January 26, 2013
Psalm 27
“One Thing”
Rev. Dr. David A. Davis
One thing. One thing. One thing I asked of the Lord. One thing I will seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in God’s temple. Okay, that’s three things. Three things, really: to live, to behold, to inquire. So with a poetic pass granted to the psalmist, we will call it one thing. One thing I ask of the Lord, that will I seek after; to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in God’s temple. One thing.
Psalm 27 is so full of devotional nourishment, prayer thoughts, and preaching possibilities. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall fear? The stronghold of my life. In God’s shelter in the day of trouble. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Be gracious and answer me! Your face, Lord, do I seek. If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. You could spend a whole lot of time on your knees or at your bedside or at your breakfast table or in your favorite reading chair, at your desk with Psalm 27. You could pray Psalm 27 every morning for a year and it would never get old.
I just finished reading Daniel Goleman’s new book on leadership. It is called “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence”. Continuing his work on “emotional intelligence,” Goleman writes about research into brain chemistry and function that supports the anecdotal evidence of what makes business leaders successful. In this new book, Goleman has a section on “mindfulness” and how the practice of mindfulness is taking the workplace by storm; on the cutting edge campus of Google, and in Institutes for Mindfulness in business schools and medical schools. The author tells of taking part in a business meeting where attention around the table started to crumble; there were sidebar conversations going on, people were checking their email. At one point someone announced, “it’s time for some mindful moments” and the person got up and rang a small gong and everyone sat in silence until the gong rang again. When the conversation started over again, the energy and focus was refreshed. What was rather amusing was how the leadership/guru/scholar described the experience. “It was a remarkable moment for me” he wrote. As if he had never experienced a prayerful quiet time. What was surprising was that a cutting edge place like Google thinks it invented something that the Psalmist wrote about and practiced thousands of years ago. If you’re looking for “mindfulness”, take Psalm 27 with you to work. Breathe in Psalm 27. Wait for the Lord, be strong, let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.
In the heart of the Psalm is “one thing”. The one thing. One thing I asked of the Lord; living in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, beholding the beauty of the Lord, inquiring in God’s temple.
When I was first called to serve the First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood, NJ, there were about 130 members on the roll. In the early years Sunday morning attendance averaged about 60, maybe 70. But there was a core group of the faithful; maybe 12-15, they were there all the time. Not just Sunday morning, but at every program, every fellowship opportunity. I used to tease them that if the door was unlocked and the lights were on they would be there. An older crowd, mostly all women with a few men; it was like they lived at the church. And they always came early for things. Cathy and I lived in the manse right next to the church. On summer Sunday morning, sort of on the spur of the moment, I invited the entire congregation to come for a backyard picnic. I told them I would light the grill and everyone should bring something to cook and a dish to share. “Come back at 5:00 this evening and we will have picnic” I said in morning worship. That afternoon, upstairs at the manse, I happened to look outside, the crowd had already arrived, set up their lawn chairs in a circle in the parking lot, and they were just sitting there chatting waiting for me to light the grill; Mame and her sister Rae, Mary and Mark, Walt and Alma, Betty, Elizabeth, Illyf, Bea, Hazel, Sis, Fran. I looked at my watch; it was 4:20pm. They would have been at that church every day if they could!
Being here at the church 24/7, that can’t be the one thing. Please, God, don’t let that be the one thing. Perfect, constant, attendance. Living in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, beholding the beauty of the Lord, inquiring in God’s temple. The psalmist’s one thing must be something other than a big, giant lockin here at the church for all of us; like Samuel in the Old Testament who pretty much went to live in the temple with the priest Eli after his mother Hannah “lent him to the Lord.”
Those folks out in our backyard 25 years ago, waiting for me to light the grill, all had known each other pretty much their entire lives. 60-70 years in that church together, in that congregation together, in that community together. Pretty much all the days of their lives together. The house of the Lord as the people kind of thing; the house of the Lord as the community of faith. Those folks did the house of the Lord together since before World War II. Princeton University Professor Robert Wuthnow raised significant questions about the metaphor or image or characterization of the church as community last fall here from this pulpit in a lecture entitled “Faith Communities and the Challenge of Contemporary Culture.” His lecture was part of the inauguration festivities for President Barnes at Princeton Seminary. Wuthnow called for a moratorium on the use of the term gathered community when it comes to church. His argument is that studies show “community” is changing in form; not just declining as some sociologists argue. People are seeking community in different places and in different forms and congregations can no longer expect to be the primary agent of community for even the most faithful of souls. Research indicates that folks are no longer expecting or seeking or finding community in church. So, he concludes, that we in the church should watch our language in terms of what we offer, what we promise and we best clarify what’s at stake moving forward in terms of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called our “life together.”
A first reaction is to lament Dr. Wuthnow’s conclusion. But it is pretty clear on face value, that the vast majority of church goers won’t be sitting next to lifelong friends anymore. With few exceptions, that’s just not how it works anymore, at least around here. Another day we could debate the professor’s conclusions about a congregation’s role in creating meaningful relationship and how Christian fellowship is sustainable even as understandings of community change. But when it comes to the one thing, the psalmist’s one thing, that one thing isn’t about being in the building 24/7 and neither is it about the deepest of lifelong relationships in a particular congregation, as precious as they may be. One thing will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in God’s temple; to live, to behold, to inquire, all the days of my life.
I’m having trouble finding the words to describe the one thing. But I’ve seen it. As you have heard, it’s easier for me to describe what I think it’s not; the one thing. But I have, I have seen it time and time again. Unpacking the one thing, the psalmist’s one thing; it’s not an exercise in Old Testament interpretation. The clue doesn’t come in a Hebrew word. There is no academic “ah-ha” moment here for me to pass along to you when it comes to living, beholding, inquiring. Something like living in the house of the Lord—worship (check), beholding the beauty of the Lord—that’s seeing God in creation and music and art (check), inquiring in God’s temple—that’s a lifelong commitment to Christian education (check)…..and thus any lasting meaning of the psalmist’s poetry is lost, any thick description of the one thing long gone, and we’ve sucked the life right out of Psalm 27.
If you have never had the chance to be in this room all by yourself, you ought to figure out a way, a time, an opportunity. We now keep it open for prayer all during the week. You ought to stop by sometime. Because when you linger in this room all by yourself, in prayer and reflection (mindfulness), after you ponder the simple beauty and you try to wrap your mind around the history, you can’t help but start to see faces and think about people. One preacher writes about sermon preparation, how during the week the preacher ought to go into the sanctuary and sit in the pew. Because you can’t help but think about and pray for the person you know sits there most Sundays. A couple of years ago my predecessor Wallace Alston came back and preached and during his introductory remarks here at the pulpit he talked about standing here and seeing the faces of those who were longer here; those who had died. The room does that to you when you are in here by yourself. It’s like having a dream but still being awake. Not a daydream, that implies mindlessness….no I’m talking about a meaningful experience.
The names, the faces, the experiences that rush into my being when I am in here by myself; it’s this collage of people who have shown me the one thing. A living, breathing, gratefulness to God that greets them when they wake up in the morning and helps put them to bed at night. A yearning to see and to name the beauty of God’s grace and mercy amid the ordinary trek of life. A sure and steady walk with God that exudes a desire for a deeper understanding and a humbleness that affirms a bit of mystery when it comes to God and life and never being able to figure it all out. The folks that come into my mind and fill my heart; it’s this wonderful roster that goes far beyond this congregation or that congregation. It’s the saints who have shown me that when the psalmist says “all the days of my life,” it’s not a reference to the span of life, it’s an affirmation that longing for God and the experience of God’s presence comes on the greatest of days and the worst of days, in life and in death, the longest of nights and the brightest of mornings, when you stood here for a baptism or when you sat there for a funeral, the days spent during the war or the day of a graduation from school, in prison or on campus, on a mountaintop or in a hospital bed….All the days of my life.
Trying to tell you about the one thing, the psalmist’s one thing…..Maybe the best I can do is give you a list of names. Or better yet, maybe we can dream together, while we’re still awake….and you, you can have you own list.
Of the saints in life who taught you about living, beholding, inquiring…
The one thing.
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