November 17, 2015

“Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”
As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”
Psalm 16:1 – 5

“The appearance of Psalm 16 in the lectionary is an opportunity both to appreciate its artistic beauty and to open ourselves to the challenge of Israel’s radical monotheism. In our pervasively self-centered context, for instance, what difference might it make if we entertained the conviction that life is not something we achieve, but rather something we receive as a gift from God? What difference might it make if we viewed the life-sustaining resources that most of us enjoy not as something we have earned or deserve, but rather as evidence of God’s goodness? Might a pervasive sense of entitlement begin to be replaced by a posture of humility and gratitude?

My tradition tries to capture the challenge of Israel’s radical monotheism in the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (which I paraphrase as follows): “What is the chief end of humankind? The chief end of humankind is to glorify God and enjoy God forever.” A symptom of our dis-ease is the fact that enjoying God is essentially nonsensical to most of us. But the psalmist knew what it meant to enjoy God! What difference might it make if we began to try to ground our pleasure and joy not in self nor in stuff but in God? It’s worth a try!” (Erhard Gerstenberger, Psalms: Part I(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), Working Preacher Website)

“What difference might it make if we began to try to ground our pleasure and joy not in self nor in stuff but in God? It’s worth a try!” We live in a society that continually tells us that we need more stuff. This time of year is really challenging to me because the Christmas advertisements come out, especially on the television. If you watch one of the children’s stations, they inundate our children with ad after ad about the toy they just cannot live without. Pleasure and satisfaction are linked with how much stuff we have, how new our stuff is, and how quickly we can get the stuff. At some point in time, each person will come to the realization that joy and purpose do not come from stuff. But for some of those same people, that realization comes too late to make a real difference in their lives.

Begin now, today, to make a change in your life. If you are always thinking about your stuff, may I suggest that you may have a problem. And the problem that you have is not about having stuff – it is about the fact that your stuff has power over you. If we focused on our relationship with G*d and our neighbors who are in need, as much as we focus our time and money on our stuff, this world would be a lot better off. Relationships have much more value than stuff will ever have. Take a stance against stuff – and find joy in a relationship with Christ.

Pastor Dave