| ICCM; March 8, 2020; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson Steve and I have been taking tango lessons for two years now. This weekend we went to a workshop with a guest instructor. We worked on giros for over an hour on Friday. To do this particular move one must keep the weight on the ball of the foot in order to pivot forward and then backward. It is important to focus visually in the distance to avoid dizziness. If you look at the floor or right in front of you, you lose your balance. How we live our lives can be something like the whirl of a turn. As we twist and turn through our calendars, we can lose our focus by looking away from what orients our life: our faith. With the psalmist, we lift our eyes to the hills—or to the streets, churches, workplaces, malls, or smartphones—but we lose our balance and our steps fail, because the hills are not a reliable source of strength. The psalmist knows where to focus and it’s not the hills, not other people, and not even one’s self. Our help comes from the Lord. God can ground us, clear our vision, and help us move without reeling. The Lord will not let our foot be moved. The Lord will keep us; the Lord will watch over our going out and coming in. Like the psalmist, we can choose to focus on the Lord. No one wants to be dizzy or nauseous (except young children who like to spin around and around and then attempt to walk without falling). We don’t want to feel helpless, at the mercy of the whirling world around us, so we locate our focus where it belongs. We look to the Lord. We keep our gaze steady and hold our sight. God doesn’t stop the spinning, but instead offers a spot to give our turning focus. In John 3, Jesus offers Nicodemus a new spot. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night, awhirl with questions about the deeds of power that he and his fellow Pharisees have witnessed Jesus performing. He wonders, “How can these things be?” Jesus uses conversation to facilitate a new focal point in Nicodemus’s life. John’s Gospel features many such conversations, in which Jesus takes time to talk face to face with seekers. He is not afraid to make eye contact and to offer the nearness of the kingdom of God as a counterpoint to the demands of the world. Jesus welcomes these talks that often create genuine relationship and open up a space for conversion. Behavioral economist Jonathan Haidt writes in The Righteous Mind that one of the most potent and effective ways to enact personal change is through relationship. Transformation is made possible when affection forces us to entertain thoughts that differ from our own opinions. For most humans, the only way we change our mind about an issue or a person is to lean toward someone we love who thinks differently. In looking to them, we suspend our own opinions and see the world through their eyes. We change our focus. Nicodemus leans toward the Lord and entertains a new vision of faith. The psalmist leans toward the Lord and shifts the gaze from the hills to the creator and sustainer of life. In love, we too are invited to lean toward Christ. |
It’s repeatedly surprising to me that even those of us who have spent our whole lives knowing God’s love for us still live many of our days somewhere between verse one and verse two of Psalm 121. “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?” “My help comes from the Lord.” Whenever we read or recited this psalm, I think there should be a big pause between those two sentences. I lift my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? Pause. Pause long enough to consider where we are looking for help, then and only them move on to My Help comes from the Lord.” The pause is important. It’s like the word Selah that we looked at last week. We pause to consider our own needs, our limitedness and our failings. Then we look to God and discover the help we need.
It is so easy to get distracted by the worries and the activities of our days or by the irritations or inconveniences. We forget our focus and we lose our balance.
The Jewish people have a practice that helps them remember who they are and to whom they belong. They post on their doorposts a Mezuzah- it is a touchstone marked with the Hebrew letter Shin- which is the first letter of the word Shaddai— a word that means the Most High or God. Inside the Mezuzah are the words of the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6: 4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates”
The idea is that whenever they enter or leave their home, they remember that God will keep them, no matter what. They touch it to remind themselves to love the Lord God with all their heart, soul and mind. Sometimes the Mezuzah is also decorated with the words from our Psalm, The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. It’s something like wearing a cross necklace, or carrying a token in a pocket to remind oneself what is important, or making the sign of the cross over one’s self. It’s not a good luck charm or a superstition, but a way of keeping our focus.
After that first section, the rest of Psalm 121 seems very assured, like a great hymn of trust in God. But, it can also be seen as a suspense-filled drama in which the story of God’s faithfulness is at great risk. This is a daring love song that is sung in the face of all the other choices we could make. It is not so much philosophical certitude but passionate love for God.
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3 The Lord will not let your foot be moved; your keeper will not slumber.
4 Israel’s keeper will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; The Lord will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.
The key word is this psalm is keep/keeper, from the Hebrew word shamar. Who is God? God is a keeper. God’s identity is to protect, shield, watch over, guard, keep. God does this like a watchman keeping guard over a city (130:8) or a bird shielding its young in the shelter of his wings (91:4). What does God promise to do? God promises to keep you. God will guard you as you go on your journey of life, and as you return home. As you go out and come in. As you face the dangers of the day and of the night.
The list of promises here is not meant to suggest that those who walk in the shelter of God will face no harm or that nothing ill will befall them. They are characteristic promises — these are the sort of things that the Lord does for those who turn to the Lord. The words of blessing and promise evoke God’s protection and our awareness of it.
I recommend memorizing this psalm, recite it when you rise in the morning and at night before you sleep. You could even post it by your doorway to remind you where to look for help. It can be a touchstone to ward off the doubt and disbelief that pulls us from God like an unseen magnetic force.
The psalms were the songbook for the Jewish people, let the words of this great hymn ring in your mind like the words of your favorite hymn—like Amazing Grace, or the one we’re going to sing right now.
Let us pray. O Lord, you are our Keeper, in the morning when we rise, at dark midnight when we cry, just about the break of day, and when we come to die, and when we want to sing. Focus our sight on Jesus, help us keep our balance and be our help. Amen.