed any kind of food,
   and they drew near to the gates of death. 
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress; 
he sent out his word and healed them,
   and delivered them from destruction. 
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   for his wonderful works to humankind. 
And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
   and tell of his deeds with songs of joy. 

Some went down to the sea in ships,
   doing business on the mighty waters; 
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
   his wondrous works in the deep. 
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
   which lifted up the waves of the sea. 
They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
   their courage melted away in their calamity; 
they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
   and were at their wits’ end. 
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he brought them out from their distress; 
he made the storm be still,
   and the waves of the sea were hushed. 
Then they were glad because they had quiet,
   and he brought them to their desired haven. 
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   for his wonderful works to humankind. 
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
   and praise him in the assembly of the elders. 

He turns rivers into a desert,
   springs of water into thirsty ground, 
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
   because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. 
He turns a desert into pools of water,
   a parched land into springs of water. 
And there he lets the hungry live,
   and they establish a town to live in; 
they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
   and get a fruitful yield. 
By his blessing they multiply greatly,
   and he does not let their cattle decrease. 

When they are diminished and brought low
   through oppression, trouble, and sorrow, 
he pours contempt on princes
   and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 
but he raises up the needy out of distress,
   and makes their families like flocks. 
The upright see it and are glad;
   and all wickedness stops its mouth. 
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
   and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.