Proverbs 8. 1-4, 22-31
Creation – and church – are for the sake of the people!
“The Day That Changed Us All.” That was the headline I saw the other day. “The Day That Changed Us All.” It referred to that moment, back in 2020, when the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic. March 10th. It was a Wednesday. And within a few days, the U.S. was well on its way to shutting down. And for the next two years, it was social distancing and isolation and quarantine, masks, and bickering. Lots and lots of bickering. But fear and uncertainty always do that to you.
March 15th was the first Sunday we were online. FacebookLive. The service, that morning, was all of fourteen-and-a-half minutes! Me sitting at the kitchen table. Hoody, coffee cup, and all. If you couldn’t tell, I didn’t have a clue. Still don’t, if I’m honest. But fortunately, we have Jonathan to help us through the valley and the shadows. And over the years, we’ve learned a thing or three. We’ve, even, begun to imagine new ways of doing – of being – church. Anyway, early on, I made a decision. For better, for worse. We could livestream, each Sunday, from the fellowshipHall, business as usual. Or we could do it from places like this. We could worship together – figuratively speaking – where we’ve always worshiped together. Or we could try it in places we never imagined we could. And if you hadn’t guessed, I opted for the latter.
So, for the most part, we’ve been here. Outside the walls. Beyond the doors. On the other side of the windows. In the real world, where we live and move and have our being. Out here where we can be distracted, where we can be interrupted. Here along the highways and the byways. The backroads and the alleys. In the backyards and in the parks all across the Permian Basin. We’ve, even, gone farther afield. Lubbock. The metroPlex. Colorado. NewMexico. Wyoming. Montana. Washington State. Each time, every time, being reminded that even during a pandemic, world continues. Life goes on. It’s god’s way of letting us know that this – THIS – us where faith was meant to be lived. Out here. On this side.
Besides, this is where most of us go to escape. To nature. One time, one way, or another, we all try to find our Walden’s Pond. Where we can live. Live deliberately. Live deeply. Where we can suck out all the marrow. It’s out here we do that, not in there. We come here … to look at the sky … to listen to the birds … to walk barefoot through the grass … again, figuratively speaking.
What’s the hymn say? How does it describe Christ? King not of temples. Or of cathedrals. But king of all this! King of creation! As fair as anything! Meadows! Woodlands! Flowers! Sunshine and moonlight and stars! This is where we go to stop and smell the roses! And when you think about it, this is where the gospel is played out. Verse after verse. Chapter after chapter. It begins in the fields, at night. With shepherds. Sheep. It continues along the Jordan and into the Wilderness. There were moments, now and again, teaching, preaching, in a synagogue. But more often, he was here. In between. Walking from one place to another. Along the sea. Up a mountain. Frankly, it’s hard to picture Jesus anywhere else. And March 10th, 2020 was, indeed, “The Day That Changed Us All!”
But it was the day that changed, especially, us – Midland Lutheran Church! Changed us for the better! Maybe for the best! It freed us! It drove us out of the building! Out of the building and into the world! To the place – to the places – we needed to be! On the heights! Beside the way! Just like Proverbs imagines! Beside the gates! In front of the town! Crazy thing … we’re the wisdom god created … in the beginning! It was for us – for all of us – that god did what god did! It is for us – for all of us – that god does what god does! The first of god’s acts! That’s who we are! Created before the oceans and the springs! Before the mountains and the hills! Bits of soil and fields!
“When through the woods and forest glades I wander, / I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; / when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur / and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze …” That’s when our soul sings! That’s when it soars! All we have to do is stop! Look around! Listen! And here it is! Here is all is! No doors to lock and unlock! No lights to turn on or off! No bills to pay! Just gospel! Just grace! Life and living! And it was that cay that changed us! It was that day that changed the world!
But the truly amazing thing is how the passage from Proverbs ends. It’s not by rejoicing in the things you’d expect to be rejoicing in. The grandCanyons! The niagaraFalls! The rockyMountains! The northwestForests! The newEngland coast! We don’t rejoice in the grand and glorious things we look for! The grand and glorious things we yearn for! Instead, it’s in the very thing – the very things – we go to nature to get away from! It’s the very thing – the very things – we go to nature to avoid! And that’s the people! People! Rather than being a nuisance, an inconvenience! They’re the reason for it all!
“I was,” the philosopher says, “[we were] daily god’s delight, rejoicing before him always!” Rejoicing not in god. In god’s goodness and god’s greatness. Rejoicing not in god’s power and in god’s glory. But rejoicing in god’s inhabited world! Delighting in the human race! You see, we came here – were led here – for one reason! For one purpose! For the sake of humanity! “We go to the woods,” not for our sake, but for theirs! “We go to the woods,” not to get closer to god, but to each other! Each other, not in the sense of church, but of all humanity!
We’re not here to ooh and aah at the sunrise! We’re not here to gawk at rainbows! To meditate on the mountains! We’re here for the sake of love! We’re here to be loved! And we’re here to love! And everything … from the smallest particle to the largest galaxy … everything exists for one purpose. For a single reason. For the love! For the being loved and for the loving!
And so, it’s Sunday morning, once again. And we are here. No steeple! No pews! No windows! No walls! Just us!! And the world! Just us and the inhabited world! Just us and the whole human race! And the moment it began … the moment it started … was, indeed, the day that changed everything!