Pastor Barbara's Sermon for July 18, 2006
“David danced before the Lord with all his might.” What’s Holding You Back?
Scripture: Psalm 24 and 2 Samuel 6:1-5 and12b-19
Today’s sermon focuses on dancing and expressing joy so I thought a good way to start out would be with a couple of jokes. Laughter is something that we can always use more of. Now let’s hope these jokes are funnier enough to make you laugh! This first one relates to our sermon by describing a boy that is uninhibited: This little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear”. Now for one more: The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"
We continue today with the story of King David. From other recent readings of Samuel and my sermons, we know that David is a man of great emotion, a person of deep feeling. We have seen him overwhelmed by grief at the death of his beloved Jonathan and King Saul. This is the man that tradition says wrote most of the Psalms, these beautiful songs and poems, some of which are very familiar to many of us. In today’s reading David, fresh from great military victories over the Philistines, wanted to take the Ark of the Covenant, believed to be where God resided, to Jerusalem. He is so overjoyed and thankful to God; David wants to install the Ark in the city he has made his home and the center of the Israelites nation.
Now some days no matter how carefully you plan, things just have a way of going wrong. In the scripture that is not included in this lectionary reading, the nation, all 30,000 of them are on their way to Jerusalem with the Ark on a wagon. They go over some rough road and Uzzah, who was walking beside the ox drawn wagon, reaches out to steady the Ark, touches it and is immediately struck dead. The Holy is not to be seen or touched. So David’s parade comes to a crashing end. David is very angry with God and also afraid. He ends up storing the Ark in Obed-edom’s house for the next 3 months. David hears that the household of Obed -edom has been greatly blessed during this time so David then decides to again take the Ark to Jerusalem. This procession was filled with rituals: sacrifices and music, including dancing and shouting. And just as our celebrations almost always include food, David blessed the people and distributed a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.
It’s pretty clear as the scripture describes these events that not only David but the others on this journey were filled with joy and enthusiasm. Their dancing and worshiping was passionate and exuberant. They danced with all their might. When is the last time that any of us danced in worship? In the last year I have seen sacred dance as part of worship services on a couple of occasions. I use to go to a church in San Francisco--over probably a 20 year period—where most folks danced during much of the worship. This place was Glide Memorial Methodist church, in the Tenderloin district—an area of high crime, homelessness and addictions. The pastor was the Rev. Cecil Williams. Both the music and the diversity of people were awesome. One writer described it like this: A three-piece band with electric guitar and keyboards produce a rocking backbeat, and the stage is filled with all ages, colors, sizes, and shapes. Most people in the audience stand and clap and sway to the beat. The mix is one I don't often see. “Dark ladies dressed in prim Sunday suits with hats, street guys from the neighborhood with faces that look like slept-in clothes, babes in camisoles -- and those are just the ushers. The front steps bubble with little kids. Huge gay presence, men and women (again, all colors). Spotlights hit long banners streaming from the ceiling that say "Justice" and "Dignity" and "Liberation" and "Love" and "Peace" and "Power."” [1] It was indeed a grand celebration where David would have felt most comfortable. I loved going to Glide and would leave on a high with hope for the world to replicate that beautiful diversity praising God together, each in his or her own way—a bit like Pentecost in the time of Jesus’ disciples.
As I think about all these things: David’s story, Glide, Deering Community Church, I wonder what kind of God are we worshipping? Have the mainline churches tamed God, turned God into a nice friendly companion who comforts us and offers us a reward for our good church attendance? Or is this the awesome, the powerful, the terrifying God of David? There is a great quote in one of Annie Dillard’s books (Teaching a Stone to Talk) where she writes about the power of God, "Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews" This is not a tame God but a God with great transcendent power and glory. It is the God of Psalm 24, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty. This is the God that keeps the universe from spinning wildly out of control. It is a God greater than any of our imaginations—as great as those imaginations can be. I believe that this God is truly an awesome God, filled with love and power.
What about when you are outside of the church? Have you acted out your thankfulness and joy with exuberance? I know I tend to be more on the serious side, and I also love to praise the Lord. There is no virtue in being somber with God. I’m sure God is rejoicing whenever we do loving things so why not rejoice, not just with our sisters and brothers but with God. In the month at least two members have asked me about the appropriateness of expressing their joy in church. What a shame that they had to ask! When Balance from our Rimbi partner church was here, he did some singing, drumming and praising, even instructing us. Do you remember? Whenever he said Praise the Lord we were to say:___ (Amen). There have been several times since then that the congregation has said Amen. I love to here it. My first couple of years here I think I was the only one that ever shouted Amen as a way of appreciating what was happening.
Why do we hold back our joy as well as other emotions in worship? David was not afraid to worship with great exuberance, great emotion. He was not just going through the motions; he was worshipping the living God. He was taking a risk, even danced in his underwear to the great chagrin of his wife Michal. Now I’m not suggesting that we dance in our underwear in church, but I do want to encourage everyone to let your joy show and not hold back. Why are we so prim and proper in church? Part of it of course is our heritage—our Puritan/Pilgrim/Anglican heritage as well as our rural NH heritage. Is it also because we are worried about what others may think or say? There will certainly be some that would think dancing in the church might not be appropriate. What about clapping hands to the rhythm of the music? What about raising our hands in prayer, in praising our God? What about telling our family and friends about how excited and joyful we are because of God’s amazing grace? We can sing songs with great feeling; we can say “Amen” if something happens that pleases us, or we hear some important truth about our faith. The lesson from David—who was use to danger, living on the edge—is that we don’t have to be careful and cautious with God.
Now I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that both God and I love you just the way you are. If you never change your reserved way of worshipping, it’s okay. At the same time I want those of you that feel like being a more extreme, exuberant worshipper to be that way. It might be fun for you who are reserved to try something more dramatic. If it brings you closer to God, great. If not, don’t do it. When God enters our lives we are blessed beyond measure. Our response to that blessing is unlimited joy. David didn’t worry about what was proper behavior or attire for a King; instead he focused on praising joy with great abandonment. Remember worship is about our relationship to God; can we let our praise flow freely from our hearts? Our worship is not designed to draw attention to us. What ever we do, we do as an expression of love for our God, an indication of our thankfulness for God’s grace, God’s forgiveness and for God’s gift of Jesus— the Divine Spirit coming and living amongst us so that we will know how God wants us to live.
My prayer for the congregation is that God may help us be as fully alive and passionate to God as David was. May you as individuals express your joy and not hold back. May we meet God in a more real way, a way that will indeed be a blessing to us all. Amen
[1] Don Shewey, online at http://www.donshewey.com/sex_articles/glide.html
Scripture: Psalm 24 and 2 Samuel 6:1-5 and12b-19
Today’s sermon focuses on dancing and expressing joy so I thought a good way to start out would be with a couple of jokes. Laughter is something that we can always use more of. Now let’s hope these jokes are funnier enough to make you laugh! This first one relates to our sermon by describing a boy that is uninhibited: This little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd. While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar. So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR, all the way down the aisle. As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit. When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear”. Now for one more: The preacher was wired for sound with a lapel mike, and as he preached, he moved briskly about the platform, jerking the mike cord as he went. Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again. After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third pew leaned toward her mother and whispered, "If he gets loose, will he hurt us?"
We continue today with the story of King David. From other recent readings of Samuel and my sermons, we know that David is a man of great emotion, a person of deep feeling. We have seen him overwhelmed by grief at the death of his beloved Jonathan and King Saul. This is the man that tradition says wrote most of the Psalms, these beautiful songs and poems, some of which are very familiar to many of us. In today’s reading David, fresh from great military victories over the Philistines, wanted to take the Ark of the Covenant, believed to be where God resided, to Jerusalem. He is so overjoyed and thankful to God; David wants to install the Ark in the city he has made his home and the center of the Israelites nation.
Now some days no matter how carefully you plan, things just have a way of going wrong. In the scripture that is not included in this lectionary reading, the nation, all 30,000 of them are on their way to Jerusalem with the Ark on a wagon. They go over some rough road and Uzzah, who was walking beside the ox drawn wagon, reaches out to steady the Ark, touches it and is immediately struck dead. The Holy is not to be seen or touched. So David’s parade comes to a crashing end. David is very angry with God and also afraid. He ends up storing the Ark in Obed-edom’s house for the next 3 months. David hears that the household of Obed -edom has been greatly blessed during this time so David then decides to again take the Ark to Jerusalem. This procession was filled with rituals: sacrifices and music, including dancing and shouting. And just as our celebrations almost always include food, David blessed the people and distributed a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.
It’s pretty clear as the scripture describes these events that not only David but the others on this journey were filled with joy and enthusiasm. Their dancing and worshiping was passionate and exuberant. They danced with all their might. When is the last time that any of us danced in worship? In the last year I have seen sacred dance as part of worship services on a couple of occasions. I use to go to a church in San Francisco--over probably a 20 year period—where most folks danced during much of the worship. This place was Glide Memorial Methodist church, in the Tenderloin district—an area of high crime, homelessness and addictions. The pastor was the Rev. Cecil Williams. Both the music and the diversity of people were awesome. One writer described it like this: A three-piece band with electric guitar and keyboards produce a rocking backbeat, and the stage is filled with all ages, colors, sizes, and shapes. Most people in the audience stand and clap and sway to the beat. The mix is one I don't often see. “Dark ladies dressed in prim Sunday suits with hats, street guys from the neighborhood with faces that look like slept-in clothes, babes in camisoles -- and those are just the ushers. The front steps bubble with little kids. Huge gay presence, men and women (again, all colors). Spotlights hit long banners streaming from the ceiling that say "Justice" and "Dignity" and "Liberation" and "Love" and "Peace" and "Power."” [1] It was indeed a grand celebration where David would have felt most comfortable. I loved going to Glide and would leave on a high with hope for the world to replicate that beautiful diversity praising God together, each in his or her own way—a bit like Pentecost in the time of Jesus’ disciples.
As I think about all these things: David’s story, Glide, Deering Community Church, I wonder what kind of God are we worshipping? Have the mainline churches tamed God, turned God into a nice friendly companion who comforts us and offers us a reward for our good church attendance? Or is this the awesome, the powerful, the terrifying God of David? There is a great quote in one of Annie Dillard’s books (Teaching a Stone to Talk) where she writes about the power of God, "Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews" This is not a tame God but a God with great transcendent power and glory. It is the God of Psalm 24, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty. This is the God that keeps the universe from spinning wildly out of control. It is a God greater than any of our imaginations—as great as those imaginations can be. I believe that this God is truly an awesome God, filled with love and power.
What about when you are outside of the church? Have you acted out your thankfulness and joy with exuberance? I know I tend to be more on the serious side, and I also love to praise the Lord. There is no virtue in being somber with God. I’m sure God is rejoicing whenever we do loving things so why not rejoice, not just with our sisters and brothers but with God. In the month at least two members have asked me about the appropriateness of expressing their joy in church. What a shame that they had to ask! When Balance from our Rimbi partner church was here, he did some singing, drumming and praising, even instructing us. Do you remember? Whenever he said Praise the Lord we were to say:___ (Amen). There have been several times since then that the congregation has said Amen. I love to here it. My first couple of years here I think I was the only one that ever shouted Amen as a way of appreciating what was happening.
Why do we hold back our joy as well as other emotions in worship? David was not afraid to worship with great exuberance, great emotion. He was not just going through the motions; he was worshipping the living God. He was taking a risk, even danced in his underwear to the great chagrin of his wife Michal. Now I’m not suggesting that we dance in our underwear in church, but I do want to encourage everyone to let your joy show and not hold back. Why are we so prim and proper in church? Part of it of course is our heritage—our Puritan/Pilgrim/Anglican heritage as well as our rural NH heritage. Is it also because we are worried about what others may think or say? There will certainly be some that would think dancing in the church might not be appropriate. What about clapping hands to the rhythm of the music? What about raising our hands in prayer, in praising our God? What about telling our family and friends about how excited and joyful we are because of God’s amazing grace? We can sing songs with great feeling; we can say “Amen” if something happens that pleases us, or we hear some important truth about our faith. The lesson from David—who was use to danger, living on the edge—is that we don’t have to be careful and cautious with God.
Now I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that both God and I love you just the way you are. If you never change your reserved way of worshipping, it’s okay. At the same time I want those of you that feel like being a more extreme, exuberant worshipper to be that way. It might be fun for you who are reserved to try something more dramatic. If it brings you closer to God, great. If not, don’t do it. When God enters our lives we are blessed beyond measure. Our response to that blessing is unlimited joy. David didn’t worry about what was proper behavior or attire for a King; instead he focused on praising joy with great abandonment. Remember worship is about our relationship to God; can we let our praise flow freely from our hearts? Our worship is not designed to draw attention to us. What ever we do, we do as an expression of love for our God, an indication of our thankfulness for God’s grace, God’s forgiveness and for God’s gift of Jesus— the Divine Spirit coming and living amongst us so that we will know how God wants us to live.
My prayer for the congregation is that God may help us be as fully alive and passionate to God as David was. May you as individuals express your joy and not hold back. May we meet God in a more real way, a way that will indeed be a blessing to us all. Amen
[1] Don Shewey, online at http://www.donshewey.com/sex_articles/glide.html
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:14 PM
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