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Between a Rock and a Hard/Holy Place
February 8, 2009
2 Samuel 23:1-5, Psalm 16

For those who are new to Friends, you may have noticed a certain Quaker lingo that gets used around here, which may sound like a foreign language at first. There is really nothing mysterious about it, no secret handshakes, or anything, just a few unique words and phrases that Friends have used through the years to describe our journey together with God. Things like, "way will open," "let you life speak," and "mind the Light," to name a few.

In the rhythm of my workweek, Fridays is the day I begin to put into written form that which has been stirring in my mind and heart during the week. For better or for worse, you get to hear on a Sunday morning, some of what has transpired in my listening and conversation with God during the previous week.

I had a funny experience this past week that brought to life this little expression, "between a rock and a hard place," When we Quakers say, "Mind the Light" it essentially means to pay attention to the ways God is speaking to you, to be mindful of the light God brings across your path in your day to day experiences. Maybe there is some hidden lesson that is pointing you toward some truth you need to integrate into your life. It is really about staying spiritually awake.

I usually go for a run early Friday mornings. I not only enjoy the opportunity to get outdoors, breathing in the beauty of this place we live, but I find it helps to blow off some of the stress from the previous week and to get the creative juices flowing as I prepare to write my meditation.
Well, last Friday I drove up to Moore Park, parked my car and started uphill for a run that quickly evolved into a very slow walk. As I ascended the hill the pavement turned to black ice. What would have normally been a calorie burning exercise soon turned into a calorie burning terror of falling and breaking a limb. You know all the thoughts that start going through your head at a time like this, "Should I turn around and go back? (But reasoned that downhill is even scarier in icy conditions) . . . or do I slowly move forward, hoping to find a patch of grass or gravel that will provide some traction?

At one point, I stopped and just stood there, thinking that I had been crazy for even getting out of my car at the bottom of the hill. So being a good Quaker pastor, I decided to "mind the light" seeing if God might give me a sermon illustration I could use for my meditation this morning. I reflected on some of the things we touched on last week during worship. I wondered if there was a lesson here for my own life, for the life of our meeting as we dream a new vision for the Friends House, or even beyond to some of these complex economic issues we are currently facing within our country?

Like the meaning in this little idiom I have been thinking on, "between a rock and a hard/holy place" sometimes going back is equally as difficult as going forward seems to be. So we have to pause, slow our pace, and ask ourselves what we can learn in this hard place that might transform it into a holy place of learning for us. Would that we would do this more often!

I laughed, well sort of laughed, as I inched slowly on this familiar park path that I'd run so many times before. I quickly began looking for an alternate safe path. At one point I went up and out of my way to a grassy knoll only to find patches of snow that were even slicker than the pavement. I struggled to locate a few footprints in the snow made by other winter travelers, then, in sheer determination, I finally just dug in my heels to keep from slipping on my backside. Feeling rather foolish, I maneuvered my way carefully through the ice maze, glad no one would be around to see me crash. . . When low and behold, the Waste Management truck goes by and the driver yells out, "Be careful!" I am thinking, "Gee thanks, for stating the obvious! Offering a ride would have been more helpful."

I did eventually make my whimpy way down the hillside unscathed.

Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances that had we known it was going to be this hard we might have chosen not to go, or we would have gone a different route, or turned around completely to what is known and safe. But sometimes we need to trust that even though the way forward is slippery and uncertain, it may take us to places we could never have imagined, or perhaps where our faith will be strengthened in unexpected ways. Sometimes we must simply follow in the footprints of those travelers who have made the journey before us.

Our scriptures are a collection of such stories. People who have walked with God, imperfect humans who have made the journey before us, who can teach us some of what it means to walk by faith and to trust God in the hard (even slippery) places of our lives.

An Old Testament king named David comes to mind. David was a beloved leader in Israel's history. He was a poet and musician. But David was far from perfect. In fact, he did some pretty sketchy things. In his desire to have the woman he wanted, he used his position of power to put her husband out in the front lines of battle, so that he would be killed. And for all David's shadow, he was still called a man after God's own heart, not because he was perfect, but at his core he had a hunger to know and serve God.

David suffered because of his sinful choices. He ended up creating a bit of hell for himself as he lived out the consequences of those choices, but God never abandoned him, nor chose NOT to use him as a very effective leader.

David's life was anything but easy. He ended up on some pretty slippery roads. As a young man he took on and defeated a giant. He was later hunted down and tormented by a jealous King Saul before stepping in as the 2nd king of Israel. He experienced the death of his best friend, Jonathan, as well as the death of the child he had with Bathsheba. His son Absalom rebelled against him and was later killed in battle. Just read through 2 Samuel and you will see that David had a pretty dysfunctional family. Yet God used David to do some pretty amazing things.

God loved David. David's Psalms reveal the depth of his honest and intimate relationship with God. So many of his words resonate with my own experience and the safe refuge God has been for me in the hard places of my life.

Are you in a hard place this morning? Do you feel like I did last Friday, like you are walking on black ice? You know you can't go back yet you don't know how to move forward, either. Are you being asked to consider a new path, a less traveled path, and one that might be unfamiliar to you?

Allow me to read this portion of scripture for you this morning from 2 Samuel 23:1-5 (The Message)

"These are David's last words,
The voice of the son of Jesse,
the voice of the man God took to the top,
whom the God of Jacob made king,
and Israel's most popular singer!

'God's Spirit spoke through me,
his words took shape on my tongue.
The God of Israel spoke to me
Israel's Rock-Mountain said,
'Whoever governs fairly and well
who rules in the Fear-of-God,
is like first light at daybreak
without a cloud in the sky,
like green grass carpeting earth,
glistening under fresh rain.'

'And this is just how my regime has been,
for God guaranteed his covenant with me,
spelled it out plainly
and kept every promised word-
My entire salvation.
my every desire.'"

As we move into a time of reflection and open worship allow me to close with a Psalm (16) of David:

"Keep me safe, O God,
I've run for dear life to you.
I say to God, 'Be my Lord!'
Without you, nothing makes sense.

And these God-chosen lives all around-
What splendid friends they make!

Don't just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I'll never treat god-names
like brand-names.

My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I'm your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!

The wise counsel God gives when I'm awake
is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I'll stick with God;
I've got a good thing going and I'm not letting go.

I'm happy from the inside out,
and from the outside in, I am firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell-
That's not my destination!

Now you've got my feet on the life path,
all radiant from the shinning of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
I'm on the right way."
Amen!