Sermon for November 15, 2009

                        Scripture:       1 Samuel 1:4-20

             “Lines of Tension”   Rev. Christopher Fazel

            You may remember, I have occasionally compared the Bible to a stringed instrument, threaded with lines of tension, like the strings of a harp.  And just as music is made through the very tension of the strings, so do the tensions in the Bible carry to us the living word of God.  This is my belief.  It is fitting, of course that the Bible be threaded with lines of tension, because our lives are threaded with tension -- conflicting obligations, competing priorities, contending points of view.  Sometimes, we feel like we're suspended on a wrack, and the one thing we desire most is to relax the tensions that torment us so. 

            Now, I can appreciate that desire.  I share in it.  But I also am suspicious of anyone who says, "I can remove all the tensions and ambiguities in your life, just lean on me and believe what I tell you."  That, in my opinion, is the beginning of tyranny.  And it is most distressing to me when I hear such talk coming from the churches of our land.  "We have the truth, just come and receive it, and you need never again suffer the discomfort of conflicting truth."  I believe that to be an irresponsible thing to say, even though I think it is said more and more these days, as we become less and less able to cope with the ever-increasing tensions in our world.

            The Bible, on the other hand, takes a more responsible approach to the age-old problem of conflicting truth.  Creation is a good example.  In Genesis 1, humans are the last thing created.  In Genesis 2, humans are the first things created.  Well, which is it?   All I can say is this.  The compilers of the Bible knew very well that the two creation stories didn't agree.  They were not dummies.  The tensions are there on purpose to make us think.  And as we learn to think more deeply, we draw closer and closer to the living spirit of God.

            Now, I cannot think of a more fundamental tension in the Bible than the one that exists between the reading for today, and the ones that we read last month from the Book of Job.  We began First Samuel today.  First and Second Samuel tell the story of Israel's glory days -- the rise and reign of King David.  But it begins with the birth of Samuel -- the last of the great Israelite judges.  It was during Samuel's life that Israel decided to join the party and have a king like every other nation in the ancient near east. 

            Now, today's reading is about the birth of Samuel, and in the next chapter, Hanna -- the mother of Samuel sings a song in praise of a God who opened her womb.  But the song really isn't about that at all.  It is a hymn of praise declaring God to be the Lord of Justice.  "God guards the feet of the faithful ones," she sings, "but the wicked shall be cut off."  This is a song of praise to the God that we have all heard about from our earliest years -- the God that causes the good to prosper and the wicked to perish.  I strongly suspect that we have hardly heard of any other view of our God in any of our religious education, from our Sunday Schools to our sermons.  God rewards the good and punishes the bad.  Right?  Psalm 1, "The Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

            In some ways, this view of God is revolutionary in the ancient world.  In most other cultures of the time, God or the gods were seen basically as tyrants who considered humans little more than slaves.  The Hebrews declared a radically new understanding of God.  God is not a tyrant; God is a loving parent, who wants only the best for us.  God may chasten and discipline us, but only to help us grow into spiritual maturity, so that we can abide with God forever as heirs of the eternal kingdom of light -- "and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

            Now, the only problem with this view is that it doesn't seem to jive with human experience.  Too often, injustice seems to be the name of the game.  The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.  And so the Bible, being a smart and responsible book admits to that fact.  Ecclesiastes 7:15, "In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evil-doing."   And, of course, Job in his fury says, "The tents of marauders are at peace and those who provoke God are secure, and so is anyone who makes a god of his fist!"

            So there you have it.  Hanna sings the praises of the Lord of Justice who protects the weak and casts down the proud.  And Job cries a lament that says, "It ain't so!" Both in our Bible.  And so we are left to ask, "Well?  Which is it?"

            Who is right about God, Hanna or Job?  Well, of course, I cannot say for sure, but I strongly suspect that both are right. Job is certainly right.  In this world criminals abound and they often seem to escape with their crimes.  In this world, too often, might makes right.  But Hanna is also right.  The Lord watches over the righteous and lifts them up.  How can that be you say.  And I will answer in the form of a story.  I may have told this story before, but it's one that bears repeating often.  You'll surely hear it again. 

            A couple of years ago Sharon and I were in Washington and visited the Holocaust Museum.  It is a must see when you get the chance, but give yourselves a whole day.  We spent an afternoon there, but I had to hurry through parts of it to see it all.  At the very end of the day just as they were closing, I had made it to the last exhibit, which was a movie.  It was a series of real people talking about real experiences that they had personally had in the holocaust.  And one man told this story.  He said, "We were on the train.  Slowly moving through Germany to the Death Camps in Poland."  Now, most of us here know, that the train ride itself was tortuous.  They were crammed like sardines into box cars.  There was no food, so sanitation facilities.  Many died on the train.  In the winter they froze to death, in the summer they died of heat.  So this man continues, "during this trip, one day was the Sabbath.  And out of somewhere a woman produced two candles and matches.  And we all gathered round and we lit these candles.  And the next thing I knew we were all singing praises to God."  And he said, "What did we have to praise God about?"  But there we were praising God."  Now, the man did not answer his own question.  And I will not presume.  But I do believe this: that in their act of praise, in their turning to their God -- the Lord of Justice, they were lifted up.  Out of the squalid boxcar? No.  Out of the hands of murderers?  No.  But they were lifted up into the presence of a God that gave them strength, and hope and promise -- a promise that their lives were not in vain, and a promise that their ultimate destiny did not rest with murderers. 

            Our God is the Lord of Justice.  And through the spirit of that God, we are given the power to choose justice in our thoughts, in our words, in our deeds. 

            Nothing in this world has a greater power than a life that is faithfully lived according to this prayer, "O God, O Christ, let me be an instrument of thy thoughts, of thy words, of thy deeds, this day."  A life lived according to that prayer will be lifted up into life, into new life, into eternal life.  For the Lord of Justice is the God of the living.  And through that living spirit we are made alive.  Let us pray.

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