“Be Still and Know”

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

July 16, 2023

Psalm 46

 Children’s Message:

We’re focusing on Psalms for a few weeks. Do you know what a Psalm is? It’s a song of faith. Like our hymns. Sometimes the song is happy. Sometimes it’s sad. Sometimes it’s encouraging. Sometimes it’s angry. Do you have a favorite hymn or song that we sing here in church? One of my favorites is called “Canticle of the Turning,” because it imagines the day when all of the evil and bad things in this world get turned around.

Today’s Psalm is one that get used quite a bit. It’s the Psalm that inspired Martin Luther to write the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” That one is often a Lutheran favorite. But there’s a verse in the Psalm that many people turn to when everything feels hopeless and ragged. It says, “Be still, then, and know that I am God.”

Being still can be difficult, especially if we think it means keeping our bodies still. But it’s more than that. It means letting your soul be still and trusting that God is in the process of handling things. When we get all stirred up and frustrated; when we are angry and don’t know what to do with that anger, God says, “Be still.” But sometimes we need help.

I like these meditation bottles. They can help our hearts and minds find stillness when we are all stirred up. Some have glitter or beads or other objects. And we stir them up like our souls, but then we watch and wait until everything inside is still. And as we watch and wait, our own souls can become still, as well. It’s a good practice for kids and adults.

Let’s pray. Dear God, we get stirred up when we know things are wrong, and we don’t know how to fix them. Still our hearts and minds so that we can trust in your work. Amen.

Message:

So yes, we’re focusing on the Psalms for a few weeks. And Psalms are like hymns. They have different purposes and direction. Some celebrate a certain holiday, like “Joy to the World.” Some are liturgical—like the Psalm we sang at the beginning of worship—and like our hymns of praise, Kyries, Alleluias, and Lamb of Gods. Some are praise and thanksgiving, like “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.” Some are forms of teaching, like “From Heaven Above,” which teaches the story of Christmas over 9 verses. Some celebrate God’s reign, like “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” And some are laments, like “Bring Peace to Earth Again.”

We’ll touch on many of these forms over the next few weeks as we explore the Psalms. Sadly, we often, here at OSLC, omit the Psalm reading each week. The Lectionary—our guide to weekly Scripture readings—typically includes an Old Testament passage, a Psalm, a New Testament passage, and the Gospel reading. Because we tend to only read 2 of the four here, the Psalm gets left out.

But the Psalms ARE an important element of our faith because they, often more than the other readings, give voice to the various emotions and feelings we have toward God and each other. They are poetry, which at its core, can capture elements of the heart that prose and stories cannot always verbalize. With masterful uses of images, similes, and metaphors, I think the creators of the Psalms are better described as architects than authors.

The Psalms incorporate complex designs, patterns, parallels, and frameworks that are communicated in symmetry within the verses. It’s really quite masterful. And though the Hebrew term for the book, tehillim, means ‘praises,’ and though the Psalms are typically attributed to King David, they span vast emotions and hundreds of years.

When the ELCA was formed in 1988, a new hymnal was introduced. It was called the Lutheran Book of Worship—the green book. It incorporated many of the favorite hymns from the various worship books of the merging organizations. But not long after that, several supplemental hymnals came into circulation, offering additional hymns and liturgies. In 2006, the Evangelical Lutheran Worship—the cranberry book—was released, incorporating many more old and new hymns, eliminated some from the previous book, and expanding the liturgies. In the last few years, another supplemental book has come out with more hymns and liturgies to add to the mix.

What has happened in the ELCA with our hymnody over the course of decades happened with the Psalms over the course of centuries. Scholars typically divide the Psalms into 5 books. Book 1, Psalms 1-41, refer to God as Yahweh. Book 2, Psalms 42-72, refer to God as Elohim. These two books are typically understood as being written before the Babylonian Exile in the 6th Century, B.C. The compilation of all five books was completed somewhere in the 3rd Century, B.C.

Much like our hymnals, they were used to teach and guide the faithful in godly living and to provide a liturgy for Temple worship—which didn’t begin until David’s son, Solomon, built the first temple in the 10th Century, B.C. And, much like our hymns, though specific theology is not always consistent, there are over-arching theological themes:

1.      God is the center of all life.

2.      God does not tolerate nations that ignore, deny, or oppose God.

3.      God opposes the proud and those who would put themselves in place of God.

4.      There is hope for the future.

5.      God executes justice and avenges the vulnerable.

6.      Israel is God’s chosen servants and inheritors of the kingdom.

7.      God chose David, specifically, and his descendants to represent God on earth.

Psalm 46, is a great example of many of these theological themes. God opposes both natural and human-created chaos. And God will not be moved from the role of creator, sustainer, and redeemer of all creation. We hear of God’s provision and steadfastness several times throughout, offering a rhythm of promise in the midst of the turmoil.

And yet, as we reach the pinnacle of the Psalm, we are told to be still. This is not a call to inaction but a reminder that we are not God. Much of our action is not for the benefit of God or God’s creation but for our own benefit. Often, even when we try to fix our mistakes, we tend to make them worse. We care for the crops by irrigating, but destroy the water table. We think cremation is more responsible for the use of the earth, but we pollute the air. One step forward and two steps back.

Be still. Stop trying to control the world and all that is in it. God says, “Be still, then, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.” Neither human sin nor the chaos of creation can undo what God has put in motion. And if we want to know what that is, we must stop the rat-race of control and listen. Wait. Watch. Understand. And only then do we know what steps to take next.

Be still. We are not gods. We are not the judges of the universe. We are not in a position to oppose the God of Jacob. God is the center of all life. And there is, indeed, hope for the future. Can we stop talking and scrambling long enough to see it?

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE