Good Gifts of God

 

Sylvia Sutherland Funeral - May 18, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

I've looked, but cannot find a baseball reference in Scripture anywhere!

Lots of archery, spear-throwing, references to foot-race, and the like, but nothing about baseball.

But there is quite a bit about attitude and accomplishment and relationships, and the source of all that we have and are.

Those are the things which we need to explore together this afternoon.

 

It is easy to overlook the fact that scripture has two different rehearsals of the story of King David.

The books of Samuel gives one and Chronicles gives the other, shall we say sanitized, version of the story.

Chronicles shows David in the best possible light, moving ahead with the best intentions and decisions, always centered on the worship of God in Jerusalem.

Samuel shows a much more realistic human David.

Let's listen to several bits from that story:

 

1 Samuel 19:9-10  David was hired by King Saul to quiet the King's migraines by harp-playing.
 
Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. 10Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.

1 Samuel 21:10-15
David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath.
11 The servants of Achish said to him, ‘Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
“Saul has killed his thousands,
   and David his tens of thousands”?’
12  David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. 13So David changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence.* He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. 14Achish said to his servants, ‘Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?’

1 Samuel 23: 24-29
David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 25Saul and his men went to search for him. When David was told, he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon. 26Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them. 27Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.’ 28So Saul stopped pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.* 29*David then went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

2 Samuel 12:13-15    King David stole Bathsheba to be his wife.  Nathan the prophet has to confront him about his sin, which he does admit:
13 David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan said to David, ‘Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord,* the child that is born to you shall die.’ 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill. [and died.]

2 Samuel 16:5-8
5 When King David came to Bahurim, a man of the family of the house of Saul came out whose name was Shimei son of Gera; he came out cursing. 6He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; now all the people and all the warriors were on his right and on his left. 7Shimei shouted while he cursed, ‘Out! Out! Murderer! Scoundrel! 8The Lord has avenged on all of you the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, disaster has overtaken you; for you are a man of blood.’

 

David, with a good PR person in the writer of Chronicles, comes off as royal, resolute, effective, the model ruler toward which every other king or would-be king in Israel's history aspires.

David in Samuel's telling, as we have just been hearing it, has many more wrinkles and flaws.

Oh, yes, he was clever and strong, but not clever and strong all on his own.

His perseverance and strength  were gifts of God.

It was enjoyable to hear the other day about Sylvia and a few of her exploits.

I'm sure that many more will be shared and enjoyed when we get over to fellowship hall a bit later.

She was well-known and respected by the staff at Little League, both at the regional office and here at the International office,

She was respected for her sense of hospitality to the visiting teams,

She was respected for her appreciation of restaurant patrons and staff at many local establishments, and many more such things.

But how was any of this possible?

The energy, the camaraderie, the vivacity  were all gifts of God.

Even though Sylvia wasn't sure how she could or should say thank you, they were nevertheless gifts of God, even as the Psalmist exclaimed: O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Just as King David should not brag about his accomplishments being due to his own strength, neither should we.

By the grace of God we have done this or that good thing;

by the grace of God we have escaped from this or that tragedy .

By the grace of God some have been a part of God's first covenant people;

by the grace of God some of us are sent to call the world to be a part of the body of Christ.

Do we err? Do we mess up things along the way?

Yes, of course, and we cannot stand on our own strength. If you, Lord were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand?

 But here is that great church-word grace again: the Psalmist reminds us

...wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy; with him there is plenteous redemption....

 

So on this occasion when we are remembering some of the many gifts which God granted to Sylvia to use,

it is also an occasion for us to think about how many similar gifts have come our way,

to offer thanks to God for them,

and to discern how best to use them in ways that will be as helpful and joy-filled as Sylvia's activities have been.

May that thinking and thanking continue with holy delight.  Amen.