Reformation Sunday 2014 Sermon: Be Still
Sermon:
Text: Psalm 46
Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who reforms us.
How
many of you feel overwhelmed? Over-burdened, stressed? Tired?
Yeah,
and there’s not really an end in sight, Halloween and it’s craziness, Turkey Dinner,
Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. And that’s just the holidays.
Whenever
I’ve been driving around recently at night all I see are farmers out way late
combining in the field. Teachers and Parents are dealing with Parent
Conferences. I’ve noticed that the confirmation students are getting more and
more busy as the semester goes on. Doctors and Nurses are overwhelmed at all
times of the year. Government workers are building up to the election.
It’s just busy all
the time, and all the time is busy, and there seems to be little end in sight.
And on this
Reformation Sunday, we think of Martin Luther, nailing those 95 theses on the
door to the church in Wittenberg. I’m sure he didn’t quite know what would come
out of it, but he knew he was getting himself into something, and it was not
going to make life easier.
His theses came
out of his concern about the sale of indulgences, pieces of paper that if you
bought would lessen your time in purgatory, a state of nothingness, not hell,
but before heaven, that the Catholic Church at the time believed in. He was
concerned because it resulted in the understanding that what was important was
what we did, whether good works, or through payments, and Luther’s
understanding that what was truly important was the work that God had already
done for us on the cross.
It is the
authoring of these 95 theses that mark the beginning of the Protestant
Reformation, which in 2017 will mark 500 years. As so, it certainly did not
give Luther an ease or rest, he was constantly defending his positions, fleeing
for his life, or arguing about other issues and topics. It was moments like
this, where he felt overwhelmed and overburdened that Luther turned to
scripture for relief. And one of the places he turned was the psalms.
Psalm 46, which we
read today, is one of my favorite psalms, and one of Luther’s, it is the basis
for “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” And it’s the psalm that we read every
Reformation Sunday. At times when this occurs I get a little dismayed, because
I’ve seen the text so many times that it becomes rote, it’s just there, nothing
new comes out. But, at times, something pings for me. I read it and a line I’ve
read 100 times jumps out in a brand new way.
Verse
10: Be still, then, and know that I am God.
I’ve
read it so many times, and it’s always helpful and powerful, but what does it
mean to read that in the midst of talking about reformation. The Reformation
was this grand thing that resulting in a changed understanding of how we
interact and relate to God. It’s no longer a better do this or God won’t love
us, but God loves us no matter what, and we respond through actions. But, the
process of the reformation never stops, in Luther’s sense he used the term
Semper Reformanda, Always Reforming. We ourselves are still in the process of
reforming ourselves, and the church. And frankly, that just makes me more
exhausted. Reformation is not an easy task.
Be
Still, and know that I am God.
What
if we take that seriously in the midst of reformation, the church’s reformation,
and our own reformation?
Be
Still, and know that I am God.
Maybe
reformation, and everything else we do, all the things we are stressed and
frustrated by are up to God.
What
if we took some time and were still, and listened to God. What if we took all
those things that overwhelmed us, and told God about them. What if we let God
reform us?
We
were making stoles on Wednesday with the 11th graders, so I couldn’t
lead a full lesson for the high school class, so I put in a favorite video of mine.
It’s by a man named Rob Bell, and is called noise. He talks for 2 mins and 46
seconds and then all the sound in the video cuts out and the screen cuts to
black. After 10 seconds a series of white texts starts to show up. And there it
talks about all the things that distract us. Why do we need sound at all times?
What makes silence so hard to deal with?
Be
still, and know that I am God.
When
was the last time you allowed yourself to do that? What was the last time you
were still, and knew God?
I
invite you to find the time to do that, … soon, … today.
Let
God be your mighty fortress, Let God be your refuge and strength, your very
present help in trouble.
In
your fear, when the world shakes around you, when all the things overwhelm,
when life causes stress and exhaustion, when the waters of life rage and foam,
though hordes of devils fill the land, were they to take our house, goods
honor, child or spouse, the kingdoms ours forever.
Be
still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The lord of hosts is with us, the God
of Jacob is our stronghold.
May
you know God’s peace, May you find stillness, and know God,
Amen.
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