Proper 10 (B) + Real power ... humility + 7.15.18
Melissa
Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
In the name…
Some of you know that Pastor Alene and I were camp chaplains
this week at Camp Stevens, the Episcopal Camp that our diocese shares with the
Diocese of San Diego. Being at camp is always both tiring because it is long
days working with kids and trekking around hills in the heat, but refreshing
because those same kids and the staff and counselors fill you with so much joy.
Plus it is just so renewing to the soul to be in nature.
Yet even at camp, away from so much of the technology that
surrounds us, we are still in the world with all of its glory and all of its
problems.
One moment I felt this very strongly while at camp was one
afternoon while I was offering a free time activity of coloring along with some
other activities. Several of the coloring sheets in my book contained quotes
from scripture and one of the girls was reading them aloud as she chose a sheet
to color. And she said “Do not be afraid… I am God.” And immediately, one of
the children responded, “No! I am the god!” Probably thinking of a video game
or something. We as humans are so prone to grasping at power and godlike
status.
And you see this today in the scripture from 2nd
Samuel. David has been anointed by God, but in secret. So now he wants to claim
his status and what better way to do that than to bring the Ark of the Covenant
into his area? But he grasps too much, and someone is hurt. Because you see,
the verses skipped in our lectionary show how, in the first attempt to
transport the ark, it begins to fall and a man rights it. But in doing so, he
touches it, and because of the power of God, he dies. Has anyone seen “Raiders
of the Lost Ark” (1981) here? The scene towards the end where they cannot look
at it or their faces will melt? Yeah, that’s the idea. The power of God is
awesome, and in this story it is something around which we must be humble.
Someone is hurt because David wanted to use a symbol of God’s power to claim
his own power. This is an important lesson for him as a future king. So
although they do transport it again, they are very careful the next time! He
makes a sacrifice every six paces – a bit much if you ask me! But the point is
that David wants it to be very clear that he is humble, that he respects God.
In current popular culture we have many examples of
fascination with divinity and superpowers.
Whether it is the many different franchises of super hero
movies, or the video games in which one can claim almost divine status, it is
almost like we are hungry to connect with divinity or super strength. Perhaps
some of this fascination for me comes from a sense of powerlessness at times in
light of big global trends like global warming or people not being respectful
to one another. But we are hungry for a sense of our own power or connection to
the divine at a time when we also feel we know perhaps the least about faith
people feel at times disconnected from the traditional church.
We do hunger, even though we in the church do hear scriptures
such as that we heard today from Ephesians in which we are reminded that we are
adopted as a part of the family of God and anointed as God’s own. We have no
need to grasp for divinity and power, it is all within our reach as heirs of
God’s family.
So just like David, we can come boldly before God with our
needs, perhaps dancing if that is our style. But also reverently, although I
think we can hold off on sacrificing animals every six steps-that’s just a bit
much.
Question: How can we say thank you to God or show we respect
God?
We do give thanks to God for already accepting us and giving
us power through the Holy Spirit and revealing God’s mysteries, so that we can
encounter whatever life brings. And may God give us the strength to live as
true children of God and citizens not so much of this world of fear but of the
coming Kingdom in which the creation will be made new and every child of God
will be loved and cared for. Amen.
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