Download SERMON TO GO Dancing In the Rain Deuteronomy

SERMON TO GO
Dancing In the Rain
Deuteronomy 11:13-17
Romans 8:31-39
September 2, 2012
Wesley L. Brun, D.Min., L.P.C., preaching
My late father, who was a pastor before me, was raised on a farm. In fact, he came
from a long line of farmers going back many generations. I can tell you that you might take
the pastor off of the farm, but you cannot take “farming” out of the pastor. That is why this
great story from my father meant so much to him, and has come to mean a lot to me, as
well. (I’ve told you this story before, but it bears retelling.) A small farming community
(perhaps not unlike my dad’s little growing-up town of Danville, Iowa!) was experiencing a
severe drought. The crops were literally burning up in the fields. The livestock had little
grass on which to graze. I suspect it was not unlike the drought much of our country has
been experiencing this summer where several thousand counties, across multiple states
have been declared “disaster areas” because of our dry summer and the lack of rain. (I
heard just this week that a vast majority of counties here in Michigan have been declared
disaster areas.) You know and I know that it is only a matter of time before all this begins
to show up in the prices we pay for things. In the story, the town fathers were so
concerned about the drought that they began to consider all possible remedies for their
lack of rain. They contacted an airplane company that advertised that it could “seed” the
clouds with certain chemicals that would make it rain. So the town hired them, but the
results were disappointing; only a few sprinkles fell, and that was it. Then the town fathers
heard about a Native American tribe just across the state line that still did their ancient
dances. So the town fathers contacted the tribe and asked them if they knew a “rain dance”
and, if so, would they come down and do it for their community. The tribe came and did
their rain dance in the town square, but again the results were meager—only a few
sprinkles again, not the thirst quenching rains the fields and the livestock needed. Finally,
the church in town decided to have an old fashioned prayer meeting to pray for rain. The
whole town was supportive, and on the appointed night they all gathered in the little
church until there was standing-room only. But only one little old lady, 87-year old Maud
Smith, thought to bring an umbrella! I know my father liked this story because of how
dramatically it illustrates a lack of faith; but, having grown up on a farm, I suspect he also
deeply appreciated the importance of rain to the farmer!
“Rain,” in scripture, is something of a mixed metaphor. Rain could be a real
blessing! As we heard in the passage from Deuteronomy, early on, after they gave up their
Bedouin- wanderings for a more agrarian culture, the Hebrew people were influenced by
the fertility cults in the areas around them. Somewhat naively they believed that if they
were faithful to God, God would bless them by sending rain, the “early rain” and the “late
rain;” both are necessary for good crops. Though we here in the city are not so agrarian
(although we are now talking about “urban agriculture”!) even to this day we still talk of
“showers of blessings” as a way to describe “good fortune.”
In much the same way, “rain,” or the lack of it, would be the punishment for the lack
of faithfulness. According to the passage from Deuteronomy, in the face of the people’s
unfaithfulness, God would withhold the rain, and then their crops would fail, their livestock
would die for want of grasses to graze and water to drink, and they (the Hebrew people)
would soon “…perish quickly from the good land which God was giving them.” (v. 17b)
Even we urbanites know of such things: today, for instance, I occasionally want to do some
writing (e.g., like a sermon) and I understand what writers mean when they talk about
having “writer’s block,” meaning that nothing is coming to them to write, meaning that
their imaginations have “dried up.” Or, perhaps, on the other hand, too much rain might
also be a punishment, as in the story of Noah, which Dale preached on earlier this summer.
Again, we still talk today about being “flooded” with many things: flooded with work,
flooded with worry, flooded with bills, or flooded with other concerns—you fill in the
blank. And these punishments—either drought or floods—would be given to the Hebrew
people by God, they thought, for their lack of faithfulness.
I have two problems with this kind of theology: first, it is naïve, it is childish, and it
is what we in psychology call “magical thinking.” It is in the same category with, “step on a
crack, break your mother’s back.” It is nonsense thinking. Yet however, there are still TVtype preachers who pander this prosperity-type theology. But, one does not have to live
very long before he/she knows what Jesus meant when he said, “You have heard that it was
said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father
in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good; and sends rain on the
righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Mt. 5:43-45, emphasis mine) Don‘t we all know
certain unsavory characters in our society who have prospered greatly, maybe even
obscenely? And don’t we all know really good people, salt-of-the-earth people, who, if it
weren’t for bad luck, wouldn’t have any luck at all? Just because you are good, doesn’t
mean that you are in for smooth sailing in your life. And just because someone is as evil as
the day is long doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to prosper. That is one problem I have
with this theology: it just doesn’t fit “reality.”
The other problem I have with this kind of theology is what it does to our picture of
God. In this theology, God becomes a kind of angry ogre who could heap great harm on
God’s own children because they had done something bad. Do you know of any loving
parent who could do that to their own children? In this theology, God could be “good
parent;” but then again, God could be “bad parent.” This picture of God just doesn’t square
with the picture of God which Jesus came to show us! Jesus describes God like the father of
the prodigal son, who while the son was yet a long way off, saw him coming and ran to meet
him and welcome him home! The God that Jesus shows us is so eager for a relationship with
us that God doesn’t wait for us to come to God, but instead God comes to us! That is the
message of the incarnation. God takes on our life; God takes on our suffering; God even
takes on our death.
I know that this is a difficult picture of God to wrap our minds around. The Apostle
Paul warned us that the picture of God we find in Jesus Christ, a picture of a suffering God, a
“crucified God,” would be just so much foolishness to some, and a stumbling block to
unbelievers. (I Cor. 1:23) The Hasidic Rabbis had a wonderful story about Moses; after he
touched the Red Sea with his staff and had safely led the Israelites across the Red Sea on dry
land, and had received the Ten Commandments, he went back up on the sacred mountain to
visit God. As he approached the spot where he had previously encountered God, he heard
God weeping. Moses asked God, “God, why are you weeping?” And God said, “I am weeping
for my Egyptian children who drowned in the Red Sea.” I know that there are many out
there who want the old God, a strong God who could defeat our enemies, who could keep us
as King of the Mountain. They want a God who helps good people prosper and makes bad
people suffer. Isn’t that all but fair? But, we all come to realize, sooner or later, and
probably, the sooner the better, that life is not always fair. I purposely note the unfairness
of life regularly when I read the obituary pages in the paper. Some folks manage to live long
lives, well into their late eighties or nineties or maybe even 100 or more. Others, on the
other hand, are not so fortunate: some die as infants, or children, or youth or young adults,
maybe they make fifty or sixty, but then they’re gone, prematurely, all too soon. Life isn’t
always fair; we all don’t get the same chances at life that others get.
This is a question that has plagued the Church throughout its history: why isn’t life
fairer? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow bad things to
happen to good people? If you are waiting for me to answer that question, I am afraid I am
going to disappoint you. If the Church has not been able to adequately answer this question
in 20 centuries, who am I to answer it in 20 minutes! What I do know is that “into every life
a little rain must fall.” Life sometimes does “rain on our parade.”
But in all this, the message of the Gospel, while it does not explain why life in not
always fair, does proclaim boldly that, in the midst of all this trouble, “God is with us!” That
is why we need to hear Paul’s words in Romans 8: “Who will separate us from the love of
Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 37-39)
While we are left speechless sometimes in the face of life’s unfairness, we find our voice
again when we affirm that God is with us, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, “…
even unto the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:20b)
Sometimes, perhaps most times, God’s presence is made know to us in the presence
of another person. Martin Thielen recounts his viewing of a 1990 film called “Awakening.”
It starred Robin Williams and Robert De Niro; it won Academy awards for Best Picture, Best
Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. This is what Thielen writes: “It’s a true and touching
story about a group of catatonic patients at a mental hospital who lived in a coma-like
existence for decades. However, through the use of a new drug, a caring doctor woke the
patients out of their catatonic existence. Among them was a man named Leonard. After
decades of living in a vegetative state, Leonard awakened to life. As the movie unfolds, we
delight in Leonard’s progress and learn that he is an intelligent, sensitive, and loving human
being.
“As the weeks progressed, Leonard made friends with a woman who regularly came
to the hospital to visit her father. She and Leonard hit it off and became fast friends.
However, as the story unfolds, Leonard began to regress. The miracle medicine slowly lost
its effectiveness. Leonard began to develop tics all over his face and body, and he knows it’s
only a matter of time before he returns to his catatonic state. … Still the woman continued
her friendship with Leonard. … She still valued him as a human being, cared about him, and
affirmed him. In short, she gave Leonard the wonderful gift of grace.
“Near the end of the movie, Leonard had lunch with this woman. As they ate, she
told Leonard about a dance she had recently attended. Leonard replied that he had never
danced before and probably never would. After lunch, [Thielen writes] they both stood. As
Leonard prepared to leave, he reached out his trembling arm to shake hands with her,
probably for the last time. She took his hand but would not let go. Instead, she put
Leonard’s arms around her in a dance position and held him closely. And there, on the
cafeteria floor of the state mental hospital, she and Leonard began to dance.” (What’s The
Least I Can Believe And Still Be A Christian? pp. 89-90) Like I say, sometimes we see God’s
face in the face of a friend.
I do not know just what “rain” is falling in your life. Perhaps it is lingering grief.
Perhaps it is chronic pain or a potentially life-threatening condition. Perhaps you are
concerned about finances, or worried about a family member. I can’t tell you why those
things are happening to you, but I can and I will tell you that God is with you in whatever
circumstance you face. Knowing that is almost enough to make one want to kick off their
shoes and kick up their heels in a dance of joy. It’s like the Tee-shirt I saw recently in a
catalogue: it read, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to
dance in the rain.”
Amen. So be it.