Facing the Giants

6/21/09 editted from my sermon on I Sam 17:1-49

We know the story so well. Imagine, "In this corner, standing 6'6" or 9'6" depending upon the Hebrew Masoretic text or the Greek Septuagint, dressed in the finest battle gear from head to toe, equipped with a sword, a spead, a javelin, and a shield, a seasoned veteran of many battles, the hero of the Philistines, Goliath the giant. And in this corner, uh...is a little boy, dressed in a plain tunic, carrying a shepherd's crook and slingshot, having just come from tending the sheep, and providing food service to his older brothers, is the representative of the Hebrews, David."
Could the contrast be any greater? We love this story because who wins? The underdog! The one who has no chance overcomes all the odds. The little boy faces the giant and wins!
The sports analogies are too numerous to mention....the United States ice hockey team beating the Russians at Lake Placid in the winter olympics....I wanted to show you a clip of the recent movie, Facing the Giants, but it was predictable, and I still cried my eyes out. We just love it when the little guy wins.
We love it in politics. Right now we are pulling for the underdog in Iran. Can this candidate from way behind defeat the clerics and Ahminidijad? We love it in business. Some of you in the high tech industry get all misty-eyed talking about a little garage near San Jose, California, and what became the start of Silicon Valley.
The story has enduring allure. Imagine being a Hebrew child, exiled in Babylon, without much hope, and saying, "tell me the story again of David and the giant Goliath." Surrounded by big, powerful enemies, you find hope in facing the giants in the old story. David is a "rock star."
What does David say when facing the giant. "The LORD will deliver." That's all some of you need to hear today. The living God, the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel will be with us to overcome anything--financial stress, medical problems, injustice, depression, gloom, addictions, failures, sins.
If that is all you get out of the sermon today, that is okay. But for me the story didn't end. I still had more to face.
What if we were also Saul in this story? How did we face the giant? Were we hiding in the baggage train? Safe, away from the battle? Do we want to dress David up in our battle gear? How many times have we said it, "YOu have to fight fire with fire. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."? How many times have we faced the giants on their own terms?
It is a funny scene in the text. David says, "I cannot walk in these. I am not used to them." I wonder if we have gotten comfortable walking in these clothes and gotten too used to them."
I wonder if the church has lost some power because the world cannot tell how we are any different from the world. You know what I mean? How we think our meaning is tied up in how much we do, how much we have, how much attention we get. Even preachers fall prey to it....we have pulpit envy. Bigger must be better. We dress up just like our enemy.
And then this is the part of the story I like the least. It must be from God because I didn't want to go this far. How are we like Goliath? How are we the giant? Can we face the giant within? I know we want to project out....we are the boisterous bully, the loud lout, challenging the other side, cutting them down, showing them where they are wrong. But I wonder if we are not the problem.
I would have you reflect as individuals....is what you find offensive in some one else really something that you can't stand about yourself? As a church, and Church, we have sometimes been better at shouting at others than dealing with our own stuff. Clergy sexual abuse....witch hunts.....apartheid.....slavery.....sweeping the native Americans off the continent......imperialism.....colonialism....blaming women, or persons of color, or persons of different sexual orientation...or....
I am not here to beat you up, but consider what Anne Lamott said, "When God hates all the same people that you hate, you can be absolutely sure that you have created God in your own image."
Where's the good news? The LORD will deliver.....even from the giants within...Christ has faced the giants for us....not with a stone but with a cross. We are saved not by our own might, but by turning to Him who saves, delivers, rescues. The truth is that we are all of the persons in this story. The truth is that the underdog wins, Christ faces the giants on His terms, saying from the cross, "Father forgive them."