last sunday's sermon

This is last Sunday's sermon. I read the text from Kings about Elijah and the widow, from Luke about Jesus and the widow of Nain, Galatians about Paul's conversion, and preached from Psalm 146. Psalm 146 is a great Psalm and it contains the existential kernel of Kierkegaard's and Niebhur's dictum that absolute worship belongs to absolute things: that you don't give absolute worship to temporary things - this is where sin begins: in the anxiety such a miscalculation provokes. At least that's my understanding of Niebhur. Cheryl told me that this message would just go flying over everyone's head.
So I wrote, focusing on this verse in Ps 146: that prince's can't help us deal with the fundamental human condition of death, in that they themselves are subject to that condition. But when we listen to the psalm, we discover how God leads us into understanding and action in that condition. That we're authentic when we follow God into the places where loss occurs, and less authentic the more we evade those places. God dwells where the pain is in our human lives.
The italicized passage is a passage that Jami felt was unnecessary, but then she said maybe it was.

Psalm 146:1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! ² I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. ³ Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. ⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. ⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, ⁶ who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; ⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; ⁸ the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. ⁹ The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. ¹⁰ The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!

How do we live in this world? What is it to be really who we are? The writers of the Westminster Confession answered this in the first question: What is the chief goal of humanity. And the answer is: God has created us to Glorify God and enjoy God forever. This is perhaps the most quoted phrase in the English Reformed tradition – of which our presbyterian church is a part. Wherever I've been, among conservatives and liberals, I know that most people will be familiar with this response. In another , may be less familiar, Reformed creed, we're told that our only hope in life and death is that we belong body and soul to our Lord Jesus Christ. These are important things to keep in mind as we approach ever day. Am I glorifying God and enjoying God. What does that enjoying God mean? I think that today's psalm, as well as the other passages in the lectionary help us answer these questions.

Early in the psalm, the singer tells us what not to do. The psalmist commands us not to put our trust in princes, in mortals, in whom is no help. Well I hadn't been putting any trust in princes – after all they're mostly in Europe. .But the key word in this sentence is “mortals”. And this is an apt translation because no matter how well off, or how privileged in life a human being is, that person is subject to death. The psalmist begins with an exhortation to Praise the Lord and then gets right down to the problem of life. The problem of life is that we can die so easily: that no life is a sure thing, that we're haunted by separation and loss and change. This is the problem of how we live in this world, the problem the confessions and creeds also address: How do we live in a world dominated by death?

But why does the psalmist focus on princes to answer this question? . Princes have money and privilege. They are not encumbered by long work hours and they command respect. They seem to be the most free of all the human community. Today the psalmist might say don't trust in the powerful, the celebrity in the news, the great leader. If you see them or happen to be in their presence, have only this thought – this person is going to die just like me. Don't think: how can this person help me? Don't think: this is a perfect networking opportunity Don't think: I'm so honored. Instead remember: this person is going to die. This person lives under the possibility that that they will become ill, that they will lose a family member, that they will lose the ability to control their bodies or control their minds. Death is not just the cessation of life, it is the loss of lots of little things and big things that all add up to zero. They could lose the power of being a prince – and that would be nothing. If you lose money – you can get that back, or at least some of it back. But your life? But a friend? A parent? When dementia took my grandmother's mind, every visit to her was witnessing a new death – something new was forgotten every day. Sometimes I would be surprised at something she would remember, but then, days later, that too would be forgotten. Death is inescapable; but it is evadable – at least for a time. We can insulate ourselves. We distract ourselves with entertainments, politics, arguments, hatreds, chemicals, thrills. We go into debt to avoid thinking about it. People look for a hero to save them from death. People join mass movements because a leader seems invincible. But the psalmist says it isn't so. Don't put your hopes in princes, politicians, heroes, celebrities, or anyone who is only a mortal.

Instead, the psalmist says put your hope, your trust, in God. The God of Jacob, of Israel, who created heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. God cares for the poor, feeds the hungry, lifts up the bent over, frees the prisoner, and delivers from oppression. God creates justice in the world. God's faithfulness never ends. The plottings of the wicked, God bends back on them. God does not fear death. God has died in the person of God's son, Jesus, and death could not hold him down. Jesus conquered death. If there is any hero, it is Jesus. If there is any prince we should look to, it is Jesus. And what kind of prince and what kind of hero is he? Like the description of God here in the psalm, Jesus feeds the hungry, he frees the prisoner, he gives life to the dead. Hence the Reformed confession that “our only comfort in life and death is that we belong body and soul to – not to ourselves but to our faithful savior, Jesus Christ. Indeed that we're redeemed from the power of Death by his blood and sacrificial work, his conquering of Death and the world systems that manipulate the fear of death. And that because of this all that we owe God is gratitude.

And this is the Christian struggle:to live in a world dominated by death, and then, like Jesus, to go right to those places that remind us how fragile our life is. We don't have to act heroically or attach ourselves to some human movement or powerful leader. We belong to Jesus and not ourselves. And our gratitude towards Jesus is not some minor obligation. Our gratitude towards Jesus is the substance of the Christian life. How do we live this out? Look at the psalm. We see there that God is active among people who can't help themselves. God is active in the very places that death attacks us. God is active in breaking up the plans of the wicked. God is involved with helping those who are shoved up against loss. We live out our gratitude when we go where God goes. And God goes to some difficult places. God is with the bent over, the burdened. God is with people who are losing. And this scares us. How can we be with God in these places? These are places we don't want to be because they remind us how fragile our life is.

Look at the story of Elijah: he is called out to be with a widow during a drought, to see that she has food and sustenance. He is called to bring life back to her son. Elijah walks into the place of death, not without some reluctance, to be sure. He cries out to God ,”why are you bringing this calamity even upon her?” and he says “even her”- implying that he's not feeling so well himself. But he isn't trusting in princes. He isn't trusting in some human agency. He's trusting in God, and so he is able to meet people in their grief. He is able to be with her an let her have her grief. Elijah doesn't tell her to cheer up or get over it. He is able to be with people in their reduced circumstances. It isn't easy but he knows God is with him, because he knows that God is especially present in these kinds of difficult situations.

Jesus is the living Word. This is not just an empty title. In this story of the widow of Nain, we see that a living word is how he is: that what he says and how he acts are identical. He does not say one thing and do another. In this story he walks out to the widow who's lost her son. His heart is drawn to her. And he doesn't consider whether she is worthy. As with the Elijah story there is nothing about this widow to commend her. God didn't chose her based on what she did or because she was powerful. Jesus comes out to this widow and restores her son to life. Jesus is where the pain is. Where the discomfort is. To the place where life is most fragile. Whatever else this widow might be, to Jesus she is a carrier of the image of God and that is enough.

And Paul, what a story his is. He was once filled with hate for Jesus and for Christians. His hate drove him to damage people's lives. Even though he was well versed in the scriptures and could read how God was invested with helping people, with saving and not destroying, Paul knew this psalm quite well. But Paul still aligned himself with the powerful and set out to destroy. And in destroying he destroyed himself. And then Jesus confronted him and saved him from hating. Paul was a new man. He gave up hating and joined with those who loved. He went to the widows, the orphans, and those who were bent over. He became a healer of souls and preached Jesus, not just with his words but with his life. When imprisoned in Phillippi he freed not only the prisoners, but the jailer as well.

The jailer himself is imprisoned in what the jail symbolizes. Just as Paul was imprisoned in his hatred. Just as the psalmist cautions against trusting in mortal solutions as an escape from death. The psalmist recognized that what imprisons us all is death. And just as the jailer seems free compared to the prisoners but is really imprisoned; and just as Paul seemed free from death by bringing death upon early Christians, but was really bringing death upon ;himself. So the psalmist warns us that mortal solutions to the problem of death simply imprison us in death and loss behind bars of fear.

And so our life is lived with God. It may seem daunting to us. We're not Elijah or Paul. At times Jesus seems far off. But the Holy Spirit helps us do what we can to participate with God . Over time we get better as our experience opens our hearts. We enter every day into God's story, a story that tells of conquering death and loss. We leave behind a mortal story, a story about evading death and loss, about pretending that I'm different or special, this group will save me, this strong leader will keep me from harm. We don't have to be in denial that we will die and that we are fragile. We don't have to be phony, pretending that we're not hurting inside, pretending that we're not afraid. Why does God dwell in such painful places? God dwells in the truth, and the truth of our situation is that we are encumbered by death and are powerless to save ourselves. Our gratitude stems from this: where we encounter defeat, Jesus brings victory; where we stumble in blindness, Jesus lights our lives with his love. This is the perfect love that casts out all fear. And so we can look at death and not despair. Our Lord Jesus has conquered death. He is the prince of peace in whom we can trust. And he saves us because having died he lives and dies no more. Because of him we need not fear painful things. In our pain we re not alone. In death we are not alone. Ever how long the grief, how deep the sadness, he is there. Praise the Lord. Praise God who reigns from generation to generation. Praise God's name, always.