Sermon, All About You, First Church Ipswich, January 18th

As always, my reading copy. forgive the typos, caps and the punctuation!

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

O God, you have searched me and known me.
  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,
  and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,
  O God, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
  and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
  it is so high that I cannot attain it.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
  you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you,
  for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
  that I know very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,
  when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days
  that were formed for me, before they existed.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
  How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them —
  they are more than the sand;
I come to the end —
  I am still with you.

PLEASE PRAY WITH ME. LORD MAY MY WORDS TOUCH HEARTS AND MINDS HERE TODAY AMEN.

THIS PAST OCTOBER, I DECIDED TO TAKE A WALK. A LONG WALK. MANY OF YOU HAVE HEARD OF THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO, A PILGRIMAGE WALK TO SANTIAGO SPAIN TO THE PLACE WHERE THE BONES OF ST. JAMES ARE BURIED. THERE ARE MANY ROUTES YOU CAN TAKE TO GET THERE, BUT I DECIDED TO WALK FROM PORTO PORTUGAL UP ALONG THE COAST TO SPAIN 

I WAS SCARED.

 NOT OF THE WALK, 200 MILES OR SO, I HAD TRAINED FOR THAT. NOR THE WEATHER, WHICH WAS WILD AND VERY RAINY, NOR THE TERRAIN WHICH THE GUIDEBOOK CALLED GENTLE ROLLING HILLS AND TURNED OUT TO BE MORE LIKE MT. EVEREST. NOR DID THE LANGUAGE BARRIER BOTHER ME, I SPEAK SOME SPANISH AND LEARNED A HANDFUL OF PORTUGESE. NO, I  WAS SCARED OF MY WALKING COMPANION.

 I WAS WALKING ALONE.

 TO SOME OF YOU IT MAY SOUND ROMANTIC TO HAVE SOME ALONE TIME BUT FOR SOME OF US ALL THAT ALONE TIME IS A BIT DAUNTING. WHAT IF i SPENT ALL THIS TIME IN SELF EXAMINATION AND FAILED THE EXAM?

I SHARE MY EARLY TREPIDATION OF SO MUCH FOCUS ON MYSELF TODAY BECAUSE THIS PSALM IS ABOUT YOU. YOU. YES OF COURSE THE WHOLE BIBLE IS FOR YOU, WRITTEM FOR YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL, BUT ITS LANGUAGE IS OFTEN COLLECTIVE ISN'T IT? IT TALKS ABOUT PEOPLE, TRIBES AND CHILDREN AND BRETHERN AND SISTERS. AND THE TERMS, EVEN IF THE MESSAGE IS FOR YOU. IS ABOUT US COLLECTIVELY.. BUT THIS PSALM, I LOVE THIS PSALM BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT YOU. IT IS WRITTEN IN THE FIRST PERSON AND IS A SONG OF PRAISE WHERE DAVID SPEAKS ON YOUR BEHALF TO GOD, AND LISTS ALL THAT GOD DOES FOR YOU AND HOW GRATEFUL YOU ARE ABOUT IT. AND IF I WERE TO PLACE YOU SIDE BY SIDE WITH DAVID, AND LET HIM ADDRESS GOD FOR YOU, YOU WOULD HEAR THESE WORDS DIFFERENTLY.

O God, you have searched me and known me.

  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down,
  and are acquainted with all my ways.

THAT IS TERRIFYING!

 I KNOW WE POST EVERYTHING ON FACEBOOK, BUT HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GOD KNOWING ALL YOUR BUSINESS? JUST LIKE FOR SOME OF US THE NOTION OF A LONG SOUL SEARCHING WALK COULD BE OFF PUTTING, THIS REMINDER THAT THE GOD WHO CREATED YOU DIDNT JUST GIVE YOU LIFE AND WALK AWAY, GOD IS ACTIVELY CONCERNED ABOUT YOU, ON A DAILY BASIS, GOOD STUFF AND BAD. AND PERHAPS, IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, ALL i AM THINKING ABOUT IS THE BAD. THE FAILURES, DAILY AND LARGE THAT I HAVE, THE COMMANDMENTS I BREAK, THE DARKEST SCARIEST ACTS AND THOUGHTS THAT I HAVE. AND THE IDEA OF GOD SHINING THIS GREAT SPOTLIGHT UPON US AND SEEING ALL OUR FLAWS IS DAUNTING. I AM REMINDED OF LORD OF THE RINGS, WHERE THE GIANT FIERY EYE OF SAURON SEARCHES THROUGH THE LAND FOR THE HEROES. IS THAT HOW WE FEEL ABOUT GOD SOMETIMES, THAT A BLAZING EYE IS SEARCHING US FOR OUR FLAWS?

WALKS CAN BE TOUGH WHEN YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN, BUT SOMEWHERE ON MY WALK IT BECAME APPARENT TO ME I WASN'T WALKING ALONE. AND THE WALKING COMPANION THAT I HAD CARED FOR ME, CHERISHED ME. WAS NOT SEARCIHNG ME FOR FLAWS, THOSE ARE REALLY EASY TO FIND. NO MY GOD WAS A HUGE FAN OF ME, AND WAS CHEERING ME ON WITH ALL THE STEPS I WAS TAKING.

SO WHAT IF, MUCH LIKE ME SEEING MY WALK IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT, WE SAW THIS PSALM A BIT DIFFERENTLY? WHAT IF THE GOD WE PERCEIVE IS NOT A BIG BROTHER NOSEY SORT OF GOD, BUT A GRANDMA SORT OF GOD? A GOOD GRANDMA, A MAYBERRY, RURAL PIE BAKING GRANDMA, i WILL PAUSE HERE TO LET YOU THINK ABOUT PIE FOR A MOMENT. MAY I GO ON? oK SO A GRANDMA WHO LOVES YOU WITHOUT CONDITION? WHO ISN'T INSPECTING YOU FOR FLAWS, BUT HOLDING YOUR HAND AND GENTLY NODDING WHEN YOU FAIL? WHO DOES NOT WHISPER TO YOU HOW BAD YOU ARE HOW IMPERFECT YOU ARE, BUT GENTLY SAYS, I LOVE YOU. YOU FELL, LET ME HELP YOU UP, LETS GO AGAIN.

NOW DONT MISUNDERSTAND ME. IF YOUR GRANDMA WAS LIKE MINE, YOU DO NOT GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING. GRANDMA TURNER COULD SPOT A LIAR 2 MILES OFF AND FACING AWAY FROM HER. BUT SHE WAS NOT RIGHTEOUS ABOUT IT, DIDN'T CONDEMN, BUT SOUGHT TO IMPROVE.

THEOLOGIAN NAMED JAMES LIMBURG IN WRITING COMMENTARY  ABOUT THE PSALMS HAD THIS TO SAY. "WE ARE NOT MASS PRODUCED, BUT CUSTOM MADE". ISNT THAT GREAT? AND THE IMAGE OF OUR MAKER JUST TRYING TO SMOOTH OUT THE FLAWS, NOT THROWING AWAY THE WORK, IS ONE WE NEED TO EMBRACE.

 LIMBURG ALSO TELLS THE STORY  ABOUT young Rabbi Zusya, who was quite discouraged about his failures and weaknesses. Said an older rabbi to him, 'When you get to heaven, God is not going to say to you, "Why weren't you Moses?" No, God will say, "Why weren't you Zusya?" So why don’t you stop trying to be Moses, and start being the Zusya God created you to be?'" (Psalms, Westminster Bible Companion).

WHAT IF THIS PSALM REMINDS US THAT WE ARE NOT DONE, THAT WE WILL ALWAYS BE A WORK IN PROGRESS.  IMAGINE WHAT WE MIGHT DO IF WE KEPT THAT THOUGHT IN OUR MIND, THAT WE HAVE A CONSTANT WALKING COMPANION THAT WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN FOR YOU TO BE THE BEST YOU YOU CAN BE. THE 14TH CENTURY POET HAFIZ SAYS

"I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing Light of your own Being."

CAN IT BE THAT THIS ALL KNOWING ALL SEEING GOD, SEES SOMETHING MORE IN ME THAN I SEE IN MYSELF? AND WHAT IF ALL HE WANTS IS FOR ME TO TRY TO BECOME THE PERSON THAT HE SEES? AND THIS WORLD AROUND US, WITH TERRORISM AND PREDUDICE AND VIOLENCE AND PAIN, WHAT IF IN ALL THAT GOD STANDS WAITING FOR ALL OF US TO SEE OUR BETTER, HIGHER, MORE CHRIST LIKE SELVES? WHAT IF WE SET ASIDE OUR SEARCH FOR ANSWERS, AND SIMPLY TRIED TO IMPROVE OURSELVES AND WHAT WE BRING TO THE IMMENSE TABLE OF HUMANITY?

YOU ARE NOT THE CHRIST, BUT YOU CAN BE YOU. BEING CHRIST LIKE. YOU ARE NOT DR. KING, BUT YOU CAN BE YOU BEING YOURSELF, AND BRINGING THOSE WONDERFUL QUALITIES HE HAD TO ACTION IN YOUR LIFE.

DR. KING SAID,  "When I speak of love I am not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am not speaking of that force which is just emotional bosh. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality." 

WHAT IF GODS LOVE FOR US ALLOWS GOD TO SEE THE ULTIMATE REALITY, US AS GREAT AS WE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE. SURELY IF GOD LOVES US, PERHAPS WE CAN FIND THE STRENGTH TO LOVE OURSELVES A BIT TOO. TO LOVE OURSELVES ENOUGH TO STRIVE TO BE THE BEST WE CAN BE. 

OUR PSALM TODAY ENDS

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
  How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them —
  they are more than the sand;
I come to the end —
  I am still with you.

I AM STILL WITH YOU. NO MATTER MY THOUGHTS OR JOURNEY, I AM STILL ALWAYS WALKING WITH GOD. 

PERHAPS WE MIGHT CARRY THE WORDS OF CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, WHO REMINDS WINNIE THE POOH, "PROMISE ME YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER, THAT YOU RE BRAVER THAN YOU BELIEVE, STRONGER THAN YOU SEEM, AND SMARTER THAN YOU THINK.

AMEN