The Giant (1 Samuel 17: 3-11)

Some of you may recall that last summer, I took a few days off to go to northern California and preach at the funeral of a young man who I had worked with at camps and other regional events. In fact, one particular summer, Ethan was a junior camper, I was a counselor, and this young man’s entire family was on staff: his father, a Disciples pastor, was the camp director; and he, his mother, and his sister were all counselors.

His name was Brett. News of Brett’s death came to me in the middle of a week of directing Chi-Rho camp at Loch Leven.  It was a camp that was almost evenly matched between boys and girls, with the boys having a very slight numerical advantage over the girls. 

As a pastor who often works with youth, who has seen boys and men stop attending church more often than girls and women, and who is himself the father of two boys, I have a particular interest in presenting faith in such a way that it helps boys become men, in a way that faith becomes something they can hold on to, something that can guide them through life, and be the men God created them to be.

Brett knew how to inspire boys. He knew that what boys need is to be heroes. I don’t know if he ever articulated this, either to others or to himself. I don’t think it’s something he learned from a book. I think it may have just been something he knew in his gut.

He knew that boys need to be called to heroics, to greatness, to use their God-given strengths and abilities to serve others and help save the world.

By midweek Brett had his entire cabin of boys running around camp wearing capes made out of beach towels. They idolized Brett. He was their hero, their mentor, their friend, and through fun and play, he taught them how to be heroes themselves.

At camps I’ve done since, I have often donned my own beach towel cape, and have helped campers who wanted do the same.

So it was utterly devastating to me when I found out, in the middle of a week of camp, that Brett had died by suicide.

And I was completely blown away when, a few days later, his father called me and asked me to officiate his funeral.

After praying and reflecting, I decided to use the story of David and Goliath as the basis of what I would say at the funeral. I relayed this information to Brett’s family, even though I was worried they might think I was crazy for choosing that particular story for a funeral sermon. In the end, though, I think it all worked.

Here is what I said to the overflow crowd gathered at Oakdale Christian Church for Brett’s funeral…

I said that every boy needs to be a hero.  That is every boy’s calling.  That is what God created boys for: to don capes and save the world.  Once they do that, they’ve taken a giant step toward becoming a man.

This talk of being a cape-wearing superhero is metaphorical, but it is true.  Every boy is called to be a hero. And every boy must find his own path to becoming a hero.  He must find a way to become a hero in a way that fits his own unique individuality.

Saul tried to make David fit Saul’s own idea of what a hero is.  He tried to dress David in his own gear, putting his own coat of armor on him and a big bronze helmet on his head.

And David couldn’t even walk.  He was a little guy.  The gear was too cumbersome, and he wasn’t used to it.  If he was going to do this – if he was going to save his world from the giant and become a hero – he had to figure out his own way.

I then talked about Brett. I said he figured out his own way of becoming a hero.  Often, it involved actual – not metaphorical – capes.

But more than that, it involved love and respect; and everyone who came in contact with Brett felt that love and respect.  Brett was a true friend, even to those he had just met.  He went out of his way to show kindness.

That was his strength.  His superpower.

I talked about how Brett was a hero to my son and to so many others; I talked about Brett’s attempt to get a college education, and his acceptance into the Navy’s elite Nuclear Propulsion Program. I talked about the love he knew his family had toward him.

But I also talked about the giant.  A giant named Depression.  Brett wrestled with this giant several times over the years.

Suddenly, with almost no warning, this giant caught Brett by surprise.  That can happen, even to superheroes.

The giant overpowered him.  The giant saw a fleeting, momentary weakness in that superhero armor, and seized the opportunity.

Last week, I had fun using a Disney movie to tell part of the story of David, who was picked on by his brothers, bullied even, and yet was the one chosen by God to be king. After all, while others are fooled by appearances, God sees the beauty within.

But bullying can have tragic consequences. A new study out this month shows that adults who were bullied as kids have a much greater chance of developing depression or other mental illness.  That doesn’t mean that all depression is caused by bullying. And it doesn’t mean that Brett was bullied; I don’t know if he was or not. But it does mean that if you are bullied as a child, you are much more likely to develop depression as an adult.

And depression can be a fatal disease.

Mental illness. Depression. Suicide. These aren’t things we talk about much. Brett’s family was very open about the cause of Brett’s death, and I think that has been helpful to others who might be dealing with similar mental health issues, or who are just trying to make sense of it all. But so many still hide their mental illness, depression, attempts at suicide, or the suicide of family members.

There is a stigma. There is shame.

But it’s time for the stigma and shame to end.

Brett’s was actually the third funeral I officiated at in which the person died from suicide. Those are not easy funerals to officiate at.

I recently read an article by a person named Kelley Clark. In the article, she explains why she plans to tell her young son about her suicide attempt, and about the death by suicide of her brother.

She says it’s important to tell the truth about mental illness. She says it’s important to tell the truth about suicide. “Even the scary, complicated stuff. Especially the scary, complicated stuff. Because sometimes life is scary and complicated.” She writes, “I think it’s important for kids to know that. Actually, I think kids already know that. What they need to know is that it’s scary and complicated for everyone, not just them.”

She also writes, “To keep a family history of mental illness a secret is to perpetuate the stigma. [It says] there is something to be ashamed of. That shame is what keeps people from asking for help. That shame is what killed my brother.”

We are Disciples of Christ: a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. In the Greek Bible – the New Testament – the world for wholeness is “sozo.” Sozo is variously translated as wholeness, wellness, healing. Sozo is also translated as salvation.

The salvation scripture speaks of is now. There are people in need of salvation in this present life. One of the best ways we can be a movement for salvation and wholeness is to remove the stigma that keeps people from seeking help.

That’s not to say that this is a magic formula. Brett was very open with his family about his struggles, and Brett’s family was open with the rest of us about it. This willingness to be open didn’t save Brett, not in this life anyway, but I have a feeling it has helped save others.

In the story of David and Goliath, David defeats the giant. At the end of that funeral sermon, I asked if, in Brett’s case, the giant won.

I looked out into the congregation, and saw a number of Brett’s friends wearing capes made out of beach towels. At church. To the funeral. On a 90-degree day in August.

I said, clearly the giant did not win.

It’s important to tell the story of David and Goliath. It’s important to tell the story of mental illness, of depression and suicide. These are the giants many people face today.

And if this is a giant that you or someone you know is facing, remember this: it didn’t take much for David to defeat the giant. Just a pebble in a slingshot.

I don’t mean that the struggle is easy. It’s not. It is a difficult struggle. But just a little bit of faith, just a little bit of hope, just one day at a time, will give you the strength you need to continue the struggle, to not give up, and to know that healing, wholeness, and salvation are possible.

The Hero Lives

On Saturday, I spoke/officiated at a memorial service for 26 year-old Brett Warren.  Here is what I said:

Scripture:  Excerpts from 1 Samuel 17 (Story of David & Goliath)

News of Brett’s death came to me in the middle of a week of directing Chi-Rho camp at Loch Leven, which is the Disciples camp and conference center in southern California.  It was a camp that was almost evenly matched between boys and girls, with the boys having a very slight numerical advantage over the girls.  As a pastor who often works with youth, who has seen boys and men stop attending church more often than girls and women, and who is himself the father of two boys, I have a particular interest in presenting faith in such a way that it helps boys become men, in a way that faith becomes something they can hold on to, something that can guide them through life, and be the men God created them to be.

What I’ve learned is that every boy needs to be a hero.  That is every boy’s calling.  That is what God created boys for: to don capes and save the world.  Once they do that, they’ve taken a giant step toward becoming a man.

This talk of being a cape-wearing superhero is metaphorical, but it is true.  Every boy is called to be a hero. And every boy must find his own path to becoming a hero.  He must find a way to become a hero in a way that fits his own unique individuality.

Saul tried to make David fit Saul’s own idea of what a hero is.  He tried to dress David in his own gear, putting his own coat of armor on him and a big bronze helmet on his head.

And David couldn’t even walk.  He was a little guy.  The gear was too cumbersome, and he wasn’t used to it.  If he was going to do this – if he was going to save his world from the giant and become a hero – he had to figure out his own way.

Brett figured out his own way of becoming a hero.  Often, it involved actual – not metaphorical – capes. 

But more than that, it involved love and respect; and everyone who came in contact with Brett felt that love and respect.  Brett was a true friend, even to those he had just met.  He went out of his way to show kindness.

That was his strength.  His superpower.

He had good role models in this.  He told me as much one time at CGC.  He talked about his parents – and especially his Dad – with such devotion and admiration, in a way that you never hear teenage boys talk about their parents.  I knew then that the love this family shared was something special.

As he grew into a man, Brett continued to be a hero to many.  To my son, and to many others, he was a hero.  As a counselor at CGC, he had an entire cabin of young boys running around camp with their beach-towel capes, having fun, and learning how to be the heroes God called them to be. 

An excellent student, Brett entered college, then figured out that perhaps that wasn’t the type of hero God was calling him to be.  After some time back home, he was accepted into the Navy’s exclusive Nuclear Propulsion Program. Talk about being a hero!  For Brett – now a man – that truly was something he took pride in.

But then a giant appeared on the scene.  A giant named Depression.  Brett had wrestled with this giant once before, and the giant retreated.  After all, Brett was strong.  He was a hero... And he had help.  There is no shame in that.  Depression is a disease that often requires treatment.  Even for heroes.

As we know now, the giant snuck back into Brett’s life a few weeks ago.  Suddenly.  With almost no warning.  Perhaps it caught Brett by surprise.  That can happen, even to superheroes.

And now we are left with the sadness, the confusion, and the anger.  How could this have happened?  How could Brett, the superhero that he was, have let this happened?

The questions just hang there.  The answers do not come.

Maybe if we had reached out to him a little more, talked to him a little more, loved him a little more?...

No.  No!  Brett felt the connection.  Brett felt the love. My instinct tells me this, and conversations with Brett’s family confirm this in my mind:  Brett knew he was loved.  By his family.  By his friends. By God.

But the giant overpowered him.  The giant perhaps saw a fleeting, momentary weakness in that superhero armor, and seized the opportunity

Does that mean the giant wins? 

At the beginning of my week of directing Chi-Rho camp, I already had it in the back of my mind that, one day that week, I would wear a beach-towel cape.  That’s the influence Brett had on me.  I believe it was Thursday when I heard the news about Brett, and I realized that I hadn’t yet donned my cape.  Immediately I knew:  it was time.

Before long, about a half-dozen boys were also running around Loch Leven, wearing their own beach towel capes as they learned how to be men of faith. 

Some of you are wearing your towel capes today.  Others of you have worn them in the past.  I think today, we all wear them in our hearts. That can only mean one thing:

The giant has not won.  The hero lives.  

"Clothes that Fit" (1 Samuel 17:32-49)

Michael Gurian has written numerous books, most of them on the topic of childhood and adolescent development.  Many of his books include quotes at the beginning of each chapter or section, and given the topics he covers, one would expect these quotes to be from philosophers or psychologists or neurobiologists. 

However, one chapter in his book The Purpose of Boys begins with a quote from the 2007 movie Transformers: “Sam Witwicky, you hold the key to earth’s survival,” a line which is spoken by Optimus Prime to Sam Witwicky in the film.

It made me think of the camp I’ll be counseling next month at Loch Leven.  Often at camp, one night during the week is movie night, and I thought: What a good movie this would be to show to the high schoolers I’ll be counseling.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, it’s about Sam, an awkward, somewhat goofy teenager who discovers that robotic aliens from outer space are involved in a war, and earth has become the main battlefield.  And, indeed, Sam does hold the key to earth’s survival, although for me to explain why would take too long.

In some ways, it’s a remake of the story of David and Goliath.  Yeah.  David is just a teenage boy, not very popular – at least not among his many older brothers – and yet he holds the key to Israel’s survival.  Israel is involved in a war with the Philistines, who have just presented their number one warrior:  a ferocious giant of a man named Goliath. 

All of Israel’s warriors cower with fear and run from Goliath, too intimidated to even attempt to fight him.  Then David shows up, and asks them why they aren’t fighting.  Their response:  “Have you seen this guy?”

So that’s when David realizes it’s up to him.  He gets an audience with the king, and informs the king that he, David, will fight this Philistine. 

The king takes one look at David and says, “but you’re just a boy!”

But David – with perhaps a bit more confidence than Sam Witwicky has – points out to the king that, in fact, he is quite capable, having defended his sheep from numerous attacks by both bears and lions; and if he could fight off bears and lions, then – with God’s help – he should be able to fight off this Philistine.

One thing about David:  he knows that there is definitely some purpose for his life.  He feels called upon to defend his people, his nation, to offer himself to the service of some cause much greater than himself.

And that, according to Michael Gurian, is what so many young people are missing today.  A purpose.  A call.

So let me tell all of you “young” people today: there is a task, an important task, to which God is calling you.  There is a purpose to your life.  Discovering that purpose, and working to fulfill it, is what makes your life complete.  It’s what transforms Sam Witwicky and David and countless others from boys into men.

So before we go any further, pause for a moment and think about what it is that God is calling you to do.  What is the important task that is yours to complete?  In what way do you hold the key to earth’s transformation, earth’s salvation? 

Neither Sam Witwicky nor David were much to look at.  Not all superheros come with bulging biceps, rippling pecs, and a way with the ladies.  Most, in fact, are just ordinary people like you and me, people who go about their lives until they discover the one important task to which they are called.

I’m reminded of another movie, City Slickers, in which the old cowboy Curly says, “Do you know what the secret of life is?”  And he holds up one finger and says, “This.”

And Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, says, “Your finger?”

Curly says, “One thing.  Just one thing.  You stick to that and the rest don’t mean nothing.” [I had to alter that line a bit.]

Then Mitch asks, “But what is the ‘one thing?’”

And Curly, smiling, says, “That’s what you have to find out.

That ‘one thing’ is the important task to which you are called.  Theologian Matthew Fox says that “the universe is asking a great task of us today; it is extending to us a pressing invitation to reconnect our daily living to the Great Work.”

For some people, it takes an entire lifetime to find what their purpose is.  Some never do find their purpose.  Others, however, discover it early on. 

Nkosi Johnson died of AIDS at the age of 12.  Yet he felt that his life was important.  He once said, “Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.” 

That’s a lot of wisdom for a 12 year-old.

If you need help discovering what task God is calling you to, consider these words of theologian Frederick Buechner: “Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need.”  Just think about what your greatest passion is, and where that intersects with what the world needs … or even what your community or your family needs.  Think about where your passion and the world’s need meet, and you might find your “one thing.”

So David went to the king and said, “I’ll fight this Philistine.”  And once the king was convinced to let David give it a try, he set about clothing David with his own armor: he put a bronze helmet on David’s head; he clothed him with a coat of mail; and he strapped his sword on over the armor.

Then David took a few wobbly steps and said, “this isn’t going to work.  I can’t even walk with all this on.  This may be what you need to complete the task, but it’s not going to work for me.  The clothes don’t fit, the armor is too bulky, and I don’t even know how to use a sword.” 

And David took all that off, and went out to meet Goliath.

So often, what gets in the way of us doing our life task, accomplishing our “one thing,” is thinking that we don’t have all it takes to get the job done.  “If only I had this, if only I had that…. If only I had the right armor, the right clothing, the right tools….” 

Well, if you don’t have all the right tools to get the job done, then perhaps it isn’t the right job for you. 

Or perhaps you only think you need what you don’t have, because that’s what you’ve been told.  The king told David that he needed the armor, the mail, the helmet, the sword, and David could have easily said – despite his own beliefs and convictions – “well, if you say so.  If that’s what you think I need in order to get the job done, then I guess I better put it on.” 

After all, it’s hard to tell the king no.  Kings can be very persuasive.

The world can also be very persuasive, and the world tells us we need so much in order to do anything; that we’re not even whole and complete human beings unless we have what the world tells us we need.  Get this, buy that, you’re not ready, you’re not adequately prepared, unless you do all that the world is telling you to do. 

One of the things counselors often do to get ready for a week at Loch Leven is go shopping.  Sometimes the whole staff, after arriving at camp the day before the campers arrive, will then turn around and go back down the hill, into town, to Walmart, to load up shopping carts of candies and toys and trinkets and stuff, for the groups they will be leading at camp.

I have over 60 weeks of experience serving on the staff of various camps, and one thing I’ve learned is that the best, most meaningful moments at camp have absolutely nothing to do with the stuff that counselors often think they need to bring.  There is a supply room at camp, filled with things like markers and paper and yarn and so much more, and I’ve found that almost everything I need is there; and if it’s not there, then I probably don’t really need it.  Sometimes, things actually go better when my group of campers must figure out how to do what we want to do with the supplies we have.

I think there’s a real life lesson there.

At one point in his ministry, Jesus appointed 70 of his followers to go into various towns and villages ahead of him; and he told them to carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.  They didn’t need to burden themselves with extra stuff that they didn’t need.

My favorite translation of this passage has Jesus saying to his followers:  “You don’t need any equipment.  You are the equipment.” 

You don’t need to try to be like someone you aren’t.  You just need to be who you are.  Just be yourself.  Be who God created you to be, and do what God has called you to do.  Take what you’ve already got – your passion, your purpose – and find where that intersects with what the world needs. 

In Transformers, the military and government leaders had all the tools, all the knowledge, all the technology, all the equipment, all the intelligence – and they got it all wrong.  Same thing in the book of 1^st Samuel: the military and government leaders had the armor, the intelligence, the strategies, the technology and the equipment, and yet were unable to defeat the Philistines.

 It’s not the clothes or the equipment that make you the man or woman God calls you to be.  It’s not your fancy car or your iPod or your 401k or your 2^nd home.  It’s not the degrees you’ve earned or the shape of your body or the number of wrinkles you have or don’t have.

It’s time to stop thinking that you’re not adequate.  You are.

It’s time to stop thinking that you need this or that in order for your life to be complete.  You are already complete.

It’s time to stop thinking that you need to have a certain unattainable look in order to take your place in the world.  Your place in the world is right where you already are, and it has nothing to do with how you look.

As part of the body of Christ, you have the key to earth’s salvation.  It’s up to you to bring wholeness to this fragmented world. 

You don’t need any equipment.  You are the equipment.  You are the one God has chosen, to accomplish all that you are called to do.  As Optimus Prime says about the humans he has come to know at the end of Transformers: “I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye.”

When he tells Sam Witwicky at the beginning of the movie that he holds the key to earth’s survival, he is speaking of his grandfather’s spectacles on which a code is written.  However, as Michael Gurian points out in his book, Sam learns over the course of the movie that the real key is hidden inside himself.  And that’s something that’s true for everyone. 

Meaning and purpose in life come from more than a slick car, or seeking to be independent of your wacky parents; it comes from having an essential purpose in the world, and working to fulfill it.