Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
June 24, 2012
Year B – Proper 7: The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
Psalm 9:9-20
(2 Corinthians 6:1-13)
Mark 4:35-41
Looming Giants and Threatening Storms
I think one of the reasons I ended up becoming a priest might
be that I really like ritual and routine. We live in such an uncertain world
that I find it comforting that there are some things in my life that are
regular and predictable.
For example, Monday is my day off. And almost without fail
on Monday morning I take the shopping list that Sue has made and I go to Shop
Rite to buy our groceries for the week. Most of the time I actually enjoy it.
There must be other people who follow the same routine since
I see some of the same people making their way up and down the aisles week
after week.
When it comes to checking out, maybe because I’m a little
standoffish, I’m usually not too chatty with the cashier. But other customers
and cashiers seem to enjoy having a little conversation as the groceries are
scanned and bagged.
A couple of weeks ago I was checking out in my usual standoffish
way but I couldn’t help noticing that a customer in the next lane – a guy about
my age, I’d say – was talking pretty loudly with the cashier. I wasn’t
listening since I was focused on things liking making sure the eggs didn’t end
up at the bottom of a bag.
But then I heard the cashier say something like, “Oh, you
could bring these with you for a snack at the office.”
And then in a loud voice the man said, “Nope, there’s no
more office for me! I got laid off last week! Yep, I’m gonna be spending a lot
of time at home from now on!”
We all – his cashier, my cashier, and I – all froze for a
moment.
For a moment I felt sorrow for this obviously upset guy but
I also felt a shiver of fear – and maybe the others did, too. For a moment I
felt and acknowledged the menace of a looming giant and a threatening storm.
The truth is we live in an uncertain world filled with all
sorts of looming giants and threatening storms.
The fragile economy is just one.
For some of us the looming giant is the fact of getting
older, the potential loss of both our independence and our sense of purpose and
meaning.
For some of us the threatening storm is a relationship –
with a spouse, a child or a friend – that’s unraveling or has already collapsed.
For some of us the looming giant is a physical or mental
illness – either our own illness or the illness of someone we love.
For some of us the threatening storm is a nagging sense of
disappointment in our lives – the realization that we expected to do more, to
achieve more, to be more than it seems we’ve been able to do, to achieve or to
be.
We live in an uncertain world filled with looming giants and
threatening storms.
Of course, today’s lessons tell stories about one particular
looming giant and one threatening storm, but maybe we can find something in
these old stories that can help us face the giants and weather the storms in
our lives.
If you’ve been in church over the past few Sundays, you know
that we’ve been hearing the story of the beginning of the Israelite monarchy in
the 11th Century BC.
We’re told that for the first time the people of Israel had
demanded an earthly king. So, following God’s instructions, the prophet and
judge Samuel gave them what they thought they wanted, anointing Saul to be
Israel’s first king.
For whatever reason, maybe out of a sense of his own
inferiority, Saul turns out to be a disappointment, disobeying God in ways big
and small. We’re told that God
withdraws favor from Saul and instructs Samuel to secretly anoint the unlikely
David to be Israel’s next king.
We didn’t hear the next part of the story in church but
David actually ends up in Saul’s court where he plays the lyre – an instrument
that looks like a small harp – which soothes Saul, who, we’re told, is
afflicted by an evil spirit.
Which brings us to today’s installment – to Goliath – the looming
Philistine giant.
The story of David and Goliath that we heard today was long,
but it’s such a good story that I didn’t want to cut it short. But, in fact,
the biblical account is even longer. And we didn’t hear one of my favorite
parts of the story.
One of the things I like is that, David is presented as a
person with many fine qualities but also as someone very imperfect, fully
capable of being underhanded and selfish.
In this case, before he goes into battle David asks what’s
the reward for the person who kills Goliath. Supremely confident, David wants
to know what’s in it for him! And it turns out it’s a pretty good deal – Saul
will reward Goliath’s killer with wealth and also the hand of a princess in
marriage.
And most of us learned long ago how this great story ends.
The unlikely David brings down the looming giant, Goliath.
Today’s gospel lesson is also a familiar one for many of us:
Jesus calms the threatening storm – the raging waters which in the Bible
usually symbolize chaos and ominous power.
In today’s story Jesus is presented as almost comically
calm, fast asleep while the disciples are in a panic. After being awakened, Jesus
demonstrates his power by calming the storm and then he asks his disciples
pointed questions:
“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Jesus doesn’t mean faith in the sense of believing every
word of the creed that we’ll say in a few minutes. No, Jesus is asking, “You
still don’t trust me?”
Jesus is really asking his disciples, even after everything
you’ve seen God do in and through me, you still don’t trust that God is at work
right here and now?
And Jesus might ask us the same question.
And, if we’re honest, most of us might say, well, sometimes
we trust that God is at work right here and now. But, in an uncertain world
filled with looming giants and threatening storms most of us are like Saul and
the disciples, frightened – and unwilling to put our trust in God. For most of
us, it’s really hard to trust and it’s so easy to be afraid.
But, let’s go back to David for a minute.
Although a flawed character, David realizes that God has
prepared him to face the dangerous giant.
David may be Jesse’s youngest son, but thanks to those long
hours tending and protecting the sheep, God has prepared him to face the giant.
David may be Jesse’s youngest son, but he doesn’t need to
wear Saul’s armor. Instead, he has faith – he trusts – that God has given him all
the armor he needs.
And if we reflect on our lives, we see that God has given us
all the armor we need for the times we face the looming giants and threatening
storms of our lives.
When we choose to not be standoffish- when we allow God and
other people into our lives - we get the love and support we need.
When we choose to not be standoffish – when we allow God and
other people into our lives – we get all the armor we need.
Right here at Grace Church, over and over I’ve seen God pour
out love and support in and through us.
I’ve seen it when people here have lost jobs, or faced
illness and death. I’ve seen it when people here have grappled with aging, or
suffered broken relationships, or when people have just been disappointed by
life - disappointed in themselves.
Over and over I’ve seen God pour out love and support in and
through us.
Personally, I saw it and felt it through your prayers and
support a year ago during the hard months when Sue and I faced our own looming
giant and threatening storm, when we were trying to come home from Florida and
were having trouble seeing the way, trouble putting our life back together
again. It was a rough time of disappointment and anxiety, but thanks to the
prayers of people in this room at some point we were simply able to trust. And look
what happened!
So, yes, we live in an uncertain world filled with looming
giants and threatening storms.
Yet, over and over, especially in times of great suffering
and loss, God pours out love and protection.
In and through each other, God gives us all the armor we
need.
All God asks for in return is for us to be like imperfect David
– all we have to do is not be standoffish, to let God and other people into our
lives – to try our best to trust God.
Amen.
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