A time for Everything…

I’m not sure how I missed my Golden Opportunity to post a video of the Byrd’s rendition of the immortal words from Ecclesiastics. I think I simply forgot about it in the midst of a very busy season. A time to prepare for Confirmation? A time to help re-vitalize a neighboring congregation? A time to attend a conference in DC? A time for my Girl Scouts? My family? Seriously I often question whether I have time for ANYTHING much let alone EVERYTHING.

But back to Ecclesiastes. As much as I love (and take comfort from) the reassuring words depicting the rhythms and cycles of of the seasons of life – one of my favorite lines in Ecclesiastes is “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannon fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” The emphasis is very different from one translation of the Bible to another. In some, the emphasis seems to be on what man cannot fathom; in others the emphasis seems to be on the eternity written on the heart. That’s what I like. I like the idea that in this whirlwind of tasks that is my life, that on the days where I feel like I just passed myself driving in the opposite direction, on the days where I have to schedule visits to the restroom… in the eye of this storm, God has written eternity on my heart. All this may pass away, and yet that eternity will endure. Eternity is in every moment and in every moment, eternity. Somehow, that helps.

Arise my love, my fair one, and come away…

With these words included in the ceremony, 18 years ago I married my husband. I still use the phrase sometimes to wake him and to wake my children, the beautiful outcome of our union. The poetry of Solomon’s words of love bring me back every time to that unparallelled joy that I knew as a bride. They represent for me the evolution and maturation of our marriage and our love for one another, and our love for our children and wider family. So, with my own beloved in mind, I’ll indulge in a little romantic art that I hope you all enjoy. If you have ever experienced it, I hope the words and the images allow you to remember the sacred rapture of being young and in love…..

Run sinner man…

I loved Kris’ post on David’s reaction to what he imagines the sins of others being turned into a commentary on his own sin. How do we react, respond and behave when we have sinned, when we have built a wall between ourselves and God? The desperation and urgency of our need to hide, to flee from God’s knowing face is captured in the segment Sinnerman from Alvin Ailey’s tour de force modern dance classic “Revelations”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-OuqB1pgys

You Are the Man!

The story of David and Bathsheba is one of the most famous and powerful stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. The reminder that the king “after God’s own heart” is broken just like the rest of us. Nevertheless, it is the encounter with Nathan after the dust has settled that is the most powerful for me.

It all starts when David just happens to be taking a stroll in the evening on his roof that rises above everyone else’s roof. The evening is when people bathe…on their roofs where they have some measure of privacy from (most) prying eyes (one might wonder if it was just coincidence that David found himself out for a walk). David sees Bathsheba and asks for her and the king gets what he wants. There isn’t much of an issue because her husband is off to war, fighting for his king. An obvious question is why David decided to stay home while his army was out waging war, a very curious decision by a ruler.

Bathsheba becomes pregnant by David and so he tries to cover it up, but is not successful. So David has her husband killed on the front lines of the war he decided to sit out. Many other soldiers are killed along with Bathsheba’s husband, all to cover up David’s greed and lust…God is not pleased.

Some time later the prophet Nathan comes to visit David and tells him a story. It is a story of injustice, selfishness, and greed and David, in his “righteousness” demands blood and a fourfold repayment from the offender. Nathan pauses, looks at David and says, “You are the man!”

David is undone.

And God loves him all the same.

It is so easy to forget that Christianity is about forgiveness and grace, not purity.  How else could the man described above be among the greatest and most revered of God’s servants? Holiness and purity are of the utmost importance, but they are qualities that God attributes to us not because we live up to it, but because of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. It is the cross and empty tomb, and not our behavior, that saves us. And thanks be to God because otherwise David, and those of us like him, would be lost.

I heard there was a sacred chord….

Rufus Wainright’s rendition of the Leonard Cohen classic “Halleluiah” seems so appropriate to include when reading of the tremendous highs and lows in David’s life. There’s such a pathos in the lyrics and the music. It’s no surprise that the ‘Bryan Sable’ version is a favorite at Refuge.

Come see Bryan live, but watch the Wainright version on YouTube:

But the Philistines have a King…why can’t we!

Many have probably heard the adage, “When God wants to punish us, God gives us what we ask for.” I can’t say I agree with the statement, but it certainly holds true for today’s reading.

The Israelites are frustrated with Samuel’s sons who have taken over for him in his retirement. The people aren’t interested in replacements, but in a king. They look at the nations surrounding them, they all have kings and so Israel wants one too!

From Samuel’s perspective, God is the only king the Israelites need. They have the most loving and faithful king they could ever hope for. A God who is nothing like the tyrannical and power-hungry kings of the surrounding nations: a God who led them triumphantly out of Egypt, a God who provided for them in the wilderness, and a God who gave them the promised land. What more could they want?

What they want is much like what we want, someone more like us. If they have a king then there is a sense of control, of being the masters of their own nation. It is the same sin, the same rebellion that finds its root in garden of Eden and continues in us today. God might be good, but God doesn’t do what they want. They think that if they have a king, a ruler chosen from among themselves, then they will be in charge.

We do the same things today. We are adverse to being out of control, to being dependent upon another, even God. This is the real struggle of the Christian life. Not to behave properly or to be a “good person,” but to submit to God, to give up what we want for what God wants, to trust that God knows best and desires the best for us.

This is something the Israelites struggled with and the result was an awful king named Saul for whom the power of being king and the fear of losing control was too much and drove him insane.

As the story unfolds we will see God step in again to save Israel from tyranny and oppression. The young and insignificant shepherd boy, David, would be chosen to rise to power and lead with compassion and mercy. A king after God’s own heart. Israel will be saved again only this time it won’t be from a foreign power like Egypt, this time it will be from themselves.

 

Ruth and Naomi panorama