{"id":380,"date":"2020-08-02T17:51:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T00:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/?p=380"},"modified":"2020-10-12T17:59:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T00:59:28","slug":"sermon-august-2-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/weekly-sermon\/sermon-august-2-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon August 2, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Psalms of Dis-Orientation
Preached by Dr. Terry Swicegood
August 2 2020 Text: Psalm 60

We\u2019ve been looking at the Book of Psalms over the past several Sundays.\u00a0 The Psalms are my favorite book of the Bible.\u00a0 We read a Psalm every night at 6 pm during our conference call in prayer meeting. \u00a0

There are 150 Psalms all in all.\u00a0\u00a0 The Psalms were written across a long period of time from the era of Moses around 1445 B.C. (Psalm 90), to the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon in 536 B.C. (Psalm 126). Many of the Psalms were written during the time of King David around the years 1020-971 B.C. Although some of the Psalms are attributed to David, his authorship is questioned by most scholars.

What is a Psalm?\u00a0 A Psalm is a conversation with God, thanking God, questioning God, accusing God.\u00a0 Psalms were used as songs in temple worship, very much like our hymns in Sunday worship.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m missing singing in church; how about you?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I put hymns on Zoom when you sign so you can hear them when you enter our worship service.

The OT scholar Walter Brueggemann has developed a most\u00a0helpful way of categorizing the Psalms.\u00a0 He says that the content of the Psalms mirror where we find ourselves at any given time.\u00a0\u00a0 There are times when everything is going great guns, when life is full of rainbows and roses.\u00a0 Brueggemann calls this time in our lives \u201ca place of orientation.\u201d

Then there are times of disorientation when things just stink. At those times life is unpredictable and chaotic.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re in that time now as the pandemic rages.

And third there are time when we discover that God has been with us all along, that God has picked us up off the mat, when we were sure we were down or the count.\u00a0 Brueggemann calls this a place of reorientation, a place when we feel God\u2019s presence more palpably than ever before.

Orientation, Disorientation, Re-Orientation.

The Psalms of disorientation fall into two categories.\u00a0 Individual laments and community laments.\u00a0 A quick word about laments.\u00a0 Laments are painful cries of the heart, an expression of deep sorrow and regret. \u00a0

There\u2019s actually a book in the Bible called \u201cThe Book of Lamentations.\u201d \u00a0

It was written by the prophet Jeremiah in the 6th century BC.\u00a0 Jeremiah wrote the book after the Babylonian empire laid siege to Jerusalem for 2 years until it finally fell in the year 586 BC.

The prominent leaders of Jerusalem were captured and carried off to Babylon and many of them never returned.\u00a0\u00a0 Jeremiah was among them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The book is filled with pathos, best expressed in chapter 1 verse 12: \u201cIs it nothing to all you who pass by.\u00a0 Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow.\u201d

\u201cLike my sorrow\u201d.\u00a0 The sorrow of the people of Israel who lost everything.\u00a0 \u00a0

If you live long enough, you come to know that kind of sorrow, that kind of lament.

As we age, we come to know increasing frailty and sorrow.\u00a0 Our bodies break down.\u00a0 Our friends and loved ones die.\u00a0 An 80 year old\u00a0 friend whose life was filled with loss said to me, \u201cThese are supposed to be the golden years, but there\u2019s no sparkle for me.”

And so the Psalmist in Psalm 60 speaks for my friend and for many of us when he writes:\u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0
God, it seems like you walked off and left us!
Why have you turned against us?
Have you been angry with us?
O Lord, we plead, come back and help us as a parent helps a vulnerable child.<\/em>

Clint Eastwood is now 92 years old.\u00a0 The last movie I saw him in was \u201cThe Mule.\u201d which came out in 2016.\u00a0 Eastwood plays an old man who runs narcotics for the Mexican drug cartel.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a true story of a WWII veteran who needs money, so he runs drugs.\u00a0\u00a0 He has been in prison before and assuredly going back again if he\u2019s apprehended.

Eastwood was 88 when he starred and directed “The Mule.”\u00a0 “The Mule\u2019s theme song is called: \u201cDon\u2019t Let The Old Man In.” \u201cDon\u2019t Let The Old Man In” is sung by country music star, Toby Keith.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how it came about.

Keith and Eastwood were playing golf in Eastwood\u2019s charity tournament at Pebble Beach. When they got to the green, Eastwood shared that he\u2019d be starting work on “The Mule” in two days, which also happened to be his 88th birthday. Struck by Eastwood\u2019s relentless energy at an age when many are content to sit and reflect, Keith asked how he keeps going.

\u201cHe said, \u2018I just get up every morning and go out. And I don\u2019t let the old man in.”

Toby Keith said: \u201cI\u2019m gonna make a song about that.” \u00a0 Here are the lyrics.

Can’t leave it up to him, he’s knocking on my door
And I knew all of my life, that someday it would end
Get up and go outside, don’t let the old man in

[Chorus]
Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

[Verse 2]
Try to love on your wife
And stay close to your friends
Toast each sundown with wine
Don’t let the old man in

[Chorus]
Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

[Verse 3]
When he rides up on his horse
And you feel that cold bitter wind
Look out your window and smile
Don’t let the old man in<\/strong>

I like the defiant attitude of that song.\u00a0 There\u2019s plenty to lament about as we age.\u00a0 But we don\u2019t have to let the old man– or the old woman–in. \u00a0

Elise Maclay says: \u201cToday I read about a man who slashed his wrists because he lost his hat.\u00a0 He was old, and of course they say he was crazy.\u00a0 I think not.\u00a0 I think he\u2019s just had all the losses he could take.\u00a0 He said as much.\u00a0 His last words were, \u201cO God, now I\u2019ve lost my hat, too.\u201d\u00a0 I know how he felt.

Every turn your turn around, time\u2013with a little help from your friends\u2013grabs off something else.\u00a0 Something precious, at least to you.

Hearing, sight, beauty, job, house.\u00a0 Even the corner grocery turns into a parking lot and is lost.\u00a0 Finally, you lose the thing you can\u2019t do without\u2013hope (that it can get better.)

Dear God, when he gets to heaven, let that man find his hat on the gatepost. \u00a0

One more thing before we go.\u00a0 About a third of the Psalms are Psalms of lament.\u00a0 Roughly 50 out of 150.\u00a0 And every one of them\u2013except for Psalm 88– concludes with a prayer of thanksgiving expressing faith that God will rescue us and bring us up from the depths.

\u00a0Do you remember how Psalm 60 ends?

O Lord, we plead, come back and help us as a parent helps a vulnerable child.
For to trust in any human being is an empty hope.
With God\u2019s help we will fight like heroes
and He will trample down our every foe!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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