Years ago, a partner at a big law firm was asked by an aspiring lawyer, “What is your secret? What is most important to you?” The lawyer replied, “Law, golf and my family… in that order.” It’s not surprising that he was divorced not long after.
If you were to ask that question on the internet you will get a lot of answers, “The 10 most important things” or “12 essential things in life” and so on. But Jesus makes it simple: Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself.
Most of you have heard Jesus’ two greatest commandments before -this is not new. We know the right answer – in our heads. And yet, it is still a challenge to live into those commandments. How do you square your life and the everyday decisions you make with the commandment to love God and love your neighbor as yourself? – especially in the midst of a pandemic, natural disasters, and civil unrest?
This was the situation in Martin Luther’s day. The 1918 pandemic was in his community – and there was no vaccine or ventilator or what we would call real medicine. There was drought and famine and civil unrest. Germany was not a single country at the time but rather a group of little kingdoms with various princes vying for power. Meanwhile, the church was extracting huge sums of money from the poor to build cathedrals and to line the pockets of corrupt officials and priests. How was one to follow Jesus’ commands to love God and love the neighbor in such a time as that?
Luther turned to the Psalms. He was a professor as well as a pastor at that time and as he taught and preached, he discovered the power of the Psalms. He found such comfort and strength in Psalm 46 that he put the words to music. Luther writes:
We sing this psalm to the praise of God, because He is with us and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends His church and His word against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin.1
The words of Psalm 46 spoke deeply to Martin Luther and his community in his day and they can also speak to us in our pandemic times, in the midst of our unrest and our daily life challenges. This is the beauty of the Psalms… although written thousands of years ago, they are timeless prayers and songs of the human heart speaking openly and honestly to God and listening for God’s promise, presence and redeeming Word.
We have been challenged by our Faith Practices and Neighboring practices group to grow in our faith as a congregation and as individuals. And so, we are going to begin by exploring and praying the Psalms together as a congregation in worship. I also encourage you to try this for your daily devotions at home too.
However, I know reading the Psalms is different from reading other things. While many of you may know the 23rd Psalm, other Psalms are not as accessible. I’ll never forget the honesty of one woman who I visited when I was an intern. She told me, “Everyone tells me to read the Psalms but I can’t get anything out of them!”
Well… it turned out that she was reading a King James version of the Bible. Hebrew poetry can be difficult to understand anyway, and the King’s English wasn’t helping her either.
This experience taught me that it’s important to not just read the Psalms but to take a little time to reflect on what these ancient words have to say to us.
In his teaching and writing2 Luther Seminary Professor Rolf Jacobson suggests that the best way to begin praying the Psalms is to first learn the different types of Psalms. He divides them into 5 categories: Psalms of praise, help or lament, forgiveness, thankfulness and trust. And then, he suggests we memorize ONE verse or phrase from each type.
Today’s Psalm, Psalm 46, is a Psalm of trust. So, I invite you to memorize just this line: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
That’s not so hard, right? My guess is that a lot of you already have already memorized that line or a variation of it because you know the hymn, “A Mighty fortress is our God.”
So you are already on your way. But let’s look a little more deeply at this Psalm. It begins with our memory verse which proclaims who God is: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. This metaphor, this image of God, is a reminder to us that God is bigger and stronger and more powerful than anything we can imagine. This is not the only image of God in the Bible, but, especially when we are overwhelmed, it is helpful for us to be reminded that God is so much bigger than we are and that we can trust in God.
Further, look at the pronouns of this verse. Psalm 46 is a psalm for the whole community. “God is OUR refuge and strength.” God is not just my refuge but God is a refuge, a fortress for us all. We all have a place, a refuge, with God. And this is why the Psalmist can proclaim:
“Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. “
God’s got this. We do not need to fear. There is no power that is stronger than God.
The second stanza of this Psalm is one that I admit, I often have passed over. But this time, I noticed where the Psalmist says that God is – God is in the midst of the city. Our God is not a God who is far off. God is here, with us. It is God who provides life giving water to refresh and sustain us. And, even when nations are in an uproar, and human systems fail, and even when the ground beneath our feet seems unsure, God is with us and is our refuge.
Finally, as we read in the last verse, God will bring peace to the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. This day…is not yet. But this day will come.
In the meantime, God speaks directly to us in this Psalm: “Be still, and know that I am God!”
Sometimes I need to just sit with that verse for a little while. I know for a time I was addicted to listening to the news reports – anxiously hoping and praying for a release from this pandemic and making sure I was on top of the latest news. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s important to be informed so that we can make good decisions. But I also realized that I was overwhelmed by it. If that is sometimes your temptation too for this or anything else … I invite you to give your concerns to God and then sit with this word from God: “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Like Martin Luther and so many of the Saints who have gone before us, we can turn to the Psalms and pray the Psalms to help us learn to trust in God who is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1Martin Luther quoted by Dr. Mark Throntveit, WorkingPreacher.org October 25, 2015
2 Rolf A Jacobson and Karl N Jacobson Invitation to the Psalms, 2013 and podcast Praying the Psalms.
October 31, 2021 Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane