Tuesday, November 8, 2016, our world tilted and ground shifted - wherever you stand on the political spectrum in the United States, whether or not it be far right or far left or anything in between or above or below. On November 9th we awoke to a new and different world. The candidate who proclaimed that the election was rigged is now the President-Elect. His supporters cheered and celebrated. Those who deeply disputed his candidacy – whether out of fear, anger, straight forward policy disputes, or contentious character flaws – grieved and wondered out loud what the future holds for us as a people and as a nation.
The next day, November 9th, “protesters started at 6 p.m. in Union Square, and began marching north on Broadway to Sixth Avenue at 7:30 p.m. They eventually ended up at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, and later headed to Trump International Hotel & Tower at Columbus Circle. . . . The group chanted, ‘Not my president!’ as well as ‘Black lives matter,’ and, ‘Love Trumps hate.’” Reports noted protests at a variety of places all across the country which have continued and spread. Meanwhile, both President-elect Trump and Secretary Clinton have called for the nation to peaceably unite.
I write today not to debate the election nor to engage in a futile dispute over who voted and how, nor even to share in a public venting of our celebration or anguish, sunlit hopes or gloom- shrouded fears. Rather, whether you go to bed wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat or hugging you pillow in tear-stained anguish over what a President Trump might do, I invite you, more than that, I challenge you to set your personal preferences aside and raise the deeper question of what God now calls us both to be and to do.
A poem by the great British poet and playwright of the mid to late 20th century, Christopher Fry beckons us back to Psalms. Fry wrote the following:
Dark and cold we may be, but this
Is no winter now. The frozen misery
Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move,
The thunder is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God our time is now when wrong
Comes up to face us everywhere,
Never to leave us till we take
The longest stride of soul men ever took.
Affairs are now soul size.
The enterprise
Is exploration into God.[2]
Christopher Fry’s evocative poem springs from the heart of Psalm 42 verse 7. Reading in a Common English Bible translation, “Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your massive waves surged over me.”[3] I believe the imagery speaks to our present situation. It is a picture of an iceberg calving, which is the breaking off from the main ice shelf in a thunderous crash with waves surging outward. 
This is where we are living today. The tumultuous election of Trump verses Clinton; the red state/blue state divide; the policing crisis and the cry “black lives matter;” the assault of truly global economy; the Balkanization of Europe and much of the Middle East along with the seemingly endless conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The list could go on; they all point to the calving of our world. Reality has shifted and a new world is struggling to be born.
How are we to respond to the surging waves of change that are washing over us? Are you ready for the answer? I don’t know. But, I do know where we are to look for guidance! “Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your massive waves surged over me.”[4] God speaks to us this day. Lean forward and listen to Holy Scripture for here lies insight and wisdom far greater than our flawed human understandings and more virtuously noble that are our highest aspirations. Deep calls to deep – plumb the depths of Psalm 42.
Scholars tells us that the original writer of this Psalm lived near what would become Caesarea Philippi “where the springs of the River Jordan rush down into the valley in roaring cataracts.”[5] He gazes at the unfolding scenes of his life and shares a near universal hunger that lives in us to this day. “Just like a deer that craves streams of water, my whole being craves you, God. My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see God’s face? My tears have been my food both day and night, as people constantly questioned me, “Where’s your God now?”[6]
Here lies the first great line of instruction for us this day. 1. Long for God; seek the Lord! The great St. Augustine put it this way: “Let us burn together for this thirst; let us run together to the fountain of understanding.”[7] We have spent too long seeking our own desires and pleasures. We need to see God’s greater glory and will. Long for God; seek the Lord!
If this last election was about anything, it was surely about a hunger, a longing for a better life and better world. The Word of the Lord teaches us that this hunger, this thirst, can only be slaked by the fountain of the Lord’s presence. “But I remember these things as I bare my soul: how I made my way to the mighty one’s abode, to God’s own house.”[8]
Notice quickly what gets tied to that longing is a hope driven promise. 2. Put your hope in the Lord! Look at the grandeur of hope amid the very despair of the Psalmist’s situation. Verse 5: “Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed? Why are you so upset inside? Hope in God! Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God.”[9]
The world doesn’t need a more politically partisan church. It needs a more prayerful church – submitted, humble, and obedient! Psalm 33:20 says, “We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.”[10] Romans 8:18 reminds us: “I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us.”[11] Hebrews 10:23 asserts with unshakable insistence, “Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable.”[12]
Two quotes from great Christians in the latter half of the 20th century guide us in so placing our hope. The first I trust many of you know.
In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the Baccalaureate sermon at the commencement exercises for Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and he included the saying [originally spoken by Theodore Parker a Unitarian minister fighting slavery in 1853]: “The arc of the moral universe is long,” Dr. King said in closing, “but it bends toward justice.”
The second quote is less well known but no less significant. It comes the great biblical scholar Eugene Peterson. Many of you know him for his work in producing The Message translation of the Bible. He wrote a book 1980 called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. This is God’s claim on us in a day and time filled with instant gratification. In a culture of text and twitter, the Word of God bids us live in a hope filled faithfulness.
This leads us to the third great lesson the Word of the Lord has for us this day out of Psalm 42. It comes from the seminal 7th verse. As the world thunders, cracks and the waves of time and culture crash over us, we are to trust God. Listen again to verse 7. It opens with the line you already know, ““Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your massive waves surged over me.”[13] Then it adds the following words. “By day the Lord commands his faithful love; by night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
What will redeem life for us in this time? Look at verse 7! “The Lord commands his faithful love.” How does the writer respond? “By night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.” He responds with radical trust!
This then is the towering lesson of Psalm 42; a Psalm given by God to us this day! 3. Move to a deeper faith through radical trust in God.
This is not easy. The shallowness of much of what falsely passes for the Christian today will not do. I don’t know how many times someone, well meaning, has said to me that they are “spiritual but not religious.” What nonsensical vacuous tripe! Being spiritual without being tied to the God who comes in Christ in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is nonsense! Deep calls to deep! The writer of Hebrews was correct when he said, “It’s scary to fall into the hands of the living God!”[14] We need a faith that is biblically anchored. Notice carefully the multi-step process of moving to a deeper faith through radical trust in God. First, we must move to a deeper faith – summarized pointedly, deep calls to deep. When the waterfalls roar and the massive waves of life surge wading pool spiritually will only lead to a drowning! Secondly this calls for radical trust in God; if you will, an anchoring of life in Christ the solid rock. Thirdly, the combination of a deeper, disciplined, mature faith with radical trust in God results in a “song” within us in the night and a prayer to “the God of my life.”
Jessica LaGrone, the Dean of the Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary was profoundly correct when she said, “Only desperate people need a Savior.” Folks we are a desperate people! We need a Savior. His name is Jesus Christ!
We must go deeper not only into “the formation of beliefs about Jesus but [also into] the cultivation of trust in him. It is an important distinction.” [Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean reminds us by way of illustration.] “When famed French tightrope walker Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a high wire in 1860, carrying his trembling manager Harry Colcord on his back, the nineteen-year-old Prince of Wales Edward Albert was there to watch. Before the stunt, Blondin asked the prince, “Do you believe that I can carry a man across the Falls on a tightrope?” Edward replied that he did. So Blondin asked: “Will you be that man?” (The prince declined.)
Incredibly, Blondin died in his bed in 1897 at the age of seventy-five after an accident –free high-wire career. The facts of his feats had been widely reported. But to participate in Blondin’s high-wire act required trust, not belief – a quality found almost exclusively among those close to him, which is why Blondin’s stunts involved his manager (and his five-year-old daughter, until the French government prohibited it, citing “child endangerment”) instead of strangers. Belief may enable us to approach Christ as a curious bystander, but our investment is abstract. Trust opens us to God relationally as we submit ourselves to divine love, which awakens our desire to know Christ better for ourselves.”[15]
My spiritual mentor and friend shared in his congregation sermon the Sunday following the election this salient insight. “Let me begin by saying that there are tough, disappointing days ahead for all Americans, for people on both sides of the political and cultural divide. The euphoria of victory dissipates in the grinding days of hard work that follow. . . .
[Dr. Spain went on to say:] “This is a time for faith and faithful action. The fact is that many in our nation will not be able to find a strong center in the days ahead; they will languish without a solid place to stand and cope with the disappointments that are coming. But you and I and people of faith in all places—when we remember who we are, we stand on a solid foundation. We build our house on a rock that is more than able to withstand the howling winds of ugly and desperate times.”[16]
You recall the verse he references. It comes from the great Sermon on Mount, near the end of Jesus’ seminal teaching. “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.”[17]
Deep calls to deep. We are bidden, challenged to move deeper in our faith, as I have already stated. Waiting pool religion will not suffice. Wherever you are politically, the wind is blowing and the rain sleeting. We must anchor ourselves yet more firmly on the rock of Christ. How is it that we do so? Psalm 42 instructs us:
1. Long for God; seek the Lord!
2. Put your hope in the Lord!
3. Move to a deeper faith through radical trust in God.
“Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
Why are you so upset inside?
Hope in God!
Because I will again give him thanks,
my saving presence and my God.”[18]
[1] http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/11/09/trump-election-protest/
[2] Christopher Fry, A Sleep of Prisoners, taken from The Word God Sent by Paul Scherer, pg. 111
[3] Psalm 42:7
[4] Psalm 42:7
[5] Artur Weiser, The Psalms, p. 348
[6] Psalm 42:1-3
[7] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament VII, Psalm 1-50, Edited by Craig A. Blaising & Carmen S. Harding, p. 328
[8] Psalm 42:4
[9] Psalm 42:5
[10] Psalm 33:20
[11] Romans 8:18
[12] Hebrews 10:23
[13] Psalm 42:7
[14] Hebrews 10:31
[15] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian, pp. 118-119
[16] Dr. Sid Spain, November 13, 2016, First UMC, Eagle, Colorado
[17] Matthew 7:24-27, CEB
[18] Psalm 42:11
This is where we are living today. The tumultuous election of Trump verses Clinton; the red state/blue state divide; the policing crisis and the cry “black lives matter;” the assault of truly global economy; the Balkanization of Europe and much of the Middle East along with the seemingly endless conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The list could go on; they all point to the calving of our world. Reality has shifted and a new world is struggling to be born.
How are we to respond to the surging waves of change that are washing over us? Are you ready for the answer? I don’t know. But, I do know where we are to look for guidance! “Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your massive waves surged over me.”[4] God speaks to us this day. Lean forward and listen to Holy Scripture for here lies insight and wisdom far greater than our flawed human understandings and more virtuously noble that are our highest aspirations. Deep calls to deep – plumb the depths of Psalm 42.
Scholars tells us that the original writer of this Psalm lived near what would become Caesarea Philippi “where the springs of the River Jordan rush down into the valley in roaring cataracts.”[5] He gazes at the unfolding scenes of his life and shares a near universal hunger that lives in us to this day. “Just like a deer that craves streams of water, my whole being craves you, God. My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see God’s face? My tears have been my food both day and night, as people constantly questioned me, “Where’s your God now?”[6]
Here lies the first great line of instruction for us this day. 1. Long for God; seek the Lord! The great St. Augustine put it this way: “Let us burn together for this thirst; let us run together to the fountain of understanding.”[7] We have spent too long seeking our own desires and pleasures. We need to see God’s greater glory and will. Long for God; seek the Lord!
If this last election was about anything, it was surely about a hunger, a longing for a better life and better world. The Word of the Lord teaches us that this hunger, this thirst, can only be slaked by the fountain of the Lord’s presence. “But I remember these things as I bare my soul: how I made my way to the mighty one’s abode, to God’s own house.”[8]
Notice quickly what gets tied to that longing is a hope driven promise. 2. Put your hope in the Lord! Look at the grandeur of hope amid the very despair of the Psalmist’s situation. Verse 5: “Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed? Why are you so upset inside? Hope in God! Because I will again give him thanks, my saving presence and my God.”[9]
The world doesn’t need a more politically partisan church. It needs a more prayerful church – submitted, humble, and obedient! Psalm 33:20 says, “We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield.”[10] Romans 8:18 reminds us: “I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us.”[11] Hebrews 10:23 asserts with unshakable insistence, “Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable.”[12]
Two quotes from great Christians in the latter half of the 20th century guide us in so placing our hope. The first I trust many of you know.
In 1964 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the Baccalaureate sermon at the commencement exercises for Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and he included the saying [originally spoken by Theodore Parker a Unitarian minister fighting slavery in 1853]: “The arc of the moral universe is long,” Dr. King said in closing, “but it bends toward justice.”
The second quote is less well known but no less significant. It comes the great biblical scholar Eugene Peterson. Many of you know him for his work in producing The Message translation of the Bible. He wrote a book 1980 called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. This is God’s claim on us in a day and time filled with instant gratification. In a culture of text and twitter, the Word of God bids us live in a hope filled faithfulness.
This leads us to the third great lesson the Word of the Lord has for us this day out of Psalm 42. It comes from the seminal 7th verse. As the world thunders, cracks and the waves of time and culture crash over us, we are to trust God. Listen again to verse 7. It opens with the line you already know, ““Deep called to deep at the noise of your waterfalls; all your massive waves surged over me.”[13] Then it adds the following words. “By day the Lord commands his faithful love; by night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
What will redeem life for us in this time? Look at verse 7! “The Lord commands his faithful love.” How does the writer respond? “By night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.” He responds with radical trust!
This then is the towering lesson of Psalm 42; a Psalm given by God to us this day! 3. Move to a deeper faith through radical trust in God.
This is not easy. The shallowness of much of what falsely passes for the Christian today will not do. I don’t know how many times someone, well meaning, has said to me that they are “spiritual but not religious.” What nonsensical vacuous tripe! Being spiritual without being tied to the God who comes in Christ in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is nonsense! Deep calls to deep! The writer of Hebrews was correct when he said, “It’s scary to fall into the hands of the living God!”[14] We need a faith that is biblically anchored. Notice carefully the multi-step process of moving to a deeper faith through radical trust in God. First, we must move to a deeper faith – summarized pointedly, deep calls to deep. When the waterfalls roar and the massive waves of life surge wading pool spiritually will only lead to a drowning! Secondly this calls for radical trust in God; if you will, an anchoring of life in Christ the solid rock. Thirdly, the combination of a deeper, disciplined, mature faith with radical trust in God results in a “song” within us in the night and a prayer to “the God of my life.”
Jessica LaGrone, the Dean of the Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary was profoundly correct when she said, “Only desperate people need a Savior.” Folks we are a desperate people! We need a Savior. His name is Jesus Christ!
We must go deeper not only into “the formation of beliefs about Jesus but [also into] the cultivation of trust in him. It is an important distinction.” [Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean reminds us by way of illustration.] “When famed French tightrope walker Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a high wire in 1860, carrying his trembling manager Harry Colcord on his back, the nineteen-year-old Prince of Wales Edward Albert was there to watch. Before the stunt, Blondin asked the prince, “Do you believe that I can carry a man across the Falls on a tightrope?” Edward replied that he did. So Blondin asked: “Will you be that man?” (The prince declined.)
Incredibly, Blondin died in his bed in 1897 at the age of seventy-five after an accident –free high-wire career. The facts of his feats had been widely reported. But to participate in Blondin’s high-wire act required trust, not belief – a quality found almost exclusively among those close to him, which is why Blondin’s stunts involved his manager (and his five-year-old daughter, until the French government prohibited it, citing “child endangerment”) instead of strangers. Belief may enable us to approach Christ as a curious bystander, but our investment is abstract. Trust opens us to God relationally as we submit ourselves to divine love, which awakens our desire to know Christ better for ourselves.”[15]
My spiritual mentor and friend shared in his congregation sermon the Sunday following the election this salient insight. “Let me begin by saying that there are tough, disappointing days ahead for all Americans, for people on both sides of the political and cultural divide. The euphoria of victory dissipates in the grinding days of hard work that follow. . . .
[Dr. Spain went on to say:] “This is a time for faith and faithful action. The fact is that many in our nation will not be able to find a strong center in the days ahead; they will languish without a solid place to stand and cope with the disappointments that are coming. But you and I and people of faith in all places—when we remember who we are, we stand on a solid foundation. We build our house on a rock that is more than able to withstand the howling winds of ugly and desperate times.”[16]
You recall the verse he references. It comes from the great Sermon on Mount, near the end of Jesus’ seminal teaching. “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.”[17]
Deep calls to deep. We are bidden, challenged to move deeper in our faith, as I have already stated. Waiting pool religion will not suffice. Wherever you are politically, the wind is blowing and the rain sleeting. We must anchor ourselves yet more firmly on the rock of Christ. How is it that we do so? Psalm 42 instructs us:
1. Long for God; seek the Lord!
2. Put your hope in the Lord!
3. Move to a deeper faith through radical trust in God.
“Why, I ask myself, are you so depressed?
Why are you so upset inside?
Hope in God!
Because I will again give him thanks,
my saving presence and my God.”[18]
[1] http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/11/09/trump-election-protest/
[2] Christopher Fry, A Sleep of Prisoners, taken from The Word God Sent by Paul Scherer, pg. 111
[3] Psalm 42:7
[4] Psalm 42:7
[5] Artur Weiser, The Psalms, p. 348
[6] Psalm 42:1-3
[7] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament VII, Psalm 1-50, Edited by Craig A. Blaising & Carmen S. Harding, p. 328
[8] Psalm 42:4
[9] Psalm 42:5
[10] Psalm 33:20
[11] Romans 8:18
[12] Hebrews 10:23
[13] Psalm 42:7
[14] Hebrews 10:31
[15] Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian, pp. 118-119
[16] Dr. Sid Spain, November 13, 2016, First UMC, Eagle, Colorado
[17] Matthew 7:24-27, CEB
[18] Psalm 42:11