Sermon: Jesus’ Prayer Book: Trust Your Father
June 21st, 2020 Rev. Betsy Perkins
Scripture passage: Psalm 27 First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
This is our Father’s world! God, Creator of all, made it – made all that is in it. It belongs to God, and we are God’s guests, part of God’s good creation. I love that second verse: This is my Father’s world; O, let me ne’er forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet!
The message of that hymn is very similar to the prayer of Psalm 27 that we heard a few minutes ago. The one praying starts out with pure confidence and perfect trust. “The Lord is my light and my salvation – should I fear anyone? The Lord is my fortress, protecting my life – should I be frightened of anything?” If the one praying this prayer was in a congregation that worshipped and prayed interactively, as our black brothers and sisters do, I can imagine voices calling out, “No, Lord! No fear! We shall not be afraid – not of anyone, not of anything!” The rest of that verse says it, too: Our Lord is King, let the heavens ring. God reigns, let the earth be glad! Then with great boldness the pray-er of Psalm 27 declares certain victory: when I’m attacked, my opponents will be the ones to stumble and fall; even when I’m surrounded, I will continue to trust, I will remain confident.
As I hear this prayer, I wonder, is the one praying being over confident? Is he being unrealistic? Is she in denial of very real threats? But as we listen on, that doesn’t seem to be the case, for in verse 4, the pray-er names the one thing he wants the most, to run and hide in his Father’s house! It reminds me of that commercial in the early 80’s for scented bath salts – “The traffic, the boss, the kids, the dog… Calgon, take me away!”
“The one thing I ask,” the psalmist prays, “the thing I seek most” is to be given sanctuary in the Lord’s house, in His Temple, in God’s own dwelling, in God’s own tent. I just want to come home, Daddy! We can probably relate to this request better now than just 4 months ago – that longing to be in our sanctuary, in our Father’s house. The pray-er imagines herself out of reach of the enemy in God’s sanctuary, singing and praising and filled with joy.
But the contrast with the reality of the actual situation moves the pray-er into pleading, into lamenting. Verse 7: “Hear me as I pray, O Lord! Be merciful and answer!” Verse 9: “Don’t turn your back on me! Don’t reject me, don’t leave me, don’t abandon me.” According to the google dictionary, a lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Even though the Hebrew name for the Book of Psalms is Tehillim, which means ‘Praises’, the number of lament psalms greatly outnumbers the praise psalms. Does that surprise you? We need to pay attention to that, and wonder about it! So often we are given the message that we should just quit complaining, make the best of things, accept circumstances as they are and be grateful. But here in God’s Word, here in the tradition of people of faith, they do not shy away from the lament. In fact, they allow themselves to groan in prayer, to beg God to change their world so that tears may be turned into laughter and praise.
And that indeed is where this prayer ends up – back in the place of confidence and trust. Not because one is wrong and the other is right – both trust and lament are proper expressions of faith. They go hand in hand in the context of hardship and suffering. The psalmist doesn’t ignore his suffering or minimize it. He doesn’t check it at the door as he comes before God. (Amanda Benckhuysen, Working Preacher) The prayer cycles, just as life does. We praise, we cry, we praise. It’s the stuff of our existence. (Beth Tanner, Working Preacher) Trust and lament are both expressions of an unwavering faith in the reality, the goodness, and the power of God, who is worthy of our confidence but also attentive to our cries for help.
So I wonder, what was the psalmist’s struggle? There are numerous mentions of evildoers, foes, enemies, opponents. In verse 12, the problem is ‘false witnesses’ and ‘violent accusers’. These may be military enemies or political opponents. They could be members of the psalmist’s own family, for he says, “even if my father and mother abandon me…” The enemy could be his/her own dark thoughts and fears. Perhaps they all played a role in a perfect storm of troubles. Whatever it might have been, the world did not feel like a safe place for the one who wrote this prayer.
The world does not feel like a safe place for many people right now! – for those with risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness, for refugees, for blacks, for those at risk of domestic violence made worse by being home more and under financial strain, perhaps the world does not feel safe even for some of you. Many feel as though their lives don’t matter.
I think of Calvin Matthews, a health inspector for the Minnesota Department of Health. Calvin did not feel safe in the northern suburb outside Minneapolis, and called the local police department to alert them that he was simply going out to do his job. Sargent Justin Pletcher took Calvin’s call. He said the man on the phone said, “Hey, sir. I wanted to let you know I’m an inspector just in case a citizen calls and says some strange black man is walking around. I’m a big black guy with dreads and I don’t want it to become an issue.” Sgt. Pletcher, who is white, apologized, saying “I’m sorry you even feel the need to tell me this.” He decided to go out and meet Calvin, and as they talked they realized they had a lot in common, including being in interracial marriages with biracial children. Later, as the officer reflected on that encounter he told a reporter, “I’m not angry about the rioting, I’m angry that’s what had to be resorted to until people listened. I’m angry about systemic racism, I’m angry about inequality.” He added that the thin blue line of policing, that very idea suggests segregation and separation. He said, “If I’m not on the same side of my community, I’m failing them, I’m failing this badge.” This is our Father’s world – we ought to long for it to be a safe place, a sanctuary, for all God’s children!
I also think of Carmella and her children who have literally taken sanctuary in a House of God, in the Germantown Mennonite Church in Philadelphia. This is the church my daughter Anna and her husband Peder attend. Carmella Hernandez fled her home in Mexico after drug traffickers killed her brother and 2 nephews. There were threats against the rest of the family; her father’s house was no longer safe. She sought asylum in the United States and made her way to Philadelphia as she awaited her hearing. Despite substantiating the clear danger, asylum was denied in 2018. In fear for her life and for her children, she began knocking on doors of churches trying to find safe shelter as she awaits the long U-Visa appeal process. I wonder if Carmella is someone who took Psalm 27 seriously, as she prayed verse 5: For the Lord will conceal me in his own dwelling when troubles come; He will hide me in His sanctuary. The Lord will place me out of reach on a high rock.
When the world is an unsafe place, our Father invites us, “Come, seek my face. Come, talk with me.” Come into God’s presence, drink in God’s beauty, enjoy God’s care, rest in God’s shelter. When Jesus felt threatened, a man of color in an oppressive system that denied him justice, he said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”(Lk.13:34) As the Body of Jesus Christ in the world today, we too should long to gather God’s children together. Psalm 27 was a prayer Jesus prayed.
Who do you know that is desperate right now, who does not feel safe, who needs God’s light, God’s rescue, God’s protection? Maybe we need to pray with the writer of this prayer in Psalm 27: Teach me your way, O Lord. Because of the opponents, because of the false witnesses and violent accusers, lead us on a good path. As followers and imitators of Jesus Christ we are called to notice those in need of sanctuary, in need of compassion and protection, in need of dignity and respect.
This is our Father’s world; O, let us ne’er forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet!
The prayer ends: Hope in the Lord! Be strong! Take courage! Hope in the Lord!
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