Easter 6 – A

April 27, 2008

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

My friend Mary and I did a fair amount of backpacking in the late 1970’s.  Having reconnected after a long hiatus, we have been doing a lot of reminiscing and sharing of stories, especially about our adventuresome backpacking trips. More often than not when we went backpacking, we would take our dogs with us, something that wasn’t all that smart but that usually wasn’t a problem, until…  

On this particular occasion, we were on a remote trail in West Virginia and as it was getting late in the day, we wanted to get to our destination as soon as possible. As we approached a large field, I shared one of the many pieces of wisdom found in the guidebooks I so faithfully read.  Looking at the trail map, I quipped: “Hey Mary, look the trail goes all the way around this field but here you can see that if we cut across the field we shave off about half a mile.” The guidebook even pointed out this handy shortcut.  So off we went.  What the guidebook failed to mention and what we could not see was that there was a herd of cows way up the field.  However, we soon discovered these creatures as they started running toward our dogs and us when we were about halfway across the field. There was no turning back and so we and our dogs ran like there was no tomorrow, barely escaping these rather aggressive cows. 

When things go wrong in our lives, there is a tendency to want to blame someone. “Why didn’t the guidebook mention the cows?”  “I didn’t get that raise because my boss didn’t recommend me.” “My kids are failing in school because they have bad teachers.”  Whatever goes wrong can always be blamed on someone else.

The Bible has a different way of approaching blame, especially as found in the Psalms.  The Israelites never blamed each other or any other people; they just blamed God!   Today’s psalm, Psalm 66 is a classic example of this shift of blame. In their lament to God they cry out:

You brought us into the snare

You laid heavy burdens upon our backs

You let enemies ride over our heads

I don’t know about you but when difficult things happen in my life, I don’t necessarily go casting the blame on God: “You, O God, brought us into the snare.” Did God really bring us into the snare or is the snare of our own doing. The psalmist says that God tries us: “For you, O God, have tried us just as silver is tried.” No warm fuzzy snuggle up to us Jesus in this understanding of God.

Casting the blame on God is a bit problematic because it somehow seems to take away personal responsibility and a picture of a God who intentionally makes us suffer does not fit with a picture of a God who loves us unconditionally.  However, if we remember that the psalms are prayers, then this psalm begins to make more sense. And knowing that there is a whole set of psalms known as the psalms of lament sheds even more light.  There are times when we need to cry out to God, times when we have to ask God why. “Why on earth are you laying burdens on my back?”  This kind of crying out to God is a necessary part of expressing grief and pain and it is perfectly normal and perfectly understandable as long as we eventually move on.  You see, the psalms of lament never stay in that place of lament.  The psalms can get quite violent and angry but they move through the anger and end in a different place. “You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, yet you have brought us to a spacious place.”  The psalmist may blame God for his trials but he also knows that God is the one who will take him to a different place.  According to the psalmist, God is all powerful; there is no good that comes to us without God’s assistance.

The psalms provide a tremendous emotional release.  Our Sunday lectionary does the possible misfortune of generally only giving us the nice psalms, the psalms of praise and adoration.  This is understandable; I really do understand why the Sunday lectionary does not include psalm 137 which talks about crushing children against rocks. The reality is that there are some nasty psalms in the Bible and many of them are great for when we feel done in and crushed or fallen down. They help us because God can handle our blame, God can handle our anger and frankly God is the only one who can and God alone is the one who brings us to a different place.  

Psalm 66 also contains a prevalent theme in the psalms, the idea of God testing us:  “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.” The psalmist’s theology of a vengeful God who teaches through testing is a difficult one and when all is said and done it is not a very helpful theology for contemporary Christians.  The idea that God would intentionally make us suffer is does not enable us to grow in our faith!  However, the idea that we can learn from suffering is right on the money.  How we got to whatever trial and tribulation is plaguing us can be a complex question.  Is it because we have not been able to help ourselves, is it because we were being greedy or acting selfishly, simply making foolish mistakes or did we take a risk that just didn’t quite work out.  Risk-taking is an important part of spiritual growth. If we always play it safe and have to have every detail settled before we act, we will never do much of anything. People who get the most out of life are often those who stretch themselves.  My little backpacking trip was a one of those great lessons about risk. If Mary and I had always been cautious and always played it safe, we would never have gone through the field.  In fact, we probably would never have gone backpacking in the first place.

How we get into whatever quagmire in which we find ourselves is not nearly as important as what we do once we get there.  For it is in the times of hardship that our real character emerges.  If we always play it safe and never take any risks, we may not experience failure but neither will we experience growth.   And the growth always brings us to the place of refreshment that the psalmist describes.  In the end the psalmist blesses and praises God saying that “God holds our souls in life and will not allow our feet to slip.”  When all is said and done, God will not abandon us, God will not leave us to suffer alone, God will walk with us always now and forever, God will be there.  

One of the most important things about the psalmist is that he may miscast the blame, he may be putting something onto God that is really of his own doing, he may be clueless, as are so many people today, as to the idea of personal responsibility.  But the psalmist doesn’t ever stop talking to God and nor can we.  Because the minute we stop talking, the relationship dies.  How often do we shut ourselves off from one another or from God just because the relationship gets challenging.  We can’t do it with God and we can’t do it with each other.  We can rant and rave at God.  We can shake our fists and cry out: “Why did you do this to me?...You let enemies ride over our heads, we went through fire and water…but, but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.”

When all is said and done, the psalms are a wonderful way to express our deepest feelings to God no matter how irrational and wild they may be.  God can handle our emotional expressions much better than people can and God will bring us to that place of refreshment, God will bring us to that spacious place, God will walk with us and God will never abandon us simply because he is God.