The stories in the Bible are our stories; the people in the Bible are our relatives.In Baptism we are made members of this long lineage of a faithful family who are undeservedly loved by the God who created life and light and love.
In each of our readings today we have ambiguity and despair.We have stories of real people with real struggles.Abraham and Sarah are struggling with infertility, David is fearful and in need of hiding, the Phillipians are living in Roman territory and not allowed citizenship as a Roman, and even Jesus is threatened by King Herod who has already killed his cousin, John the Baptist.
Yet in each of these situations we have people who continue to wait upon the Lord. Abraham is called righteous by God because he believed God’s promise to make him the father of children that will count in number as many as there are stars in the sky.
God made a covenant with Abraham and it is God who seals the covenant while Abraham sleeps!The Hebrew word for sleep that is used here is the same word that is used when Adam enters into a deep sleep and God creates Eve from Adam’s rib.Abraham falls into a deep dark sleep that is a creative time for God, while people are sleeping, God is working.It is all about relationship isn’t it. God makes promises and because we cleave to God and God’s promises, God calls us righteous - and is faithful, always faithful.
I love Psalm 27, If you read it you find that David is on quite and inward journey of his prayer to God.It starts with David’s declaration of who the Lord is in his life:
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
David ends his prayer with a statement of faith:
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
But in the middle of the Psalm David takes a detour from proclaiming who God is in his life and walks through the dark valley hiding from evildoers who devour his flesh, an enemy army and a war rising up against him.He is confident that the Lord will hide him in the day of trouble and cover him in his tent.But he is in that dark place of ambiguity, not knowing if he will be safe, if his life will be saved.
He would prefer to spend his days in the temple beholding the beauty of the Lord.Then he pleads with God in his prayer:
Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
8“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, do I seek.
9Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.
Then David concludes with his statement of faith:
Psalm. 27:13I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!
Real people with real concerns, praying prayers that sound much like ours in the midst of our times of despair when the dark clouds seem to be hanging over our heads and God feels so far away.David is certainly honest in the Psalms.He states who God is in his life. He pours out his heart to God telling of the evil that surrounds his life, tells what he would prefer to the darkness assailing him, and then reminds himself that God is near and only wait for God’s help to come.
And Paul, Paul reminds the Philippians and us that our citizenship is not here, but with God.As we look upon those that seek the ‘good life’ of wealth and gluttony whose God is their belly and their minds are set on earthly things.Remember, our God is our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our body to be conformed to the Body of Christ who makes all things new.
Finally in our Gospel we have this beautiful image, one of the few female images of God in the Bible. Jesus says he longs to gather us together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.Do you hear the echo between the Psalm and the Gospel?David wants the Lord to hide and conceal him, to keep him safe, to dwell his whole life in the house of the Lord.
Here Jesus is telling us that this is exactly what he longs to do for us, to gather us up and keep us safe.As a hen gathers her brood she covers them with her body and the chicks are made safe while the hen is vulnerable to the fox, the fox gets the hen and runs off and leaves the chicks behind while the hen has sacrificed her life for the chicks.
PAUSE
Today we have the service of laying on of hands and anointing with oil.This is a time to be righteous as Abraham was righteous; to be faithful as David was faithful; to be reminded that through baptism you are made a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Come for prayer and allow us to lay hands on you for healing and anoint you with oil reminding you that you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. God is wanting to gather you under the shelter of God’s wings and bring hope and health and life to your troubled soul.
