Psalm 126;
Dec 14, 08
1st Thes. 5.16-25
Patrick Preheim
Planting Grandma
Three weeks ago my Preheim family gathered for the memorial service of my
grandmother, Sieglinda Preheim. For seven decades she had been the spiritual
heart of the family. Although strokes had eliminated her speech and sight, and
although we all knew it was time for her to go to her eternal home, we grieved
her passing. Three inches of snow fell the night before the service and we
trudged across the white blanket to the graveside. The Salem Mennonite Church
cemetery overlooks Turkey Creek. It is a glacier carved valley not dissimilar
from the North or South Saskatchewan River basins. The vista is magnificent. My
grandparent’s farm overlooked the Turkey Creek Valley and now her burial plot
looks out over the same patchwork sections of agriculture, farmsteads, and
trees. This was the scene as Pastor S. Roy Kauffman gave a brief meditation on
Psalm 126.
Psalm 126, he said, uses planting imagery and that we were effectively planting Sieglinda Preheim. The Psalm remembers God’s former restoration of Zion. It petitions God to again bring salvation in the midst of challenge. And then the Psalm uses an agricultural analogy to comfort the people: that those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. S. Roy noted that some commentators suggest that these tears at the time of sowing reflect an ancient pagan belief that the sowing of the seed had to be marked by weeping for the death of the nature god of fertility (A Handbook on Psalms by Robert Bratch and William Reyburn, p. 1070). He said that we too grieve at the burial (the final earthly planting) of our loved ones, but that this sowing is not the end. Those who have died in the Lord will rise up again. They will rise with the Lord on the last day. And their spirits also rise in us. After time has tempered the grief of loss we are graced with a harvest of memories that nourish us. When we remember those who have gone before us, particularly our spiritual mentors, we harvest the strength of their spirits in our own lives. We sow in tears and reap in joy.
As Pastor Kauffman spoke about Psalm 126 I admit to thinking that it was a fitting text for a funeral, interment, or Memorial Sunday. Imagine my surprise when upon returning to the office and turning my attention to this worship service I found Psalm 126 as one of the scripture lessons. What has Psalm 126 to do with Advent?, I wondered to myself. As I have considered the intersection of text and season I have decided that Psalm 126 does speak to Advent. Psalm 126 takes a pagan myth and employs that myth in a promise of restoration. This recasting of a cultural myth is something God fearers have done throughout history. The date we celebrate Christmas is likely a Christianization of the Roman holiday celebrating the birthday of the unconquered Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti). On or around the winter solstice in Roman times several solar deities were worshipped collectively (including Elah-Gabal (Syrian); Sol (Roman) and Mithras (Persian)). The Christmas tree, many think, is a Christianization of Teutonic myths connected to their chief god Odin. Evergreens were thought to have the magic essence of Odin because they resisted the life-threatening powers of darkness and cold. Northern Europeans believed that the special powers of these trees combated the evil spirits wherever they were, so they brought the greenery into their homes. Psalm 126 takes a myth from its time period and transforms it into a litany of hope in Adoni, the one true God of Israel. Even as Christians have transformed myths around Ashera, Mithra, and Odin I think we could do the same with the myths of our day and likewise weave Christian faithfulness into them. Myths?, you ask. Do we really still live with myths? I think so.
A large North American myth rearing its ugly head in these very weeks is the pervasive notion that bought items, Christmas presents in particular, can tangibly upgrade our lives. Television and print advertising have been relentless in promoting the myth in these last weeks. With the drop in temperatures I suddenly found myself interested in expanding my “long johns” supply from one to anything more than one. I am partial to outdoor gear because it allows me to use it underneath exercise pants, on a bike, or under my Sunday suit. With this in my mind I found myself perusing some print advertising. I was stunned by the promises of “Under Armour Performance” outdoor wear which I saw in a Sportchek flyer: “Be Better than before. Be Better than the rest. Be the new Prototype”. Wow, I thought, this could be the easy answer to improving my sermons and maximizing my thrice weekly workout. Never mind my diet or sleeping habits, never mind my sermon preparation. With Under Armour between my skin and preaching suit I will be better than before, better than the rest, the new prototype. Sounds great! Maybe we ought to put a clothing expense line item in next year’s church budget. The myth is sheer folly, and yet we see and hear it repeated daily. If men wear suits tailored by Moores they will be more sexually appealing. Women who cook with certain frozen entrees will succeed in their professional lives and gain the love of their children.
In my own life I try to transform the myth of consumerism. I do this through concrete and spiritual actions. At a spiritual level I try to remember that it is not things that give me worth. Rather, it is God’s love and the way I reflect God’s love that give me worth. This remembering doesn’t just happen. It takes discipline-- 15-30 minutes at least once a day of meditation to remind myself of God’s love. When I turn to God’s love I find that I am less susceptible to the myth of consumerism. With my spiritual life grounded, I am now ready to shop faithfully. Rather than looking for an extra edge, sex appeal, or the ultimate bargain, I look to build up the community and world with my expenditures. I try to buy things made in Canada and if possible made in Saskatchewan. I like my food grown locally. If I can’t find provincial or national producers of an item, I try to shop fair trade. The best deal for me is not necessary the cheapest price. The best deal is to help make sure that the farmers and businesspeople in my province and country have a market for their product. I shop at my corner store for milk and flour even though it might be a little more expensive. Why?, because the cost of not shopping there is another vacant building and more unemployed people. My favourite twist of the consumption myth is shopping thrift stores. I really resonated with Angelika Dawson’s article on thrift store shopping which appeared in the November 10 issue of the Canadian Mennonite (“A Really Great Christmas Secret, nov 10, 08; p. 32). In addition to shopping second hand I have enjoyed buying relief or school kits for MCC as a family holiday gift exchange. Last year Patty’s immediate family pooled some of our gift money, bought the items for school kits, and watched the MCC video describing where the kits end up. The nephews still received a few special items, but I was heartened by the subversive message of alternative gift giving that they heard. One of the spotlights today highlight non-traditional options of Christmas gift giving in which a family can engage. It is God’s love and our attempts to reflect that love, not things, which give ultimate meaning and satisfaction to our lives. Our choices with money contrast or confirm the myth of consumerism. Using our spending money wisely is but one way that we testify to our faith that a new reality is upon us.
A second myth we live with daily is that death can be postponed. Humans through the centuries have been absorbed with the myth that death can be avoided. In the 16th century Ponce de Leon searched for the legendary fountain of youth. Harry Potter and his gang protected the Sorcerer’s Stone which promised a cure to normal aging. In different ways the myth lives on in our society. Beauty companies persuade us that if we use their product we will effectively halt the aging process. The pharmaceutical and medical industries often suggest that normal aging is in fact abnormal and that death is unacceptable part of life. The truth of life is that that there will be a certain amount of suffering and that death will come. Christians are not exempted from suffering or death. Suffering and death seems dark and cold-- like a December day near the winter solstice. The cultural myth tells us that we can simply avoid the cold and darkness of life; nay, that we are entitled to something better. The Christian story is that hope is born in the midst of the darkness and cold. Seriously pregnant, Mary is required to make an arduous journey on donkey back to Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph can’t find a descent place to stay, so they make camp with the animals, and I bet they didn’t have thermorests. The Christ child is born in a manger among the livestock for goodness sake- not exactly a sterile environment. Jesus and his family were not spared these trials. Our trials are different and we should not presume that we are above this stuff of humanity. Heart attacks will happen. Cancer will come. Accidents will transpire. Tires will go flat. Cars won’t start. Retirement funds will vanish with the crash of a stock market. At some point we will lose our jobs, homes and loved ones. Death and darkness happen. Unlike the myth we are told, this stuff cannot be avoided. This darkness is not, however, the last word. It is fitting that a child born in the darkest time of the world brings a promise of new life and fulfills it in his death.
When it comes to responding to the hardships of life and death I am taken with Paul’s words to the Thessalonian Church. They are grieving the death of loved ones (4.13ff), the absence of leadership and persecution (see intro to 1st Thess. in various study bibles). In chapter 4 of 1st Thessalonians Paul gives them direction in mourning their dead. He tells them to mourn, yes, but not as those who have no hope (v.13). And Paul goes on to say that we should rejoice always, pray constantly and give thanks in all circumstances. This is powerful counsel and I have seen it transform living and dying. I witnessed the power of Christ in one of our elders last year in the overflow emergency space of Royal University Hospital. Arms black and blue from multiple intrusions into his body, neglected on account of more urgent patients, and unable to go home and yet not admitted, he told me that he was praying constantly and giving thanks in all circumstances. This spiritual action learned in church and practiced in real life has kept him free from the bitterness and anxiety present in so much of our world. Focusing on God in the midst of turmoil changes reality. The myth of our time is that we will not suffer and maybe not even die. Christ and the church unmask the reality that suffering and death happen, but that they are not supreme. Christ has come to us in the dark and cold to show us a way through suffering and death.
I will miss elders of this church when their time of return to the cold dark
earth comes. I miss my grandmother as I think of her graveside overlooking the
Turkey Creek. And yet I know that God does not abandoned those who have gone to
the grave. Even as Jesus came to show us how to navigate this dark world so too
Jesus is there to guide us after our death. The one who calls us is faithful,
and he will do it in this world and the next. Amen.