let me explain: i had my own ambitions, goals, expectations, plans. and they were great and perfect and rosy and cheery. but then i got a crash course in reality. when i follow my own plans, things go awry and other people don't necessarily approve. or downright disapprove.
but the last couple days i have been working really hard to remember that my work and ministry is not about how i perform, how my agendas are dealt with. it's about what God is doing in the midst of it all.
i got a wake-up call, and it hurt. cause i'm not a morning person. it always takes me a while to catch on, but i think that this memo finally sank in: it's not enough to gripe and moan and pray to God to change the situation to make it easier for me, but instead it's my job to praise God. because God is good.
and such a revelation lead to my most recent sermon:
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Over the last couple weeks, I have been thinking about praise. Especially being able to praise God in the midst of trial, pain and suffering.
Praising God during times of trouble and of trial was one of the themes I kept hearing in today’s scripture readings.
For example, the prophet Isaiah was speaking in the context of a country being taken over. He was a prophet for a people being sent into exile far away from their homeland. Isaiah spoke about the goodness that would come when the people would turn back to and call upon God.
But even more significant, recent conversations and events in my life have shaped this message.
A couple weeks ago I went down to St Paul to visit some friends from seminary. One of them had been in Haiti during the earthquake. When we were talking one day, she mentioned how such an experience alters how you view the world, how your priorities can shift just because of a few minutes when the ground shook.
Katie told me that she was amazed at how the people of Haiti, five minutes after the earth stopped shaking, after buildings had collapsed, after their worlds had been turned upside down, those who were still alive praised God.
Their entire world was altered and destroyed, yet they praised God for something we take for granted. In the midst of death and destruction, they praised God simply because they were still alive. That they were still breathing.
Then this past Friday, I was happy to take part in the worship service that Cameroonian women prepared for the World Day of Prayer. Their service was titled “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” The commentaries that accompanied the prayers and liturgy explained how the people of Cameroon sing and praise God every day. That they praise God for all aspects of their life, from the earth to plants to animals to family.
And in the midst of these contexts, I learned something about praise and about being aware of the blessings God provides to the people of God.
I am humbled when I hear that the people who live in deplorable, sad, depressing circumstances are able to praise God. That their faith has such a firm foundation that they are able to praise God with every breath they have.
They are the ones most aware of that the fact that they are still alive and breathing is more than reason enough to praise God.
Life is all the reason we need to turn to God and say thanks. This is an important lesson.
I know that I’m not the first one to realize this. And I won’t be the last.
And so when I read today’s lessons, I am both humbled and chastised.
I am humbled when I read about how the psalmist thirsts for God.
We all know what thirst feels like. We have all been in situations when we have parched throats and our mouths feel like cotton. When all you really think about is how uncomfortable you are because you are thirsty. When all you want is water to quench your thirst. Can you think of the last time you thirsted for God like you thirst for a glass of cool water on a hot summer day?
And I am chastised when I read the New Testament. Jesus rebukes us because we understand how easy it is to point fingers at “those sinners” who must have deserved what they God. Jesus seems to suggest that far too often people can get cozy and comfortable, especially at a distance from tragedy. But the call to repentance, the call to turn back to God and God’s holy path is a call for everyone. Not just those people who were obviously doing something wrong. All of us are called to repent.
In both Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth and in Luke’s account, there are mentions of tragedies and disasters. Times when people lost their lives. Times when there was an automatic assumption made by the bystanders and survivors that God must have brought down calamity for a reason. That God caused tragedy because the people who perished were sinners and idolaters. The people who survived at a distance looked on and saw all this as an example of what happens when you don’t behave. When you are immoral. When you worship the wrong gods. When you put other things before God.
Paul and Jesus were clear on the call to repentance. And such disasters were the prime examples to startle people back to God.
Which makes me wonder what we are to be doing today.
Because no one is without fault. No one is without sin.
When we watch the news and learn about recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. When we learn about how HIV/AIDS continues to plague countries. When we continue to read about war and famine.
I struggle to understand when I hear about the people in those horrible situations who continuously sing and praise God. We think they have nothing, yet they know they have enough because they are still alive.
Their faith humbles me.
Perhaps that is one of the examples for us today. We are being shown how, in the midst of trials, death, pain and suffering, they are able to praise God. They turn to God because God is the only thing left in their life.
They can be examples to us, as we live sheltered from some harsh conditions of their lives, as we live with our own trials and struggles. We all need God.
In the midst of conflict, hurt, anger, betrayal, inequality, recession, frustration, hunger, thirst, war, and suffering. We need God. And we are to call on God because God does not abandon us.
Paul writes, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13)
I personally struggle to praise God in the midst of the low points. I think about how we are being called and commanded to turn back to God. Those are the times to call upon God for help. I know that God is faithful. But do we praise God that we are still alive? That he is merciful enough to let us live?
When I’m brought down to my knees and am humbled, I know that I need God. But those times of trial are the times when I struggle to praise God. Those are the times I can forget to be grateful that I still have breath in my body because I am consumed and distracted.
We are still alive and have not been cut down. Like the fig tree in Jesus’ parable, we are given another year to change and grow.
We still have the option to make sure that God is our first priority in life.
To take the time to make sure that we don’t just turn to God for help, for someone to bail us out of trouble. But to turn to God in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.
Because our God is worthy of praise. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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