UCC Church of Charlotte

'To download a copy of this sermon please click here

'
Hope Rooted in Memory
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126

Grace and Peace to you this morning.  Grace and Peace.
    
Bible study time!

We are going to walk through this morning’s psalm, taking time to
notice the beauty and the depth of the words and the faith.  Perhaps
these words are our words and this faith is our faith.  Perhaps we are
still waiting to hear these words, to feel this faith.  Either way,
this is our psalm and these words are for us.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.

Sometimes the news is so good that it doesn’t seem real.  Sometimes
the healing that takes place, the reconciliation that occurs, the
peace that is felt is beyond what we could have hoped for or what we
can comprehend.  It is like unto a dream.  We know it is true, but
cannot quite comprehend it yet.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;

This psalm seems to follow the psalms of lament, where tears and
turmoil have been the cry, but now the mouth of the people is filled
with laughter and their tongues with shouts of joy.  It is drawing on
the story of the exiles returning to Zion, to Jerusalem, to rebuild
the temple and dwell again in the land of covenant.  It speaks of the
memory of God restoring Judah and Israel, as Isaiah talks about.  It
retells the story of coming home.

…then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The nations around Israel have heard what has happened.  We almost get
the feeling that the psalmist speaks of Israel and the surrounding
nations the way we speak of Charlotte.  By the time something has
happened, rumors of it are already all over town.  Everyone is
speaking of what God has done.

The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.

It is one thing for the people around us to speak of God’s goodness to
us, but here, they say it for themselves.  The LORD has done great
things for us; we are glad.  Here is our praise: The LORD has done
great things for us.  Here is the memory of our faith: The LORD has
done great things for us.  Here is our song: The LORD has done great
things for us.  Here is our scripture: The LORD has done great things
for us.  And we are glad.

The restoration of Jerusalem.  The rebuilding of the temple.

That which was destroyed is now rebuilt.  That which was desolate is
now made habitable again.  That which could no longer sustain life or
faith or hope is now made new.

Who has a story like this?  Who here this morning can speak of their
own life where the LORD has done great things?  Who can speak of their
own experience of God’s goodness?  We have stories of our own like
this, don’t we?

But life is not settled with a single restoration, is it?  Looking
back on this good and great miracle of healing does not mean we will
face no more difficulties, no more pains, no more trials, no more
decisions.  Healing itself can bring new difficulties.  Reconciliation
in a relationship brings with it all the messiness of the
relationship.  The return of the exiles brings new problems.

And here is where the psalm changes.  So far it has been past tense:

When the LORD restored…
We were…
Then our mouth was filled…
Then they said…
The LORD has done…

The first present tense verb in the psalm is the response to the
LORD’s doing: we are glad.

And then the psalm changes to the future tense.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb!

(Let the goodness flow, God.  Let the goodness flow!)

May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!

We have stories of sowing in tears as well, don’t we?  In the midst of
our grief, there are still things that need doing.  In the midst of
our difficulties, the dishes still need washing and the tax forms
still need filling out and we have to do lists pulling us every which
way.  The other parts of our lives still demand attention, don’t they?

Here it becomes a prayer.  May those who sow in tears reap with shouts
of joy!  As yesterday’s Still Speaking devotional said, in the midst
of all the stuff we are in the midst of, we keep on keeping on because
God is at work, whether we can see it or not.  And when God is at
work, and we keep on keeping on, we discover such amazing graces.

The psalmist speaks with faith and trust:

The one that goes forth weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing the sheaves with them.

Not because we are strong and mighty and all-knowing and can handle
anything and ought to have a cape with our initial on it, vanquishing
all our problems with the might of our strength and the courage of our
hearts.  Whatever mighty and powerful moments we have, that is not our
usual way of dealing with things, is it?
    
The one who goes forth weeping will return with shouts of joy because
that is what God does.
    
The one who bears and sows the seeds of grief shall reap joy and peace
because that is what God does.
    
The writer of the psalm can say this with faith because what she
remembers is the impossible.  (Why not say the psalm writer is a she?
We don’t know.  We weren’t there.)  For those in exile and for those
left back in Jerusalem, for those who were tossed about by the whim of
the Assyrian, the Babylonian, and finally the Persian empires, it was
impossible that they might be restored to Jerusalem, that the temple
might ever be rebuilt for the worship of God.
    
For the slaves in Egypt, it was impossible for them to live on their
own land, to keep their own work schedules, to take Sabbath.
    
For the disciples locked in the upper room for fear of the religious
authorities who might hand them over for crucifixion as they did to
Jesus, it was impossible for Jesus to stand in the midst of them
again.
    
When we face our own challenges, when we look for our hope in the
midst of all those things we are in the midst of, let us remember the
impossible.
    
And then let us remember what God does with impossibility.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.