July 12, 2015, for First UMC, at the annual Worship in the Park

Transcription

1 SERMON TITLE: Dancing before the Lord SERMON TEXT: 2 Samuel 6:1-15 PREACHER: Rev. Kim James OCCASION: July 12, 2015, for First UMC, at the annual Worship in the Park INTRODUCTION During our recent Vacation Bible School, every evening the children would rotate around to several different stations. Crafts, games, and Bible challenge were a few of them. The one I ran was called Treetop Storytelling. In Treetop Storytelling, after we first heard the Bible story, then we d act it out. The kids loved doing that. So, I was thinking that maybe we could try that here today in the park. I ve already recruited some volunteers, so I need you all to come up here now and get your props. Ray is going to be King David, so here s your crown and tambourine. Steve is going to be the ox, so here are your horns. Walter and Lucki are going to be Uzzah and Ahio who are driving the cart with the ark of God s covenant (using a wheeled kitchen cart and cardboard box). Gwenith is going to be Obed-edom, so here s your house. Now I need a few more people to help out. I need someone to be Abinadab. You get to stand with your house. Then I need someone to represent the City of David. I need several more people to help be dancers and musicians (give them rhythm instruments). ~~~~~~~ OK. Here we go. David and the people of Israel carried the ark of God on a new cart. They took it out of the house of Abinadab and were taking it to Jerusalem. Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart. Ahio went in front. David and all the Israelites were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. When they came to a threshing floor, the oxen shook the cart. So Uzzah reached out to steady the cart. When he grabbed hold of it, God struck him there and Uzzah died. This made David angry and afraid, so David changed his mind. Maybe it was too dangerous to take the ark to the city of David. So, they took the ark to the house of Obed-edom instead. But during the three months the ark stayed there, the Lord blessed Obed-edom.

2 2 When David heard that the Lord had blessed Obed-edom, David and his people went and got the ark of God. They took it to the city of David with great rejoicing. They sacrificed the ox and danced before the Lord with all their might, with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. In other words, they had a feast and a party. ~~~~~~ Thanks, everyone. That was great fun. For David and the Israelites, dancing before the Lord was a kind of worship. And, so, as we worship in the park today, I invite you to consider how this story of dancing before the Lord might help us in our worship. 1 WORSHIP SHOULD BE A CELEBRATION First of all, this story of dancing before the Lord reminds us that worship should be a celebration. Worship should be full of energy and enthusiasm. Worship should be fun. It should be a delight to our senses. Quiet and calm have their places in worship too, but a lot of worship should involve the people in participation. Some of you know the words liturgist and liturgy include the idea of work or energy. When we gather for worship, it shouldn t only be the paid preacher and organist who are doing things, with the rest of you sitting out there like passive pew potatoes. Worship is the work of the people. Not hard work that wears you out. But full engagement, meaningful participation, active attention, and jazzed up joyfulness. Worship should involve the brain, the spirit, and the body. In the front of our United Methodist hymnals, there s a page which was written by John Wesley back in the 1700s. It s called Directions for Singing. In those directions, Wesley instructs the Methodist people to beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. In other words, don t be a lump on a log. Put yourself into this worship experience. When you re dancing before the Lord, do it with all your might; do it with rejoicing. Worship is a celebration.

3 3 2 WORSHIP SHOULD BE HOLY A second point we see in this story of dancing before the Lord is that worship should be holy. I m sure you noticed that something terrible happened to Uzzah. When the oxen came upon the threshing floor, the cart wobbled and the ark could have fallen. So Uzzah did what many of us wellintentioned folks would have done. He reached out to steady the ark. Sadly, the story tells us that God struck him dead. I guess I would prefer to think that the physical strain of reaching for the ark and maybe having to bear its weight caused Uzzah to have a heart attack or something natural and explainable like that. But, as it s written, the story conveys a warning that the things of God are mysterious, awesome, and beyond human understanding. For that reason, we must give God and spiritual matters some healthy respect. We can and should have a personal and intimate relationship with God, but we should never, ever think that we are equal to God. Worship can be casual, like it is today out here in the park. Worship shouldn t have to be stuffy. Women shouldn t have to wear shoes that hurt our feet, and you guys shouldn t have to wear ties so tight around your necks that you can t breathe. But we should also remember that the holiness of God calls for some honor and adoration that is unique and special to God. We shouldn t treat God and our worship of God as routine and ordinary. This story of dancing before God reminds us that, even when worship is celebratory and fun, worship should be holy. 3 WORSHIP SHOULD BE ABOUT GOD, NOT US Very closely related to that idea is a third point about dancing before God. Worship should be about God, not us. When I read about this story in a Bible commentary, it said that one reason why Uzzah may have died is to indicate that the ark was being separated from Uzzah and his brother Ahio, and the sons of Abinadab. The ark had previously resided at their house, and the boys had grown up with it there. So it s no wonder they treated it in a familiar way. But, if the Israelite people were to worship God, God couldn t be kept in the care of just one family. The ark was bigger than that. It was

4 4 symbolic of the God of a whole nation and world. The Israelites needed to see that God was the one in charge. As the ark moved from the care of Abinadab s family to Obed-edom s household and then finally to its destination in the city of David, Jerusalem, the warning to David and all those who danced before the Lord was clear. No matter how well-meaning and devoted we are, this ark belongs to God, not us. Sure, we are involved in the dance in important ways, but the focus of this dance isn t on us. In fact, frankly, we caretakers of the ark are expendable. We will come, and we will go. Only God is everlasting. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote, All people are grass, [our] constancy is like the flower of the field... The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever (40:6-8). Yes, we have a role to play. Yes, God wants us to participate in the dance of worship. But, as this story reminds us, worship should be about God, not us. 4 WORSHIP SHOULD BE A BLESSING A fourth and final point from this story is that worship should be a blessing. After David and the Israelites saw how the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household, they found God s blessing in their own worship. Once they realized that worship was a celebration not of their own dedication, power, or control but of God s independent holiness then David and the Israelites were ready to bring the ark into Jerusalem. They were ready to receive God s blessings through their worship. As part of their experience of those blessings, King David and his people danced, made music with trumpets, and shouted their celebratory joy. King David also sacrificed an ox and a fatling. The verses just beyond where we quit reading say that David then distributed meat, bread, and raisins to all the people before they returned to their homes. Through their dancing before God, the people were fed and nurtured in their bodies and their spirits. Their worship was a blessing. Worship should be a blessing to us today too. Of course, there will be times of transition, like when the ark was moved from the house of Abinadab to the city of David. There will be times when

5 5 worship involves energetic work and responsibility. There will be sad and even angry times, like when Uzzah died and the care of the ark had to be transferred to someone new. Sometimes there will be unexpected changes in the plans, like when the ark had to be stored at Obed-edom s house for three months. Sure, there will be times when worship challenges our thinking, our feeling, and our sense of what s normal and right. But, overall, worship should be more joyful than dutiful. Worship should add more beauty than boredom and more encouragement than exasperation. We worship God because, through that worship, our spirits are lifted and our life is made more abundant and full. If our worship doesn t improve our lives and the lives of other people through us, then something s not right. This story of dancing before the Lord reminds us that worship should be a blessing. CONCLUSION In The Faith We Sing hymnal, we have a song that goes like this: Come! Come! Everybody worship with a prayer or song of praise! Come! Come! Everybody worship! Worship God always! Worship and remember to keep the Sabbath day. Take a rest and think of God; put your work away. (by Natalie Sleeth, #2271) Today, in this time of worship, I invite you to celebrate, to consider God s holiness, to focus on God rather than yourself, and to experience God s blessings. I invite you to experience worship as dancing before the Lord.