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Sermon
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| MY HOPE I CANNOT MEASURE The Christian church is in crisis in western societies. We know this. That includes our own 29 year old incarnation of mother church. At 29 we still swing between acting like our aged parents and getting hung up on adolescent fixations! Political parties are also in crisis, trade unions, football clubs and other core social institutions. We’re in good company! The word crisis carries negative connotations but our readings, and indeed the whole thrust of scripture, invites us to view crises in a different way. I want to suggest that, biblically and theologically, crises offer God an opportunity to break into the life of the church, reshape and renew it. Just as God seems to use personal crisis and tragedy. Doesn’t cause suffering, but sure seems to use it to get through to our hearts of stone and Teflon coated souls. The Israelites are in their Promised Land but they are far from secure; the Philistines threaten them constantly. They are in deep crisis. It is not at all clear where deliverance will come from. In this story the whole of Israel sees itself – the small, the powerless, the insecure standing against the mighty and the powerful. Australians might especially love this story. We admire the battler who takes on the big guys. ‘The Castle’ could only have been made in Australia. We loved Mother Teresa, that diminutive woman, five-foot nothing, living in poverty, armed only with the love of God, taking on the Goliath of human misery in Calcutta. Martin Luther King who played David to racism’s Goliath. Fred Hollows who played David to the Goliath of aboriginal ill-health. Each of us, perhaps in less spectacular fashion, have played David at times. You’ve seen a challenge, realised your limited resources, but nevertheless, with a quiet, maybe desperate prayer, said ‘well here goes God, I’m sunk if you aren’t with me’ and just had a go. This story offers hope to churches in transition. We need a new way that avoids the dead ends of reductionist fundamentalism and culture-accommodating liberalism. The story offers hope for those who have been kept down, or never even stood up. It calls us to place our hope in the God who takes side, apparently, with the oppressed and dispossessed. Yet here this precocious little fella wants to know ‘who is this jerk who thinks he can taunt the army of the Living God?’ And anyone who has ever been the victim of a playground bully, any child who has been humiliated by the sarcasm of a teacher, anyone who has played in a team that gets beaten week after week, hears this story and takes notice. I’ve played a lot of footy. When I was a Minister in remote NE Victoria our team for a couple of years, was the whipping post of the league. It seemed like we were on a mission from God to make other teams feel good about themselves. It was a self esteem thing! Little David doesn’t know a lot about God but he does know that God’s delivered him from some pretty dangerous scrapes in the past. And with the relentless logic of a child reasons, why shouldn’t God help out here against this strutting peacock? Is he thinking ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’? He has boasted already to his big brothers about the lion he killed. ‘Tell us another one, short stuff. And stop eating those wild mushrooms’. The stone flies through the air and wonder of wonders Goliath falls dead. Israel is delivered and David is saved. It’s a fairy tale sort of story. But we resonate with its truth. The tables can turn. Deep down we know that no matter how grown up we are, no matter how in control we seem to be, things can suddenly change. The wheels can fall off. It’s a warning to Goliath – those who believe their own publicity – who act out the illusion of their immortality. And it’s an encouragement to those aware of their limits but who know what God can do with little things, little amounts of faith, cracks of opportunity to work through those who offer their little to the Living God. So when it’s your turn to stand before Goliath, recall this story. It’s not meant to be picked apart, analysed. It’s meant to be told and enjoyed. It’s a story for small churches when we are tempted to look at the needs, check our resources and despair. If we listen we will hear David’s voice saying, ‘hey, but you do have five smooth stones and more importantly God will help you use them’. Christ saying, ‘my grace is sufficient’. We are aware that our resources are finite and the needs of the community around us are vast. The number of people involved in churches has declined significantly since union although the changes had started decades before but we didn’t notice! And surely the need for vibrant, serving churches is greater than ever. Our governments seem intent on divesting themselves of responsibilities in social care and welfare and the calls on church agencies are increasing. We are witnessing a breakdown in community, in neighbourliness. The needs are so great and our resources are so few. The eternal lament. The disciples, in another story of crisis, panicked. In a little boat, in the midst of a storm they forgot that Jesus was with them. There is an old Irish fisherman’s prayer, ‘Lord, the sea is so big and my boat is so small.’ Yes, but Christ is with us, through the calm and the storms of life. ‘The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid; but God is round about me and can I be dismayed?’ And so we begin to hear that familiar biblical refrain again. Moses against the might of Pharoah. David against Goliath. Jonah in the whale. Paul in Ephesus. Mary with God. Jesus in the garden. 5 loaves plus 2 fish plus a hungry crowd plus the blessing of Jesus equals a banquet of possibility. These stories judge our lack of faith in the God who can do much with little. Invites us to shift our focus towards God who is able to work grace through whatever is offered. Mark will say in a couple of weeks, in another famous story of unlikely providence, ‘when disciples have only 5 loaves and two fish they have plenty because Christ will make it more than enough’. ‘My shepherd is beside me and nothing can I lack’. This story does not say that God will do it all. Presumably the crowd would not have been fed if the boy hadn’t come good with his five smooth loaves. Goliath would not have been killed had not David reached for his 5 smooth stones. Our church will make no significant contribution to the health of our world if we withhold our time, our gifts, our money. We need to be challenged to view all that we are and have as a gift from God. We already know that there is a mysterious chemistry, call it Spirit, that means that where people come together and offer themselves the result is greater than the sum of the parts. So the challenge is twofold. Can we encourage each other to be generous and daring in what we offer through the church? God doesn’t operate in a vacuum. God takes what is offered and gets to work. Whether it’s five smooth stones, a small boat, a picnic, the resources of our church, our longing for justice. But we are cactus if we lose our focus on the God who takes what we offer, blesses it and makes it enough. These are tough times for God’s people. Some of it our own making perhaps. But not all. God does not protect us from suffering. Even Jesus, son of David, had to endure it. ‘Father take this cup from me’ he whispered in a darkening garden, as he contemplated his appointment with the Goliath of religious and political expediency. He would fight but not with sword or stone. And as he confronted the Goliath of his fear, offering the stone of his faltering courage to God, did he bring to mind some words penned by his forefather, David, the shepherd boy, slayer of Goliath, King of Israel: God is our refuge and strength, Thanks be to God! ___________________________________________________
A sermon presented by the Rev Alistair Macrae at St Aidan's
Uniting Church North Balwyn, on 18th June, 2006 IT MAY BE REPRODUCED WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENT. |
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Page updated 1/07/06