8/11/09 My prayer verse for the day is from I Kings 3:5, "And God said, 'Ask what I should give you." As I was walking and praying this morning, I grew in confidence to ask boldly of God on behalf of many people and situations--healing of diseases, relationships, grief; peace in the Middle East; cessation of wars; relief from famine; etc. After all, didn't Jesus also say in Matthew's Gospel that we believers were to seek, ask, and knock.
And then I thought that what this passage is leading me to was to ask for what God wanted to have happen. Yes, that's it...what do you Lord want for this person and this situation? And then I remembered my favorite benediction/blessing of these days, Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
So, ask.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
in order to go forward, retreat
8/10/09 Our church staff had a retreat today. It is amazing the energy that flows into an individual and a group when we pull back and look at things differently. We began with a drumming circle with teacher who took us from chaos to harmony. We learned several techniques. Mostly we learned to listen to each other and to work together.
One of our church members has a lakehouse nearby and let us use it. There we did some looking back at what we had been doing the past year. We prayed together. We ate a bountiful lunch together. We started discerning the unique reason God has called our congregation into being, as we began thinking about a church mission statement. We did some problem solving. Always we end by looking back over the meeting and seeing how Christ has shown up in our time together.
Love,
Lynn
One of our church members has a lakehouse nearby and let us use it. There we did some looking back at what we had been doing the past year. We prayed together. We ate a bountiful lunch together. We started discerning the unique reason God has called our congregation into being, as we began thinking about a church mission statement. We did some problem solving. Always we end by looking back over the meeting and seeing how Christ has shown up in our time together.
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, August 6, 2009
forgiveness
8/06/09 My prayer verse for the day comes from Psalm 130:4, "But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered." I needed forgiveness this morning when I woke up. There it was waiting for me in the ancient words of this psalm. It is not like I did anything hugely wrong. It is just that I keep returning to old destructive patterns and sometimes I invent new ones. I am glad that the verse begins with "but." God has a "but", a "in spite of," a "yet" to counter my/our sin. That "but" is forgiveness, a fresh start, a cleansing, a new beginning. This God who forgives I gladly worship.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
wait
8/05/09 My prayer verse today comes from Psalm 130:6, "My soul waits for the LORD more than those who watch for the morning." I began my walk/prayer time in darkness this morning, about 5:40 a.m. How appropriate I thought to wait for the dawn! There was a full moon setting in the west, yet still the path was dark. I walked into a low-hanging tree branch. I kept walking. I kept praying. I kept waiting. Slowly, it began to grow light in the east. How hard it is to wait! What a gift it is though when the dawn comes!
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Deliverance
8/04/09
My breath prayer for the day has been from II Sam. 18:31, "For the LORD has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you." As I walked and prayed this verse this morning, I realized that I don't have many enemies, at least not persons. But I suspect that we all have things that we need to be delivered from, like worry, depression, bitterness, envy, greed, lust, disease, etc. I know that I have besetting sins, patterns and desires that are hard to overcome. So as I prayed for y'all this morning, I envisioned a God who was larger than anything that would rise against us. It feels good to know we have been delivered.
Love,
Lynn
My breath prayer for the day has been from II Sam. 18:31, "For the LORD has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you." As I walked and prayed this verse this morning, I realized that I don't have many enemies, at least not persons. But I suspect that we all have things that we need to be delivered from, like worry, depression, bitterness, envy, greed, lust, disease, etc. I know that I have besetting sins, patterns and desires that are hard to overcome. So as I prayed for y'all this morning, I envisioned a God who was larger than anything that would rise against us. It feels good to know we have been delivered.
Love,
Lynn
Monday, August 3, 2009
May I Tell You a Story?
From my sermon on 8/02/09
May I tell you a story? How many times have I used that line with you in my 2 years here? I love stories. Stories give us room to move around and find our own meaning. Jesus used to tell stories that revealed truth to people who heard. So today, before I read the scripture, I need to set it in a larger context. May I tell you a story?
Once upon a time there was a little boy. He was overlooked because he was not the first born or second or third, no, he was the eighth son. He was thought so little of that he was given the job of tending the sheep. This is a necessary job, but kinda like being a parking lot atttendant. So when the holy man Samuel came to this household to anoint the next king of Israel, no one gave the little boy any thought. But who was the one Samuel chose? The first, or second, or third? No! But the eighth son was anointed to be king.
Now this little boy had tremendous gifts. He was a brave warrior. In fact, while still a child, he faced a giant from the Philistines, and defeated him with a rock from his slingshot. Do you remember this story? Who was the giant? Goliath. This little boy grew up to be a great military leader.
He had musical talents. He was a singer and instrumentalist. In fact, his tunes could soothe the fits of depression of the current king. He was also a song writer. In fact, many of his songs are found in our Bible in the book of Psalms.
By now, you know who I am talking about....that's right, David.
David was also a skilled politician. He united the northern and southern kingdoms into one with a new capitol in Jerusalem. He further made Jerusalem the center for religious life as well, bringing the ark of the Covenant there. He married into the royal family. And his best friend Jonathan was also the son of the current king.
David had a heart for God. Remember how he worshiped, sang and danced before the ark as it was being transported to Jerusalem.
But David, like most of us, had some issues, some broken places. There was a time when the armies went off to battle, but David stayed behind. He delegated the fighting to others. Maybe he had too much time on his hands, but he was roaming around his palace, maybe catching a cool breeze on the rooftop, when he spied a beautiful woman next door taking a bath. Her name was Bathsheba. Now David did something wrong: he took another man's wife. He committed adultery. I believe that is number 7 on the top ten list of thou shalt not's.
The story reads as if it could come from today's headlines. Someone used his power--position, money, size, gender to get what he wanted. And to make it even closer to home....for 8 years I was in charge of clergy sexual ethics in the Southwest Texas Conference. I found out that clergy when they act out don't go postal--we are not usually violent--and we don't usually abscond with funds. No the way we act is sexually.
I am wondering how we might be David in the story. How have we used our power to make someone do something they didn't want to do?
How might we be like Bathsheba? Have we been the victim of abuse? Have you ever been pressured to do somethng you didn't want to do? I find that such persons often have a hard time telling their story because of the feeling of shame. They did nothing wrong, yet they feel invaded, dirty, less than whole.
Then the story takes a turn that sounds like a modern soap opera. Bathsheba reports, "I'm pregnant." Now David attempts a cover-up. He calls Uriah, who is married to Bathsheba, back from the battlefield. He tries to get to go home and sleep with his wife. But Uriah sleeps at the door of the king's palace. When David asks, "Why?, Uriah replies that other soldiers are sleeping out in the fields and even the ark is in a tent so why should he be any different. David get Uriah drunk the next night, but still he won't go home to his wife. Then David does something terrible. He sends word to have Uriah sent to the most fierce part of the battle and in the thick of it to have troops pull back so that Uriah is killed. Essentially, David breaks number 6 on the top ten of thou shalt not's.
I am wondering how we might be like Uriah, blindly obedient, so much so, that we can't see the bigger picture. Do we just follow orders?
Now at this point in the story some of you adults are wondering if it is such good advice to say to children, "Read your Bible!" That is a lot of ugliness and sin in our story.
Finally, we come to this week's scripture. The first line is II Samuel 11:26, "When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. 27When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,"
There enters another character into the drama, Nathan, a prophet, counselor, and advisor to David. He does a gutsy thing. He makes an appointment with the king, and he asks, "May I tell you a story?" "Sure," David says. The next part of the scripture is 12:1-7, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
I can almost hear David say, "Is this a true story?" "Yes," Nathan replies. "Then who is the one who did this?" And Nathan says, "Are you sure you want to know?" "Yes," David demands. Nathan says, "You are the man!"
Have you ever been Nathan? Have you ever loved someone enough to tell them the truth about themselves? What courage! What faith! Have you ever put yourself on the line so that another might be restored? I know I have been a part of some interventions in the past: I love you very much. I am concerned about your behavior as it relates to alcohol. I have seen you under the influence and it scares me. That time you swore at me for no good reason. I was hurt, and angry, and afraid. Are you Nathan in the story?
The next verses say that there are consequences. "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. 12For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” 13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Even though there is repentance, reconciliation, and healing, there are still consequences that won't go away.
You may be asking where is Christ in this Old Testament story? I like what Jesus said in John's Gospel, "the truth shall set you free." Here the truth leads not to a death sentence, but new life for David. May it be so for us too. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
>>
May I tell you a story? How many times have I used that line with you in my 2 years here? I love stories. Stories give us room to move around and find our own meaning. Jesus used to tell stories that revealed truth to people who heard. So today, before I read the scripture, I need to set it in a larger context. May I tell you a story?
Once upon a time there was a little boy. He was overlooked because he was not the first born or second or third, no, he was the eighth son. He was thought so little of that he was given the job of tending the sheep. This is a necessary job, but kinda like being a parking lot atttendant. So when the holy man Samuel came to this household to anoint the next king of Israel, no one gave the little boy any thought. But who was the one Samuel chose? The first, or second, or third? No! But the eighth son was anointed to be king.
Now this little boy had tremendous gifts. He was a brave warrior. In fact, while still a child, he faced a giant from the Philistines, and defeated him with a rock from his slingshot. Do you remember this story? Who was the giant? Goliath. This little boy grew up to be a great military leader.
He had musical talents. He was a singer and instrumentalist. In fact, his tunes could soothe the fits of depression of the current king. He was also a song writer. In fact, many of his songs are found in our Bible in the book of Psalms.
By now, you know who I am talking about....that's right, David.
David was also a skilled politician. He united the northern and southern kingdoms into one with a new capitol in Jerusalem. He further made Jerusalem the center for religious life as well, bringing the ark of the Covenant there. He married into the royal family. And his best friend Jonathan was also the son of the current king.
David had a heart for God. Remember how he worshiped, sang and danced before the ark as it was being transported to Jerusalem.
But David, like most of us, had some issues, some broken places. There was a time when the armies went off to battle, but David stayed behind. He delegated the fighting to others. Maybe he had too much time on his hands, but he was roaming around his palace, maybe catching a cool breeze on the rooftop, when he spied a beautiful woman next door taking a bath. Her name was Bathsheba. Now David did something wrong: he took another man's wife. He committed adultery. I believe that is number 7 on the top ten list of thou shalt not's.
The story reads as if it could come from today's headlines. Someone used his power--position, money, size, gender to get what he wanted. And to make it even closer to home....for 8 years I was in charge of clergy sexual ethics in the Southwest Texas Conference. I found out that clergy when they act out don't go postal--we are not usually violent--and we don't usually abscond with funds. No the way we act is sexually.
I am wondering how we might be David in the story. How have we used our power to make someone do something they didn't want to do?
How might we be like Bathsheba? Have we been the victim of abuse? Have you ever been pressured to do somethng you didn't want to do? I find that such persons often have a hard time telling their story because of the feeling of shame. They did nothing wrong, yet they feel invaded, dirty, less than whole.
Then the story takes a turn that sounds like a modern soap opera. Bathsheba reports, "I'm pregnant." Now David attempts a cover-up. He calls Uriah, who is married to Bathsheba, back from the battlefield. He tries to get to go home and sleep with his wife. But Uriah sleeps at the door of the king's palace. When David asks, "Why?, Uriah replies that other soldiers are sleeping out in the fields and even the ark is in a tent so why should he be any different. David get Uriah drunk the next night, but still he won't go home to his wife. Then David does something terrible. He sends word to have Uriah sent to the most fierce part of the battle and in the thick of it to have troops pull back so that Uriah is killed. Essentially, David breaks number 6 on the top ten of thou shalt not's.
I am wondering how we might be like Uriah, blindly obedient, so much so, that we can't see the bigger picture. Do we just follow orders?
Now at this point in the story some of you adults are wondering if it is such good advice to say to children, "Read your Bible!" That is a lot of ugliness and sin in our story.
Finally, we come to this week's scripture. The first line is II Samuel 11:26, "When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. 27When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,"
There enters another character into the drama, Nathan, a prophet, counselor, and advisor to David. He does a gutsy thing. He makes an appointment with the king, and he asks, "May I tell you a story?" "Sure," David says. The next part of the scripture is 12:1-7, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. 4Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
I can almost hear David say, "Is this a true story?" "Yes," Nathan replies. "Then who is the one who did this?" And Nathan says, "Are you sure you want to know?" "Yes," David demands. Nathan says, "You are the man!"
Have you ever been Nathan? Have you ever loved someone enough to tell them the truth about themselves? What courage! What faith! Have you ever put yourself on the line so that another might be restored? I know I have been a part of some interventions in the past: I love you very much. I am concerned about your behavior as it relates to alcohol. I have seen you under the influence and it scares me. That time you swore at me for no good reason. I was hurt, and angry, and afraid. Are you Nathan in the story?
The next verses say that there are consequences. "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. 12For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” 13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Even though there is repentance, reconciliation, and healing, there are still consequences that won't go away.
You may be asking where is Christ in this Old Testament story? I like what Jesus said in John's Gospel, "the truth shall set you free." Here the truth leads not to a death sentence, but new life for David. May it be so for us too. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
>>
Thursday, July 9, 2009
AIN'T WE GOT FUN
7/12/09 from my sermon from II Sam 6:1-5, 12b-19
I can see it now....a church staff position...Minister of Fun. At the job interview, "What qualifications do you have?" "I went to clown school, then I got my undergraduate degree in humor, my Masters of Hilarity, and I'm working on my Ph. D., Doctor of Pfthlllth." Wouldn't that be fun?
Ain't we got fun...in the church? Once upon a time I was visiting with a first time guest at another church I served. She came with her little daughter. During the service, her daughter leaned over to her and said, "Mommy, who died?" "Why do you ask, honey?" "Because everyone looks so sad." Ouch.
Christ died. But I like what one child said to me when I was doing a children's sermon on Easter once. "Yeah, Christ died....but he didn't stay dead too long!" Thank God! We have good news to share. So can church be fun?
King David and company sure had fun. They were moving the long-forgotten Ark from its storage place to Jerusalem. Our scripture reads like a liturgical procession....there was an order of worship....that included fun. There was dancing...singing....musical instruments...lavish offerings.....ritual feasting. There was ecstacy within liturgy.
It reminds me of what happens in a Jewish worship service. Have you ever been? At one point in the service, they open the Ark....yes that is the word...the place where the Torah scrolls are kept. They open these ornate doors, pull out a beautiful, large scroll, and then the rabbi walks through the congregation. People smile, laugh, give thanks to God. They kiss it as it passes, touch it with their hands, touch it with their prayer books. It is a joyful moment. One would even say that they were having fun in worship!
Ain't we got fun? Can we have ecstacy in our liturgy? I was reading over old notebooks I have kept over the years. I found another story of a little boy who was just starting to attend worship. He really enjoyed communion....enjoyed the fact that he was welcome at the table. His parents told me, "When you break the bread, he claps his hands and says, 'I just love this part!'"
May it always be so that we can have fun in worship.
Part of our fun comes from the fact that we don't do worship alone. David had 30,000 with him! Ain't WE got fun? Fun comes in community.
Reading over those old notebooks, I remembered what happened one Sunday in worship when I was pastor in San Saba. It was an old style sanctuary with the choir behind me in the choir loft, rows of wooden pews that extended all the way back to a balcony with a railing. During the sermon, our younger son, Matthew got loose from Cathy. God bless the spouses of pastors. She chased him to the back of the sanctuary where he climbed up one side of the balcony on a staircase. She followed him up. He started down the other side. She went down and started up that side. She went down and up the other side. Now I could see what was happening, but I kept on preaching my serious sermon. But the choir behind me was dying with laughter. They were watching a tennis match...with Matthew shuttling back and forth across the top of the balcony and Cathy batting him from side to side. Finally, Cathy sent our older son Joel up one side while she went up the other to trap him on top. I can only tell this story now because Matt just turned 25 on Friday.
We can have fun in church...we laugh at the children's sermons....and today when a child is baptized...and at weddings.....and even at funerals. Christ died, but he didn't stay dead long!
Ain't we got fun?
But Michal can't stand it. David's wife looks out at his leaping and dancing and "despised him in her heart." The commentaries say that maybe it because it reminded her of what the fertility religions did, and she was disgusted at this irreverence. Or it was her disgust over David's near nakedness. Or she was a cynic and saw this as David's political manuevering, trying to cement religious power with the throne. Or she felt used; everytime she is mentioned in the story she is married off to someone for political reasons.
Maybe we are like Michal in some ways. We are wary of too much fun in worship. "It's not appropriate," we say. "It's disrespectful."
We would have good grounds on which to stand, even from this passage. Did you notice some verses were skipped in the reading. What happened in those verses was that as the Ark was being moved, it was going to fall off the cart upon which it was being carried. A young man who was not a priest reached out to keep it from falling and was struck dead. He violated the holiness of the Ark.
What are we to say? God won't be trifled with. God is awesome. I like what Annie Dillard says, "Liturgy are the words that we have learned that we could safely say in worship without getting struck down."
Can we still have fun before the awesome God? David and company sure did. I got some help in understanding how from another source. Her name is Fiona, and she is very high up in the management of Southwest Airlines. She is also married to a UM pastor. She was a resource person at our Bishop's convocation in March. She was the one who asked the probing question, "Do you have fun at church?" She said that one of the core values at SW Airlines was a fun-loving attitude. She said, "We take our work seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously." Here's the punch line, "Humor creates courage."
It took a lot of courage for David to do what he did, moving the Ark. I think he got caught up in the moment. He truly worshiped. It was the closest he ever could be to God, singing and dancing and offering sacrifice. It was bold, it was risky, it was fun.
Ain't we got fun? We can face anything with courage, with humor. At my last church, we had lots of people with cancer, lots of people going through chemo, lots of people with lots of hair loss. So what did we do. Several of us cut our hair off. As you can see with me, it was no big sacrifice. Then we designated one Sunday as cap Sunday. If Sarahann and Bill and Phyllis were going to lose their hair, then we would too. In the face of fear, we laughed. We had fun.
Maybe we don't need a minister of fun on the church staff. Maybe we are all called to this ministry. Amen.
I can see it now....a church staff position...Minister of Fun. At the job interview, "What qualifications do you have?" "I went to clown school, then I got my undergraduate degree in humor, my Masters of Hilarity, and I'm working on my Ph. D., Doctor of Pfthlllth." Wouldn't that be fun?
Ain't we got fun...in the church? Once upon a time I was visiting with a first time guest at another church I served. She came with her little daughter. During the service, her daughter leaned over to her and said, "Mommy, who died?" "Why do you ask, honey?" "Because everyone looks so sad." Ouch.
Christ died. But I like what one child said to me when I was doing a children's sermon on Easter once. "Yeah, Christ died....but he didn't stay dead too long!" Thank God! We have good news to share. So can church be fun?
King David and company sure had fun. They were moving the long-forgotten Ark from its storage place to Jerusalem. Our scripture reads like a liturgical procession....there was an order of worship....that included fun. There was dancing...singing....musical instruments...lavish offerings.....ritual feasting. There was ecstacy within liturgy.
It reminds me of what happens in a Jewish worship service. Have you ever been? At one point in the service, they open the Ark....yes that is the word...the place where the Torah scrolls are kept. They open these ornate doors, pull out a beautiful, large scroll, and then the rabbi walks through the congregation. People smile, laugh, give thanks to God. They kiss it as it passes, touch it with their hands, touch it with their prayer books. It is a joyful moment. One would even say that they were having fun in worship!
Ain't we got fun? Can we have ecstacy in our liturgy? I was reading over old notebooks I have kept over the years. I found another story of a little boy who was just starting to attend worship. He really enjoyed communion....enjoyed the fact that he was welcome at the table. His parents told me, "When you break the bread, he claps his hands and says, 'I just love this part!'"
May it always be so that we can have fun in worship.
Part of our fun comes from the fact that we don't do worship alone. David had 30,000 with him! Ain't WE got fun? Fun comes in community.
Reading over those old notebooks, I remembered what happened one Sunday in worship when I was pastor in San Saba. It was an old style sanctuary with the choir behind me in the choir loft, rows of wooden pews that extended all the way back to a balcony with a railing. During the sermon, our younger son, Matthew got loose from Cathy. God bless the spouses of pastors. She chased him to the back of the sanctuary where he climbed up one side of the balcony on a staircase. She followed him up. He started down the other side. She went down and started up that side. She went down and up the other side. Now I could see what was happening, but I kept on preaching my serious sermon. But the choir behind me was dying with laughter. They were watching a tennis match...with Matthew shuttling back and forth across the top of the balcony and Cathy batting him from side to side. Finally, Cathy sent our older son Joel up one side while she went up the other to trap him on top. I can only tell this story now because Matt just turned 25 on Friday.
We can have fun in church...we laugh at the children's sermons....and today when a child is baptized...and at weddings.....and even at funerals. Christ died, but he didn't stay dead long!
Ain't we got fun?
But Michal can't stand it. David's wife looks out at his leaping and dancing and "despised him in her heart." The commentaries say that maybe it because it reminded her of what the fertility religions did, and she was disgusted at this irreverence. Or it was her disgust over David's near nakedness. Or she was a cynic and saw this as David's political manuevering, trying to cement religious power with the throne. Or she felt used; everytime she is mentioned in the story she is married off to someone for political reasons.
Maybe we are like Michal in some ways. We are wary of too much fun in worship. "It's not appropriate," we say. "It's disrespectful."
We would have good grounds on which to stand, even from this passage. Did you notice some verses were skipped in the reading. What happened in those verses was that as the Ark was being moved, it was going to fall off the cart upon which it was being carried. A young man who was not a priest reached out to keep it from falling and was struck dead. He violated the holiness of the Ark.
What are we to say? God won't be trifled with. God is awesome. I like what Annie Dillard says, "Liturgy are the words that we have learned that we could safely say in worship without getting struck down."
Can we still have fun before the awesome God? David and company sure did. I got some help in understanding how from another source. Her name is Fiona, and she is very high up in the management of Southwest Airlines. She is also married to a UM pastor. She was a resource person at our Bishop's convocation in March. She was the one who asked the probing question, "Do you have fun at church?" She said that one of the core values at SW Airlines was a fun-loving attitude. She said, "We take our work seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously." Here's the punch line, "Humor creates courage."
It took a lot of courage for David to do what he did, moving the Ark. I think he got caught up in the moment. He truly worshiped. It was the closest he ever could be to God, singing and dancing and offering sacrifice. It was bold, it was risky, it was fun.
Ain't we got fun? We can face anything with courage, with humor. At my last church, we had lots of people with cancer, lots of people going through chemo, lots of people with lots of hair loss. So what did we do. Several of us cut our hair off. As you can see with me, it was no big sacrifice. Then we designated one Sunday as cap Sunday. If Sarahann and Bill and Phyllis were going to lose their hair, then we would too. In the face of fear, we laughed. We had fun.
Maybe we don't need a minister of fun on the church staff. Maybe we are all called to this ministry. Amen.
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