Sermon June 21 2015

1 Samuel 17:32-49

Psalm 133

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Mark 4:35-41

“What We Know”

We thank you, mighty God, that the even the least among us can trust in you to be our champion and protector. We pray that you would continue to build our trust in your strength and vision so that we may join your pursuit for justice and peace for all. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, God, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

A few years ago, a “Master Class in Public Ministry” was led by a Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper of Judson Memorial Church, Greenwich Village, NYC. The class was for “anyone interested in developing the spiritual capacity to make a difference in the world.” The attendees were promised it would be “fun, informative, and invigorat­ing!” and it was.

One of Donna’s concerns is to liberate public ministry from a motivation of obligation – should and ought – to ministry that comes as a response to experienced grace. Public ministry, Donna suggests, is entering the difficulties of the world with hope – without judgment, blame, and shame. (From Seasons of the Spirit, P1 2015)

Public ministry, standing up as Christians in wider society, isn’t about judging others, but about promoting and acting on the principles and tenets of the kingdom of God as Jesus preached them. 

That might mean lifting up how the injustice of our legal system unfairly punishes more harshly people of color (black people, brown people, red people) for similar crimes—because Jesus taught to minister to those who are imprisoned. That might mean advocating for health care and food support for those who are poor and especially those who are the working poor. But even more so, it means advocating for wages that allow people to buy what they need because they are employed. And because Jesus taught that people who work deserve to be paid enough to live, no matter what kind of work they do.

That might mean advocating for programs in which young people, like David, have their eyes opened to the world and have their passion for causes encouraged to act courageously on behalf of those who need that kind of passion.

In 2014, the National Benevolence Association within our denomination created NBA XPLOR to partner young adults with Disciples congregations and the communities in which those congregations serve – impacting neighborhoods, congregations, and young adults.

The purpose of the program is to nurture “a heart for service” with young adult leaders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who will work to address the social justice issues and concerns including the health and well-being of various communities across the country. Through NBA XPLOR, we intend for our Residents to explore lives of faith and justice while living in community:

•          Under one roof as a small, diverse community of Residents
•          In wider neighborhoods where systems of oppression and injustice work against human potential
•          In connection with congregations where faith journeys are nurtured with great intention
•          In discerning how and where their relationship with God calls them into their best potential

The groups of young people will live together—with their basic room and board provided—while working through a community program and with 1 or more congregation within our denomination to learn, to serve, to work for others, and to lead with support.

There are two explore houses right now, one in Los Angeles and one in Hiram, Ohio. The next one will be in the Quad cities—I believe the house is in Davenport Iowa, while the churches are in both Illinois and in Iowa. They will be working with at risk populations, with food programs, with housing people, with literacy and working with an awareness of how systemic racism plays a part in all of these issues.

In the story told in 1 Samuel 17, David shows up, risks, and unapologetically stands in the confidence of his relationship with God. David is not motivated to act be­cause he “should,” or because he desires glory or rich reward, or to blame and shame. Rather, he seeks the welfare of the community, and to honor the God of Israel.

The Israelite army is unable to act – paralyzed by the enormity of the task. In the class described earlier, one young man who expressed feeling overwhelmed by the giants that threat­en and oppress society today; he was worried about making a wrong choice about where to put his energies. Donna’s encouragement was to take three steps only and let the third step tell what the fourth step will be.

Like David, we have to step out into public view and public arenas so that we can stand where it is that we have passion for others, passion for God’s love and liberation. We may have to explore our passions—do they circle only around our own needs—and find how what we have or can do connects with what people need. Perhaps we need the same things—perhaps we don’t.

And we are called upon by this story to see where it is that real power lies. When most people described in this situation saw the giant Goliath walk onto the battlefield and begin to boast of his kills, his accomplishments and to curse his enemies, they believed in his power. They could see it. They knew he was right—right away.

All they could see—from Saul the king of Israel, to the officers and soldiers of Israel’s army, to the giant and the Philistine army where he was champion—was that Goliath, the giant, was big and the rest were not. Saul saw power and armor and strength, so did the soldiers. They just knew it was impossible to defeat the Philistine champion.

And so it was, until someone showed up on the battlefield who didn’t know that or knew something different in addition. I’m sure David saw Goliath’s size—but like many young people and he was likely to have been an adolescent, he just knew his own experience. So he stood on the power he knew he had. He stood on the power he attributed to God’s power in his life.

Saul’s power rested on the size and professionalism of his army. Goliath’s power rested in his muscles and size. David’s power came from his willingness to trust that God had saved him from lions and bears, so God would protect him even here. He knew how to fight and to win against opponents who were truly more powerful and had more strength than he did. He didn’t wrestle bears and lions. He fought them at a distance. He defeated them, not for the sake of himself. He could have just left the sheep to them, but he fought the predators for their sake. So David fought the giant—not for himself—but for the flock of Israelites who hid from him.

Power can be used for good or for evil. Power isn’t all bad. Sometimes, though, we have power and think we know how to use it for the sake of others.

After David insisted that he would fight the giant, Saul decided he would lend David the power he knew. So he gave him a helmet for his head and chain mail to protect his body. He gave him a sword to fight with. He was clothed like the soldiers—like a warrior king of the day. But David’s strength didn’t match the kind of power that Saul wanted to give him. So he took off the armor and picked up his shepherd’s staff and sling, then he filled his pouch with stones, ammunition for the sling.

David armed himself, prepared himself for facing the giant, but he did it by knowing his own strength and his own power. Sometimes we are like Saul and we think we know what people need to right their own lives instead of listening to what they really need from us—from support systems and structures and programs designed to help.

People usually understand their own needs better than we do. They understand their own strengths and powers and where they need support. David wanted to rely more on what he knew than he wanted to rely on Saul’s kind of battle.

David saw a problem and had the passion of youth he needed to respond. And in preparation for his response, for fighting the giant he saw, he rejected Saul’s kind of power for the power he knew he already had.

This doesn’t mean that all problems can be solved by the use of a sling and stone—or weapons—what it means is that we don’t always realize the power we already have.

This story, placed within the biblical story of Saul’s downfall and God’s choice of David, tells us that David is the kind of power God wants. This story also opens our eyes to the realization that giants aren’t undefeatable no matter what we think we know. Instead, we can know differently.

We can know that while a white man with a gun can take the lives of 9 black people studying scripture, we can stand up and say that black lives matter as much as anyone else’s lives. We can know that while police shootings of black men and women were in the news, the end of 2014 was a bloody time for Native Americans with 6 in the last two months of last year. We can know that from 1999 to 2013, Native Americans were killed by law enforcement at nearly identical rates as black Americans, tying them for the most at-risk populations in this respect. We can’t ignore either set of numbers—and both should be a motivation for change.

And while this change happens, and it will, white people in particular will struggle with how to use their power and influence, and especially how to give up privilege, so that others can simply have life. The shooting this week reveals how some have and will respond to a rising consciousness of systemic racism and the changes we have to make. I hope that with Jesus Christ’s example in our lives, we understand that sometimes we don’t know what we think we know—and that we do know that God stands with those who are hurt and dying, with those who are burdened with prejudice, hate, and fear.

Sometimes it’s hard to work out what it is that we know. One the one hand, we hear about David defeating the giant and Jesus calming the wind and waves. On the other hand, Paul describes how people like him—believers who stand up against the injustice of persecution will continue to be persecuted and afflicted by horrible situations and systems that are so entrenched they feel almost impossible to change.

And yet, while we’re thinking about what we know and what we think we know. Let’s consider that while racism and injustice have not been eradicated—some things have changed for the better. But that doesn’t mean that acting against racism can end or that the protests will stop any time soon. What the changes simply mean is that we have more power, more hope, and more motivation as we move into the world—that kingdom Jesus preaches about—that God is preparing for us.

Changing the world isn’t easy, even for God, because God calls us to change it. God calls us to know and understand where it is that God calls. And God calls to follow Jesus’ teachings about love, grace, justice, and hope as we do so.

What we know. We know God is with us. Thanks be to God. Amen.