07-07-24 Music

I honestly don’t remember the last time I heard an actual sermon on the story of David and Goliath, and I look forward to hearing what Courtney does with this story we all know, but also sort of don’t? If you recognize the movie in the picture above, you probably also know why the biblical David and Grimm’s fairy tale Cinderella are forever bound in the back of my mind. We tend to use them interchangeably in our culture, stories of underdogs. Of course, their stories have different midnights, and we don’t usually mention Paul Harvey’s “the rest of the story.” The South Bend Bears and Goliath aren’t evil, and the Hickory Huskers and David aren’t paragons of good. It also always sort of bugged me that the town preacher gave a pep talk prayer that implied God would take sides in a basketball game. That said, as a basketball manager, I’ve always appreciated the deference they showed, removing their street shoes before walking onto the floor of basketball’s sanctuary at Hinkle fieldhouse.

What does all of that have to do with our hymns? Well, our hymns of faith this week will hopefully help you remember that God does equip us, just not always in the way we expect. “Wins and losses” are easily defined in sports, and perhaps too easily defined in war. God equips us for wins as God sees them. This is exemplified in the second stanza of All My Hope on God is Founded (Chalice Hymnal, 88). 17th century German writer, Joachim Neander had this for us to sing:

Human pride and earthly glory, sword and crown betray our trust;

Though with care and toil we build them, tower and temple fall to dust.

But God’s power, hour by hour is my temple and my tower.

Last week I mentioned the lovely sanctuary we had at Chamberlayne Baptist, which still exists, if in a different way, at Bethlethem Baptist. One of the best, and most difficult, discussions we had, was to reunderstand what “winning” might look like, and what “legacy” looks like in God’s eyes rather than our own. How might we understand David and Goliath as allegory through God’s eyes, beyond a basic story of war and death?

After the choir sings our offertory, a gospel piece called Move Me by Richard Alan Henderson (you can sing it with us, meet in the choir room at 9:45 to learn it!), we will change to a new doxology for the month of July. From All that Dwell Below the Skies (CH 49). LASST UNS ERFREUEN, with its repeated Alleluia is always fun to sing. Some of my traditionalist counterparts might disagree with my use of this hymn as a doxology, as it does not clearly reference God the Holy Spirit. But, I think any time we sing Alleluia, the Spirit is joined, so I hope God won’t mind.

Following Courtney’s sermon we will prepare for communion by singing together a refrain by John Bell from Scotland’s Iona community, This is the Body of Christ. I admit that I find it interesting that a contemporary hymnwriter uses an older, King James Version understanding of the Communion blessing shared by the writer of 1 Corinthians in chapter 11, verse 24, “This is my body which is broken for you.” Most modern versions, translating from different scrolls, “This is my body which is for you,” and the only breaking is of the bread. Many theologians have spilled countless vials of ink debating what it means to state that Jesus’s body was broken. I won’t attempt to cover them all in a blog on hymns. I will simply say that this is another song where God’s understanding may be different from our own. Also that the poetry of “broken that we may be whole” is lovely, if not literal. If you ever want to discuss your thoughts on “broken” or “given,” I’d love to hear them.

Our Hymn of Invitation is by Methodist hymnwriter, Dan Damon. If you recognize his name it might be because last month we sang a hymn he helped to update, For Everyone Born, a Place at the Table. This week we will sing his work, Jesus, You Have Truly Called Us, another fitting call hymn as we move through this Summer series, Here We Are Lord. Damon’s text is on one level a perfect response to a traditional reading of the David and Goliath story, as it echoes Harry Fosdick’s hymn, God of Grace and God of Glory (CH 464)…grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour. Damon takes us even further, plainly asking what if our proverbial Goliath to be slayed might be our own participation in injustice? Save us from weak indignation, becomes:

Jesus, save us from poor choices. Hatred, running, like a thread

Through the fabric of our hist’ry, mars our faith and leaves us dead.

…

Jesus, save us from our weakness, from deceit and from despair.

Move us on to new creation in a world that’s free and fair.

Meet us in our time of trial, fill us with your Spirit’s power.

As we stand before oppression, give us courage for this hour

You can see the hymn in its entirety below. As an aside, I was introduced this hymn by The Hymn Society’s Songs for the Holy Other, a collection of hymns affirming the LGBTQIA2S+ Community. June may be over, but every Sunday can be a Sunday to take pride in who God calls us to be.

Give us courage to stand before oppression, indeed. That’s something to sing about.

Chris

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A few things to listen to as you prepare for worship this Sunday.

Most recordings on the interwebz of All Thy Hope on God is Founded is the majestic tune MICHAEL, which is also lovely. Our hymnal has it set to UNSER HERRSCHER (or NEANDER, the composer). But this version from across the pond is lovely, and will give you a chance to compare the older text to the more modern version found in Chalice Hymnal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s_JYO4jI7M

In my next life, maybe I’ll go to Iona and join their Wild Goose group (or maybe go to the unrelated Wild Good festival here in the states). So beautiful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTrdJTGgN40

No great recordings of Jesus, You Have Truly Called Us out there, another one we will have to make ourselves. In the meantime this is a lovely rendition of BEACH SPRING for solo guitar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7nQA5ef1BA

Happy listening, see yall soon!

Chris

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[1] Screenshot from the movie, Hoosiers, directed by Anspaugh, David, 1986.

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