A New Zip Code

1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43

A few summers ago Ann and I went on what would become the driving adventure of all time. On this trip we were going to spend a couple days in Las Vegas, then visit some friends in Santa Rosa before coming home. We had the whole trip planned out; even making sure we printed the maps we would need before going on this road trip.

This trip was maybe 12 years ago, and printing a map from the internet was really the best and most up-to-date way to get directions. The version we’ve all come to know and love, the one which today appears on our smart phones at the touch of a screen, didn’t exist yet. As Ann and I would soon find out, the lack of better technology would turn out to be what makes this particular trip probably one of our best.

We took our trip during July, which is when we usually take our trips, and spent the first 3 or 4 days with family in Vegas. That in itself was a great part of our vacation, walking the strip from Mandalay bay to The Cal. We ducked in and of the hotel lobbies to see their great designs, marveling in the fresh flowers, titan-like statues, and overhead skies which were projected onto the lobby ceilings.

 

We stopped to eat lunch and dinner, spent a few moments in casinos – honestly, a few moments – and when night fell we found our way back to Ann’s sister’s house to sleep until the next day when it all started again.

At the end of that stay, we rented a car which would take us from Las Vegas, Nevada to Santa Rosa, California. We had decided before the vacation that we didn’t want to drive on the main highways and freeways when we traveled between Nevada and California. So we mapped a path using highway 15 to get out of Nevada, which would take us south and eventually west, connecting us with other highways until we reached the 101, which we would take us north along the California coast to Santa Rosa.

The map which we used said it would take half a day to get to our destination, so instead of driving that far and for that long in one day, we decided to turn it into a two-day adventure. That would give us time to stop at various places along the way, even if some of those places would be unplanned. I’ll admit that we were a little nervous about the road trip, maybe a bit worried as well, as this was the first time either of us had attempted something like this before.

The adventure started out good, albeit a little frightening. The first point on our map we needed to cross once we got out of Nevada was somewhere called the Mountain Pass, which for those of us who have never traveled to someplace like this, is exactly what it sounds like. I vividly remember the highway straightening out and there ahead of us, at what looked like the end of the road, were two mountains, one on each side of the path we were on.

To make things a little more worrisome, hovering over this mountain pass were very dark clouds from which sparks of lightening could be seen. We were literally driving into a thunder storm and there was no way to get around it without turning back. We drove on, knowing that God was with us, and that we had each other.

Of course, being island people we had no idea how far that pass really was, and by the time we reached it the storm had moved on and the skies above our path were clear.

A few hours later we began getting hungry and we came across a truck stop in Yuma, California called Peggy Sues. We stopped to eat there, enjoying the diner’s 50’s and 60’s atmosphere and memorabilia, which featured posters from old movies such as King Kong and Gone with the Wind, life-size celebrity figures of Elvis and The Blues Brothers, and even a whole section devoted to Betty Boop.

We moved along, deciding to stop in the first town we came to that had a Hotel 6. We found one, but unfortunately the Motel 6 had no occupancies so we stayed at another motel; one which I would rather not stir any real memories of. Let’s just say it gave us a place to rest for the night and for that we were thankful.

The next day began with a breakfast so large, eaten at a diner so greasy, that the meal we had lasted well past lunch. Which was a good thing because our trip was about to take a turn we had not planned for. Somewhere along the way that morning we took a right turn when we should have turned left. Instead of finding our way west to the famous 101, we found ourselves wandering in the deserts of California.

Wandering is a good word for what we were doing because we had no idea where we were, nor did we have any idea on how to get back on track. We were lost. We decided that it would be best if we kept going straight on whatever road we were until we reached someplace where someone could give us directions back.

We literally traveled for hours not seeing anything which resembled a gas station or convenience store. There was no post office or police station, nothing at where we could stop and ask for help. The feeling of being alone began to mix with the feeling of being lost.

We had no idea where we were, until we saw a sign that read, “Jawbone Museum”. Apparently we were in a place called Jawbone, California which was famous enough to have a museum. What excited us more about there being a Jawbone Museum, though, was that there had to be someone inside that museum that could help us find our way back. It’s too bad they were closed.

We were once again lost and alone.

We left Jawbone, heading in the same direction along that single road through the desert. We traveled until we passed through a place called Red Rock Canyon, which I will admit was a very beautiful place, especially as the sun was beginning to fall in the west, shining its rays directly into the canyon and highlighting the red clay rock for which it was named.

On the one hand I fully appreciated the beauty of God’s creation, and on the other I wished there was a convenience store or gas station or something, anything that had a person we could talk to in that God-forsaken place.

I can’t tell you how much further, or longer, we drove. There actually came a point where we regretted making the decision to keep going until we would find someone to help us. We were in that place known as the point of no return. We started the day with a full tank of gas, and now had somewhere between a quarter tank and a half tank. Even if we wanted to turn back we couldn’t for fear of running the tank dry and really being lost and alone.

Then, when all hope had almost escaped from us we came across a little town at the top of a hill. I don’t think we were ever so happy to see civilization as we were in that moment. As we kept driving we saw what we were searching for along this lonely, barren path – a gas station. Not only was it a gas station, but it was open and had a person in it.

We exclaimed, “There is a God!”

We pulled into the station to put gas in our rental car. While there we took the opportunity to use the restroom and ask for directions. “Where are you trying to get to?” the nice young lady asked.

“Santa Rosa”, we replied.

I will never forget the look on this young girl’s face. She was bewildered. “How did you get here?” she inquired.

“We don’t know.” was all we could answer.

“Well”, she said, “You can’t get to Santa Rosa from here, there’s no road that’ll take you west across the state from here. You’ll have to go back the way you came until you find highway 58, which will take you west into Bakersfield where you can connect to the 5 and on your way north towards Santa Rosa.” Just the trip to Bakersfield was about 200 to 300 miles, or another 4 or 5 hours back the way we came.

So we turned around, passed through Red Rock Canyon, which was even more beautiful as the setting sun glowed against the west-facing canyon walls. We pushed through Jawbone, laughing as we passed by that museum and we we soon came across highway 58 where we turned towards a sign which pointed to Bakersfield.

We were on our way.

We eventually made it to our friend’s house in Santa Rosa, but not without getting lost one more time on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge, somehow heading south to San Jose instead.

Let me tell you, that was one adventure. I’ll always remember that feeling of being lost and scared. I’ll always remember how my stomach sank as the young lady told us we couldn’t get to our destination. I’ll always remember passing through a deep canyon as the skies darkened. I’ll also always remember what it was like to finally get to our destination where good friends waited up for us and put us at ease with fresh sheets on a warm bed, all given to us with unconditional love and a deep understanding of what we had just gone through.

I tell you this story because as I read today’s passage all I could think about was how the travelers in the days of King Solomon might have felt alone and a little worried as they traveled their paths from east to west or from south to north. I’m certain the roads were filled with twists and turns, which could have easily led the traveler astray.

I imagine these travelers finally reaching their destination – weary, dirty from the road, hungry and thirsty, and in much need of hospitality.  Then I see their faces as they enter into Solomon’s temple; a place filled with such beauty, a place so grand that all of the worries and fears from their travels melt away as they find themselves enveloped within the home which Solomon built for them.

Yes, I said that Solomon built the temple for them; those weary travelers who need a place to rest and recuperate before moving on to other destinations and adventures.

Last week we were present when Solomon prayed to God to give him the ability to understand how best to make things “pono” for the people which God placed in his protection. This week we listen as Solomon makes an altogether different kind of prayer, one that is more inclusive of just “a great people of a great nation.”

Solomon admits to God that there is no way God could possibly live on earth. He claims with absolute truth that “If heaven, even the highest heaven, can’t contain you, how can this temple that I’ve built contain you?” So instead of dedicating the temple to God, he dedicates the temple to the immigrant, the foreigner, the weary traveler. Solomon dedicates the temple to all who need a place of refuge and a place to find healing.

Then Solomon makes this request; that all who enter this temple will come to know God because the immigrant, the outsider, will be heard by God as they ask for rest for their body and restitution of their souls. The temple which Solomon built is a place for all people to come to know God and for God to know all people. Solomon’s hope is that the temple becomes a place where that relationship between God and people can be made stronger.

Such should be our churches today, don’t you think?

Some churches make the mistake of thinking that God lives within their four walls, that the only way to meet God is to come visit God in their building. The truth is that God is everywhere.  Solomon reminds us that there is no place on earth that can hold God, and the best way to get to know God is to call out to God and to spend some time with God.

Our churches, these buildings, really are for those who are weary and feeling lost and alone. These buildings are for those who are considered outsiders and are living on the fringes of society. These buildings are for us, those who are the builders and caretakers of these walls, to be available to greet the tired, weak, and broken and welcome them into a new life – one filled with the knowledge that there is a God who travels with them and is waiting up for them to arrive so they can lay their weary bodies and souls onto a warm bed and rest under fresh sheets; regardless of who they are or from where they travel.

God is with us all.   Amen.

A Word For The Wise

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

A Word For The Wise

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

One of the more interesting exercises we did while I was taking ministry classes at Whitworth College was to transpose a story which one of our classmates spoke to us. An oral presentation of that story would be put into writing, and then passed to a different classmate who would rewrite it into a style which would be best understood by the community in which they lived.

The story was then passed to another classmate who would rewrite it so that those who lived in their community 4 or 5 generations from now could still understand its meaning. As you can imagine, the lengths of the story, or the words which were used, or even the writing styles all changed as the stories were passed from one hand to the other, but what we found most interesting is that the meaning of the story never changed. For all of the rewrites and re-edits, the stories held onto what the original storyteller had always intended.

It was explained that this is how many of the stories within the bible came to be; starting out as an oral presentation and ending up written, edited, re-written, and re-edited for each generation and each community to understand. This practice continued until those stories got printed, seemingly once and for all, in the collection of books we know as our bible.

It’s actually a fun exercise and something I encourage you to try at home.

Then, when I was completing my Old Testament course with Vancouver School of Theology, I was delighted when the professor used the same technique to help us understand the Old Testament better. However, our professor, who was a well-established scholar of the Old Testament, introduced to us an extra step – after having us rewrite the story for the third time she had us translate it into a different language.

We all had to admit that we didn’t know the rules of grammar or enough vocabulary of another language to do that exercise, but she pushed us along. One of our classmates actually knew the Hawaiian language enough for us to take one of the stories, the shortest one, and translate it into Hawaiian. We found that to be a difficult task because the Hawaiian language, or at least as much as our classmate knew, didn’t have words or phrases which could be translated directly from the English language. We had to discuss the main idea of the phrase or word which was written in English, and somehow translate that idea as closely as possible using what little Hawaiian we knew.

We never got to finish that exercise, mostly because time was running out. However, we understood what it must have been like for the translators of the bible to take words which were written in ancient Hebrew or Greek, or in Latin, and do their best to bring an understanding to the first bible written in English: the King James Version. It must also have taken the translators of the bible quite some time and discussion to bring to us the many bibles we have written for us in the English language today, many of which try to duplicate an idea for an idea instead of word for word as did the KJV.

Today, I want to use this translation exercise to help bring a closer meaning to what I see the young King Solomon asking for in verse 9 of today’s passage. Please bear with me if this feels more like a classroom lecture than a sermon, but I honestly believe you’ll have a deeper meaning to today’s passage when we are done.

You should have all gotten a copy of the Hawaiian and English versions of  the verse we’ll be focusing on today, if not please raise your hand so we can get one to you. In school we would call this a worksheet, so let’s all look at our worksheet. On your worksheets you’ll see a place to jot down the best definitions for the words which will be translated.

Let’s begin with the first part of that verse, “Nolaila, e haawi mai oe i naauao i kau kauwa nei e hoomalu i kou poe kanaka,” The first word, “Nolaila: simply means “so” as in “So, what do you think so far?” Many of the other words are what literary people would call fillers – the, of, my, yours, and such. So, the first word I’ve highlighted is “ha’awai”, which means to give freely. Here, Solomon is asking God to freely give, as one would freely give a gift to a child or give a hug to someone who is sad.

The next word I want to define is “na’auao”, or knowledge. This, however, is not knowledge one already has, but the knowledge one gets in the process of learning. It is not something already obtained, rather something one is acquiring. Kind of like how you’re all receiving “na’auao” as we go through this list of words together.

The next word needs a little deeper of an explanation. Let me begin with the prefix, “ho’o”, which means to make happen, to bring to fruition, to ensure the completion of something. This will be helpful as we get to a couple of our other words. “Malu” is loosely translated as shade. But the shade which this word represents is not merely a shadow cast by an object; this word literally means the protection which shade can bring. “Ho’omalu”, then, reflects Solomon’s desire to bring God’s people into a place of safety, a place where they can be protected by the “shade” which God provides.

  

Let’s take a look at the second part of today’s verse. “I hiki ia'u ke hookaawale mawaena o ka pono a me ka hewa.” Again, most of these words are possessive descriptors or articles such as “the” or “a” or words such as “of”. So I want to focus on the three words which I think lie at the heart of Solomon’s request: “ho’oka’awale”, “mawena”, and “pono”.

We see in that first word the prefix, “ho’o” again, so we know something will need to come to completion. That thing would be “ka’awale”, or separation. The definition of “ka’awale” is to divide into different parts, or to segregate according to similarities. The next word, “mawaena” simply means between, as in making a choice between this or that. Here we are to understand that Solomon wants the ability to recognize certain things to the point where he can completely understand what is similar and different between them.

That thing Solomon wants to understand is what makes things “pono” or “hewa”. Those who understand Hawaiian know I just used the words which are translated as good and evil; “pono” and “hewa”. However, the idea of “pono” and “hewa” go so much deeper than good or evil. When something is “pono” it is in harmony with all living things. To be “pono” is to to be in such a way where everything is at peace, where all is at rest in your soul and in the life-force of everything God created.

 To be “pono” is what God intended for God’s creation. It is what Jesus so often reminds us when he says to love God with all our being and to love each other and ourselves in the same way. To live “pono” is to live in the realization of hope fulfilled; to live with the joy, peace, and love God created us to share with one another, ourselves, God, and creation from the beginning of time.

“Hewa” is the exact opposite of that. “Hewa” is when things are out of balance, when the disruption in creation’s life force is out of sync and therefore out of our selves and out of all of creation which surrounds us. There is no peace, love, or joy in “hewa”, and if not taken care of “hewa” will eventually destroy hope.

We’ve come to the final portion of today’s verse. Owai la ka mea e hiki ia ia ke hooponopono i kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia. The words which I have chosen to focus on are “owai” and “hooponopono” and the phrase, “kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia.”

I want to say that the word “owai” has become my most favorite word in this whole verse. “Owai” means to entwine as in weaving. When I let this word fill my mind and heart I began visualizing Solomon’s request to be more than the giving of understanding, but the ability to weave together the concept of “pono” with all of God’s people, himself, creation, and God. I literally saw Solomon working with God to enrich the lives of God’s people by bringing everyone and everything together under one love, one God. “Owai”, in its simplest form might mean to weave, but in the context of today’s verse I think it holds a much deeper meaning; bringing together what are now “loose threads” into a tapestry so grand that it would be worthy of hanging in the halls of God’s kingdom.

 Our next word has that great prefix again, “ho’o”. However, this time its followed by a word which duplicates itself, “ponopono”. We already understand the concept of “pono”, so let me explain what is meant by “ponopono”. When a word is doubled in the Hawaiian language it also doubles its meaning. So, “ho’oponopono” would not just mean to bring to completion harmony in the world, it would mean to really, really, really bring to completion harmony within the world.

Another point I need to make about “ho’oponopono” is that in the Hawaiian culture this can be done only through a priest. “Ho’oponopono” can only become reality if the one doing it is appointed by God. In this case, that person would be Solomon.

The phrase, “kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia” is Solomon saying to God, “your great people of this, your greatest nation.”

So, there we have it; today’s exercise in translation. If it’s okay with you I would like you to turn to your neighbor and see if you can write your own translation of the verse from today in the space provided on your worksheet. What you’re going to use are the words, ideas, and concepts which were discussed and try, as best as you are able, to see if you can keep the same ideas which the translators of the Hawaiian bible had. Of course, you will be writing in English. If you need reminders as to what the words mean there is an answer key on the back.

God is with us Always. Amen.

Solomon’s Request Worksheet

(aka “A Word For The Wise”)

·        Nolaila, e haawi mai oe i naauao i kau kauwa nei e hoomalu i kou poe kanaka,

o   Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people

§  Haawi –________________________________________________

§  Naauao – _______________________________________________

§  Hoomalu

·        Ho’o – ____________________________________________

·        Malu – ____________________________________________

·        i hiki ia'u ke hookaawale mawaena o ka pono a me ka hewa

o   And to distinguish between good from evil

§  Hookaawale

·        Ho’o –_________________________________________

·        Ka’awale – ____________________________________________

§  Mawaena – ______________________________________________

§  Pono v. hewa

·        Pono – ____________________________________________

·        Hewa – ____________________________________________

·        owai la ka mea e hiki ia ia ke hooponopono i kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia.

o   because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help

§  Owai – __________________________________________________

§  Hooponopono – ___________________________________________

§  Kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia – _____________________________________________________________

·        Hawaiian version – Nolaila, e haawi mai oe i naauao i kau kauwa nei e hoomalu i kou poe kanaka, i hiki ia'u ke hookaawale mawaena o ka pono a me ka hewa; no ka mea, owai la ka mea e hiki ia ia ke hooponopono i kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia.

·        English version – Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish between good from evil because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help

·        Your version – ______________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Solomon’s Request Answer Key

(aka “A Word For The Wise”)

·        Nolaila, e haawi mai oe i naauao i kau kauwa nei e hoomalu i kou poe kanaka,

o   Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people

§  Haawi – to give freely, by choice

§  Naauao – knowledge, as in to learn

§  Hoomalu

·        Ho’o –to bring to fruition, to make happen, to ensure completion

·        Malu – shade, as in shelter or protection from

·        i hiki ia'u ke hookaawale mawaena o ka pono a me ka hewa

o   And to distinguish between good from evil

§  Hookaawale

·        Ho’o –to bring to fruition, to make happen, to ensure completion

·        Ka’awale – separate

§  Mawaena – between

§  Pono v. hewa

·        Pono – all things in harmony.

·        Hewa – a disruption in the harmony of all things

·        owai la ka mea e hiki ia ia ke hooponopono i kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia.

o   because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help

§  Owai – entwine, to weave

§  Hooponopono – to completely and without flaw bring all things into harmony

§  Kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia – your great people of this, your greatest nation.”

·        Hawaiian version – Nolaila, e haawi mai oe i naauao i kau kauwa nei e hoomalu i kou poe kanaka, i hiki ia'u ke hookaawale mawaena o ka pono a me ka hewa; no ka mea, owai la ka mea e hiki ia ia ke hooponopono i kou lahuikanaka he nui loa me neia.

·        English version – Please give your servant a discerning mind in order to govern your people and to distinguish between good from evil because no one is able to govern this important people of yours without your help

·        Pastor Randy’s version – So, I ask you to freely give to me the ability to learn how to create a place of safety for your people and to be able to distinguish between when things are in harmony (with God, each other, ourselves, and creation) or not in harmony, because only if we are woven together can we bring all things into complete harmony for the great people of this, the greatest of nations.

Sometimes We Have To Cry Out

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

To understand the pain David felt in the moment when he cries out “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” we need to take a look at the events which led to this moment.

It started when David’s first son, Amnon, raped his half-sister Tamar, who was Absalom’s full sister. The violation of Tamar became very public and David had a difficult time deciding what to do. On the one hand a law had been broken and there should be some kind of penalty and on the other hand the violator was his first-born son. While David was furious about what had happened, he just couldn’t bring himself to punish Amnon.

 

As you might imagine, David’s decision angered Absalom. After all, how would you feel if a member of your family was violated in this way and got away with it? So, Absalom made a plan to avenge his sister himself.

One of the events the elite celebrated in Jerusalem was the time of shearing. This was when all the sheep in the land were sheared of their wool after which a banquet was held in the hall of the king. Absalom was the host of this particular banquet and invited everyone in the land to attend, including Amnon. Then, when Amnon was too drunk to know what was happening, Absalom had him killed, right there in front of everyone. David became livid and vowed to avenge his first-born’s death which made Absalom flea from his home in Jerusalem to take up residence in the homeland of his mother.

After Absalom had been in exile for a few years, David was convinced by the kindness of a traveling woman to allow his son to return, and so David did. That decision proved to be a big mistake as Absalom soon plotted to take the throne from David, first by convincing everyone in Jerusalem that David was an unjust king, then by building an army so strong and large that David had no choice but to flea across the Jordan.

Before Absalom could mount a battle to once and for all rid Israel of its king, David found a way to delay him just long enough to build his own army. Today’s passage brings us to the eve of the battle between David and his son, Absalom.

If we take a look at what brought David and his son to be in such a place, we can see that the story is filled with injustice, revenge, deceit, and mostly unresolved hatred; all of which spin out of control to a point where neither David nor Absalom can do anything to resolve it. Yet, in the midst of all this madness, on the eve of the king sending his army to defeat that of his son, David makes a plea to his generals, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” With all that has happened between him and his son, with all of the back-stabbing and lying and cheating, David still shows compassion for Absalom and asks that nothing happen to him.

The battle known as “The Battle of Ephraim’s Wood” begins and it’s a slaughter. We are told that the battle spread over the entire country and that Absalom loses 20,000 of his army, with the rest giving up and fleeing home. Unfortunately, one of the defeated is Absalom himself as he is trapped by a tree branch with his body suspended in mid-air while a group of David’s servants come across him.

When I first read this I must admit I chuckled; the scene is rather comical. Imagine a seasoned soldier, one trained by the best army-trainers in the land, riding a mule through the woods when suddenly his head gets caught between two branches. Then, while he’s struggling to get free his mule continues on, leaving this great soldier with his feet dangling and the weight of his body too great for only his arms and hands to free himself.

Well, it’s a funny scene to me.

But as I was preparing for today’s text I came across a comment by 20^th century theologian Walter Brueggemann that said, “Absalom is suspended between life and death, between the sentence of a rebel and the value of a son, between the severity of the king and the yearning of the father. He is no longer living, because he is utterly vulnerable, but he is not dead”

There it was, as plain as daylight for me. We had reached a place in the story which mirrors what many of us go through at times; that place between life and death. We find ourselves in that place where we’re not sure if we can go on because the entire world seems to be crashing down on us. We find ourselves in that place where overwhelming circumstances have taken control and we don’t know if we can escape the grip of that which suspends us.

Absalom is now set to face the consequences of his actions. Yet, he is unable to cry out for help. Absalom is utterly alone and at the mercy of others. Unfortunately, this circumstance gets him killed. Not by those who wish to honor the king’s plea to be gentle with his son, but by David’s most trusted advisor, who takes it upon himself to avenge his king.

It would seem that the circumstances which surround David are falling more and more out of control at the hands and minds of those closest to him.

A messenger is sent to tell the king what happened, actually if you read this chapter in its entirety you would see that two messengers are sent. David asks both if there is any news of his son and the first messenger, who was actually a witness to everything, says to David that he saw something going on, but he didn’t know what it was. The second messenger answers that the king’s son was indeed killed, but doesn’t tell him how.

Instead of knowing the truth, David is led to believe that his son was killed in the heat of battle.

I have to admit that when I read today’s text after getting all of this information, I felt my heart sink. Here stood David, a father who was betrayed and cast out by his own son – a man who had nothing but hatred for his father, a man who made it his life’s quest to destroy and kill his father. Yet David stood, winner of a great battle but loser of one he still loved. David stood at the gates of his great city with all the hope he had for any chance of reconciling with Absalom gone.

There David stood with circumstances in his life out of control and feeling alone as he cries out to nobody in particular, except maybe himself, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”         

The other day in our English class the teacher led a discussion with which the lesson was to understand that we all have different points-of-view and as such we interpret things differently, especially literature.

She projected a painting by Andrew Wyeth titled “Christina’s World.”  In the foreground of this painting is a woman, dressed in a pale pink dress, sitting sideways in the middle of a field of grass that is brownish-yellow.  She has one hand on the ground to her side, and the other on the ground in front of her, almost giving the impression she is either lifting herself off the earth from a nap, or pulling herself by her hands along the field.  

In the background is a farm house, a very good distance from where the woman sits. Her body is twisted in the direction of the home as it seemingly points itself along a path towards the house. In between the woman and the farmhouse is a lot of dry grass, a field so large it seems to engulf both the woman and the house.

The teacher then asked the class to describe what they thought was going on in the painting.  Most of them answered that the woman was just waking up from a nap, or that she fell down and was trying to get up. A few of them commented that maybe she had something wrong with her which caused her to faint.

Then one of the boys noticed that there was a set of tire tracks to the far right of the painting. He commented that perhaps the woman was riding in a car that was driving away from the house and had to jump out of the car because she didn’t want to be in whatever situation was happening in the car.

The class began agreeing with this young man, that perhaps something bad was happening to the woman in the painting and she was trying to get away. The teacher asked them why they felt that way and those who participated in the discussion said that’s how they feel sometimes. They mentioned that their parents are always fighting, or that they’re always getting in trouble for things they honestly didn’t do. One even said she was thinking about a relationship she had a few years ago that wasn’t good for her and all she wanted to do was get out.

The teacher was then ready for the real lesson; how sometimes our perception changes when we know a little more about the facts of that which we observe. This particular painting is that of a real-life person named Anna Christina Olson. She actually lived in such a place with a large grassy field and a farm-house.

One day, while staying in the farm house as a guest, the painter looked outside his bedroom window and saw Christina actually crawling across the field. He thought this to be quite touching because Christina suffered from a muscular-degenerative disease, such as polio. Crawling was how she got around.  He thought it was one of the most amazing things he’s seen; a woman who could not support herself with her legs finding a way to get outside and enjoy God’s creation.

Almost in unison the students showed their own amazement as they breathed a collective “wow.” The teacher then asked if anyone’s perception of the painting had changed.

One boy raised his hand almost immediately and said in a confident voice, “That last comment about the tire tracks is still fresh in my mind and after hearing about how she has polio or something like that I began to think, what if the tire tracks are from the doctor’s car. Maybe he just drove away after telling Christina that she has a degenerative-muscle disease and she ran out of the house to get as far away from the bad news as she could, not yet impacted by the disease. But just as she reached that point in the field her legs gave out and she fell, so that now she’s crying out to the house for help.”

The class gave a hum of approval, with a few actually applauding and saying how deep that was. This young man had hit on something I think they could all associate with; the need to escape bad news and realizing there is no escape. In a way I think almost every one of those students had been in a place where their circumstances had become overwhelming to a point where they felt alone, not knowing if they can escape the grip of that which suspended them between life and death.

He then added that sometimes he feels like that, alone, in pain, wanting only to escape but unable to. It’s in those times he wants to just scream at the world. A few others in the class added that they’ve been in that place a lot of times; sometimes wishing they were dead. One of them even said that when they get to that place they actually contemplate suicide.

All I could think at this point was how deeply sad it was for a 16-year old person to think that the only way out of their circumstance was to end the life which is so preciously theirs.

Then somebody called out, “We love you!” and the rest of the class joined in, all crying out, “We love you!”

It was a very touching moment, one that really brought home to me the meaning of today’s text. Sometimes we get to a place in our lives where nothing seems to be going right and everything around us is spinning out of control, just as it was for David. And just like David all we can really do is cry out.

The good news is that we have a God who is always by our side, not only as we’re going through our trials, but also as we cry out in despair. It’s this God, our Constant Companion, who will eventually cry out to us that we are loved, and no matter what we are never alone. 

God is always with us.  Amen.