Trinity Presbyterian Church of Bethesda/United Korean Presbyterian Church
02.10.08; Rev. John An and Rev. David Williams
(delivered concurrently in English and Korean)
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 32
We all like to play games.
It starts when we are very very young.
Toddlers in particular just love games.
They love the funny face game.
When you smile like a fool
Or puff up your cheeks like a frog
They love any game that involves a grownup looking silly.
Toddlers also love the “Let’s hide Daddy’s car keys under the sofa game.”
That one always gets the grownups to make silly faces.
But there’s one game they love more than any other.
It’s that favorite of all games: Peekaboo.
It’s pretty simple to play.
You cover your face...and you’ve disappeared!
Where’d you go?
It’s like magic!
Then, you uncover your face again.
And you’ve reappeared!
Amazing!
Of course, in the mind of a small toddler, that’s just what’s happened.
Their minds have not yet developed.
They don’t yet understand
That things are still there even if you don’t see them right in front of you.
Every time you uncover your face
They’re unprepared for your return.
Such silly little creatures!
Yet here we are
Most of us are grown up human beings.
We come here because we believe in God.
God, who is all loving.
God, who is all knowing.
God, who hems us in before and behind.
God, who knows our going in and our coming out.
But do we truly perceive what that means?
Do we truly act as if we grasped it?
Or are we like those ancients who first sang the 32nd Psalm?
Tradition attributes this song to King David.
It’s called a maskil, which is a “teaching Psalm.”
So what does this Psalm teach us?
In the first four verses, it tells us of suffering
The suffering of one who kept silence before God.
In trying to hide from God,
like Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves from God,
suddenly life became unbearable.
The heart of this text comes in verses five and six.
In those verses, the psalmist’s sin isn’t hidden, it’s acknowledged
And iniquity isn’t hidden.
God’s response isn’t anger
God’s response isn’t punishment
It’s love and grace and forgiveness.
This is what the maskil teaches
This is what we so often struggle to embrace.
If we accept God’s all encompassing power
Why is it so hard for us to embrace His forgiveness
and to turn to that forgiveness with an open heart?
In verse 11, we are reminded that the results of that openness are gladness.
The results of that openness are rejoicing.
The results of that openness are shouts of joy.
But...we continue to hide away.
Here in the first Sunday of Lent
We are called upon to claim these next weeks.
In this season of preparation as we move towards Easter Sunday
We need to capitalize on every Sunday
We need to capitalize on every day
We need to capitalize on every moment
Opening ourselves to God’s presence.
This is a time to prepare ourselves.
We prepare ourselves through prayer.
We prepare ourselves through rededication.
We prepare ourselves through recommitment.
But most of all, we prepare ourselves by opening our hearts.
We need to open ourselves up to the presence of God
Open ourselves up to the release that comes from his forgiveness
Open ourselves up to the joy that comes from Christ’s resurrection.
Over these forty days,
allow the seed of God’s grace to plant itself in you.
Nurture it with prayer
Water it with kindness
Till it with acts of love and mercy
But most importantly, don’t hide it away from God’s light.
Let it grow
Let it flourish
It is a joyous thing
It should be a joyous time.
As you prepare, come to this season with a light and eager heart.
Not like a mule or a beast of burden who must be coerced
But in the free knowledge of what God has to offer all of us.
Approach this season with a developed mind
And a spiritually mature heart.
For though we are all such silly little creatures
Forgetting that things are still there even if we don’t see them right in front of us
Remember.
Uncover your face.
Uncover your heart.
Be prepared for His return.
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