Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
June 7, 2015 (183rd Anniversary of the founding of Saugatuck Congregational Church)
Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-11; 16-22 and Psalm 138
I wonder, sometimes, if God didn’t call the Israelites to be God’s chosen people because they embodied so much of what makes us all human: They were, on the one hand, the people chosen to enter into covenant with God. God heard their cry, liberated them from the suffering of slavery and led them out to a broad land, a land, we are told, overflowing with milk and honey, all manner of good things. On the other, the Israelites broke that covenant every other day. They melted all their jewelry to forge a Golden Calf when God was away too long; they chased after every fertility god that winked at them;[1] they were chronic sufferers of the ‘grass-is-greener’ syndrome, perpetually convinced that they needed to be more like their neighbors. Like petulant children, they asked, “Why can’t we have what they have?”
I’m not picking on the Israelites. On the contrary: I recognize the story of God’s Church embedded in that more ancient story – our own version of that struggle to be faithful – Which is one of reasons I love to revisit the books of the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament. Here, we are reminded that God’s patience is beyond measure. Here, we read, again and again, about God’s devotion, God’s steadfast love, Chesed (in the Hebrew). This is a potent word. Chesed describes a depth of devotion, “loving kindness,” or according to one translation, “covenant-love.”[2] As in: I will keep my covenant with you, even though you turn your back on me; I will not quit you. That’s God’s pledge, to them and to us. Only, we tend to forget.
Never mind that God set the stars spinning in their courses, and made a world so stunning that the trees themselves clapped their hands. Never mind that God made barren Sarah and Abraham the parents of a great nation; or that God heard the cries of an enslaved people, set them free and guided them across the harsh wilderness, sustaining them on quail and manna for forty years. Never mind that God did, indeed, settle them in a new land.
The moment their fortunes appeared to be shifting, the Israelites forgot about all that God had said and done. The moment it became clear that the judge Samuel was getting old, that there was about to be a vacancy in the judging department and Samuel’s sons weren’t up to the job; the moment they realized (in short) that they faced an uncertain future (as we do in every time of transition) they panicked and took matters into their own hands. That was the day God wasn’t enough. The day the Israelites thought they knew what was best; the day they confronted Samuel and said, “Yes, well, God is fine and everything, but what we really need is a king. A king – like all the other nations have. A king to fight our battles for us…”
It’s one of the ways we handle crisis: we start looking around to see what everyone else is doing, and why they’re better off (because from the outside, it often looks as though others are better off). In the case of the Israelites, there was also a bit of impatience with the whole, being set apart by God. They lived by different rules than their neighbors. Because of their covenant partnership with God, they didn’t have human rulers to govern them – only judges to settle disputes.[3] Compared to their neighbors, the Israelites lived an alternative lifestyle. And like the child who only brings health food to school or isn’t allowed to go to parties, the Israelites longed to be just like everyone else.
So the Israelites said, “Enough already. If kings are good enough for everybody else, they’re good enough for us.” Ironically, God listened to the people even when they failed to listen to God. (God tells Samuel to ‘listen’ to the people at least three times in this text.) God heard their cry (again) and said: “You want a king? Fine, have a king. See how it works out for you.” Samuel had the task of pointing out to the Israelites that they were about to undo everything God had done for them: God set them free; they are going to relinquish that freedom to a King whose only interest would be his own gain. God gives, Samuel reminds the Israelites. But a king will only take: your land, your property, your labor, your children… your liberty. “The day will come when you cry out because of the king whom you yourselves have chosen; and the Lord will not answer you on that day.” (except maybe to say, “I told you so.”)
In fact, that’s not how the story ends. The Israelites DO get a king and it DOES go badly – more often then it goes well. But God does not walk out the door and refuse to come back. God figures out how to work among the Israelites, partly by sending prophets like Samuel (promoted from his position as last judge to the position of first prophet) to remind those Israelite kings, again and again, that they owed their allegiance to the One who put them there in the first place. In the words of the Psalmist:
3On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
Thank God for poets and prophets, who remind us again and again: that God is deeply devoted to us; that God is endlessly working for the good of God’s creation. That God still makes the trees to clap their hands, and calls forth new life from the most unlikely places.
Tell me, as people, as a church: Are WE devoted to GOD? Do we feel the weight and wonder of God’s love (like the psalmist), and if so, how does that show up in what we do together? Perhaps your answer is, ‘Absolutely. Of course! That’s what Church is all about, right?’ You may well have stories to tell about moments when the weight and wonder of God’s love has been manifest in our midst. But might it also be the case that God sometimes drops into the background, benevolent but distant, removed from our daily deliberations? If so, then what would it be like to view God as a full partner, to regard God as one with whom we are in regular dialogue – not just in worship, but in our planning meetings, in our discussions about money, and in our conversations about next steps? What would it be like to remind each other, daily, that God is at the heart of all we do? Maybe this sounds simple, and obvious, but I, for one, am as vulnerable to distraction as the Israelites, as likely as they (some days) to get consumed by spread sheets, diagrams, and other peoples’ Best Practices, to conclude, “Yes, of course we love God, but what we really need is a consultant!”
I’m not picking on consultants, any more than I’m picking on Israelites. The question I’m mulling over is this: When we navigate change (as we all do), do we trust God to see us through, really? Or does that feel a bit, well, impractical? Do we wonder what the neighbors will think, if we follow a different set of rules? If we say: “God – and God’s chesed, God’s loving kindness, will be the measure of our actions. God’s call to justice and compassion; God’s capacity for patience, God’s insistence that we show that same loving kindness to each other – these are what will define us and guide our decisions.” Do we do that?
The unsettling thing about trusting in God is that it requires us to give up a little of our imagined control, to relinquish our hold on ‘outcomes.’ (as in: “We would be assured victory, if only we had a king.”) In the words of theologian Sören Kierkegaard, faith is “a disorienting force. It undoes us, by sweeping away all other attachments except God.”
No wonder the Israelites were anxious. But they, like we, had no reason to worry. God was there all along, guiding their steps, as She has always guided ours. If you already trust that, great! If you find that there are days when you, like I, need to practice that trust, then perhaps the first step is to acknowledge God, out loud, to make a habit of talking to God – and of listening; of actively inviting God into our decision-making. This could mean saying ‘Thank you’ more often, or praying over our checkbooks and credit cards, as we decide how to spend our resources. It likely means reminding ourselves, and each other, that everything we have is a gift from God – not ours at all. It certainly means practicing chesed, covenant-love, with each other.
Finally, we can be like that prophet Samuel, and remind each other of all that God has already done; remind each other that God has always been trust-worthy: God was there in June of 1832, when faithful folks gathered to dedicate this Saugatuck Congregational church. God journeyed with our ancestors, generation after generation, leading us always into a broad land; God was with us as we made space for women as leaders; when we welcomed men who were homeless; when we resettled a refugee family; and when we proclaimed that gay men and lesbians are beloved in God’s sight. When we moved this building down the street, and when we rebuilt it after a devastating fire, God was with us. In the gifts of our members past and present, and in every budget discussion, God has been there. God has spoken to us through our children and through our elders; again and again, God has stretched our minds and our hearts. I know you can add to this list. If you remember, too, then tell the stories!
Do these things – talk to God, tell the stories – in our own lives, in our families, as a church, and I trust that we will discover, or re-discover – that God IS enough, that God’s covenant-love, poured out without reserve, IS enough – more than enough – to see us through, to make of us another generation of God’s beloved and faithful people.
Trust that!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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Scriptures
1I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;
2I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.
3On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
6For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.
7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.
8The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
1 Samuel 8:4-11; 16-22 – New Revised Standard Version
4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, 7and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 10So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; …
16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.”
[1] http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/weekly-sermon-illustration-samuel
[2] Daniel Elazar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesed
[3] New Interpreters’ Bible, Volume II, p. 1030.