Sermons from Park Hill Congregational UCC Denver, Colorado Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] February 21, 2021 “The Future of Our Choosing” Psalm 115 – New Revised Standard Version Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens; God does whatever God pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. 8 Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them. 9 O Israel, trust in the Lord! Their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! Their help and their shield. 11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! Their help and their shield. 12 The Lord has been mindful of us; and will bless us; bless the house of Israel; bless the house of Aaron; 13 bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. 14 May the Lord give you increase, both you and your children. 15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings. 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any that go down into silence. 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time on and forevermore. Praise the Lord! When Terri and I discussed a theme for Lent, we decided to focus on the Psalms. We’re especially interested in exploring the Psalms through the eyes of artists and the words of poets. That’s exactly what the videos from The Work of the People do. In fact, I wouldn’t have chosen Psalm 115 without the accompanying video.[1] (go to www.theworkofthepeople.com and search for Psalm 115. First of all, I love hearing Walter Brueggemann speak. He’s 90 years old, still writing books, articles, and until the pandemic, still lecturing around the country. I saw him just last year at Montview, about this time in February. Walter is ordained in the UCC but is internationally renowned as the premier scholar of the Psalms and Old Testament – and known for his cutting-edge interpretation in the best prophetic social justice tradition of Jeremiah and Amos – all based on our covenantal relationship with God and one another. A classic Brueggemann quote: Hunger for God minus love for neighbor is an oxymoron. So, to prepare for this Lent, I’ve been brushing up on my Psalm studies. Phil Campbell reminded us at our Lunch and Lectionary on Thursday that Brueggemann categorizes the Psalms as psalms of orientation, psalms of disorientation, and psalms of re-orientation. Or, a new orientation. So, as we move forward in Lent, I thought it might be helpful to lay out this model. Briefly, psalms of orientation are ones we often read in church about praising God with cymbals and dancing. "Let everything with breath praise the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." They tell us who we are, give us our identity. But, Brueggemann says, praise songs are “not the most interesting.” Laura Jean Truman, however, calls them, “Psalms for people whose lives are going just spiffy, thanks very much; for people that don’t have much to report but thankfulness for a good harvest and a recitation of old sayings like “the early bird gets the worm!” and “God helps those who help themselves!” Well, not exactly. But, she asks, what happens when a collection of cliches falls apart? As they always do. What happens when the façade has at last been penetrated and the perfect world folds in on itself? These psalms of collapse are the psalms of disorientation. We may not be as familiar with these Psalms, but we know them deep in our hearts. These are lived experiences of anger and despair. Psalm 13: “How long will you hide your face from me?” We may politely call them psalms of lament, but more deeply, they are the anguish that arises out of the experience of suffering, or seeing suffering, while the wicked walk around happy and free. Laura Jean said these Psalms exist because someone asked, ”But why are you so angry?” Sometimes, when someone says that to you, doesn't it make you want to scream! Or explode? Moreover, sometimes we have experiences of such radical dissonance we find ourselves praying for revenge and retribution. Like Psalm 35: “Let disaster come to them when they don’t expect it.” Psalm 35 is a trip. For times when we feel God has betrayed us. “How long are you going to let this happen?” This isn’t supposed to happen to me. The wonderful thing about such Psalms is that they are full of the stuff that good Christians aren’t supposed to think, let alone say out loud. With the Psalms, however, "Israel insists that communion with God must be real and honest, open to criticism, argumentative, and thereby capable of transformation." Naturally then, we move along to re-orientation. But not so fast. This isn’t a workout program. The psalms of reorientation, Laura Jean Truman says, aren’t about self-help. “They are the words of people who have experienced a miracle, against all odds.” Listen to her beautiful descriptions: “Gasps of thankfulness when the impossible breaks through. Whispers of delight when the unimaginable has happened. When God has broken into time and space and done something with our efforts that we could not have anticipated and certainly could not have created alone. The psalms of reorientation speak of surprise and wonder, miracle and amazement, when a new orientation has been granted to the disoriented, especially when there was no reason to expect it.” [14] She advises, we don’t “get out of” disorientation by our achievements or on our own timetable. These psalms aren’t something we’ve built out of the rubble of our deconstructed house. It’s looking back and realizing what God has done for us. Although, it’s not a return to something we once knew. It’s the gift of a brand-new thing – a new heaven and a new earth. God says, “See! I am making all things new!” Of course, not surprisingly, all 150 psalms do not fit into such neatly defined categories. Psalm 115 fits, at least in part, as a psalm of orientation that explains their identity as a monotheistic people. A celebration of God also intended as a defense of monotheism – one god, the God of Israel, a god who cannot be seen. A God who does what she pleases. Quirky line, right! They were surrounded by polytheistic cultures – nations with many gods – whom the Psalmist memorably describes: 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. On the one hand, that’s really funny to imagine. On the other hand, this is highly offensive. It smacks of smug, self-righteousness. Religious exceptionalism. In fact, the word idol itself is what we say about someone else. We are smarter or more faithful or more righteous than those “other people” who… So, it’s important to identify this temptation to create idols out of things other people do. Therefore, perhaps we should just get rid of the concept of idol worship altogether. And yet, the video images of ecological destruction and people behind fences helps us see – there are real idols made of silver and gold. That have real consequences. For example, who has a mouth that doesn’t speak? Like the image in the video, politicians in front of a microphone. Who has ears but cannot hear? Anyone who can ignore the cries of kids in cages. Who has eyes but can’t see? The video shows people walking past a hungry man. It’s also anyone who hears the cacophony of cries from across the country “I can’t breathe” but refuses to see systemic racism. What idol is being worshiped? Right alongside white supremacy, the idol of complicit silence. Who has a nose that doesn’t smell? Those who put toxic dumps next to low-wealth neighborhoods or dump sewage into rivers and lakes. And so on and so on. And so, the Psalmist says, “Those who make idols are like their idols, so are all who trust in them. But, O Israel, trust in the Lord! House of Aaron, trust in the Lord. All who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. God is your help and protector. God is mindful of us, blesses us and gives us increase.” This Psalm is a praise song to their God, about their identity, set against what other people do -- worship idols. But a faithful interpreter of this text asks us, what idols do we worship? And might that not explain, in part, why we feel disoriented at times? And then set us on the path toward reorientation? That’s my natural inclination. A three-step process. What can I do? What plans can we make? Let’s set goals and work toward them. But what does it mean if we can’t achieve re-orientation based on our own hard work and good efforts? Notice that my idol is "achievement?" And a few more things! Let’s go back to that quirky line: God does what she pleases. Walter told the story of a neighbor who won’t wear a mask. “Well, if I die, it must be my time.” He said, “It’s such a statement of despair and resignation. A refusal to take any initiative or responsibility. Utterly without hope or expectation for anything new. A passive recipient of what comes, whether what comes is from God or elsewhere.” Just like inanimate and powerless idols who can do nothing. They can’t even make a sound in their throats. Walter said, “I don’t conclude that my neighbor is a worshiper of idols. I do conclude that she has willingly signed on for a world in which she is not expected to play any role in shaping the future that is to come upon us.” Because those who worship powerless idols become like those idols – powerless and inanimate. No, instead, we worship a God who does what God pleases. Which sounds like a capricious God who could care less whether or not you and I get Covid 19, too busy having fun in heaven. But Walter’s point is that if we worship a God who can do anything she pleases, then we worship a living God – not an inanimate one who has no power in the world. You become like that which you worship. So, “if we worship the God who freely does what she pleases, we become free like the God of freedom.” In this psalm of orientation, we affirm, Israel is not passive. Throughout scripture, it is repeatedly asked to “choose life so that you may live.” And neither are we passive. Indeed, the future is of our choosing. That’s not meant to make us feel powerful. Much to the contrary, the implications are overwhelming. The freedom to choose always is. But get ready for what is really overwhelming: The gasps of thankfulness when the impossible breaks through. We worship a God for whom the impossible breaks through. Get ready for whispers of delight when the unimaginable has happened. Because we worship a God from whom the unimaginable happens all the time. Get ready for the God who breaks into time and space and does something with our efforts that we could not have anticipated and certainly could not have created alone. Let us trust in and, through what we choose to worship, become more like this God. Sources quoted and consulted: https://churchanew.org/brueggemann/red-meat-for-white-idols https://churchanew.org/brueggemann/destiny-not-fate Walter Brueggemann, Spirituality of the Psalms (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002). https://laurajeantruman.com/2018/02/08/deconstruction-disorientation-and-brueggemanns-psalms/ http://paearly.com/blog/2014/11/11/orientation-disorientation-reorientation The Psalms and the Life of Faith, Walter Brueggemann. “The Psalms and the Life of Faith: A Suggested Typology of Function.” Ed. Patrick D. Miller. [1] www.theworkofthepeople.com – search for Psalm 115
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