Sermon: "Do-Over" (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13)

Have you ever regretted something? If you are honest, you will of course answer that question “yes.” We all have regrets. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all tried our best, but our best just wasn’t good enough.

We might spend days, weeks, months, years… wishing we had done things differently. We’ll replay that moment over and over in our minds, wishing we could go back, wishing we had a second chance.

...Would you believe there was a time when God tried something ...and it didn't work? A time when God regretted something God had done? A time when God needed a do-over, a second chance?  

This didn’t just happen to God once. It happened at least twice that I can think of…

The first was way back in Genesis. God created the universe - the earth, the heavens, the land and sea, plants and animals, and humans.

Humans were a special part of God’s creation. Humans were created in God’s own image. Humans were given the responsibility of caring over all the rest of creation.

But humans made a mess of things. And just six chapters into the Bible, we have this sentence:

The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken.

The Lord regretted something he had done.

This is a part of God’s nature that we don’t think about very often. We often think of God as perfect. We don’t think of God as regretting something he had done. We don’t think of God as needing a do-over. Thinking of God this way challenges what we think we know about God. It makes us think. And wonder.

Saying that God regretted something he had done comes very close to saying that God made a mistake. It’s not quite the same, but it’s close. And it challenges many of our ideas about who God is.

God needed a do-over. The story of the great flood is the story of Creation 2.0. The watery chaos that God had confined to the seas was once again allowed to cover the entire earth, wiping out all forms of life, except those on board the ark that Noah built.

That exception is important. God regretted making human beings, but God didn’t give up on human beings. The idea of human beings wasn’t a mistake. God had faith in humanity. Humanity was worth a second try. But something wasn’t quite right. Something didn’t go quite the way God had intended.

So God had a plan to preserve and improve creation, and to save humanity and include human beings in his creation do-over.

God never gave up hope. God’s vision of a peaceful world characterized by shalom and aloha and wellbeing and wholeness was alive and well, and worth trying and trying again.

...Another time God had regrets is in today’s scripture story. God had given in to the people’s request for a king… and regretted it.

This is how it happened…

The people asked for a king. God said, “Trust me; you don’t want a king.”

But the people said, “Yes, we do! All the other nations have a king; we want a king, too!”

And God said to the people: “This is how it will be if you have a king: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots….

He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day."

But the people refused to listen; they said "No! we are determined to have a king over us, so that we may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles."

So God gave the people what they wanted. God gave them Saul for a king.

As parents, we know what that’s like, don’t we? There are times when I, as a parent, do this with my own kids. They are older now, and more and more often I’ll say to them, “I don’t forbid you from doing that thing you want to do, but I do advise against it… and here’s why…”

And then I let them make their own choice.

That’s what God did with the people of Israel. And unfortunately, Israel made the wrong choice. Israel chose a king.

If you don’t want to learn the easy way, you’ll learn the hard way...

So God anointed Saul to be a king over them, but Saul didn’t turn out to be a very good king, and God… regretted making Saul king over Israel.

But just like in the earlier story, God didn’t give up.

So if that’s how God is… if God is capable of doing things God later regrets… I suppose we shouldn’t dwell too long on our regrets.

God even tells the prophet Samuel, “stop obsessing over Saul. What’s done is done. We can’t go back and change the past. But, hey: we can change the future! So let’s do that!”

Because, with God, there is always another chance. Every single moment presents the opportunity to change course, and create a better future. Every single moment gives us the opportunity to repent.

Repentance means turning and facing a new direction, and repentance is what many of us need. Repentance is that second chance, the chance to do something different, the chance to do something better.

With God, there is always a way forward; and that way forward is repentance.

We have a faulty image of repentance, I think. Beating ourselves up for our sins, wallowing in the dirt, crying out “we’re not worthy!” - maybe in some cases that’s how repentance works, but that’s not how it usually works.

Repentance is much more hopeful than that. Repentance is recalibration. Repentance is reorientation. Repentance is hiking in the wilderness and suddenly realizing that you’ve been heading in the wrong direction - a situation I’ve found myself in many times. So you turn and face the right direction, and you keep walking.

Repentance is saying, “Let’s stop for a moment and think this through. We may not be doing this right…”

Repentance is pondering whether the life you live aligns with the values you hold dear, and then reshaping your life so that your values and your lifestyle are in alignment.

In Genesis 6 and 1 Samuel 15, some translations actually say that God repented. Instead of saying that God regretted what God had done, those translations say that God repented.

And why did God repent? Because repentance is a way forward. Repentance is hope; it is finding hope in the midst of disappointment.

And any time you are going in the wrong direction, God allows you to turn and go in a different direction.

This is important, because our society is in crisis. Our society, in many ways, is going in the wrong direction. Our society has lost its way. And this has led to a moral crisis.

How else do you explain how racist, white nationalist ideas have been allowed to come out of the shadows, and into the mainstream?

How else do you explain how we can take children arriving in this country as refugees, fleeing danger, and then separating them from their families and throwing them in cages?

How else do you explain all the lies that pass for truth, and all the truth that is really lies?

How else do you explain the greed that holds captive our elected leaders, so that they pass laws that criminalize and oppress and persecute the poorest, most vulnerable members of our society, while rewarding the millionaires and billionaires?

How else do you explain the fact that so many Americans are willing to vote for these leaders, acting against their own self-interest, electing leaders who will take away their rights, take away their health care, take away their benefits, keep their wages low, divide us by race, divide us by religion, divide us by sexual orientation, divide us by gender identity, and jeopardize our security?

What a blessing it is that we worship a God of second chances. What a blessing it is that we always have the opportunity to repent of the direction we are heading, and go in a new direction. What a blessing it is that we can hold on to hope even in the midst of disappointment. What a blessing it is that we can stop moving backward, and start moving forward.

What a blessing it is that we can turn from a world of despair, a world of darkness, a world of division, a world of discrimination, a world of desperation, a world of death…

And turn toward God’s kingdom of hope... turn toward God’s kingdom of equality... turn toward God’s kingdom of justice... turn toward God’s kingdom of freedom... turn toward God’s kingdom of peace... turn toward God’s kingdom of compassion... turn toward God’s kingdom of affirmation... turn toward God’s kingdom of love... turn toward God’s kingdom of life.

Have regrets? Repent. You aren’t stuck! You can change direction. Repent, and turn toward what is good.

"What God Sees" 1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13

We have a way of judging people in society. One of the ways we judge people is by their looks. Guys with muscles, women with curves and skinny waists, we judge favorably. And money helps, too.

This is not a modern phenomenon.

When God sent the prophet Samuel to find a new king for Israel, God told Samuel that the new king would be one of the sons of Jesse.

Now Jesse lived in Bethlehem. It was a little town; a quiet village. Every day like the one before. A little town full of little people … one of whom would be the next king of Israel.

So Samuel went to Bethlehem and met Jesse and Jesse’s sons.

Jesse had many sons. One may very well have been a baker, going with his bread like always: the same old bread and rolls to sell.

There were seven sons of Jesse.

  The first one was Eliab. Samuel looked at Eliab and was impressed. Surely he is the one to be king; no beast (or giant) could stand a chance against him! And no girl, for that matter. All the girls would stand and watch him pass by and say, “Look, there he goes, isn’t he dreamy! He’s such a tall, dark, strong, and handsome guy.” (That’s a paraphrase of verse 6.)

There’s no man in town as admired as Eliab. He was everyone’s favorite guy. Everyone was awed and inspired by him, and it’s not very hard to see why. No one’s slick as Eliab, no one’s quick as Eliab… well, you get the idea.

When Samuel saw Eliab, he said, “Surely this is the one!”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance. Do not judge him by his looks; the Lord doesn’t see as people see; beauty is found within; the Lord looks on the heart, and I have rejected him.”

What? No one says no to Eliab! Dismissed? Rejected? Publicly humiliated? It was almost more than he could bear.

Then Jesse called all the rest of his sons, to pass before Samuel. But none of them was the one chosen by the Lord.

So Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all your sons?”

Then Jesse said, “Well, there is an eighth son, the youngest, but he’s out taking care of the sheep.”

Taking care of sheep is not a glamorous job. Unlike Eliab who was admired and respected and welcome everywhere he went, a sheepherder is used to being rejected and humiliated. No one wants a sheepherder around.

Someone who had been out taking care of sheep would not be a pretty sight, especially if he had been summoned straight from the field. His ragged clothes would be dirty. His hair uncombed. And he would stink.

With beasts instead of humans for company, many in town thought of this youngest son as more beast than human. Out in the field was a good place for him. Anywhere but in town. If they could, they’d rid the village of this beast. Why? Because he’s different.

People don’t like what they don’t understand; in fact, it scares them. And what people don’t understand, what they find frightening, they fight. They become bullies.

If we jump ahead to the next chapter of 1 Samuel, we find that even this youngest son’s own brothers pick on him and are mean to him. Eliab even becomes angry at him, and ridicules him, and tries to send him away. “Why are you here?” Eliab yells at him. “You don’t belong here. Why aren’t you with your sheep? Go on, get out of here.”

It’s probably what Eliab wanted to say when Samuel insisted that this youngest brother be summoned from the field, but with Samuel and his father and all the town’s elders present, Eliab kept his mouth shut.

 It seems that a great feast had been prepared for them – evidently the youngest brother, out with the sheep, didn’t even get an invitation – and not only did Samuel insist that the younger brother be sent for, Samuel said “no one sits down at the table until he arrives.”

So they waited. The food was getting cold. I’m sure many couldn’t believe that they had to wait and let the food get cold, all because of this shepherd, this beast, who they hadn’t even invited, who they never invite to any of their gatherings…

And when he arrived, yeah, he may have been dirty, and he may have stunk… but Samuel noticed that he had beautiful eyes. Symbolically, eyes are a window to the soul, to what’s on the inside, so in other words, Samuel had learned what the Lord had taught him: Samuel had learned to look on his heart.

So Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

I wish I could say that the oil used in the anointing washed away all the dirt, all the ugliness that the other brothers and villagers saw, and revealed the beauty within. I think the world did come to see – eventually – the beauty and the goodness of David, but at least among his brothers, it didn’t happen right away. Like I said, in the next chapter, they are still picking on him.

But the Lord saw David’s beauty and goodness, and that beauty and goodness are what would allow David to become a good king, an ideal king for Israel. It wasn’t until much later that the world saw what God saw: the beauty that was within David all along.

There have always been – and always will be – bullies in the world. Gaston – I mean, Eliab – isn’t just a figure from the past, but is present today.

Just look at all the public shaming that still takes place! Even among our nation’s leaders! Former Arkansas governor and Baptist pastor Mike Huckabee recently mocked and ridiculed Caitlyn Jenner, the transgender woman formerly known as Bruce Jenner. Ignoring the challenges Caitlyn Jenner faced and the courage she’s demonstrated, Mike Huckabee made fun of her, saying, “I wish someone could have told me when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in PE; I’m pretty sure I would have found my feminine side and said, ‘coach, I think I’d rather shower with the girls today.’”

He meant it as a joke, but it was mean-spirited and rooted in his own ignorance…

But we don’t have to follow the bullies. We don’t have to join the mob in attacking whoever or whatever it is that we don’t understand.

A group of fifth grade boys made the news last week in Mankato, Minnesota. Out on the school playground, they noticed that James Wellmert, a student from another fifth grade class, was getting picked on during recess. Jake, one of the boys in the group, explained that “They were … using him and taking advantage of him, because he's easier to pick on, and it's just not right,"

So Jake and his friends Gus, Tyler, Landon, and Jack decided that from now on, they would have James’ back.

At lunch, the five boys invite James to their table. James’ mom said that before, James didn’t want “to go out for recess or anything; it would be like a struggle… Now he can barely eat his lunch to get outside to play with those guys.”

As these boys got to know James, they learned that he was adopted from an orphanage in Columbia, and that six years later he lost his new father in a bicycling accident. They also learned that James loves sports, and has a notebook with stats for over 600 college sports teams. And when those five boys learned that James didn’t have his own playstation, they bought him one as a present. They brought it to him at his house, set it up, and played – the first time James had ever had friends come over to play.

There will always be bullies in the world: on the playground, on social media, in politics.

The good news is that we don’t have to listen to them, and we don’t have to follow them.

The good news is that we have a God who doesn’t see things the way most people see things, a God who says to each and every person: you are beautiful.

The good news is that we can learn to see as God sees, and see the beauty within.

"Not Just a Little Sermon" (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, Mark 4:26-34)

Years ago, I got in trouble because of something I said in one of my sermons. I’ve preached over 500 sermons, no two the same, and those sermons contained approximately 850,000 words, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a few of those words would get me in trouble. After all, no one’s perfect.

In that sermon, I quoted David Ray, a pastor in the United Church of Christ, who has written several books on ministry in smaller churches. In one of his books, Ray wrote about different “isms” in society. He said that “when one race or ethnic group sees another as inferior and acts accordingly, we call it ‘racism.’ If one gender takes a chauvinistic approach to another, we call it ‘sexism.’ When older people are ridiculed and dismissed, we call it ‘ageism.’”

David Ray then went on to describe what he called “sizeism,” our society’s obsession with size and “giantism;” and he presented some examples of this obsession. I quoted him (and this is what got me in trouble) when he mentioned our fascination with having the “biggest tomato, biggest muscles, biggest sex organ, biggest skyscraper, biggest salary, biggest children, biggest audience, biggest house, biggest town-state-nation, biggest fish.”

Can you guess what it was that got me in trouble?

It was, I think, a year or two later, that a member of the church brought up that sermon. She was upset over something else that I did or didn’t do or didn’t do right, and in a conversation with other church members, she said, “Well, do you remember that sermon in which the pastor talked about the size of people’s sex organs? I think there’s something wrong with him. I think he has some issues he needs to work out.”

Well, there is, I think, an issue here that needs to be worked out. But it’s not just my issue. It’s society’s issue. It’s sizeism.

In that same church I would sometimes take groups of youth on little trips. Sometimes it was into town, to McDonald’s, to get something to eat.

Those youth were great kids, but they were always laughing at my car, a ten year-old Toyota Corolla wagon. “Dude,” they’d say, “we should nominate you for one of those shows where they completely rebuild your car. What kind of horsepower you got in this thing? Man, you need a bigger engine.” I’d tell them that my engine was just fine, that I didn’t need any more horsepower; and they’d laugh some more. I told them that I’d rather save gas, save money, save the environment, and so what if it took me a few seconds more to get up to freeway speed?

But they didn’t get it…. And then we’d arrive at McDonald’s, and they’d order Big Macs, because, after all, they’re big; and when asked if they’d like to supersize their value meals, they’d always say yes, even if they really weren’t all that hungry. Because: bigger is better.

This summer, the biggest, tallest rock climbing wall in all of southern California is being installed. It’s 51 feet tall, and is being installed in a brand new residence hall at Chapman University. Chapman is mighty proud of their new rock climbing wall, as they should be. It was mentioned not once, but twice, in the most recent issue of Chapman Magazine. If it was just a normal-sized rock climbing wall, it probably would have only got one mention.

In his book, David Ray wrote that “one of the most interesting and revealing ways to understand a society is to examine its language.” Then he presented a list of synonyms for “big,” and a list of synonyms for “small,” which he got from Roget’s International Thesaurus.

For “big,” the synonyms include: GREAT, GRAND, CONSIDERABLE, SUBSTANTIAL, LARGE-SCALE, MAN-SIZED, AMPLE, EXTENSIVE, EXPANSIVE, COMPREHENSIVE, SPACIOUS, GENEROUS, STALWART, IMPOSING, WELL-FED,MASSIVE, IMMENSE, VAST, ENORMOUS, TREMENDOUS, PRODIGIOUS, STUPENDOUS, MIGHTY, COLOSSAL, FULL-SIZED, LIFE-SIZED, NOTEWORTHY, and POWERFUL.

Pretty impressive, huh? Just hearing that list makes me think, “wow.”

In contrast, here are the synonyms for “small:” little, slight, puny, poky, piddling, dinky, cramped, limited, one-horse, pint-sized, teeny, teeny-weeny, little bitsy, dwarf, pygmy, undersized, stunted, runty, scrubby, feeble, infinitesimal, indiscernible, insignificant, inconsequential, pittance, partial, no account, feeble.

When the LORD sent Samuel to find and anoint a new king for Israel, Samuel was sure that the one he was looking for would be a man described by the words in the first list, the synonyms for “big.” When he arrived at the home of Jesse, Jesse brought out his seven sons, starting with Eliab. Eliab was strong and good-looking; clearly, he would make a powerful and mighty king.

However, God said to Samuel: “Don’t be fooled; looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed by his height or his muscles or his good looks.” So, Samuel went on to son #2; but he wasn’t the one chosen by God, either. He went on to son #3, but again God said no. He went to sons #4, 5, 6 & 7; but none of them were the one chosen by God.

“Well, are there any other sons?”

“Yes,” said Jesse. “There is one more son, the youngest, littlest, puniest of them all…. He’s out with the sheep.”

“Send for him,” said Samuel. “We will not sit down until he comes.” And they waited for the arrival of David, Jesse’s 8th son, who would become the greatest king in Israel’s history.

Apparently, someone forgot to tell God that bigger is better.

When it comes to Bixby Knolls Christian Church, how would you describe our ministry? Would most of the words you use to describe our church come from the first list—the synonyms for “big”—or from the second list, the synonyms for “small?”

It’s easy to feel inferior in a society that is obsessed with bigness. However, in the United States, the majority of churches—two-thirds of all congregations in the U.S.—average less than one hundred worshipers. Given that we live in a “bigger is better” society, it’s remarkable that so many smaller churches exist—many of which are far smaller than we are here at Bixby Knolls.

David Ray described a visit he made to a smaller church in Vernal, Utah, a church that averaged about thirty people in worship. Despite its small size, the members of that church refused to feel inferior or inadequate when compared to much larger churches. Their pastor even compiled a list of reasons why he was not ashamed. The list includes:

• I am not ashamed that my oldest daughter gets one-on-one attention in Sunday school.
• I am not ashamed that we know each other’s first names, and we don’t have to wear silly name tags to remind us.
• I am not ashamed that we can take council or board meeting time to discuss issues facing individuals in the church and how we might help.
• I am not ashamed that I know by heart where each member and friend of the church lives.
• I am not ashamed that the youth call me “dude” instead of “Rev. Popham.”
• I am not ashamed that when you miss a Sunday, three people will either tell me where you are, or ask about you.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with big churches, or churches that are growing—obviously; but at the same time, there is nothing wrong, nothing to be ashamed of, in smaller churches.

There is another way that people sometimes feel inferior, and that is in the amount of ministry that gets done. Bigger churches, it seems, do bigger ministry, while smaller churches do less.

But is this really true? It depends on how you look at it. The food that some of you help prepare for the hungry and homeless: that’s a BIG deal to the recipients of that food. The Sunday School that some of you help teach: that’s a BIG deal to your students. The church friend who you listened to and prayed for during a difficult time: that’s a BIG deal.

A member of the diaconate at Mt. Zion Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in Brooklyn, New York, once said: “This church is not small. Don’t ever call it small. This church is big, because what we do is big, very big in God’s eyes.”

Fred Craddock once preached a sermon in which he talked about our desire to do grand things for Christ, to “give our life to Christ” in some magnificent way. Perhaps it’s becoming a missionary, or developing a new ministry from scratch, or organizing some massive service organization. And sometimes that happens; sometimes God calls people to such things.

But for many of us, that’s not our experience. Fred Craddock said that he waited a long time, and it never happened. He said, “I wanted to write God a check—my life—and now fifty years later I think the largest check I have written to God is 87 cents.”

And then he talked about “committee meetings, running to the hospital, talking with someone about their family, a funeral or a wedding now and then, studying for Sunday school class, going with a group to this or that.” Little things, really. Checks, written “for 39 cents and 87 cents.” But those little things add up. A whole life of them is just that: a whole life. A whole life, lived for God.

The new world in which followers of Christ live, that Kingdom of God… with what can it be compared? Something great and marvelous? Something big, something from that first list, something immense and enormous?

No. That’s not what Jesus compared it to. Jesus compared it to a seed. The seed of a mustard plant, which really is such a tiny little seed.

Just start with that. Start with that seed; it is enough. Start with a check for 39 or 87 cents. It is more than adequate. Start with just a little bit of faith. Start with one prayer, said in the morning, a short prayer, or even just a moment of silent gratitude. Start with just one extra dollar in the offering plate, and see what comes of it. Start with just one act of forgiveness, one instance of overlooking a wrong, rather than dwelling on it and brooding over it. Yes, start with that.

Start with one little act of kindness: a smile, a greeting, or a hug. Start with educating yourself about just one place in the world where injustice is occurring, and what our church is doing to help. Start with attending just one church event you’ve never been to before; do one new thing: a regional gathering, Founders’ Day at Chapman, a men’s or women’s retreat.

Start with that. Start with one mustard seed, so tiny that you can hardly feel it when you hold it in your hand.

It’s just a little seed; but not really. Not in God’s eyes. For God has the ability to transform even that tiny little seed into something great and wonderful.

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References:

David Ray, The Indispensable Guide for Smaller Churches. Pilgrim Press, 2003.

Fred Craddock, "Asleep in the Storm," a sermon in As One Without Authority, revised edition. Chalice Press, 2001.