Late Night TV

 
Below you will find the sermon I wrote for my Psalms class. Psalm 46 is one of my favoirte psalms and I loved learning more about it, especially from a scholarly persepctive. While this sermon didn't end up where I thought it would, I think it still conveys the journey I have experienced living life through this psalm...I think I will capture the text a little better next time I get a chanc but for now here it is! 
 
Shalom,
Lindsey

Psalm 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, our Strength and our Redeemer, Amen.

Have you ever had one of those nights where you just could not fall asleep? I don’t have them often but sometimes in moments of high stress I have trouble sleeping. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of coffee I have consumed throughout the day to stay alert, or perhaps it is just my minds inability to fully shut off. Either way I eventually find myself, after hours of tossing and turning, sitting in front of the television at some unmentionable hour, hoping that it will preoccupy my racing mind, or in the least tire my eyes. If you have ever had the misfortune of watching late night TV you will know you are faced with limited viewing choices:

-Sitcom reruns from the 1980’s

-Infomercials

-Or channels chiming their off air signal

As the world of 1980’s sitcoms rarely tempt me, I am usually left to watch the endless string of infomercials on TV at that hour. As I turn on the television, and the screen comes into focus, I am invited into warmth of a kitchen where the host seems to know everything I could have ever wanted to know about mincing onions. In the midst of these sleepless moments, the host of this show will become my new best friend, wooing my eyes to close and my brain to sleep as they slice and dice their way to commercial glory.

If you have ever had the misfortune of watching these channels for long enough you will notice that a distinct change eventually occurs in the infomercial programing, especially if you are watching an American broadcaster. Your TV will cease showing you the wonders of the slap chop, whisking you out of the warmth of the kitchen and into a large conference center hosting some kind of revival church service. Instead of the host showing you the 17 ways you can dice and chop your onion, your TV screen is now occupied by a cleanly dressed man with the last name of ‘Dollar’ proclaiming that your day of healing is upon you. The room you see is packed with thousands of men, women, and children who are all fighting for their chance to tell their story before the camera. Before long your screen becomes filled with Americans from the South West proclaiming their testimonies of  this miracle “holy land holy water” and how it has cured them of everything from eczema to cancer and in some cases has even managed solved their financial difficulties. After watching the program for a few minutes one thing becomes apparent, these individuals do not appear to be acting. It seems they have found the miracle cure they have always been looking for, and are rejoicing in a manner that is usually only seen when someone wins the lottery.

As I watch on in stunned disbelief, I start to wonder if the people on these infomercials are indeed genuine and if they are, when did they decide to place their hope in 19.95 dollar bottle of holy water rather than turning to the God who brooded over the same waters in creation. When did they choose to put aside the healing power of the one who hangs from the golden cross around their neck, and opt instead to place their trust in the healing power of a slick man in an Armani suit?

As the program continues I wonder who else is watching this infomercial and why it seems to only ever be aired in the late night hours, when only the sleep deprived nation is able to consume its contents. I begin to wonder what was keeping the rest of the programs viewers up at night?…and what could be weighing so heavily on their minds that they felt they needed to turn to the healing power of this mystery holy water? Perhaps like many of the people featured on the screen in front of me, they were sick. Maybe they face a painful and incurable disease and struggle to make it through the motions of their day. Maybe it’s the cancer that has come back for the third time and they just can’t face the thought of yet another round of chemo. Maybe it’s a pain so deep only they can feel it, a depression that is robbing them of their will to live on. Or perhaps they are feeling financially beaten, over worked with nothing to show but mounting debt with no end or solution in sight. These are just a few signs and symptoms that have come to mark our daily lives as we attempt to walk on in a world saturated by worry and fear.

While I tend to see my own stress and worries outside of the gravity of such concerns, the reality is, when all is said and done, we are all unglued by the harsh realities of this world. Whether large or small we are undone by the sin created in the world around us, done to us, and done by us. We are told by society, our friends, and maybe even our families, to pull ourselves together, to brush it off and carry on. That for some reason, our troubles, worries, and fears should be ours alone to bear. Perhaps this is why, in the middle of the night, so many people find themselves glued to their television sets, looking for a glimmer of hope in a world that has little hope to offer at times…  

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult…

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

In the midst of our fear and our worry God meets us in Psalm 46. In the center of the storms both great and small, God is with us. We may wonder why we have to face the problems that we do, why our loved ones get sick, or why layoffs seem to come at the most inopportune times. It is tempting to become impatient in moments like this, when we are tired and worn-out, and we just want the answers. We have the tendency to want immediate action, for God to swoop down and calm our storm, or to save us from our trial entirely. Maybe this is why so many people turn to answers they feel will solve their problems in the here and now. Why they go searching in the middle of the night for that miracle holy water to make things right in their lives once again.

The truth of the matter is, no matter how hard we work to solve the problems of our lives, only the Lord has the power to provide a safe refuge in the midst of our storm. The Lord proclaims “Be still and know that I am God” I am what you have been searching for, I have been with you, in the midst of life from the beginning of time, when I moved over the waters of creation, calming the chaos of this world, and forming and claiming a new creation by the works of my mighty hand. “Be still and know that I am God” stop striving to make things right, bring your burdens to me, and I will lay them down.

With God, what we have been promised is so much greater than an escape, the Creator of the universe has promised to walk with us through our storm, to be in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our sorrow, and to join with us in joy when the morning breaks through the darkness of our night. This is the hope that is proclaimed by the psalmist for us today, that we will not fear though the Earth should fall into the heart of the sea. God has named and claimed us in the waters of baptism, conquering the raging waters of this life by his death and resurrection. This is a claim that neither any storm can shake, nor anyone on heaven or on earth could ever falter. Amidst the chaos of this world God is still sovereign over creation, abiding with us in the midst of our storm, now, and in the time yet to come. All we have to do is bring our burdens God, who will hold them, and journey with us, till the day we can meet our Lord face to face.    

May this be so among us.

Amen