Epworth United Methodist Church

Pentecost Proclamation
July 12, 2009,
Epworth UMC,
Portland, Oregon

“Silly for God”

Second Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 and Psalm 100

INTRO: Initially you may think this a strange text for a Sunday AM. Need I explain that I just couldn’t “get into” the Gospel reading about the beheading of John the Baptist? Then I started to think about the story of David dancing in ecstatic joy before the Ark of the Covenant.

Strange as it sounds to us, the ark held the very identity of the people of Israel, namely the tablets of stone upon which the 10 Commandments were written down. The ark had been captured by the Philistines and now it had been re-captured. Imagine having the very symbol that stood for your people’s relationship with God stolen. The people felt spiritually adrift without direction and hope. No wonder one of the Psalmists said, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” This referred to the time the Hebrew people were in exile, a later time considered than our focus today.

Still it brings an application. Out of community lament now came great joy as under David’s brilliant leadership, their worship center was back. David, now the King of the United Kingdom could evidently not contain himself. Wearing what we heard as a “linen ephod” he danced with abandon around the ark. His ephod was not much better than a loose skirt with nothing underneath it all.

No wonder wife Michal was outraged. This wild dancing was no way for a king to act. She was not enthusiastic about this new Yahweh faith anyway. Remember there were many other religions present in the ancient world. Sometimes a witness to such unprecedented expression of joy can only find sourness as did Michal.

What can we make of this legendary tale that might be helpful to our time? While I cannot give ascent to the historical truth of the story, it is easy to say that while the story was not thought of as fact, the story did and does carry a truth for us today. Stay tuned.

PRAYER: Gracious God, we know that in the Human/Divine Beloved, the Christ you expressed joy in us, your people. Joy is part of our inheritance in the community of faith. Yet too often we allow the pressures of modern life to dull even our feelings of joy as well as their expression. Cut us loose from our inhibitions and help us to find ways to experience deep joy, alone and with one another. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, our God Creator, Christ the Redeeming Reconciler and the Spirit of Freedom and Liberation. AMEN.

PROCLAMATION: In general, we United Methodists are a pretty buttoned-down people in the worship setting. Within the worship setting, we are not given to hand-raising, shouting AMENS, or spontaneous dancing in the aisles. Even outside this setting, we might seem reserved, even aloof, reserving yeas and hurrahs for a sports event in which we are invested. But here we have David dancing with inexpressible joy at the return of their beloved ark. What are we to make of it?

I recall being a part of a liturgical dance troupe at one of the churches I served in Indiana. It was not of the spontaneous kind that David employed. Oh no, that would’ve been “over the top.” Our dances were carefully choreographed by a dance instructor. Still, there was a sense of joy in the graceful movements we did, usually interpreting a hymn. I still miss the dancing and feeling the freedom of bodily movement. But dance is only one expression of joy.

Joy is not the same as happiness. Our culture seduces us with all kinds of promise about how happiness can be achieved. Buy the newest car, get your computer up to speed with all the fancy gadgets, and even attach human emotions to a possession. I’m talking about the Subaru ad that promises that one of their products is LOVE. It is easy to be lulled into the false promises spewed forth daily in our media. But ah, sadly, some longings of the human heart cannot be assuaged by things. Yes, some happiness can be bought but real deep down joy that is not affected by outer circumstances is pure grace, a gift from God.

Surrounding the days around the time of my divorce and my mother’s death, I had few days of happiness, but I never lost touch with joy. How can that be? I found joy in knowing God could and would bring me through anything, and also in a supportive community of faith who just companioned me through the dark nights of the soul. It was as if a heartbeat of joy was never stilled, even, and maybe especially in two of the most grievous times of my life.

There is a distance between wild dancing and quiet joy. I wonder how you experience and express joy. I hope I may speak for some of you when I name how we humans experience joy. Take the joy of nature for one. I was lying down on my couch this week and could see out the patio windows the spontaneous dance of leaves and branches of the 100 year old sugar maple tree. Out loud, I said, “This is as beautiful as watching a ballet.” Often as we enjoy nature, there just are no words to describe the resident joy that bubbles up. What grace. What joy.

Any of you who have been blessed with children know well the joy of looking at a new human face and often seeing your own reflection in this tiniest of creatures. When our daughter, Minda Marie was born in 1968, I recall saying in the delivery room, “Heaven has come down and touched me.”

As a pastor I’ve been privileged to witness the joy that comes via forgiveness. I shall never forget a young woman who sought me out before ending a pregnancy as she feared going to hell. I held her hands and said, “Susan, you have already been to hell. In the Name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. “That is not to say this decision did not bring anguish with it, regret, and maybe even guilt. But Susan was able to finally able to forgive herself and go on with her life.

I cannot imagine the joy that some of you who were interred at a concentration camp felt when you were released. We in America have much to atone for regarding that dark mark on our national soul. Perhaps some of your joy was connected to having something and someones restored to you. Lamentation gave way to joy. King David also knew the spectrum of lamentation over the capture of the ark, and then its return.

Unanswered yet is my question of the week regarding my own expression over my faith. What ancient, metaphorical “ark” has been lost to me and has now returned? Oh that I could look inside each of your heads and read your thinking now! Perhaps in a less communal setting, you might be willing to share some of the lost and returned, so to speak, with me.

Let me close with two stories, both true. The first one is about the tragic drowning death of the son of the late author and peace activist, William Sloane Coffin. The son, Alex, driving at wet pavement in the dark missed a turn and ended up with the car upside down in a ravine, unable to free himself and his faithful dog. At the eulogy for this 24 year old, the father gave way of course to lament, but he also touched on joy. This example of joy is grounded in the very character of who God is. Coffin wrote, “As the waters swirled and entrapped Alex, the heart of God was the first heart to break.” The family’s grief never ended of course. Any of you who have lost children to death know that. But in time the grief softened and by grace the family was still able to hold onto a belief in a God who did not prevent the accident, but nonetheless was so present in sharing human grief. Again, what joy. What grace!

The second and last story has to do with my oldest granddaughter, Meghan, who will soon be 21. She is a junior at Georgia Tech and has already been promised a job with NAVAIR after graduation. This summer she worked as a budding mechanical engineer at the John Deere headquarters in Waterloo, Iowa.

In her young 21 years, Meghan and her brother David, have been given the finest in material things, in education, in travel, and in so many experiential happenings that enriched their lives. In spite of all this, Meghan has been besieged off and on with deep feelings of inadequacy; feelings that have held her back socially and spiritually.

During my visit to see her family last December, she and I talked about moving into our God-given status, hearing the same words that Jesus heard at his baptism. “You are my beloved. In you I am well pleased.” Evidently she has been able through grace to appropriate that for herself. I reminded her of the ancient one who wrote, “The glory of God is a human being, fully alive.” We shared how being fully alive to oneself, to others, to God is a gift. It is not merely a status quo of being able to breathe and have a heartbeat.

Never will I forget her precious words to me today when she called from a distant airport. (You who are parents and grandparents can identify with the GULP I felt as the following words were shared.) Meghan was relating how much she has grown this summer at the John Deere internship; a kind of moving into her abilities and thinking of herself not in a narcissistic way, but a comfortable “feeling at home within her own skin.”

These are the words that preceded my inner GULP; “Nana, I think you’ll understand when I say that this summer I’ve moved into my own beauty.”

May each of us here today hear Christ Spirit saying to us, “YOU are my beloved. On you my favor rests. “Surely as Scripture puts it, that is “joy unspeakable and full of glory. “ May all of us know the joy in Christ that the world does not and cannot give, and cannot take away.” Jesus said, “I have come that you might have joy, and that your joy might be full.” AMEN.