Last weekend I went to Knott’s Berry Farm to enjoy some live music and get some dinner. I arrived around 4:00, hoping for an enjoyable evening. I left several hours later, discouraged.
While waiting for one concert to start, I saw on the pathway a large crowd of teenagers rushing by. I thought maybe they saw a celebrity - someone I wouldn’t recognize; a YouTuber, perhaps. But a few minutes later they all rushed back the other way.
I thought that was weird, but then the show started, and I didn’t think anything more of it.
An hour later, I was walking through the back section of the park, and noticed that the gift shops all had their doors closed. And I saw more groups of people running. And then came the announcement that the park was closed - even though it was scheduled to be open for another three hours.
Apparently all those teenagers I saw rushing by had come to fight. After numerous fights broke out among various different groups, Knott’s administration and the Buena Park PD made the decision to close the park early.
So I left, discouraged and disappointed. And I wasn’t the only one.
In the week since, I’ve been thinking about those teenagers. What goes on inside a teenager’s head that makes them think the best thing they can do on a Saturday night is go out and fight? How did that idea get there? Where did that anger come from? What struggles are they facing, and what messages have they been receiving?
Well, one doesn’t have to look far for an answer to that. There’s a lot of anger and a lot of stress in our world right now. And lots of people - not just teenagers - are acting out of that anger and stress in unhealthy ways.
And the results are discouraging.
There are other reasons to be discouraged these days.
When I was a child, it was still the belief that every succeeding generation would experience greater prosperity than previous generations. But I look at the world now, at the economic policies that are in place, and the destruction of the climate, and I am discouraged, because I know that things are not better and will not be better for the generations that are coming after me.
When I look at our nation, I see a growing sense of entitlement and greed among many, rooted in individual self-importance. We don’t want policies and programs that help others if it involves any sort of personal sacrifice. We no longer care about the common good, only what’s good for me.
And I am discouraged.
We have too many politicians who support racist policies, who perpetuate lies about our history and lies about election results, who are now talking openly about getting rid of the right to marry for gay couples and interracial couples; and we have too many American citizens who continue to vote for these racist, lying politicians.
And I am discouraged.
We have a church in America which, to a large degree, supports these lies; a church that is all too eager to cozy up to imperial power, a church that cares too little about the poor, the immigrant, the oppressed. A church that completely misrepresents Jesus.
And I am discouraged.
I like to believe that our congregation and our denomination present an alternative to all this, yet let’s face it: our influence is minimal, and the impact we can make is shrinking as our numbers are shrinking. We’re not the church we once were, and I am discouraged.
And that’s not to mention this pandemic that seems like it’s never going to end. And maybe it’s not.
And I see more and more people getting discouraged, and losing hope. The road is getting harder and harder, and it’s getting more and more tempting to find a rest stop, lie down in the shade, and just stay there.
Forever.
To not continue this difficult journey any longer.
I’m discouraged. And it’s hard to be thankful.
It’s hard to read scriptures like Psalm 138, today’s scripture reading; it’s hard to read a psalm about giving thanks to God and exalting God’s name…when I’m feeling discouraged. It all seems so out of touch.
So I spent a little time wrestling with this psalm this week. I spent some time learning about its background, and its placement in the book of Psalms. I wanted to learn more about this Psalm; and now, I want to share with you what I learned.
Like many of the psalms, Psalm 138 is attributed to King David. Even if David didn’t actually write all the psalms attributed to him, just the fact that it is attributed to him is significant.
Some of you might not know much about King David, so you might be tempted to say, “Sure, he can give thanks… he’s the king! While I sit here all discouraged, struggling, lamenting the state of things, what do you think the king is doing tonight? What merriment is the king pursuing tonight?”
Well, for King David, there were days and nights of merriment. But there were also days and nights of agony.
Days and nights when he dealt with the consequences of his own actions, and the temptations he gave into.
Days and nights when he wept for Jonathan, his best, dearest friend - his lover, according to some.
Days and nights when he mourned the death of his first-born son who was still an infant when he died;
Days and nights when he was wracked with guilt and grief following the rape of his daughter Tamar by her brother Amnon, and by the retaliatory death of Amnon by his brother Absalom, and then by Absalom’s death in retaliation for the death of Amnon.
Yikes. King David must have been quite discouraged by all this, going on in his own immediate family.
How could anyone who endured all that write a psalm of thanksgiving?
But David didn’t just write psalms of thanksgiving. He also wrote psalms of lament.
In fact, Psalm 138 is followed by six psalms of lament, all of them attributed to David.
And even here, in Psalm 138, there are hints that all is not well in David’s soul, that there is darkness and perhaps even depression there. Verse seven begins with the phrase, “though I walk in the midst of trouble…” There is sorrow, there is woe, there is heartache here below, for the king.
In the psalms that follow, the lament becomes even more explicit.
The note at the beginning of Psalm 142 not only says that it is a Psalm of David, but that David prayed this psalm while in a cave. What is a king doing in a cave?
Well, in this case, he’s complaining to God about his situation; a situation that must not be very good if he’s hiding in a cave.
In Psalm 143 it says: “My spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.” My spirit faints, my spirit fails… other translations render it, my depression deepens…
That’s the tone for these six psalms of lament that follow the psalm of thanks that is Psalm 138. And all of them are attributed to David.
Then we come to Psalm 145 - the final psalm in this collection of eight psalms all attributed to David.
And Psalm 145 is a psalm of praise. Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each new verse beginning with the next letter in order of the Hebrew alphabet.
So you have all these psalms of lament, but at the beginning there is a psalm of thanks, and at the end, there is a psalm of praise.
In the midst of all his difficulties, struggles, and challenges, David found something to be thankful for. In the midst of all his discouragement, he still saw fit to praise God.
And this reminds me that, sometimes, in the midst of our own discouragement, it helps to stop for a moment, and remind ourselves that, no matter what, there are still things to be thankful for.
I am so thankful for the love and affirmation children and youth receive through the ministry of this congregation and the congregations we are in covenant with. I mentioned it last week: at VBS, at summer camp, and at worship and wonder, children learn that they are loved. Who they are is affirmed. And they learn to share that love with others.
It makes me think: what if those teenagers starting fights on Saturday night had learned that? What if they had received the same affirmation that children receive at our VBS, at church camp, at Worship and Wonder? What if they had been taught to share that love with others?
We know that love through Jesus Christ, but I’m not talking about indoctrinating them or making them into Christians. The teachings of all major religions emphasize love and affirmation: love for oneself, and love for one’s neighbor. Just to teach them love and show them love is enough.
Have those teenagers starting fights on Saturday nights ever had someone love them like that? Have they ever been affirmed for who they are? Have they ever been taught how to show love and care to others? Has anyone ever shown them that, in order to be happy, we need to help those around us be happy, because all our happiness is woven together?
I think not.
Last school year, I got to know some groups of students, because I got to teach these same groups multiple times throughout the year. As I got to know them, I started to realize that they are starving for positive, affirming attention. They are starving for love.
And when I think about it, I think many adults are, too.
There’s a lot to be discouraged about in our world, but I am so thankful that, in many places, the message of love and affirmation is still being taught, that young people are still learning that who they are matters.
I’m so thankful for the opportunity to spend a week at church camp, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to teach, because these experiences have helped me learn these things.
And I’m thankful to realize that we ARE making a difference! For every kid who goes out on a Saturday night thinking there’s nothing better to do than fight, there’s another kid who is doing their Eagle Project, or who is volunteering to feed the homeless, or who is going back to counsel at camp or volunteer at VBS because they want younger children to experience the same love and affirmation that has made such a difference in their own life.
They know who they are: they know that they are beloved children of God, beautiful to behold. They know that that beautiful image of God is present in every child, every human. And now they are sharing that love and that message with the world.
This is how we change the world.
This is how we help make real on earth, as in heaven, God’s kingdom of shalom.
It’s happening in our very midst. It’s happening among us and through us.
And I find that very encouraging, and it fills my heart with thanks and praise.
