147:1 Praise the LORD! How good it is to sing praises to
our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
147:2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the
outcasts of Israel.
147:3 He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their
wounds.
147:4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to
all of them their names.
147:5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his
understanding is beyond measure.
147:6 The LORD lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the
wicked to the ground.
147:7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to
our God on the lyre.
147:8 He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain
for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.
147:9 He gives to the animals their food, and to the
young ravens when they cry.
147:10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
147:11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
147:12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
147:13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
147:14 He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
147:15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
147:16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
147:17 He hurls down hail like crumbs-- who can stand before his cold?
147:18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters
flow.
147:19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
147:20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the LORD!
Preaching the Psalms is kind of an interesting task - anyone with me?
We're doing bits of the Wesleyan Covenant Renewal Service, since it's the first Sunday in the year (New Year's Eve doesn't work too well in this congregation), and it seems that this would be a good preaching text. It will have to be more of a "reflection" or "devotion" rather than full-fledged sermon or homily due to time constraints (groan).
Yet, I'm thinking of exploring "fearing" and "praising" the Lord: two sides of the same coin? or contradictory concepts?
The (Almost) Chosen Nation Psalm 147:12-20 [Note: This is a transciption from tape
recording]
"[God] has not dealt thus with any other nation." Christmas Eve morning,
getting ready to hit the road for Roanoke to spend Christmas with Dad, running behind as
usual, fooling around in the kitchen, maybe washing dishes, maybe eating oatmeal, turned
on the TV set, flipped to C-SPAN 2, found myself in the middle of something called, The
Lincoln Forum. Heard two men speaking about "Lincoln's Greatest Speech," the 2d
Inaugural Address. One of them was Ronald C. White, Jr., Professor of American Theological
Studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. The speech that Lincoln gave
for his second inauguration, in March of 1865, six weeks before his murder, was a short
one. In fact, the first short paragraph says, "There's really no occasion for a long
speech," the way there had been, he thought, for the first one, because the war was
still going on, even though it looked as if it were about to wind up. Lincoln
pondered…what God was up to in those days, in this nation. And his pondering is
remembered by many as his greatest speech. And not only his greatest speech. When he had
finished giving the speech, Lincoln went into a reception. I know how he felt; I will feel
the same way when I have finished speaking this morning: "How did I do?" And as
he came into the crowded reception hall, he looked and searched out and found Frederick
Douglass, the freed slave, who had been North for several years. By the way, he was the
only African-American in the room. By the way, he was the first African-American to have
been included in such a gathering. And amidst all that crowd, Lincoln threaded his way--to
Frederick Douglass. He wanted Douglass's opinion. And Douglass gave him his opinion.
"Sir," he said, "it was a sacred effort." The other speaker at the
Forum was Professor Lucas Morel, who teaches American Politics at Washington and Lee
University. Obviously, I was taken by the conversation. Before we left I had ordered these
books. I have read this one [Sacred Effort]; I look forward to reading that one [Greatest
Speech]. The consensus of what these two men had to say about Lincoln's greatest speech
was not only that it was a sacred effort, but that it was less a political speech than it
was a sermon. Because though Lincoln does not mention Psalm 147, verse 20, his whole
speech--sermon, if you will--ponders the question of how God has dealt with this nation.
He says in that speech that both sides, north and south (though he never says
"north" and "south"--he talks about the "government " and
the "insurgency": he is so keen to hold together the union that he will not even
recognize that "they" are not "we"). He says that both sides prayed to
the same God. Both sides wanted no war. But war came. And the way that the prayers were
answered satisfied no one. Think about it. Think about it. Who in, say, the summer of 1860
would have wanted, would have desired, would have prayed to God that the following events
should take place (not pick and choose, folks, all of them): 1. that Abraham Lincoln
should be elected President 2. that several states should attempt to secede from the
Federal Union 3. that war should come 4. that war should keep on going, and going, and
going, four long years 5. that all the slaves would be set free 6. that Lincoln himself
would be murdered.
None would have conceived such a plan for this country! Why did it happen, Lincoln
wondered in his second inaugural speech.
His answer boils down to two words: Maybe God Both are important.
Lincoln the President dared to approach the question of the beginning of his second
term from an explicitly theological perspective. He wanted to examine what God was up to
in these United States, a nation which he had called on at least two other occasions
the--well…. a nation which Lincoln had called in the Gettysburg Address the source of
a possible "rebirth of freedom." That's the United States: the setting for a
rebirth of freedom! And on another occasion Lincoln had called the United States "the
last, best hope on earth." Now that registers with most of us, I suspect. We see
ourselves as a bastion of freedom. If we wouldn't use the words themselves, "the
last, best hope on earth," I suspect we find them…acceptable as descriptions of
our nation. We do believe, somehow, that God "has not acted thus with any other
nation." But Lincoln also, on at least two occasions, described the United States as
"this almost chosen nation." "Almost chosen!" What did he mean by
that: "almost chosen"? He meant--that the sacred purposes for which the United
States was formed--"We hold these truths to be self-evident." You know the words
of the Declaration of Independence--"that all men are created equal"-- and that
ringing declaration constitutes "the last, best hope on earth." You see, Lincoln
fought to preserve the Union not for the sake of the Union. Others may have. Union
generals may have. Businessmen in Massachusetts may have wanted the Union to persevere
simply for the sake of perseverance, or perhaps for their profits. But not Lincoln. Oh, to
be sure, he did everything he could to preserve the Union, even after "the war
came." To be sure, he saw the restoration of the Union as the necessary first step.
But all along, Lincoln saw that the Union did not deserve to be preserved, unless it were
preserved for a purpose. And that purpose--that purpose was "a rebirth of
freedom"! That purpose was "the last, best hope on earth." So, why, Lincoln
says, did the war come so long? He doesn't know for sure: Lincoln never claimed to know
the will of God: he said, "Maybe." Maybe the war lasted so long because
"God is not mocked." Because there was enough sin to go around: sin in the
southern slaveholders, sin in the northern war profiteers, sin in the politicians who
oversimplified, sin here, sin there: enough, and more than enough, sin to go around. So,
says Lincoln, maybe--the war has lasted as long as it has so that God may exact
retribution upon a sinful nation.
Now, I don't think you are very happy about hearing about or thinking about the notion
of God exacting retribution on a sinful nation, unless I'm talking about--some other
nation. Like Iraq. Or North Korea. We're perfectly happy to be God's agents of retribution
upon the sin of Iraq…or North Korea. And maybe there isn't enough sin to go around.
Maybe it's all over there, and none of it's over here. But maybe--maybe--on this Sunday
when we gather around the Lord's Table, and we come hungry, and yearning for spiritual
assurance, as even we shall sing as we go to the table" "Blessed Assurance,
Jesus Is Mine"--maybe, maybe we need to face the reality that Janie alluded to,
whether you knew it or not, Janie, when you asked for prayers for the session that we may
be good and wise and faithful stewards of the bequest of that house. Maybe. Maybe this
congregation doesn't deserve to continue…unless this congregation sees and affirms
and embraces and enacts its holy calling from God. So maybe we come to this table not
merely to be fed, but to be challenged…to be recommissioned…to go forth on our
sacred effort as Christians…and Americans. That we may take from this verse of
Scripture the recognition that God indeed has not dealt thus with any other nation the way
God has dealt with the United States. I don't know what Lincoln meant when he used the
term, "almost chosen nation." There are books by that title. I haven't had a
chance to read those. But let me suggest this. The difference between "almost
chosen" and chosen, what would make this nation a chosen nation--what would make this
congregation a chosen congregation and not an "almost chosen" congregation--is
not merely the recognition that God "has not dealt thus with any other nation,"
but also the recognition, and the humble submission to, the fact and the implications that
we----"know God's ordinances." We are ordained for service. We were talking
about this in Sunday School. It's not what we accomplish that impresses God; it's what God
accomplishes that saves us! And we are saved not simply to sit around the Table and enjoy
fellowship, though that is delightful and holy. But we are saved by grace and created for
good works that God has prepared for us. As is this nation of ours, so is this
congregation of ours, this almost-chosen nation, this almost-chosen congregation, as we
come to the Table, remember: for us it is a "sacrament." For Baptists, that word
is too highfaluting. Baptists call the Lord's Supper a "ordinance." We
"know the ordinances of God." We come to this Table as one of those ordinances.
We go forth from this Table ordained to serve by bearing our cross and letting no wealth,
no knowledge, no position, no social standing, no family pedigree, no national emblem come
between us and our Lord Jesus Christ, keeping rather our eye on His cross and trusting Him
for the resurrection of ourselves, our congregation, and our nation, with whom God has
dealt thus, and whom God has caused to know God's ordinances. Amen.
Wow! Who sent this in - GREAT STUFF! (of course I was a history major in college so I
love this kind of stuff) Very insightful from both the perspective of our nation today and
for the historical situation for the Union in the 1860s.
MW in West AR
Thanks for that transcription. I too, love history and this was wonderful food for
thought.
ks in ME
