A Seeker's Faith
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
From newspaper editorial pages and cable television news channels to internet "blogs" and direct-mail appeals, we're confronted with an unending cacophony of voices debating the issues of the day -- all breathlessly offering unequivocal judgment (and fierce condemnation of those who see things differently). It seems as if public figures rarely admit that they don't have all the answers -- and when it comes to matters of faith, there definitely seems to be no shortage of certainty. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Carlos Wilton suggests that Psalm 14 shows us another way in which the Psalmist writes that wisdom is gained by those who seek after God... not those who have found him without any shadow of a doubt. Team member Steve McCutchan offers additional thoughts, noting that the church might experience fewer conflicts if our faith were characterized more by humility than self-righteousness. As usual, several related illustrations and worship aids plus a children's sermon are also included.
A Seeker's Faith
by Carlos Wilton
Psalm 14
THE WORLD
Rockets fly back and forth over the border between Israel and her neighbors. The U.S. Congress is polarized in a debate over the ethics of stem-cell research, forcing the first veto of George W. Bush's presidency. The national meetings of two mainline Protestant churches, the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, are marred with acrimony over homosexuality. Extremists on both sides of these (and similar) conflicts sound so sure of themselves, suggesting that the words of the eighteenth-century Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal are true: "Human beings never do evil so cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
The writer of Psalm 14 presents an alternative vision, a humbler approach to God: "The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God" (Psalm 14:2). The psalmist equates wisdom not with certainty, but with seeking. He doesn't say the wise are those who have found God, beyond all doubt. Reading on to the next verse, we hear the writer despair of the pervasiveness of human sin: "They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one." The wise, it would seem, are those who seek after God -- even in the absence of absolute certainty -- and who seek to "do good," as clearly as they can discern what goodness is.
The psalmist labels as "fools" those who presumptuously declare, "There is no God." Yet there's also a different, opposite sort of foolishness that says, "My idea of God is the only true one, and therefore you must believe exactly as I do, or die." Mature faith is seasoned with humility. It makes room for listening, and values honest dialogue. All we need do is sincerely seek after God, and God will find us, as we journey. Along the way, we seek to do good to others, in gratitude for what God has done.
THE WORD
Substantially similar to Psalm 53, Psalm 14 wrestles with the problem of unbelief. It brands as fools those who "say in their hearts, 'There is no God' " (v. 1). By "heart," the writer probably means to say this is a private confession of unbelief rather than a public declaration. Yet it is impossible to keep such spiritual cynicism secret. Those who privately believe there is no God are known by their deeds: "They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; ...[they] eat up my people as they eat bread" (vv. 3-4).
Although the fool's confession of unbelief may be private and interior, God is thoroughly familiar with it, all the same: "The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God" (v. 2).
Wisdom, in the Old Testament, is an eminently practical matter. It has less to do with the airy abstractions of philosophy, and more to do with simple, practical judgments that lead to right living. Seeking after God, in the psalmist's view, is a matter of practical wisdom: it's something every human being ought to do. To abandon this search -- as those who deny God in their hearts evidently have -- is the height of folly.
We ought to beware, in teaching this psalm, of equating the fool's judgment "There is no God" with modern philosophical atheism. Such a view was largely unknown in biblical times. Most likely, those who deny God in their hearts are calling God irrelevant rather than nonexistent. "I can do evil with impunity," these misguided people say to themselves. "I can lie, cheat, and steal -- what's the Lord going to do about it?"
The psalmist's assumption is that God can -- and will -- do plenty. Not right away, perhaps, but in the fullness of time the Lord will arrange that "they shall be in great terror" (v. 5).
A word to the wise -- don't sell God short!
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In a classic Peanuts cartoon, Snoopy is sitting at a typewriter atop his doghouse, attempting to write a book. This time it's not his usual cheesy detective novel -- it's a book of theology. His working title: "Has It Ever Occurred to You That You Might Be Wrong?"
Looking at the situation of our world today -- in which so many heavily armed, fanatical factions are lined up against each other, with murderous results -- we could be forgiven for wishing that Snoopy's humble theology was more widespread!
A wondrously generous vision of faith emerges from Psalm 14. This is a faith that need not insist that every philosophical "i" be dotted nor every "t" crossed. It's a seeker's faith: a faith that inclines itself toward God, then steps out into the unknown, trusting God to meet the believer halfway, just at that point when his or her own spiritual resources run out.
Very likely, the sort of seeking the psalmist has in mind is more than merely an intellectual exercise. We seek the Lord, this writer would surely affirm, not so much in the classroom or in the study as in the hurly-burly of daily life. We put the Lord to the test, as one would test a wood-slat footbridge suspended over a canyon, before putting our full weight upon it. The word of the Lord in Malachi 3:10 comes to mind in this regard: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing." To seek the Lord is to test the Lord, and find God reliable.
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, do I seek. - Psalm 27:8
Sometimes, we lose track of the truth that we are all seekers after spiritual truth. We make an idol of certainty, often reserving our harshest judgment for those theologically closest to us, who differ from us only a little. How else to explain the internecine warfare between Sunni and Shiite, or the "sexuality wars" that have been bedeviling the mainline Protestant churches for decades? It's the theological equivalent of the old adage "You only hurt the one you love."
Comedian Emo Philips once told this anecdote, which has circulated in many versions:
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"
He said, "Like what?"
I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?"
He said, "Religious."
I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
He said, "Christian."
I said, "Me too! Are you Roman Catholic or Protestant?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
He said, "Baptist!"
I said, "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
He said, "Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off the bridge.
(There's no particular reason to single the Baptists out in telling this story -- although it is the comedian's original version. The name of any other major theological tradition could easily be substituted.)
The point is, if we but remember that we are all seekers -- and that as we stand before the throne on Judgment Day we will all be equally bedazzled by divine glory -- the conflicts that cast such a large shadow over our common life will recede into insignificance.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen McCutchan
Ask the average person in this country what is the biggest criticism they have of the church in our age. Particularly ask someone who once went to church and now no longer attends what his or her criticisms are. I would be willing to bet that high on either group's list is the way that Christians behave toward other members. They will undoubtedly point to all of the conflicts, splits, and internal bickering that goes on within a church and among churches.
Jesus is quoted in the Gospel of John as commanding his disciples: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). In this lonely world where arranging dates on the internet is a big business and we are continually confronted by the failure of marriages, can you think of a more powerful evangelistic tool than being a community that demonstrates how to love one another? I believe it was Gandhi who, when asked why he did not become a Christian, replied, "When I read about Jesus I am tempted, but when I see how Christians behave I am no longer attracted to the faith."
Try to name a major denomination, whether conservative or liberal in orientation, which is not driven by controversy. Of course, each side of the controversy would say that they are only trying to defend God's truth. In many cases they would even suggest that the life of the church depends upon those who will stand for the truth as they see it. If Christ is the revelation of God's truth, then should we not consider how Christ loved us when we determine how we should love one another? "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another," Jesus said. The way Jesus loved us was to lay down his life for us. In what way are people who are engaged in such controversy willing to lay down their lives for their opponents?
Psalm 14 begins: "Fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good." Tradition suggests that the psalmist was thinking of the Hebrew children as slaves in Egypt as he prayed this psalm. When God looked down upon the Egyptian society that had enslaved the Hebrews, God saw evidence of the denial of the existence of God. In a similar way to the impact on Gandhi, as people look upon the behavior of Christians with each other, could they not also doubt whether we are serious about being obedient to Christ as our Lord?
Let us, for a moment, attribute sincerity to all of those who are engaged in the battles that are splitting the church. Ask any of them, regardless of the position they are taking, whether they believe that the people who take the opposing position are the ones that are poorer in faith than they are. Is it only economic poverty that the psalmist is speaking about when he said, "You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge"? When you consider all of the people who have been hurt by other members of the church or who have had their faith shattered in the midst of church fights, does not one find the words of the psalmist haunting: "Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?" When Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, did he not include in that number those who are our enemies within the community of the faith? In what way is it loving to do damage to fellow Christians for whom Christ gave his life?
In his commentary, Carlos makes a distinction between believers who act on what they know is right and those who "seek after God." There is plenty of room within the Christian community for a little more humility and a little less self-righteousness. If you have experienced any church fights lately, I would suggest there is much more energy devoted to winning the argument than there is in "seeking" or listening to God. Who among us would claim that we have a complete grasp on God's truth? A definition of idolatry is worshiping or giving worth to that which is less than God. Is there not a hint of idolatry in lifting any doctrine or ideological position to such a level of importance that we are willing to split the Body of Christ rather than listen to those who differ with us? If we believe that the church is the Body of Christ, then must we not say that in some sense we are re-participating in the crucifixion of Christ when we are willing to wound Christ's body?
This is not a counsel of despair but a caution about where we look for the source of our hope in the world. In our lectionary passage from Ephesians (3:14-21), there is ample reason for hope with humility. Can you think of any sin or failure of the present church that Paul did not have to confront in the early church? As you read the letters of Paul, it is clear that the early church faced problems dealing with greed, sexuality, division, envy, doctrinal disputes, immorality, persecution... and the list could go on. He constantly had to both correct the church and pray that they not lose heart. But his source of hope was not in their progressive morality or wisdom, although he clearly urged improvement in both areas. He prayed to God that they "may be strengthened in (their) inner being with power through (God's) spirit." He also prayed that they might be granted all knowledge (3:18). But the center of his hope was that "Christ may dwell in (their) hearts, as (they) are rooted and grounded in love." As Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 13, you can have all those things that we strive for in this world, but if they are not shaped by love they are worthless. Perhaps instead of engaging in the interminable bickering within and between churches, we should spend our energy praying with Paul that "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love." Then we really would have good news to proclaim to a hurting and lonely world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
A seeker's faith is a growing faith, a faith that grows a little (or now and then, to our great surprise, much) each day. And just as the Lord fed his people one day at a time as they journeyed from Egypt, he has promised to feed those of us who seek him today -- not with a whole boxcar load, but with a healthy amount for each 24 hours. They awaited the manna and quail; we await his loving guidance. His mercy and empowering and care for us are fresh every morning. We pray "Give us this day our daily bread," expecting much more than just the nourishing of our physical bodies. We expect the abundant life that only he can give.
In our alternate Psalm (Psalm 145), the psalmist writes:
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand
and satisfy the needs of every living creature. (vv. 16-17)
It is this daily walk of looking to the Lord for our deepest needs that helps us grow in our relationship with him. A seeker's faith is a growing faith.
***
Psalm 145:19 promises that the Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. Those who seek him need to take heart, to trust, to know that he is faithful as promised, that "the Lord is faithful in all his words and merciful in all his deeds" (v. 14).
He will guide us through our stormiest days. He will walk with us through our darkest nights. He will keep his arm lovingly around each of us. And he will call upon us to give the same kind of care to those journeying with us.
***
As we look around us we see war in the Middle East and elsewhere. Leaders we've trusted have betrayed that trust. Even those closest to us have let us down -- and we've let them down.
There is none righteous -- except the Lord. Psalm 145:18 reminds us that the Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving in all his works. Not just some of his ways, or some of his works. All his works, and all his ways.
He is the one the seeker can trust.
***
Russell Schweickart was an astronaut who flew the lunar module for the Apollo 9 mission. Like many of his fellow astronauts, he discovered that his life was changed by the experience of looking down at the Earth from outer space. Here's what he said about it:
"Up there you go around every hour and a half; time after time after time, and you wake up in the morning over the mid-East, and over North Africa. You look out of your window as you're eating breakfast -- and there's the whole Mediterranean area, and Greece and Rome, and the Sinai and Israel. And you realize that what you're seeing in one glance was the whole history of [humanity] for centuries; the cradle of civilization. You go across the Atlantic Ocean, back across North Africa. You do it again and again. You identify with Houston, and then with Los Angeles and Phoenix and New Orleans. The next thing you know, you are starting to identify with North Africa. You look forward to it. You anticipate it. And the whole process of what you identify with begins to shift.
When you go around it every hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. And that makes a very powerful change inside of you. As you look down you can't imagine how many borders and boundaries you cross -- again and again. And you can't even see them. Still, you know there are thousands of people fighting over some imaginary lines down there that you can't even see, and you wish you could say, 'Look at that! Look at that! What's important?' "
In the words of Rusty Schweickart: "Look at that! Look at that! What's important?" Is it the many duties, the chores and errands and assignments, that fill our days with low-level noise? Or is it those "big-picture" kinds of moments, the rich intervals of stillness and of calm -- the times of "being still and knowing that the Lord is God," of sensing the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts?
***
I was raised in an evangelical church in the Midwest -- some might have called it a bit fundamentalist. Sometimes there are blurry lines between "evangelical" and "fundamentalist." When I was in high school, I was interested in a girl in our church. My family was more evangelical, and hers was very fundamentalist. I offered to take her to a movie, which was often forbidden in my church culture. But I chose The Sound of Music. Who could go wrong with Julie Andrews? I thought. I was wrong.
As we left the house, her father literally stood in the doorway blocking our exit and said to his daughter, "If you go to this film, you'll be trampling on everything that we've taught you to believe." She fled downstairs to her room in tears.
The man knew that his religion was to make him different from the world, which is a fair point. I wished he would have chosen to break with America at the point of its materialism, racism, poverty, or violence. But he chose Julie Andrews.
I don't think his kind of fundamentalism results in what happened Sept. 11. That takes a turn to theocracy, a turn to violence, a reach for power.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the antidote to religious fundamentalism is more secularism. That's a very big mistake. The best response to bad religion is better religion, not secularism. The traditions we are looking at are religions of the book, and the key question is, how do we interpret the book? In Christian faith, we have the interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr. and also that of the Ku Klux Klan. Better interpretation of the book, in my view, is a better response to fundamentalism than throwing the book away.
Fundamentalism, it is often said, is taking religion too seriously. The answer, in this view, is to take it less seriously. That conventional wisdom is wrong. The best response to fundamentalism is to take faith more seriously than fundamentalism sometimes does. The best response is to critique by faith the accommodations of fundamentalism to theocracy and violence and power and to assert the vital religious commitments that fundamentalists often leave out -- namely compassion, social justice, peacemaking, religious pluralism, and I would say democracy as a religious commitment.
-- Jim Wallis, interviewed in "Fundamentalism and the Modern World: A Dialogue with Karen Armstrong, Susannah Heschel, Jim Wallis, and Feisal Abdul Rauf," in Sojourners, March/April, 2002
***
The following prayer was written by holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wiesel has spent his life reflecting upon his childhood experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Having lost both his parents and his young sister in the camps, he wandered for a time, caught up in the ragged hordes of post-war refugees, until he found his vocation as a novelist. Wiesel has dedicated his life to preventing other holocausts, and seeking justice and comfort for victims of racial, ethnic, and religious hatred. He is one of the heroes of our time.
He is also a man of faith: remarkably so, considering the trials he has gone through. Wiesel's brutally honest, questioning faith is evident in this prayer, which is from his book One Generation After:
I no longer ask You for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware and worthy of Your listening. I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You. I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.
As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers, but not Your countenance.
They are modest, my prayers, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land. I ask You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too. I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only implore You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.
This fragment of a recent interview with Wiesel contains his view on the relation between terrorism and faith. The interviewer is Krista Tippett of American Public Media's Speaking of Faith radio program. It was broadcast on July 13, 2006:
[Ms. Tippett: I asked Elie Wiesel how he experiences what is happening in Israel today.]
Mr. Wiesel: Israel, I read and I see the pictures in the papers. I read and I weep, and I don't weep usually. I read and I weep. My God, the city that was destined to be the city of peace, and look at the bloodshed, the cruelty, the suffering, the agony. And then we say, it must stop. My God, it must stop. So what else can we do? We must do something, anything we can, to stop the absurd direction of hatred. We must.
Ms. Tippett: So I want to ask you how you come at this question about where God is in the violence in Israel. I mean, if God is everywhere, can God, at one and the same time, be in an Israeli's love for that land and every Jew's love for that land, and also in these acts of violence, in a suicide bomber?
Mr. Wiesel: What makes it worse is those who kill, kill, so to speak, in the name of God.
Ms. Tippett: Right.
Mr. Wiesel: They didn't ask God. God didn't tell them to kill, but they say, we do it in the name of God. Oh, I don't like to say negative things about other people but, really, all these people say that they are martyrs. We Jews, and Christians too, we know something about martyrdom. A martyr is someone who is ready to die for his or her faith, not to kill for his or her faith. And there it's a perversion of every concept of faith, what they are doing to kill children. Why? So rather than here to turn to God, I rather turn to those who invoke His name in vain, just to kill, and kill, and kill, and then be killed. A cult of death; for them death is God.
-- Elie Wiesel, interviewed by Krista Tippett on the Speaking of Faith radio show, July 13, 2006. For a transcript of the interview, click here.
***
O Lord my God, my one hope,
hear me,
that weariness may not lessen my will to seek you,
that I may seek your face ever more with eager heart.
Lord, give me strength to seek you,
as you have made me to find you,
and given hope of finding you ever more and more.
My strength and my weakness are in your hands:
Preserve the one, and remedy the other.
In your hands are my knowledge and my ignorance.
When you have opened to me, receive my entering in.
Where you have shut, open to my knocking.
Let me remember you,
understand you,
love you.
Increase in me all these
until you restore me to your perfect pattern.
-- St. Augustine
***
Tired
And lonely,
So tired
The heart aches.
Meltwater trickles
Down the rocks,
The fingers are numb,
The knees tremble.
It is now,
Now, that you must not give in.
On the path of the others
Are resting places,
Places in the sun
Where they can meet.
But this
Is your path,
And it is now,
Now, that you must not fail.
Weep
if you can,
Weep,
But do not complain.
The way chose you --
And you must be thankful.
-- Dag Hammarskjold
***
When the weight of a discouragement overwhelms you to the point of abandoning Christ, will you put off coming back to the inner oasis in your heart of hearts, that intimate place where God is everything? And when you remember Christ's call once again, will you make your life a response to it, a response of wonder?
-- Brother Roger of TaizÈ, Peace of Heart in all Things
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call To Worship
Leader: The foolish say, "There is no God! We are alone, on our own."
People: We gather to declare the glory of God in our lives.
Leader: The foolish say, "It is your life; you are accountable to no one."
People: We gather, strengthened by the Spirit,
trusting that Christ dwells in our hearts.
Leader: The foolish say, "Everything I have is mine; I owe nothing to anyone."
People: We gather to praise the One who calls us to serve others in love.
Prayer Of The Day
Your glory flows through all generations,
as you name every family in heaven and on earth.
And so we come to you this day, O God.
Your grace is higher than the farthest star;
your peace is deeper than our greatest emptiness;
your love spans the abyss of death;
your hope stretches into all eternity.
And so we come to you this day, O Christ.
When our lives bottom out, your grace is still our bedrock;
when our spirits run dry, you fill us with your joy;
when we falter in our faith, you strengthen us to serve with hope and peace.
And so we come to you this day, O Spirit.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we come to you this day,
praying as we have been taught,
Our Father . . .
Call To Reconciliation
God looks at us, to see if we are wise enough to offer confession,
to receive forgiveness, to seek to know the healing love of Christ.
Let us prove our wisdom and set aside our foolish pride,
as we pray together . . .
(Unison) Prayer Of Confession
Wisdom's Heart: deep within,
we know how we have failed to be your people.
Our hardened hearts are closed to the love of Christ;
our lust for more and more blocks the fullness of your grace
from transforming our lives;
our trust in the powers of the world reveals our foolish nature.
Have mercy, God of every generation.
Pour out the rich blessing of forgiveness on our parched souls.
Feed us with Heaven's Bread, so we might be nourished by your gentleness.
Shape us as your people, and restore us to faithful living,
as we seek to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
in service to everyone we meet.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: The wideness of God's mercy,
the range of God's forgiveness,
the infinite love of God,
the Heart of hope which is never empty:
all these gifts are ours,
as God restores us to the fullness of life meant for us.
People: Grounded in love, rooted in discipleship,
we offer ourselves in service to others,
recognizing the limitless grace which is ours to share in Christ.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
God gives us understanding
Object: a dictionary and a Bible
Good morning! Do all of you speak English? (let them answer) Yes, I was sure you did, but does that mean you know every single word in the English language? (let them answer) No, of course you don't. Nobody does. There are probably thousands of words that we don't know. For instance, look at this word. (have a very difficult, unusual word written down and show it to them) Can anybody tell me what that word means? (let them answer) How could we find out what that word means? (let them answer) Yes, we could look it up in the dictionary. Let's do that. (look the word up for them and read the definition)
Now, are there some things in this book that are hard to understand? (show the Bible and let them answer) Yes, of course there are, but a dictionary won't help us because it isn't that we don't know what the word means. It's just that it's hard sometimes to understand what God is telling us. What do you think we can do to get a better understanding of what the Bible is saying to us? (let them answer) Here's what the Bible itself tells us to do. The Bible says that we should pray and ask God to have His Holy Spirit lead us to a better understanding. Let's do that now.
Dear Father in heaven: We really want to understand all that you have given to us in your Holy Bible. When we have trouble understanding what you tell us in the Bible, we pray that you will send Your Holy Spirit to show us what it means. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 30, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
A Seeker's Faith
by Carlos Wilton
Psalm 14
THE WORLD
Rockets fly back and forth over the border between Israel and her neighbors. The U.S. Congress is polarized in a debate over the ethics of stem-cell research, forcing the first veto of George W. Bush's presidency. The national meetings of two mainline Protestant churches, the Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, are marred with acrimony over homosexuality. Extremists on both sides of these (and similar) conflicts sound so sure of themselves, suggesting that the words of the eighteenth-century Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal are true: "Human beings never do evil so cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."
The writer of Psalm 14 presents an alternative vision, a humbler approach to God: "The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God" (Psalm 14:2). The psalmist equates wisdom not with certainty, but with seeking. He doesn't say the wise are those who have found God, beyond all doubt. Reading on to the next verse, we hear the writer despair of the pervasiveness of human sin: "They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one." The wise, it would seem, are those who seek after God -- even in the absence of absolute certainty -- and who seek to "do good," as clearly as they can discern what goodness is.
The psalmist labels as "fools" those who presumptuously declare, "There is no God." Yet there's also a different, opposite sort of foolishness that says, "My idea of God is the only true one, and therefore you must believe exactly as I do, or die." Mature faith is seasoned with humility. It makes room for listening, and values honest dialogue. All we need do is sincerely seek after God, and God will find us, as we journey. Along the way, we seek to do good to others, in gratitude for what God has done.
THE WORD
Substantially similar to Psalm 53, Psalm 14 wrestles with the problem of unbelief. It brands as fools those who "say in their hearts, 'There is no God' " (v. 1). By "heart," the writer probably means to say this is a private confession of unbelief rather than a public declaration. Yet it is impossible to keep such spiritual cynicism secret. Those who privately believe there is no God are known by their deeds: "They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; ...[they] eat up my people as they eat bread" (vv. 3-4).
Although the fool's confession of unbelief may be private and interior, God is thoroughly familiar with it, all the same: "The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God" (v. 2).
Wisdom, in the Old Testament, is an eminently practical matter. It has less to do with the airy abstractions of philosophy, and more to do with simple, practical judgments that lead to right living. Seeking after God, in the psalmist's view, is a matter of practical wisdom: it's something every human being ought to do. To abandon this search -- as those who deny God in their hearts evidently have -- is the height of folly.
We ought to beware, in teaching this psalm, of equating the fool's judgment "There is no God" with modern philosophical atheism. Such a view was largely unknown in biblical times. Most likely, those who deny God in their hearts are calling God irrelevant rather than nonexistent. "I can do evil with impunity," these misguided people say to themselves. "I can lie, cheat, and steal -- what's the Lord going to do about it?"
The psalmist's assumption is that God can -- and will -- do plenty. Not right away, perhaps, but in the fullness of time the Lord will arrange that "they shall be in great terror" (v. 5).
A word to the wise -- don't sell God short!
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In a classic Peanuts cartoon, Snoopy is sitting at a typewriter atop his doghouse, attempting to write a book. This time it's not his usual cheesy detective novel -- it's a book of theology. His working title: "Has It Ever Occurred to You That You Might Be Wrong?"
Looking at the situation of our world today -- in which so many heavily armed, fanatical factions are lined up against each other, with murderous results -- we could be forgiven for wishing that Snoopy's humble theology was more widespread!
A wondrously generous vision of faith emerges from Psalm 14. This is a faith that need not insist that every philosophical "i" be dotted nor every "t" crossed. It's a seeker's faith: a faith that inclines itself toward God, then steps out into the unknown, trusting God to meet the believer halfway, just at that point when his or her own spiritual resources run out.
Very likely, the sort of seeking the psalmist has in mind is more than merely an intellectual exercise. We seek the Lord, this writer would surely affirm, not so much in the classroom or in the study as in the hurly-burly of daily life. We put the Lord to the test, as one would test a wood-slat footbridge suspended over a canyon, before putting our full weight upon it. The word of the Lord in Malachi 3:10 comes to mind in this regard: "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing." To seek the Lord is to test the Lord, and find God reliable.
"Come," my heart says, "seek his face!"
Your face, Lord, do I seek. - Psalm 27:8
Sometimes, we lose track of the truth that we are all seekers after spiritual truth. We make an idol of certainty, often reserving our harshest judgment for those theologically closest to us, who differ from us only a little. How else to explain the internecine warfare between Sunni and Shiite, or the "sexuality wars" that have been bedeviling the mainline Protestant churches for decades? It's the theological equivalent of the old adage "You only hurt the one you love."
Comedian Emo Philips once told this anecdote, which has circulated in many versions:
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge about to jump off. So I ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"
He said, "Like what?"
I said, "Well, are you religious or atheist?"
He said, "Religious."
I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
He said, "Christian."
I said, "Me too! Are you Roman Catholic or Protestant?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"
He said, "Baptist!"
I said, "Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
He said, "Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God!"
I said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"
I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off the bridge.
(There's no particular reason to single the Baptists out in telling this story -- although it is the comedian's original version. The name of any other major theological tradition could easily be substituted.)
The point is, if we but remember that we are all seekers -- and that as we stand before the throne on Judgment Day we will all be equally bedazzled by divine glory -- the conflicts that cast such a large shadow over our common life will recede into insignificance.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen McCutchan
Ask the average person in this country what is the biggest criticism they have of the church in our age. Particularly ask someone who once went to church and now no longer attends what his or her criticisms are. I would be willing to bet that high on either group's list is the way that Christians behave toward other members. They will undoubtedly point to all of the conflicts, splits, and internal bickering that goes on within a church and among churches.
Jesus is quoted in the Gospel of John as commanding his disciples: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). In this lonely world where arranging dates on the internet is a big business and we are continually confronted by the failure of marriages, can you think of a more powerful evangelistic tool than being a community that demonstrates how to love one another? I believe it was Gandhi who, when asked why he did not become a Christian, replied, "When I read about Jesus I am tempted, but when I see how Christians behave I am no longer attracted to the faith."
Try to name a major denomination, whether conservative or liberal in orientation, which is not driven by controversy. Of course, each side of the controversy would say that they are only trying to defend God's truth. In many cases they would even suggest that the life of the church depends upon those who will stand for the truth as they see it. If Christ is the revelation of God's truth, then should we not consider how Christ loved us when we determine how we should love one another? "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another," Jesus said. The way Jesus loved us was to lay down his life for us. In what way are people who are engaged in such controversy willing to lay down their lives for their opponents?
Psalm 14 begins: "Fools say in their hearts, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good." Tradition suggests that the psalmist was thinking of the Hebrew children as slaves in Egypt as he prayed this psalm. When God looked down upon the Egyptian society that had enslaved the Hebrews, God saw evidence of the denial of the existence of God. In a similar way to the impact on Gandhi, as people look upon the behavior of Christians with each other, could they not also doubt whether we are serious about being obedient to Christ as our Lord?
Let us, for a moment, attribute sincerity to all of those who are engaged in the battles that are splitting the church. Ask any of them, regardless of the position they are taking, whether they believe that the people who take the opposing position are the ones that are poorer in faith than they are. Is it only economic poverty that the psalmist is speaking about when he said, "You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge"? When you consider all of the people who have been hurt by other members of the church or who have had their faith shattered in the midst of church fights, does not one find the words of the psalmist haunting: "Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord?" When Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, did he not include in that number those who are our enemies within the community of the faith? In what way is it loving to do damage to fellow Christians for whom Christ gave his life?
In his commentary, Carlos makes a distinction between believers who act on what they know is right and those who "seek after God." There is plenty of room within the Christian community for a little more humility and a little less self-righteousness. If you have experienced any church fights lately, I would suggest there is much more energy devoted to winning the argument than there is in "seeking" or listening to God. Who among us would claim that we have a complete grasp on God's truth? A definition of idolatry is worshiping or giving worth to that which is less than God. Is there not a hint of idolatry in lifting any doctrine or ideological position to such a level of importance that we are willing to split the Body of Christ rather than listen to those who differ with us? If we believe that the church is the Body of Christ, then must we not say that in some sense we are re-participating in the crucifixion of Christ when we are willing to wound Christ's body?
This is not a counsel of despair but a caution about where we look for the source of our hope in the world. In our lectionary passage from Ephesians (3:14-21), there is ample reason for hope with humility. Can you think of any sin or failure of the present church that Paul did not have to confront in the early church? As you read the letters of Paul, it is clear that the early church faced problems dealing with greed, sexuality, division, envy, doctrinal disputes, immorality, persecution... and the list could go on. He constantly had to both correct the church and pray that they not lose heart. But his source of hope was not in their progressive morality or wisdom, although he clearly urged improvement in both areas. He prayed to God that they "may be strengthened in (their) inner being with power through (God's) spirit." He also prayed that they might be granted all knowledge (3:18). But the center of his hope was that "Christ may dwell in (their) hearts, as (they) are rooted and grounded in love." As Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 13, you can have all those things that we strive for in this world, but if they are not shaped by love they are worthless. Perhaps instead of engaging in the interminable bickering within and between churches, we should spend our energy praying with Paul that "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love." Then we really would have good news to proclaim to a hurting and lonely world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
A seeker's faith is a growing faith, a faith that grows a little (or now and then, to our great surprise, much) each day. And just as the Lord fed his people one day at a time as they journeyed from Egypt, he has promised to feed those of us who seek him today -- not with a whole boxcar load, but with a healthy amount for each 24 hours. They awaited the manna and quail; we await his loving guidance. His mercy and empowering and care for us are fresh every morning. We pray "Give us this day our daily bread," expecting much more than just the nourishing of our physical bodies. We expect the abundant life that only he can give.
In our alternate Psalm (Psalm 145), the psalmist writes:
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open wide your hand
and satisfy the needs of every living creature. (vv. 16-17)
It is this daily walk of looking to the Lord for our deepest needs that helps us grow in our relationship with him. A seeker's faith is a growing faith.
***
Psalm 145:19 promises that the Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him faithfully. Those who seek him need to take heart, to trust, to know that he is faithful as promised, that "the Lord is faithful in all his words and merciful in all his deeds" (v. 14).
He will guide us through our stormiest days. He will walk with us through our darkest nights. He will keep his arm lovingly around each of us. And he will call upon us to give the same kind of care to those journeying with us.
***
As we look around us we see war in the Middle East and elsewhere. Leaders we've trusted have betrayed that trust. Even those closest to us have let us down -- and we've let them down.
There is none righteous -- except the Lord. Psalm 145:18 reminds us that the Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving in all his works. Not just some of his ways, or some of his works. All his works, and all his ways.
He is the one the seeker can trust.
***
Russell Schweickart was an astronaut who flew the lunar module for the Apollo 9 mission. Like many of his fellow astronauts, he discovered that his life was changed by the experience of looking down at the Earth from outer space. Here's what he said about it:
"Up there you go around every hour and a half; time after time after time, and you wake up in the morning over the mid-East, and over North Africa. You look out of your window as you're eating breakfast -- and there's the whole Mediterranean area, and Greece and Rome, and the Sinai and Israel. And you realize that what you're seeing in one glance was the whole history of [humanity] for centuries; the cradle of civilization. You go across the Atlantic Ocean, back across North Africa. You do it again and again. You identify with Houston, and then with Los Angeles and Phoenix and New Orleans. The next thing you know, you are starting to identify with North Africa. You look forward to it. You anticipate it. And the whole process of what you identify with begins to shift.
When you go around it every hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. And that makes a very powerful change inside of you. As you look down you can't imagine how many borders and boundaries you cross -- again and again. And you can't even see them. Still, you know there are thousands of people fighting over some imaginary lines down there that you can't even see, and you wish you could say, 'Look at that! Look at that! What's important?' "
In the words of Rusty Schweickart: "Look at that! Look at that! What's important?" Is it the many duties, the chores and errands and assignments, that fill our days with low-level noise? Or is it those "big-picture" kinds of moments, the rich intervals of stillness and of calm -- the times of "being still and knowing that the Lord is God," of sensing the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts?
***
I was raised in an evangelical church in the Midwest -- some might have called it a bit fundamentalist. Sometimes there are blurry lines between "evangelical" and "fundamentalist." When I was in high school, I was interested in a girl in our church. My family was more evangelical, and hers was very fundamentalist. I offered to take her to a movie, which was often forbidden in my church culture. But I chose The Sound of Music. Who could go wrong with Julie Andrews? I thought. I was wrong.
As we left the house, her father literally stood in the doorway blocking our exit and said to his daughter, "If you go to this film, you'll be trampling on everything that we've taught you to believe." She fled downstairs to her room in tears.
The man knew that his religion was to make him different from the world, which is a fair point. I wished he would have chosen to break with America at the point of its materialism, racism, poverty, or violence. But he chose Julie Andrews.
I don't think his kind of fundamentalism results in what happened Sept. 11. That takes a turn to theocracy, a turn to violence, a reach for power.
Conventional wisdom suggests that the antidote to religious fundamentalism is more secularism. That's a very big mistake. The best response to bad religion is better religion, not secularism. The traditions we are looking at are religions of the book, and the key question is, how do we interpret the book? In Christian faith, we have the interpretation of Martin Luther King Jr. and also that of the Ku Klux Klan. Better interpretation of the book, in my view, is a better response to fundamentalism than throwing the book away.
Fundamentalism, it is often said, is taking religion too seriously. The answer, in this view, is to take it less seriously. That conventional wisdom is wrong. The best response to fundamentalism is to take faith more seriously than fundamentalism sometimes does. The best response is to critique by faith the accommodations of fundamentalism to theocracy and violence and power and to assert the vital religious commitments that fundamentalists often leave out -- namely compassion, social justice, peacemaking, religious pluralism, and I would say democracy as a religious commitment.
-- Jim Wallis, interviewed in "Fundamentalism and the Modern World: A Dialogue with Karen Armstrong, Susannah Heschel, Jim Wallis, and Feisal Abdul Rauf," in Sojourners, March/April, 2002
***
The following prayer was written by holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Wiesel has spent his life reflecting upon his childhood experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Having lost both his parents and his young sister in the camps, he wandered for a time, caught up in the ragged hordes of post-war refugees, until he found his vocation as a novelist. Wiesel has dedicated his life to preventing other holocausts, and seeking justice and comfort for victims of racial, ethnic, and religious hatred. He is one of the heroes of our time.
He is also a man of faith: remarkably so, considering the trials he has gone through. Wiesel's brutally honest, questioning faith is evident in this prayer, which is from his book One Generation After:
I no longer ask You for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware and worthy of Your listening. I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You. I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.
As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers, but not Your countenance.
They are modest, my prayers, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land. I ask You, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too. I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only implore You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.
This fragment of a recent interview with Wiesel contains his view on the relation between terrorism and faith. The interviewer is Krista Tippett of American Public Media's Speaking of Faith radio program. It was broadcast on July 13, 2006:
[Ms. Tippett: I asked Elie Wiesel how he experiences what is happening in Israel today.]
Mr. Wiesel: Israel, I read and I see the pictures in the papers. I read and I weep, and I don't weep usually. I read and I weep. My God, the city that was destined to be the city of peace, and look at the bloodshed, the cruelty, the suffering, the agony. And then we say, it must stop. My God, it must stop. So what else can we do? We must do something, anything we can, to stop the absurd direction of hatred. We must.
Ms. Tippett: So I want to ask you how you come at this question about where God is in the violence in Israel. I mean, if God is everywhere, can God, at one and the same time, be in an Israeli's love for that land and every Jew's love for that land, and also in these acts of violence, in a suicide bomber?
Mr. Wiesel: What makes it worse is those who kill, kill, so to speak, in the name of God.
Ms. Tippett: Right.
Mr. Wiesel: They didn't ask God. God didn't tell them to kill, but they say, we do it in the name of God. Oh, I don't like to say negative things about other people but, really, all these people say that they are martyrs. We Jews, and Christians too, we know something about martyrdom. A martyr is someone who is ready to die for his or her faith, not to kill for his or her faith. And there it's a perversion of every concept of faith, what they are doing to kill children. Why? So rather than here to turn to God, I rather turn to those who invoke His name in vain, just to kill, and kill, and kill, and then be killed. A cult of death; for them death is God.
-- Elie Wiesel, interviewed by Krista Tippett on the Speaking of Faith radio show, July 13, 2006. For a transcript of the interview, click here.
***
O Lord my God, my one hope,
hear me,
that weariness may not lessen my will to seek you,
that I may seek your face ever more with eager heart.
Lord, give me strength to seek you,
as you have made me to find you,
and given hope of finding you ever more and more.
My strength and my weakness are in your hands:
Preserve the one, and remedy the other.
In your hands are my knowledge and my ignorance.
When you have opened to me, receive my entering in.
Where you have shut, open to my knocking.
Let me remember you,
understand you,
love you.
Increase in me all these
until you restore me to your perfect pattern.
-- St. Augustine
***
Tired
And lonely,
So tired
The heart aches.
Meltwater trickles
Down the rocks,
The fingers are numb,
The knees tremble.
It is now,
Now, that you must not give in.
On the path of the others
Are resting places,
Places in the sun
Where they can meet.
But this
Is your path,
And it is now,
Now, that you must not fail.
Weep
if you can,
Weep,
But do not complain.
The way chose you --
And you must be thankful.
-- Dag Hammarskjold
***
When the weight of a discouragement overwhelms you to the point of abandoning Christ, will you put off coming back to the inner oasis in your heart of hearts, that intimate place where God is everything? And when you remember Christ's call once again, will you make your life a response to it, a response of wonder?
-- Brother Roger of TaizÈ, Peace of Heart in all Things
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call To Worship
Leader: The foolish say, "There is no God! We are alone, on our own."
People: We gather to declare the glory of God in our lives.
Leader: The foolish say, "It is your life; you are accountable to no one."
People: We gather, strengthened by the Spirit,
trusting that Christ dwells in our hearts.
Leader: The foolish say, "Everything I have is mine; I owe nothing to anyone."
People: We gather to praise the One who calls us to serve others in love.
Prayer Of The Day
Your glory flows through all generations,
as you name every family in heaven and on earth.
And so we come to you this day, O God.
Your grace is higher than the farthest star;
your peace is deeper than our greatest emptiness;
your love spans the abyss of death;
your hope stretches into all eternity.
And so we come to you this day, O Christ.
When our lives bottom out, your grace is still our bedrock;
when our spirits run dry, you fill us with your joy;
when we falter in our faith, you strengthen us to serve with hope and peace.
And so we come to you this day, O Spirit.
God in Community, Holy in One,
we come to you this day,
praying as we have been taught,
Our Father . . .
Call To Reconciliation
God looks at us, to see if we are wise enough to offer confession,
to receive forgiveness, to seek to know the healing love of Christ.
Let us prove our wisdom and set aside our foolish pride,
as we pray together . . .
(Unison) Prayer Of Confession
Wisdom's Heart: deep within,
we know how we have failed to be your people.
Our hardened hearts are closed to the love of Christ;
our lust for more and more blocks the fullness of your grace
from transforming our lives;
our trust in the powers of the world reveals our foolish nature.
Have mercy, God of every generation.
Pour out the rich blessing of forgiveness on our parched souls.
Feed us with Heaven's Bread, so we might be nourished by your gentleness.
Shape us as your people, and restore us to faithful living,
as we seek to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
in service to everyone we meet.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: The wideness of God's mercy,
the range of God's forgiveness,
the infinite love of God,
the Heart of hope which is never empty:
all these gifts are ours,
as God restores us to the fullness of life meant for us.
People: Grounded in love, rooted in discipleship,
we offer ourselves in service to others,
recognizing the limitless grace which is ours to share in Christ.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
God gives us understanding
Object: a dictionary and a Bible
Good morning! Do all of you speak English? (let them answer) Yes, I was sure you did, but does that mean you know every single word in the English language? (let them answer) No, of course you don't. Nobody does. There are probably thousands of words that we don't know. For instance, look at this word. (have a very difficult, unusual word written down and show it to them) Can anybody tell me what that word means? (let them answer) How could we find out what that word means? (let them answer) Yes, we could look it up in the dictionary. Let's do that. (look the word up for them and read the definition)
Now, are there some things in this book that are hard to understand? (show the Bible and let them answer) Yes, of course there are, but a dictionary won't help us because it isn't that we don't know what the word means. It's just that it's hard sometimes to understand what God is telling us. What do you think we can do to get a better understanding of what the Bible is saying to us? (let them answer) Here's what the Bible itself tells us to do. The Bible says that we should pray and ask God to have His Holy Spirit lead us to a better understanding. Let's do that now.
Dear Father in heaven: We really want to understand all that you have given to us in your Holy Bible. When we have trouble understanding what you tell us in the Bible, we pray that you will send Your Holy Spirit to show us what it means. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 30, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
