Thursday 13 June 2013

Hallelujah -- the sermon from October 28th visit of The Tenors


“I’ve heard that there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord. … It goes like this fourth, the fifth, the minor fall the major lift.” (Leonard Cohen) Don’t you wish you knew that secret chord? To that know that special combination of thoughts acts and deeds that allows us to live close to God? I hope I’m not alone when I tell you that sometimes the special connection with God gets lost in the busyness of life. Between work, the endless to do lists, the never ending laundry, bill paying, meal prep, kids to and from all the places they need to get – somehow God gets lost in all. Somehow in it all I get lost in it all.

That’s when I notice that no matter how you really feel when people ask, “How are you?” The answer is fine or good or okay. Even when you know deep in your soul that things are not fine. Even when you know that things are not good. Even when you know that things are not okay. Don’t you wish on days like that, that you knew the secret chord that David played that pleased the Lord? I know I do. That way, when those hard days come and they will come– we know how to draw strength and comfort from God.

David knew just how to do it. He was the one of greatest king of Israel. He was so great that when they wrote down the story of Jesus’ life Jesus was of the descent and lineage of David. It was David who defeated the giant Goliath with a tiny stone; it was David who soothed Saul’s troubled mind with his beautiful music; it was David who wept at Saul’s death even after Saul tried to kill him; it was David who wept for his son who betrayed him crying “Oh Absolom, my son, my son.”  But for all his greatness on the battlefield and in politics, his personal life was a mess. At every turn with David there are broken relationships and sorrow.  But here’s the thing about David, he’s human. He did great things, he made mistakes and he did some terrible things. Oh yes, Hallelujah was always on David’s lips. But more than once he turned from God, he forgot about God’s ways and did things that the bible describes as, “Evil in God’s sight.” Yet somehow David always found his way back to God.  

David knew the secret chord. It wasn’t perfection because he was far from it. It wasn’t doing always doing the right thing because he often did the wrong thing. This morning’s bible reading tells that story well. It follows on the heals of David falling in love or in lust with Bathsheba. He saw her bathing on the roof. Even though she was married to Uriah, David wanted her for himself. He was the King and the King gets what he wants. And when he couldn’t get his way, he had Uriah killed on the battlefield.

            Not a smart move – a terrible thing really. It displeased the Lord. But David was the king so who was would have the nerve to say, “Wait a minute you can’t do that?” God called Nathan, his faithful prophet to remind David of God’s ways. Nathan tells David a story, a simple story of a rich man and a poor man. Now the rich had many herds of sheep and the poor man had one lamb that he loved. The rich man stole the poor man’s lamb and used it to prepare a feast for a passing stranger. When David hears the story he is outraged. He cries out to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’” (2 Samuel 12:5 – 6)

            Nathan turns to David and says, “You’re the man! …Why 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” (2 Samuel 12:9) In that moment David knows the truth of what he’s done and there is nothing for him to do but turn to God seeking forgiveness.

            This same pattern happens over and over in David’s life. Living, making bad choices, seeking forgiveness, return to God. Through it all God loved David. The secret chord that David played for the Lord was not perfection and nor was it always doing the right thing. It was always to turning to God in joy and in sorrow for support and for comfort. Through it all David sings “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.” (Psalm 42 and 43 Voices United)

            Is it any wonder David is attributed with writing the bible’s hymn book, the book of Psalms? He knew the ups and downs of life. But in his private moments of prayer he finds solace as he sings to God, “Day and night I taste only tears, while they steadily belittle me, saying, 'Where is your God?' But I remember - though my soul is distressed - how I went with the crowds to the house of God, our voices joyful and filled with praise, a multitude keeping festival.” (Psalm 42 and 43 Voices United) Leonard Cohen says it well:

I did my best, it wasn't much
…And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

            That secret chord that pleases the Lord is trusting in God’s loving kindness. That secret chord is relying on God’s grace. Isn’t that we always strive for in our lives? To return to God again and again in our need and in our joy. Not easy but worth the time in study, in prayer and praise. David’s story reminds us that God’s goodness is there for us. Holding us. Calling us back to God’s ways. Not because we are perfect or doing everything right but because God loves us exactly as we are. That is God’s grace. That is the good news. So let us stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on our tongues but Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

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