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LINKS TO THE SERMONS |
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| Youth Sunday Back in the late seventies I got a call from someone in Hollywood who identified herself as being from Chuck Barras productions. At last, I thought, Hollywood has found me; I’ve been discovered. Turned out that they had seen me when I was on “The Dating Game” and wanted me for the pilot of a new show called “So You Think You Have Troubles.” So, I went to Hollywood for the interview. While I was waiting in the reception area for Chuck Barras Productions, a woman came in who was being interviewed for the same show. She was wearing shorts and a halter top and nearly every inch of skin that was exposed was tattooed. My curiosity got the best of me so I asked her if the parts of her body that were not exposed were also tattooed. Rather than answering she flipped open her portfolio of publicity shots rendering any further conversation superfluous. So we waited, the tattooed lady and me, in the offices of Chuck Barras productions, probably both wondering the same thing – what the two of us had in common that might quality us to be interviewed for the same TV pilot. Finally the producer explained that the show would be about who had the worst problem and at the end the audience would vote – Sort of like “Queen for a day”. I understood what the other person’s problem might be, but I asked the producer, what was mine. And a bit incredulously she shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well, you’re a minister!” Then I saw the connection with the tattooed lady. Both of us, would be shunned in certain segments of society, and both of us, because of our “troubles” would find it difficult to find employment in ordinary society. Psalm 86 is a plea for help from a person with troubles, “In the day of trouble I call upon you.” In the opening line he says, “I am poor and needy.” But it’s a psalm of David. David was the king, the greatest, most popular king Israel ever had. What kind of troubles could he have – wealth, power, fame, respect, servants running everywhere, was a war hero, a musician, a poet, good looking – could have any woman he wanted? If you want to see someone with troubles, talk to me or the tattooed lady. But, on the other hand, old David did have some troubles in his life. He was the youngest of seven brothers. Those of you who are down the line in the birth order understand the troubles that can come to the seventh son. But, then he is elevated to a position of prestige above his older brothers. If he thought the relationship was difficult before, it was a picnic compared to the new family dynamic that fact created. He became a very popular general in Saul’s army – too popular. When they would return from their glorious victories over the enemies of Israel, the crowds would chant, “Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands.” When you get the king jealous of you, then you have serious troubles.” So David spends the better part of a decade running and hiding from Saul’s hit squad. But, when Saul is killed in battle David’s troubles should be over; he is the heir apparent to the throne because Saul’s son is also killed. To solidify his control he marries one of Saul’s daughters, a marriage of convenience to unify the two families. But, when you have a wife who hates you and think you have usurped the family dynasty, you have real troubles. Then there was that affair with Bathsheba and the plot to have her husband killed. And in spite of all attempts to cover it up, it went public and did to his approval rating what Monica Lewinski did to Bill Clinton’s. David’s sons argue over who is the rightful heir. One of his sons actually mounts a rebellion against him and in the fights that follow, he is killed. Grieving the death of a beloved son, that’s real trouble. David was well acquainted with that sort of grief. His first son with Bathsheba had died in infancy and before that he lost his best friend Jonathan. I once served a church with lots of rich and powerful people in it – people on a first name basis with George Bush, people who could write a million dollar check out of their personal checking account. Turned out that those people had all the troubles we average people have plus a whole raft more that we don’t even think about, brought on by wealth and power. When a storm approached off the coast they had to worry about their yacht moored down at the marina. I had no such worries. Troubles, problems, worries – they are the great leveler of society. We all have them, regardless of our income bracket, our age or any other of a thousand factors with which we like to distinguish ourselves from others. I’m not sure why the youth picked this psalm as the lesson for today, but maybe because they have their share of troubles too – not mortgage payments and job security and the advancing of old age, but plenty of relationship issues, worries about the future, tough decisions to make without enough information. They may not have the same problems as their parents but they have you for parents – you think you have troubles! Everybody does. That’s why this psalm is important. It’s
written by a man of exceptional power and wealth but it is about
the need of all of us. It’s a poem/prayer for everyman. We
all have troubles. What do we do? We do what David did – go
to the Lord with humility and ask for grace. There is no finer way to approach God than that. Memorize it and begin every prayer that way. It’s the sage advice of a hymn writer from
150 years ago, “Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with
a load of care? Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble
anywhere? Take it to the Lord in prayer.” I won’t go on with the awful scenario but after some terrifying hours he gets on a flight to Paris and checks into a hotel and collapses in tears on the bed. This is where the story becomes an amazing confession. Harvey Cox is a Southern Baptist and a Theology professor at Harvard – a professional and life-long Christian. He confesses that it was when he was finally safe in his hotel room in Paris that he realized for the first time that throughout the entire ordeal it had not occurred to him to pray. That power that he had believed in from childhood, that power he had taught others about as his chosen career, written books about (one was a best seller) – that power which he claimed as the center of his life, that he sang songs about, (Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me) That Power - he had not even thought about invoking it in the time of desperate trouble. David was a terribly flawed man. He was guilty of bad judgment, not to mention, conspiracy, adultery and murder. And yet the scriptures unabashedly refer to him as a man after God’s own heart. That’s because God was always his first resort. When he was in danger, he turned to God for protection, when he had difficult choices he turned to God for wisdom and when he sinned he turned to God for forgiveness. The new Chuck Barras TV show never materialized. I like to think it’s because they abandoned the project when I walked out and all they had was the tattooed lady – but who knows. But David would have been perfect for that show – he had some serious troubles. But, he also had an ongoing and personal relationship with God, to whom he turned first when ever life threatened to spin out of control. Thus it did not spin out of control. He became the greatest king Israel ever had, the prototype for the messiah who would come from his blood line, and a man after God’s own heart. Let those of us who have ears to hear, hear! |
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