Semper Fidelis! Semper Preparatus!

Text:  Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 & Luke 12:32-40

Theme:  "Semper Fidelis!  Semper Preparatus!"

12th Sunday after Pentecost

August 11, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

The night is bitter
The stars have lost their glitter
The winds grow colder
And suddenly you're older

Sinatra says that it's all because of "The Gal That Got Away". It may not be a "gal" for you; it may be a "guy".  Perhaps it's something else altogether, but the feeling is the same:  "The night is bitter; the stars have lost their glitter.  The winds grow colder, and suddenly you're older."

 

Twenty six years ago, toward the end of grad school, a favorite professor of mine made a startling statement to me.  He said, "The world will seek to domesticate you to its ways."  "Domesticate", linguistically, comes from "domestic".  "Domestic" comes from the Latin "domesticus".  At the root of "domesticus" is "domus" -- the Latin term for "house" or "home".  The professor was saying that the world will seek to make you quite "at home" with its ways. 

 

Jesus spoke of being in the world but not of the world.  If we leave off the bit about not being "of the world," then we are left, only, with being in the world.  And the world is quite good at "domesticating" us to its ways. You hear it so often in the language that's used:  "Oh, that's the way the cookie crumbles"; "it is what it is"; "who knows what tomorrow will bring"; "you just have to do the best that you can."  "The heat index is what?  120 degrees?  Well, that's just summer in Texas."

 

Then there's this bit of verse that was scotch-taped to the inside kitchen cabinet door of my childhood:

The clock of life is wound but once

And no one has the power

To tell just where the hands will stop

At late or early hour.

 

Roughly forty people died, while I read that short poem, somewhere in the world.  Sooner or later, our number will be called -- and it will likely be just another day for all the rest of the folks still waiting for their number to be called. The world seeks to domesticate us to its ways. 

 

But somewhere, in the hidden recesses of our spirits and souls, in those parts of our minds and hearts that we kind of keep to ourselves, we cannot help but sing with Sinatra:

The night is bitter
The stars have lost their glitter
The winds grow colder
And suddenly you're older

And it's not because of "the gal that got away." It's because we're not sure what will become of us, and, therefore, we're afraid.  Why?  Because we know that there is something in us that yearns, that yearns for more than being domesticated to the ways of the world, that yearns for something better.  Stick with that yearning.  Stay with it for a moment.  It is more important than we can even begin to imagine. 

 

The resource for all of this domestication to the ways of the world -- where we often feel like pawns on someone else's chessboard, -- is what the readings for today give us. 

 

Nowadays, when science seems to be all and end all, the Bible gets cut up and shredded and dissected and discounted as all a bunch of ancient hogwash.  So called "scholars" try to disprove this and discount that all in attempt to cast doubt and polish their Ph.D's.  I take a different tack.  I don't see the Scriptures as some sort of literary laboratory specimen.  I see it as a gift, and the gifts in today's reading are piled up so high it's almost impossible to explain. 

 

Today's reading from the New Testament book of Hebrews talks of the ancient people of God.  You've heard of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sara.  It is said that they lived by faith.  Certainly, they were in the world.  But they lived by faith and not by the ways of the world.  What is it that kept them from being completely domesticated to the world?  Faith!  And what is faith?  Our text answers:  "Faith is the asssurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." There is more to life than simply trying to smile when you're heart is aching.  There is faith.  "By grace are you saved through faith," the apostle said, "and this is not of works -- lest anyone should boast." 

 

My friends, I don't want a ministry or service that simply makes suggestion on how I can be a kinder, gentler, nicer person.  I need a ministry, a service, that fills me full of faith.  Semper fidelis!  Always faithful.  My times, your times, our times are in God's hands!  In Jesus Christ, those hands have nail marks in them.   You get a hold of that, and you've got the world by the tail!

 

Those people that I mentioned from God's World in the book of Hebrews, they were in the world.  But they yearned for a better country -- a heavenly one.  "And God," it says, is not ashamed to be their God, for He has prepared a city for them."  After church and after Sunday lunch, you'll likely go home this afternoon.  But deeper and better than going home after church is to know that at any time, whether here or there or anywhere, you are on your way home.  Jesus says "I go to prepare a place for you."

 

The message of Jesus, in today's Gospel, dovetails beautifully with the material from Hebrews.  Jesus exclaims: "Have no fear, little flock.  It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."  Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, since fear is gone, since we live by faith, we can then be prepared to act on that faith.  We can live with God by faith and our neighbor with love.  Instead of singing the blues with Sinatra, instead of what of one of our great hymns calls "weak resignation to the evils we deplore",, we can get out of ourselves and seek to be of service. "Be dressed ready for service, and keep your lamps burning," says Jesus.  Semper Preparatus!  Always prepared! 

 

So there you have it:  in this world that seeks to domesticate us to its ways, in this world where the night is often bitter and the stars have lost their glitter and where the winds grow colder and suddenly you're older, there are the resources that pull you through.  The world will go on being the world, but we are, by the grace of God,  Semper Fidelis!  Always Faithful!  Semper Preparatus!  Always prepared!

 

Amen.

Text:  Luke 12:13-21

Theme:  "Hoarders"

11th Sunday after Pentecost

August 4, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Are you ready for this?  I do not watch "reality" TVshows.  I hope this isn't a symptom of being an old fuddy-duddy, but I'll take that risk.  I have nothing against anyone who enjoys reality TV; it's fine and dandy with me if you want to watch it, but it's just not my cup of tea.  Nevertheless, it's a good thing -- I think; I hope! -- for pastors to keep a least a little bit current with folks what are watching on the tube.  It's helps to stay reasonably conversant with the culture, that way you can track where it is headed.

 

Today's Gospel reminded me of a show that I had heard about but never watched.  It's called "Hoarders".  Thank goodness, there is Wikipedia to bring one up to speed.  Technically, it's not so much a reality show as it is a documentary.  "It depicts," according to Wikipedia, "the real-life struggles and treatment of people who suffer from compulsive hoarding."  As it turns out, these hoarders are intervened upon by psychiatrists, psychologists, professional organizers, and folks they call "extreme cleaning specialists."  You get the idea.

 

The parable of Jesus, in Luke 12, includes reference to a hoarder. The hoarder thinks to himself:  "What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.  This is what I'll do.  I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones.  I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.'" 

 

Unfortunately, this is where the comparison falls apart.  This hoarder, unlike the poor unfortunate souls on the TV show, does not appear to be suffering at all; he is not in need of an intervention.  He has lots of what we, if we are honest with ourselves, really want:  that is security.  He has enough stuff -- in fact, far more than enough stuff -- to be secure for the rest of his life, or so he thinks.  His ship had come in, as they say.  He'd won the lotto of life.

 

He may have been something of an Epicurean. Epicureans adhered to a philosophy called "Epicureanism."  Established by a man named Epicurus, some three hundred fifty years or so before the time of Jesus, Epicureans were all about pleasure.  Religion and God getting involved in the affairs of human beings was hokus-pokus; it was all a bunch of superstition. Pleasure is the greatest good.  Hence, take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry.

 

As you and I track where our own culture is headed whether we watch reality TV or not, it's fairly obvious that Epicureanism is experiencing something of a renewal.  Oh, it's not so much called Epicureanism, but the philosophy itself is alive and well.  "Eat, drink, and be merry" is often the alternative choice when confronted with the endless pessimisms and cynicisms of our day and the doom and gloom that is plastered over our newspapers, iPads, and the editorial pages of The Denton Record-Chronicle.  The country is falling apart; the government is spying on us; there are no jobs; people are shackled with debt; we may fall victim to a terminal illness.  So why not?  Eat, drink, and be merry.  If you don't have the resources to eat, drink, and be merry, then you best buddy-up with people who do.

 

Jesus was no Epicurean.  In the person of Jesus, God did intervene in the affairs of mankind.  In the parable of Jesus, God says to the rich man:  "You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared (or hoarded) for yourself?"

 

One of my mentors, the late Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, once told the story of a little girl who went to her friend's house.  She noticed the friend and the friend's family had a swimming pool.  Her friend had lots of the latest toys and a beautiful, spacious bedroom.  When the little girl got home, her mother noticed that she was disappointed.  Her mother asked what was bothering her.  She looked around her own house which was rather small and sparse.  She said, "My friend has so many nice things that I wish I had."   Sensing a teaching moment, the mother sat down with her daughter and drew up two lists.  The first list included all the things that the girl's friend and family had that she didn't have.  The second list included all the things that the girl had that the friend didn't have.  It included things  like this:  "We love each other; we go to church together;  we go on trips together; we're there for one another." The mother said:  "Now compare the two lists."   As Dr. Hoffmann told it, it didn't long to see the difference.  In one family there was a lot of fluff but little stuff.  In her own family, the daughter discovered, there wasn't a great deal of fluff, but there was a lot of stuff -- real stuff that makes for real life!

 

Jesus Christ was talking about life one day when that man came up to him and said:  "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!"  Jesus wasn't a wills and estate attorney.  He didn't occupy the bench at some probate court.  He said  with a rather clipped tongue:  "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"  Then He said to everyone in range of His voice:  "With your eyes wide open, keep yourself free from every form of greed.  For a person's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he or she possesses."

 

Things are things -- whether they be from Wal-Mart or Nordstrom's, Old Navy or Banana Republic, Timex or Rolex,  Hyundai or Lexus!  Things are things and they will never be anything but things.  But Jesus Christ is life, real life, and He will never be anything else but life!   John the Evangelist said that "In Him was life, and that life was the light men."

 

One commentary on today's text said that the story "spits and sizzles like a barbeque grill in the backyard."  It puts forth a startling challenge:  be rich, it seems to say.  But don't be rich in the way of the hoarder.  Don't be rich in the way of the Epicurean.  Discover what it means to be rich toward God!

 

In just a few minutes, we'll get a good start on being rich toward God.  The most precious riches of God will be signed, sealed, and delivered to us at the Lord's table.  Eat, drink, and be merry at the Lord's Supper!  We do so not because we seek to be hoarders or Epicureans.  We eat at this table and drink at this table because we are children of God, and our lives are not defined by what we have but by who we are. 

 

Amen.

 

 

Username and Password!

Text::  St. Luke 11:1-13

Theme:  "Username and Password!"

10th Sunday after Pentecost

July 28, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

 

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,^[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.^[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.^[c]
And lead us not into temptation.^[d]’”

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Today's message is about access. It's something we either have or don't have.  Take financial access, for instance.  No doubt, some of you here this morning use cash, and that's fine.  But some of you -- maybe quite a few of you -- use a debit card when you purchase something.  In order to access that debit card, the business needs something from you called your P.I.N. or "Personal Identification Number". 

 

Another example:  in these high tech days, many of us maintain memberships and subscriptions or what have you online.  Organizations with members may have an internet site that can be visited, as they say, by anyone.  But if you're a member, and you want to get information only for members, it will require you to have a username and a password.  How many of you have ever forgotten a username and/or a password?  There are even links to help you recover your username or password or come up with new ones.  It seems everything requires a username or password anymore.  There are even iPad and smartphone applications designed to help you keep track of all your usernames and passwords.  It can get very confusing -- especially with these passwords.  They want you to include a lower-case letter, an uppercase letter, a number, and some symbol or character.  You punch in your choice and then confirm it.  The website sometimes will tell you how safe it is.  You don't want to get hacked, do you?  You don't want to become the vicitim of identity theft.  You want safe access that no one else will have access to. 

 

Or how about hotel rooms?  In the good old days, you'd get a key at the front desk.  Nowadays, you get something resembling a credit card. It has a magnetic strip with a random code on it that links up with the lock on the door.  A little push into the lock and -- voila' -- you gain access into the privacy of your own room -- except, though, if that key card has been de-magnetized by, say, another credit card in your purse or wallet.  Then you have to access the front desk to get another card to access your room. Like I said, it's all about access.  And I haven't even began to speak about fingerprint access or hand access -- or the embedded microchip.

 

In Luke chapter 11, one of the disciples noticed that Jesus Christ Himself had access, and the disciple wanted some of that access for himself.  I'm speaking of that unique kind of access that we Christians call prayer.  He observed that Jesus was praying in a certain place.  In short, through prayer, Jesus had access to God. Any place was a certain place for Jesus to pray.  He prayed on mountaintops and on beaches.  He prayed briefly; it even says He prayed all night on occasion.  Martin Luther, who learned to pray the Jesus way and had access to God through prayer, once remarked:  "I have so much to do today I'll have to begin with at least three hours in prayer!"  That may be a bit of exaggeration for effect, but not by much.

 

Prayer, truth be told for most of us, is something we squeeze in to our day -- if we do it at all.  Of course we pray on Sunday morning; prayer is an act of worship.  But that act of worship is often conspicuously missing from daily worship, from Monday through Saturday.  We have a really good, solid, well-rehearsed hand full of excuses for this.  For starters, we tell ourselves we don't really know how to pray, so we leave that to professionals like the pastors.   Or we're embarrassed about prayer -- especially in public; people might think we're a religious wing-nut or something.   Or, getting brutally honest,  we're really not sure that prayer works.  We're not sure that government works to our benefit (they tax us) or business works to our benefit (they cheat us).  What makes us think that prayer is going to do us any better?   It seems the answers come more slowly; the results take longer.  We've been domesticated into thinking that everything we need has to be instant.  We've become grown-up versions of those two to three to four year olds who want what they want when they want it -- and that's usually right now! In short, we want reasonably speedy access to our needs being met -- and sometimes some of our wants. 

 

Did Jesus have that kind of access?  Did He get his needs met?  There must have been something to that personal praying that He was doing all the time.  What kind of access did He have? Was He the only one that had it?  To put it in modern terms, was he a member?  Was He a subscriber?  Did he have a username and password to gain Him access and get him connected?  Was there some flow of information back and forth that only He was privy to? Apparently, he was on the email distribution list.   Just this past week, I heard about an individual who goes into what he or she calls a "prayer closet" in his/her home.  Apparently, this person gets messages from God, through prayer,  and then relays them to his/her spouse.  The spouse then sends out these messages through email to a list of friends. Wow, this person must have a "Username and Password" that I'm not familiar with.  I'm certainly not on the email distribution list.  And do you know what?  I don't want to be. 

 

Who knows what was going through the mind of that disciple when he asked Jesus to teach a lesson on prayer?  Actually, we do know.  He observed that John the Baptist taught his followers to pray.  All things being equal and in the interest of everything being fair, we want our lesson too.  Obviously, prayer isn't just for the experts or the super-religious.  So kudos to this disciple; he makes a solid request. 

 

Folks, I've seen about all of it when it comes to prayer.  I've watched people bow their heads at Burger King. I've seen a man in a locker room at the gym praying over a banana he was about to eat.  I've seen folks hold hands.  At a hospital once, I found myself with a company of Pentecostalist motorcycle riders who spoke in tongues.  I've heard people use flowery language with prayer.  I've heard lengthy prayers that seem more like sermons or like infomercials for the church.  Some of the best I've heard were short.  Some prayers I've heard draw more attention to the person praying than to the God they purport to pray to.  To carry the analogy through, there appear to be all kinds of usernames and passwords employed to gain access to God.  But appearances can be deceiving.

 

One thing's for sure:  we're not born with a prayer on our lips.  In other words, it's something that needs to be taught.  And if it's taught, then it must be practiced.  Only then will it become a habit -- a regular part of our day and, dare I say, part of our spiritual DNA.    We don't come into this world knowing how to tie our shoes; eventually we must learn how to lace them up and make that bow. 

 

Is this practical stuff?  You bet it is, and Jesus does not disappoint.  He doesn't hand out a tract and then tell you to read it and get back with Him some other time.   He doesn't invite the disciple to take his hand, bow his head, and listen to him as he rattles off some tearful, rehearsed, choreographed "Sinner's Prayer".  He doesn't hand out an autographed book at the Jerusalem Barnes and Noble called "The Prayer-Driven Life" that his literary agent hopes will hit the New York Times best-seller list.  He doesn't hand out a bumper sticker that says "Prayer Works", or "Prayer Changes Things", or "When All Else Fails, Try A Prayer".  And He doesn't ask if the disciple has a username and password.

 

Instead, He answers:  "When you pray, say this: 

 

“‘Father,^[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.^[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.^[c]
And lead us not into temptation.^[d]’”

Then Jesus tells us a story along these lines: You've got a need; you've got a friend who can meet that need.   You ask for the need to be met.  The friend kind of balks at your request.  "It's the middle of the night; I'm asleep, for crying out loud."  But in the end you get what you need from that dear friend because of what Jesus called, in our text, your "shameless audacity." 

 

There's something I could use a little bit more of in my prayers:  shameless audacity.  In so many areas of my life, I don't have simply because I don't ask.  I don't bother to ask because I'm going to sound needy. I don't ask because I may come off sounding self-centered -- on it goes.  But if God is your best friend in the middle of your long night of need, then, for crying out loud, ask; ask with "shameless audacity."  It doesn't require a username or a passcode.  You don't have to be some sort super or hyper-Christian.

 

Ask!  Seek! Knock! You'll get your answer; you'll find what you're looking for; the door will open.  It may not be exactly be that tailor-made answers you're looking for, because your heavenly friend might have something better in mind.  But by all means ask, seek, and knock -- with shameless audacity. 

 

You don't need a username or passcode.  Because of Jesus, who died and rose for you, you have access.  You are a disciple, a follower, a child of God.  So ask -- ask with shameless audacity.  God, your heavenly parent, is going to give you fish and eggs ( to use the language of Jesus) and not snakes and scorpions.  Good parents don't give their kids snakes and scorpions.  They give them fish and eggs!

 

And you get the Holy Spirit thrown in as a gift as well!

 

I hope this message has been of some help to you.  The more I studied the text, the more it helped me.  Nevertheless, even in being aware of all this, you may still feel pretty weak when it comes to prayer.  You may feel as though the cables are broken and the lines of communication cut.  Your access seems non-existent.

 

I close with good news for you, too.  St. Paul writes to the Romans: 

 

 

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

 

Folks, it's nice when we share our joys and concerns; it's great when others pray for us.  But this is different.  This is the Spirit of Jesus Christ praying for us too. Don't grade your prayer life. Celebrate your access.  Go at it with shameless audacity knowing that you are loved!

 

Amen.

The Green Olive Tree

Text:  Psalm 52

Theme:  "The Green Olive Tree"

9th Sunday after Pentecost

July 21, 2013

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

 

+In the Name of Jesus+

For the director of music. A maskil^[b] of David. When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: “David has gone to the house of Ahimelek.”

¹ Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?
    Why do you boast all day long,
    you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
² You who practice deceit,
    your tongue plots destruction;
    it is like a sharpened razor.
³ You love evil rather than good,
    falsehood rather than speaking the truth.^[c]
4 You love every harmful word,
    you deceitful tongue!

⁵ Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
    He will snatch you up and pluck you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living.
⁶ The righteous will see and fear;
    they will laugh at you, saying,
⁷ “Here now is the man
    who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
    and grew strong by destroying others!”

⁸ But I am like an olive tree
    flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
    for ever and ever.
⁹ For what you have done I will always praise you
    in the presence of your faithful people.
And I will hope in your name,
    for your name is good.

If you're going to meditate, then, hopefully, you have something meditate upon.  There's more to meditation than deep breathing techniques -- which are more about getting in touch with what your body is telling you as opposed to what God might be saying.  If meditation and prayer is something that does interest you or could possibly interest you, allow me to suggest the book of Psalms.    It's part of the library that we Christians call the Bible.  In fact, it's also a song book.  One might even call it a hymnal.  By the way, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the denomination, is coming out with a new hymnal.  It seems every generation wants one.  It's not a bad idea because there is new material out there that deserves its place along with some of the standard classics.  We certainly started with a piece that has withstood the test of time:  Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.  Such lofty language!  Of course, it was written at a time when words meant things.  But nowadays, the thrust isn't so much with what words mean or with what words teach.  These days, it's about the evocative power of language; it's about how words make us feel.  Simply stated, "Don't teach us; make us feel something."

 

Last week, Dr. Snider, our Music Director, mentioned article on Facebook which shared the news that some people "disapproved" of the new music.  What's fascinating about that is that the article was written in 1755.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  When the new hymnal comes out, I've got five dollars that says that some folks are going to disapprove of things in it.  What would we Christians do if we didn't have something to disapprove of? 

 

There's not much of anything to disapprove of in the Book of Psalms. I doubt if God is sitting around waiting for us to approve or disapprove of it.   Psalms is like the entire Bible in a nutshell.  Better yet, it's in poetic and musical forms.  There are one hundred fifty psalms, and they cover a vast amount of material.  There are psalms of praise, psalms of lament, psalms that ask "Why?", psalms that are angry at God, psalms for the morning, psalms for the evening -- and on it goes.  Calvin was a student of the psalms -- so was Luther; so was Bonhoeffer; so was C.S. Lewis; and so was Jesus.  He quoted Psalm 22 while He was dying on that cross:  "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" 

 

This summer, treat yourself to the adventure that is the book of Psalms.  It won't be long and you'll come across something that speaks to you.  When I get ready for the Sunday sermon, I always read the appointed psalm because I don't want to miss out on the possibility that there's something in there that's going "to preach", as they say. 

 

Psalm 52, appointed for today and the one I just read, is not a well-known psalm.  It's not like Psalm 23 that almost everyone knows:  "The Lord's my shepherd; I shall not want.  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," etc.   Some folks might not approve of Psalm 52 because there's some mighty nasty language in it.  It's not a kind psalm; it's not a gentle psalm.  There's not a whole lot of sweetness and light in it.  It doesn't make you feel happy and bursting and energized and spiritually effervescent -- and all that stuff.  Quite to the contrary, it's a rather caustic, bitter piece of writing.  It's a startling reminder that we don't live in a benign utopia where everyone gets along with one another.  Psalm 52 was written in the understanding that there is such a thing as an enemy. 

 

Will Rogers, that icon of American folklore, once said that he "never met a man he didn't like."  Well, Rogers never met Doeg the Edomite.  Doeg the Edomite is the enemy, the antagonist, in today's psalm.  This Doeg was giving the young King David what we today call "conniption fits."  He was blisteringly mad at Doeg -- and for good reason.

 

Let me put it this way:  the young King David wasn't exactly having a calm, cool, and relaxing summer.  The fact is, he was on the run, on the lam, off the grid.  He was being chased down by Saul.  Saul, the deposed king, had sent his hit men to take David out.  They were on to him; they were after him.  His pursuers were "enemy combatants", we might say.  They were on offense, and David was playing defense.

 

At one point, David took refuge with a house of priests headed up by a man named Ahimelek.  They gave David protection, food, and even some weaponry.  But when Saul found out that Ahimelek and the priests were giving David a place to hide out, Saul ordered that Ahimelek, the rest of the priests, and all of the family members, children, and grandchildren of the priests be killed.  As the story goes, even Saul's commanders thought that such an act -- a mass execution -- was too much.  They wouldn't do it.  But one man was willing to do it, and that man was Doeg the Edomite.  He slaughtered Ahimelek, the priests, and their families.

 

When young King David gets wind of this, he goes on the offensive, and he begins with his pen, with his writing, with the baring of his soul.  First, he describes Doeg -- calling him, basically, a boastful and disgraceful liar.  Doeg's "tongue", he says, "plots destruction" and is like "a sharpened razor."  That's very vivid language, I might add.

 

Secondly, he starts to write about what God is going to do about Doeg the Edomite.  He's going to get plucked from his tent and removed from the land of the living.  In the end, the people of God would laugh at Doeg -- for he was a man who trusted only in his wealth and sought to strengthen it by destroying others.  Doeg was what the CIA today would call a "wet boy", an assassin, a predator.  David had him pegged, and, in the end, God would have Doeg pegged for his atrocities.  God's justice may come slowly, but it will not be denied.

 

But what about David --  who is still on the run, still on the lam, still off the grid?  He didn't speculate about what his chances were.  He didn't scratch his head wondering why bad things happened to good people like him. 

 

Instead, he focused -- or refocused, as the case may be -- on his God.  That's what meditation is -- and does!  It's gets us focused -- or refocused, as the case may be -- on God.  In the end, he discovers -- or rediscovers, as the case may be -- that his trust is in the unfailing love of God, to borrow his language.   The best thing going for him was that unfailing love of God.   In addition, his hope is not in his own power to escape or to avoid capture.  No.  Instead, his hope is in the good name of his God.  If your hope is lodged and embedded in the name of God, then what is there that you cannot face?

 

Trusting in the love of God, hoping in the good Name of God, you are like a green olive tree!  David writes:  "I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God."  Yes, there are enemies.  But there is also life and vitality and growth and flourishing! 

 

Jesus had His enemies, and they did a Doeg job on him.  They had him killed.  But then came Easter and the resurrection, and there was new life, vitality, growth, flourishing. 

Like David and like Jesus, we, too, flourish -- like a green olive tree -- in the house of God.

 

Today we celebrate the thirty one years of flourishing like an olive tree that has been Harriet Hoff's life among us.  And we rejoice that our people have returned safely from mission to Haiti.  Whether here or there, they, too, are like that green olive tree -- bursting, growing, flourishing.

 

In a world of enemies, there is still so much to be grateful for.  Focus on that.

 

Amen.