DANCING ON THE DANGEROUS WAVE

READ 2 Samuel 6; Luke 18; Rev 15:2-4

DANCING ON THE DANGEROUS WAVE

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire,and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name,standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,and the song of the Lamb:  “Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.” 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

1. David had caught the wave of the kingdom of God.  It had been coming toward him for years.  But now the perfect wave arrived as he celebrated and rejoiced with the kingdom coming together around him in Jerusalem.  He brought the Ark of the Covenant into his city.  What was this ark?  What was in the ark? What did it symbolize in the history of Israel?

MODEL of the Ark of the Covenant

2. David danced before the ark.  Was it appropriate to dance before God?  How did Michal respond?

3.  David discovered that the ark could not easily be managed.  Poor Uzzah. What was his mistake?  What sort of warning did his death imply for David.  Eugene Peterson suggested that Uzzah’s death was a warning sign for David.  “Beware The God”.  Have you ever thought about the ways we trivialize the holy God, domesticate, and seek to manage God? In what ways does religion seek to control God?

4. Consider the Annie Dillard quote in the sermon.  She suggested that the ushers in  churches ought to hand out crash helmets, life vests, and signal flares, and then lash people in their pews.  We are playing with TNT and it could kill a Sunday morning.  What if the Holy One awakened and was offended?  What if the awakened One led us to a place we had not expected? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  What does this mean?

5. Is Jesus safe?  He’s not safe, the little girl in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe learned, but he is good.  Read Luke 18 and ask yourself how the rich ruler was dancing on the dangerous wave of his religion. How can the Lord be both un-safe and good?

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

READ 2 Samuel 5:1-5; Psalm 23; John 10:1-8

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures; 

he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. 

He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the 

valley of the shadow of death, 

I fear no evil; for you are with me; 

your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me 

in the presence of my enemies; 

you anoint my head with oil; 

my cup overflows. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 

all the days of my life, 

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD 

my whole life long.

SERMON TITLE:

What Have You Learned?

The sermon juxtaposed the way of Steve Jobs and the way of King David.  Steve Jobs’ in his 2005 Stanford University Commencement speech sought to answer the sermon question through his own life experience.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

PART A

1.  Do you own an iPhone, iPod, or iPad?
What do you like the most about this technology?

2.  Jobs spoke about the importance of trust in connecting the dots of one’s own life journey. Have you ever looked back and wondered how the dots of your life journey connected? If they do, who is the connector? Your own gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever?

3.  Who do you trust to make sense of your life?

4.  Jobs’ spoke of love and loss. He counseled that we need to discover what it is that we love and hold on to it. "Never Settle!" Hold on to what you love and pursue it with all the passion you can muster, even in the face of loss or failure. If you could summarize the motivating love of your life, what would it be? Who would it be? Have you ever had to settle? How have you dealt with necessary compromises?

5.  How are the two great commandments of the Bible related to this: Love God with the totality of your being and your neighbor as yourself? How does love shape and form identity and destiny?

6.  But then Jobs’ argued that human life is temporary. We are all going to die and be cleared away over time. Therefore, if today is the only day we have, how does that direct our present?

PART B 

1.  King David would have given a different answer to the question: what have you learned?

2. Consider Psalm 23
If the Lord is the shepherd of his flock and we are members of his flock, are we ever alone in our journey?

3.  Do we love the Lord enough to trust that he is sovereign and knows what is best for us?

4.  Do I need to surrender to the Lord’s love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd? What might that look like in your life today?

5.  Has the presence of the Good Shepherd in the valley of the shadow of death ever been with you and brought comfort and peace?

6. If you had to choose between Steve Jobs’ world view and King David’s, which would it be?

How Long, O Lord?

READ 2 SAMUEL 1 (The death of Saul and Jonathan); PSALM 13

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I bear pain in my soul,

and have sorrow in my heart all day long?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;

my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love; 

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

How long, O Lord?
Wailing Wall, Jerusalem.  2008
Photo by Beth Pinney

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

1. Do you agree that our culture does not give permission for us to grieve our losses?  Where do you see that?

2. How do you respond to the idea that we turn instead to depression or addiction so we don't have to feel?

3. What do you think about the idea that we are "numbing ourselves" by not experiencing emotional lows, thus becoming unable to feel high or low relationships?  Have you seen that in someone or in yourself?

4. When have you prayed, "How long, O Lord?"  

5. What situations in the world or in your life could you pray that about now?

6. List some losses you have experienced in your life.  The list could be quite long.  How have you reacted to them?  Are there some you haven't yet given yourself time to grieve? One way you might do this is to write a letter to the person or "thing" that has been lost: to the one who has died, to the one who has gone away, to the job you lost, or?

The Risk of Friendship

Read  I Samuel 18-20 (The story of David and Jonathan)

Jonathan and David by Rembrandt

Reflect on 1 Samuel 18:1-9, John 15:12-17

When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.  Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.  Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.  Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.  David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over the army. And all the people, even the servants of Saul, approved.  - 1 Samuel 18:1-9

Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.  You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.  I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."  - John 15:12-17 

Questions for Reflection from Dr. Steve Sweet

1.      Have you ever felt like someone or something was “out to get you”.  Was it real, or was it just your mind playing some tricks on you?

2.      When was the last time that you felt like a challenge in your life was “insurmountable, overwhelming or maybe even personal’?

3.      What tends to be your first reaction when challenging times come your way?

4.      Can you think of a time when God provided you with a friend at just the right time?  Who was that friend?  How could you tell that it was a “God send”?

5.      Steve said that “True friendship will always entail some risk”?  How have you seen that play out in your friendships over the years?

6.     Read John 15:12-14.  How has Jesus been the perfect friend?  What does his friendship mean for you? 

A PRAYER:  “The Servant Song”

Brother, sister let me serve you.  Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.  We are friends here on the road.
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you; speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, sister let me serve you. Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

Richard Gillard of New Zealand
1976-77