A Meditation on Psalm 25
Introduction:
Ecumenicalism
As
some of you probably know, today is a very special Sunday. In fact, this day
only comes once a year; and yet, many of us may be all too unfamiliar with the
practice. Like Reformation Day or Epiphany, it can slide by without much note
on our memories. And yet, it is an incredibly important symbol in a time when
everything is so commercialized, so commodified, so mixed up in branding that
any other sort of existence seems foreign. Even churches have become wrapped up
in this. Rather than focusing on being the people whom God has called them to
be, we have allowed the world to make us commodities. We have brands and
images; we define ourselves by what makes us different from other churches. We
focus on what makes what other people do wrong and what makes what we do right.
Temple
Illustration:
Earlier
this week I encountered one of the most upsetting moments of my life as a
Christian. As I was coming out of the library at Temple University, I was
greeted by the sight and sound of a fundamentalist Christian group in the very
heart of campus. They were gathered around the bell tower that defines the
center of the campus. One by one, they would hand off the megaphone to one
another. Their message was, to some extent, what you might expect. They held
signs saying: “Sin Awareness Day,” “Evolution is a Lie,” and “You’re Going to
Hell.” Predictably, most students walked by intentionally ignoring them. But
some engaged in some way. A few got visibly upset and tried to outshout the
speakers who were armed with a megaphone, others gathered in groups to laugh at
the remarks being made, many looked annoyed, and one girl who was probably only
nineteen turned to me and said, “I feel sorry for their children. People like
that shouldn’t be allowed to have children!”
By
the time I made it up to the Philosophy Department several of my classmates
were already gathered. Unsurprisingly, they noted my expression of what must
have been a mix of anguish and shame. Fortunately, I haven’t met a single
colleague who characterizes all Christians in that fashion. Yet, I was told
that because Temple is a state institution groups like that come in and
demonstrate frequently. For me this was a new experience. As an undergraduate,
I attended a small Christian College where speakers were chosen by the
administration. As a seminarian, chapel speakers were chosen by the Chaplain of
the Chapel and the Administration. People couldn’t just walk onto campus and do
their thing. So this act came as a shockingly new experience to me.
Worst
of all, I could easily see that many of the young minds around me were being
shaped by that exposure. Most of the people in my generation have limited
amounts of exposure to Christianity. Nearly 67% of Millennials were raised without
a religious affiliation.[1] This is the audience that
these protestors spoke to. These kids, most of whom are just entering
adulthood, are being told that Christianity looks like that group of people
standing in the middle of campus. And while I am fortunate enough to be
surrounded by graduate students who are informed enough to realize that ‘not
every’ Christian looks like that, many of these young minds will never go on to
expose themselves to the kinds of materials philosophers encounter.[2]
When
I left that scene I felt physically ill! My God, my Christ, my faith was being
portrayed as something that I wanted no part of. It’s easy for many to forget
that these kids who identify as ‘nones’ are actually quite spiritual. Like the
Athenians in the book of Acts they are yearning for anything that feeds their
souls. One of the most popular phrases for anyone between the ages of 15 and 35
is, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.” Why? Because these young people haven’t
forfeited their natural yearning for a connection to their Creator. They have
instead, in many cases followed the examples of prior generations who didn’t
take their faith seriously, or rejected formal religion altogether because it
was perceived as hateful, judgmental, or lacking in meaning!
The
Message:
My friends, this morning I want to tell you that there is nothing more meaningful than a personal relationship with the God who created us all, the God who sustains us all, and the Christ who died so that we might be wrapped up in God’s recreation of the whole cosmos! Is there any message more relevant than the idea that God is at work to make all things new? Is there any message more relevant than the message that states that God loves us enough to die for us, and makes a place for us to follow his Son into the resurrection? Is there any message more relevant than the one that gives us a sense of meaning and purpose beyond the idol of money and consumerism, that centers us in the path of discipleship, which takes us beyond ourselves and helps us grow into more loving, more patient, and more just human beings? No! Our God has given us everything we need in Christ all we need to do is be faithful to the Christ who died for the least of all, for those who were judged, for those who cried out to their creator.
On
Friday, The Wall Street Journal
published an article entitled, “How to Defeat Religious Violence.”[3] In the first three
paragraph’s the author makes a very accurate assessment of humanity. “When
secular revolutions fail, we should know that we can expect religious
counterrevolutions.” The point of all this was very perceptive. “Humans cannot
live without meaning. No society has survived long without either a religion or
a substitute for religion. The 20th century showed, brutally and
definitively, that the great modern substitutes for religion – nation, race,
political ideology – are no less likely to offer human sacrifices to their
surrogate [gods].”
People
will inevitably worship something, even if it is themselves, and they will
strive to objectify anything that is different. Many of you are probably
wondering where I’m going by this point. How do these different streams of
thought flow together? It’s really quite simple. Christianity is really quite
simple – follow Christ! As people in the Western World we’ve grown comfortable
in the legacy of Christendom, of two-thousand years of familiarity. We’ve lost
touch with the relevance and significance of our faith. Rather than focusing on
how we should strive to be more like Christ, on how to be more loving, we’ve
grown comfortable in the divisions we’ve drawn with those around us – even with
other Christians.
Brothers
and sisters I am telling you this morning that the true Church of Jesus Christ
is not about skin color, it’s not about economic background, it’s not about
worship style, it’s not about doctrine, it’s not about governance style, it’s
not about how we dress, and it’s not about our cultural preferences. The Church
of Jesus Christ is about God’s relationship with those who are unworthy! It’s
about the love of a God who gave his only begotten Son to save a species intent
on strife and division. It’s about a God who abhors injustice and calls all
people and all nations to the throne of judgment for their oppressions. It’s
about a God who loves those who feel lost and alone, those who feel rejected
and stigmatized. It’s about a God who created us to live in healthy
relationships, just as He exists in relationship both within Godself and in His
relationship with all of creation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to
transform and change us in the most profound ways. It is the power to take us
from death to life!
The
God that I have come to know and love is out to take your life and shake it up.
Christ didn’t call us to be an audience of ne’er-do-fans. When I lived in
Princeton I had the opportunity to attend a college football game once. Now,
this game was not like most football games. You see, people go out to Ivy
Football games as a form of social affair. There’s a level of insulation from
the normal football culture pervasive everywhere else because Princeton and
Rutgers invented the game as a spin-off of rugby. So if you ever go, you’ll see
men in ties and straw hats and women in outfits that play on this theme as
well. And, perhaps just as notably you’ll notice that no-one actually watches
the game! Everyone sits and chats, they may even dine, or drink a bit. It’s a
bit of a picnic really. And the only thing that breaks up this monotony is a
touchdown. For a minute, just a minute, everyone’s attention turns to the
field. The crowd will notice the change on the scoreboard and everyone will
applaud the display of athleticism and teamwork, then promptly return their
attention to the conversations they were having.
How
often, does this reflect our own faith journeys? We pay attention to the
arbitrary symbol on the scoreboard, the weekly church service, but we remain
all too removed from where our attention should be. We should approach our
faith like Raiders Fans! Now I don’t know if you know any Raiders fans, but
they are absolutely nuts! They’re crazy lunatics, fully invested into their
team. And the one positive thing I will say about the protestors I saw at
Temple is that at least they take their faith seriously. They’re invested.
Except
there’s one thing missing. To quote a scholarly leader of the African American
community, the Rev. Dr. Cornel West, “The fundamentalist Christians want to be
fundamental about everything, except ‘Love Thy Neighbor.’” If we are truly
going to follow Christ, we need to be more concerned with our own spiritual
states of growth and transformation; and we need to be less concerned with
judging our neighbors and objectifying the things and people we don’t
understand. We need to seek out those who are hurting and lost not in an
attempt to criticize their state of poverty, even if it’s a spiritual state of
poverty, but to come alongside them in love. To demonstrate the love of God as
it flows through our very beings. One of the most profound things you can do in
life is love people!
Psalm
25:
This brings me to the scripture we heard this morning. The
Psalms are unique because they express our humanity. They express our crying
out to God for something different. And it is for this reason that many people
regard it as their favorite book in the Bible. Even Jesus quotes the psalms and
expresses His own humanity through them!
This morning’s psalm reminds us of several things. It
reminds us that the presence of God is close at hand. To go even further, God
isn’t just nearby, he lives within us as the Spirit of Christ. As Christians,
we are given the gift of Spirit as something that spurns us on into an ever
more deeply enriching experience of what it means to be fully human – through
the faith that we’re designed to enjoy. Likewise, this psalm expresses the author’s
longing for God. My generation longs for God as much as any other ever has.
Each of us has a need for a connection to the divine. We may express it
differently through our differing personalities, but we long for the Creator
who wants nothing more than to wrap up our whole lives into the unfolding of
creation and renewal.
And finally, this psalm calls us into communion with God.
It calls us away from the passive consumeristic religion of a fragmented,
commodified, religious pick and choose. Instead, it entices us to find
ourselves in the most intimate and fulfilling thing imaginable. It calls us to
walk the path of the one who follows after Christ. It calls us to seek out the
God who first sought us. It calls us to run the race of those who have taken up
their own crosses – crosses of humility, crosses of patience, crosses of
service, crosses of love; and perhaps most importantly, the cross of surrender!
The place where we drop all that we are at the footsteps of our Creator and
yell out, “I’m tired of doing this on my own! Lift me up and remake me into the
person you would have me to be. Take me to the place you have. Capture all that
I am and fashion me into an instrument of your love.”
Today is World Communion Sunday, when Christians all over
the globe will symbolically take the Bread and the Cup in unity. We come
together to recognize the authority that Christ has over us all and the unity
we share in spite of our differences. It is a day to recognize that God is at
work. The remnants of Christendom may be fading away, but God is always in the
process of reaching new generations. Some things, like our inabilities to love,
must die in order for a new work to begin. If we hope to see revival, we must
first see it in ourselves! We must find joy in the life we have in God right
now. We must intentionally force ourselves to seek out the next thing God has
in store for us.
So I have a task for you. I’m going to give you homework! I
want each of you to go home this week and look up Psalm 25. Then, I want you to
ask yourself what an “anti-psalm 25” would look like! I want you to figure out
what things would reverse what the author is doing. Then, I want you to write
down how you might be doing that thing in your own life. How might you be falling
short of the life-giving things that God intends for us? Then, I want you to
take that thing to God in prayer throughout the week. I want you to focus in on
at least one area where you can grow. Then, if you feel comfortable, I want you
to bring a small slip of paper with your prayer request on it to church next
week. I will have a basket that you can place your prayer in before the
service. I’m not going to read the prayers and no one else will either, but I’m
going to take that basket up to the front of the church next week and pray over
them collectively. We are going to pray for them collectively! No one will read
them, but they will symbolize where we’re at and where we need to go. Together
we will take them to God in prayer.
In his book Man’s
Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl states, “Everything
can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of human freedoms – to choose
one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
This is what I am asking you to do with me. I am asking you to choose to follow
the path that Christ has laid and to do so in the context of this community. To
join with those around you, both this morning as we partake of the elements and
in the course of this next week as we ponder our own spiritual states and then
bring them together quietly in prayer next week.
[1] Michael Lipka,
“Millenials increasingly are driving growth of ‘nones’”, Pew Research Center, May 12 2015, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/12/millenials-increasingly-are-driving-growth-of-nones/
[2] Graduate students
in philosophy almost inherently study theology because the history of both
disciplines is so intertwined. Over the course of this semester, my seminary
has already read through the works of two theologian-philosophers, two Muslim
philosopher-theologians, and addressed contextual issues related to other
theological streams of influence.
[3]
Jonathan Sacks, “How to Defeat Religious Violence,” The Wall Street Journal, October 2nd 2015:
www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-defeat-religious-violence-1443798275?mod=e2fb
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