February 6, 2008
| Ash Wednesday, 2008 | Psalm 51 |
"A theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is." -Martin Luther in the Heidelberg Disputations, April 1518.
I am starting here in order to lay a foundation for the message of Psalm 51. Calling a thing what it actually is.
Reading Psalm 51 in our social context has some problems. People don't like to talk about sin. People certainly don't like to think of themselves as sinners. People can become most upset if you expose children to the idea that they too are sinners.
But woe to us if we lose the ability to call a thing what it is.
I was working as a youth pastor in Janesville Wisconsin, and our church had an event similar to the Parents' Night Out that we have here at this church. Lots of little tykes were dropped off at church, and older kids volunteered to watch them, with adult supervision, of course.
I walked in to the nursery just to check on how things were going. Here is what I saw. One of our teenage boys- a nice kid- was on his hands and knees playing nicely with a toddler.
Behind him, Marcus, a boy of about four or five was putting all his might into swinging a large metal Tonka Truck down onto the teenager's back. He went at it like a lumberjack in full swing! That metal truck was on a swift downward path, right in line with the head of the unsuspecting teenager.
I caught the truck in mid swing, and only then did Marcus realize I was standing there.
I took the toy away. I gave Marcus a time-out.
He clearly resented my interference. Marcus carried on as if I had no right to frustrate him in his personal expression of fun. He was smiling as he swung that heavy truck. He scowled at me for stopping him.
Why would a kid hit the babysitter?
This psalm says that sin is with us from the beginning. That is a very controversial thing to say.
But this profound Psalm must be read not as a scolding, not as some mean-spirited reminder that you are supposed to see yourself as scum.
This psalm speaks most powerfully to the person who discovers their own sense of guilt, their own sense of shame
When we are calling a thing what it is, when we say there is SIN in our lives, we are not engaging in de-valuing humans, we are not telling people they are worthless, we are not taking snooty people down a few pegs.
The psalm says that each of us has that impulse to smash somebody with that Tonka truck. To assert our right to do so without interference from some rule-maker. Every breaking of the commandments is at root a defying of God. So even when the things we do cause havoc for our neighbors, it is first a sin against God, thus the phrase "Against you only have I sinned" in verse 4.
The psalmist knows the sad inevitability of reaching the point, sometime or other, of knowing we have been guilty of things done or things left undone. When the psalm says that sin seems to be there from the start, we are standing in the place where poetry expresses truth. Calling a thing what it actually is.
The ashes of ash Wednesday are also a reality check- the practice of calling a thing what it actually is- our lives are limited. Once a year, at least, let us drop the pretense of invincibility and say that each life, however precious, will someday cease to be.
We are speaking of the human condition, and we aspire to tell the truth.
But we are called to tell the whole truth. The whole truth includes an encounter with a God who has the unique problem. God must be faithful even when we are false.
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit."
The words are careful and deliberate. The word 'Create' CREATE in me a clean heart... this is a deliberate reference to God's power- the mention of the holy spirit- also recalls the scene of creation in Genesis 1 where the Spirit of God moved to make and form the heavens and the earth.
When God speaks forgiveness it is not a capitulation to sin, it is an act of a new creation.
Confession is not fir the sake of dragging our hearts through the mud and mire, but it is for the sake of being who we are before God- calling a thing what it is.
That is the moment God begins to create again.
The death we die, we die first in baptism, so the ashes of death are also the dust of the new creation.
God begins where we are, and creates. Thus we can be honest, and not despair. We can have regrets, but not be mired in the past. Take this word tonight- the Psalmist is telling us of the power of God- God Creates clean hearts, God restores the spirit, God bestows joy that does not depend on daily circumstance. We are alive to God because God is faithful.
Marcus sat in the corner scowling for a while. Silent. The next time he spoke, he was smiling. He was allowed to play again. He's really a nice kid. Imagine how much God loves him before, during and after.
This is what it means to be redeemed. God creates newness. This too is the way things really are.