Thoughts on David’s Elegy #2 of 2:

Your hero lies slain upon your mountains.

(Second Samuel 1:19)

Most likely, those of us who know something of the Bible story, think of King Saul as a tormented and troubled king—a failure. He will be replaced by our big hero, King David—a man after God’s own heart. Yet, it is David who insist that Saul be memorialized as Israel’s hero.

Saul is flawed, like all heroes, yet worthy of honor. Negative words could be spoken, as they could be at any memorial; yet, David speaks good, beautiful and honoring words concerning Saul, and invites us to do the same.

Each of us is a hero to someone. A flawed hero of course, but a hero nonetheless. Some folks think we are something—maybe within family, or civic life, or church life, or elsewhere within the sphere of our influence. In retirement, I’ve been surprised by kind words spoken to me by folks I didn’t know—folks on the margins of my pastoral influence. It’s best we don’t know about such things; otherwise, we would become obnoxious. But, what is good to know, is that we are a hero, in spite of ourselves, to someone—some of whom we have no idea. 

Thoughts on David’s Elegy #1 of 2:

How the mighty have fallen!

(Second Samuel 1:19&25&27)

What’s an “elegy”? Some have asked. An “elegy” is, as David puts it, a lament over the death of one’s friend. However, in David’s case, his personal lament over his friend Jonathan, stretches out to include Saul, Johnathan’s father, Israel’s king, and David’s nemeses. Both Saul and Jonathan die in the battle of Mount Gilboa. Though one could calculate Saul’s, and even Johnathan’s, demise in David’s favor; David sees to it that the nation laments their death. They were “beautiful …swifter than eagles, stronger than lions”—Saul with his sword and Jonathan with his bow.

Notice how the Last Word is held at bay in David’s elegy—not a word about eternity, not even a word about God. It’s always and already there on the horizon. But, as with David, the Last Word wouldn’t be the Last Word if we were to simply leapfrog over our present sorrow to arrive at the Last Word unscathed by life’s sufferings—as if we could get through life without lamentation. Thus, in the present, where we live in the shadow of the Last Word, we “intone our laments,” as does David (2Sam 17-27):

David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. (He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar.) He said:

Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places!

     How the mighty have fallen!

Tell it not in Gath,

     proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon;

or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,

     the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.

You mountains of Gilboa,

     let there be no dew or rain upon you,

     nor bounteous fields!

For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,

     the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more.

 
From the blood of the slain,

     from the fat of the mighty,

the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,

     nor the sword of Saul return empty.

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and beautiful!

     In life and in death they were not divided;

they were swifter than eagles,

     they were stronger than lions.

O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,

     who clothed you with crimson, in luxury,

     who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

How the mighty have fallen

     in the midst of the battle!

Jonathan lies slain

     upon your high places.

I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan;

     greatly beloved were you to me;

your love to me was wonderful,

     passing the love of women.

How the mighty have fallen,

     and the weapons of war perished!

An elegy at the loss of my friend:

They were swifter than eagles.

(Second Samuel chapter one)

David’s elegy at the loss of his friend Jonathan (Second Samuel chapter one) prompted me to try to write an elegy of my own. I’m not sure mine is actually a poem—nothing rhymes like Anna’s poems do. Let’s call it “As Long as there was a Ball”—in memory of Gary Kinser, 1945-2019:

As long as there was a ball,

     we played for keeps;

One-on-one,        

     with something to be won or lost.

While in college it was basketball,

     one-on-one to thirty by ones;

Winner not only gets top bunk for the week,

     but his girlfriend’s picture alone displayed.

Lots of sweat, bumps and grinds,

     swirling hook shots, fakes and jumpers;

Gary excelled at muscling in,

     while I finessed the perimeter.

There were other balls—a softball

     and a Ping-Pong ball for instance;

All played one-on-one with strengths and vigor,

     for there was always something to be won or lost.

It started from the first,

     while in junior high;

A one-on-one baseball game devised

     in my backyard.

It had to do with two cement steps

     to our back patio;

If you had a ball, a baseball for instance,

     you could make a game out of it.

Standing back some twenty feet or so,

     we would throw the ball at the stairs;

bringing all sorts of things into play,

     from a ground ball to a home run.

If a grounder,

     the other would have to field it;

Throw it on a bounce towards the high end of the patio,

     while catching the bounce back on base for an out.

If the ball caught the edge point of the steps just right,

     the ball would return high in the air;

Sometimes high enough to clear the hedge behind us

     —a home run.

When in high school,

     we played some team sports,

Gary at guard me next to him at left end;

     or, if baseball, Gary in center field, me in right.

But as long as there was a ball,

     one-on-one was our game;

With something on the line,

     —something bigger than we ever knew.

Trinity Sunday:

Then they worshiped him

Luke 24:52

The Gospel of Luke ends with Christ’s followers worshiping him. Our Creed concludes: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified” (Nicene).

This Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is called “Trinity Sunday” when the church dares to call the Trinity “blessed”: “God in three Persons, blessed Trinity” (Holy, Holy, Holy by Re­gi­nald He­ber, 1826). Can that be true? Can we think of the Holy Trinity as blessed? Let me suggest a few blessings.

1)  Trinity is Strange. It’s so strange that a number of our revered national fathers like Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson opted for a more rational non-Trinitarian understanding of God called “Deism”—the idea that God created the universe and then left it alone to run, like clockwork, by the mechanisms provided by its Designer. But if God is God, we would expect him to be different—that’s the meaning of “holy”. Holiness, to be holy, must be inexplicable. If we could explain God by our own rational powers, he wouldn’t be holy. God reveals himself to us in Scripture and in his Son, Jesus Christ, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit because that’s just who he is. He can’t help himself. The non-Trinitarian God of Deism losses holiness—becomes a bland god of our own creation. There’s something strange, holy and blessed about our triune God.

2)  God is Love. That’s what the Bible tells us: “God is love” of and within himself. It’s just the way God is eternally—before creation, God is love. Only a triune God can love within himself. Within the vast eternal spaciousness of the Trinity there is plenty of room for vibrant, eternal love between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Authentic love gives space and honor to the beloved. Love and Glory careen eternally with in our triune God: As Jesus prays “The hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (Jn 17:1); while the Spirit brings glory to the Son (Jn 16:14). Only a triune God is big enough and spacious enough to radiate such glory and love within himself.

3) Trinity marks Us. When our triune God decided to create humankind “in our image”, the “us” of God created a “them” of humanity. God creates us with space to love and honor others. Without space, there’s no room for love, beauty and glory. Cults close out the space between us while our triune God set us free to rollick in creation’s vast wonders. The boundaries of the garden are vast. It’s just that tree in the middle of the garden hems us in and robs us of creation’s spaciousness.

Festivals or Not:

Religious festivals …are a shadow …but reality belongs to Christ.

(Colossians 2:16-17)

The Apostle will not allow us to make a big deal about who keeps what festival (Col 2:16-18): “Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or about religious festivals.” Our Puritan forbearers would have none of it—not even Christmas or Easter. For them, it was scripture alone—no need for all this church tradition. I suppose there’s the danger of enjoying the celebration—say, of Christmas, while forgetting what the festival is about: “reality belongs to Christ”.

But even if we were to erase every tradition: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holly Week, Easter, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost Sunday; we’re still left with a calendar that can’t help pointing to Christ. Every time we jot down the date, we mark the years since Christ’s birth—the incarnation.

You may have noticed, the use of BCE “Before the Common Era” to replace BC “Before Christ”; and, CE “Common Era” to replace AD “Anno Domini” Latin for “Year of our Lord”. It’s not a bad attempt to secularize and universalize our calendar. It leaves space for those of us who believe to refer to BCE as “Before the Christian Era”, and CE as “Christian Era”.

BCE and CE still counts its days and years from something that happened 2019 years ago. I wonder what happened. Something so big we count our days before and after that something that happened. I’m sure folks will figure it out.

Much more radical attempts have been waged against our calendar that counts its days from that something that happened. The French Revolution, for example, insisted on their own calendar that counted its days before and after the Revolution. And, being thoroughly secular and scientific, developed a decimal division of the day into 10 hours, each hour of 100 minutes, and each minute gets 100 second. All very scientific. Holy days were removed—even Sunday. Instead, their revolutionary calendar, in accordance with the decimal principle, divided months into three 10 day decades. Something like that.

Other challenges could be mentioned—the Soviet Union gave it a try, so too the League of Nations planed for a “World Calendar”. Somehow, our calendar with its weeks (Biblical) and years marked by that something that happened 2019 years ago, still stands. Isn’t that something?

Israel’s Festivals and the Christian Calendar:

Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be crucified.

(Matthew 26:2)

From Israel’s prescribed three annual festivals (Dt 16), we learn the importance of “times and seasons” (Ecc 3). It’s God’s idea: “Therefore, let us celebrate the festival” (1Cor 5:8).

For us, who live from this side of the Cross, the Passover lamb has become “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’ (Jn 1:29). Easter morning is God’s vindication of Calvary that liberates us from the oppression of death, sin and the devil. On Good Friday, God was having dealings with us; and, I suppose, with himself—something necessary for our redemption. Every Sunday is for us a little Easter Morning when the church gathers to recall, venerate and worship the “Author of life, whom God raised from the dead” (Ac 3:15).

On Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Passover (49 days after Easter), we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh—male and female, old and young. Jesus promised he would send the Holy Spirit to bring comfort and to hold us close to God and to one another. This Pentecost story of the birth of the church marks us to this day (Ac 2): Spirit and Text, Prayer and Fellowship, Baptism and Eucharist. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes our absent Lord present in our hearts and in his church.

After Pentecost Sunday, the rest of year is called “Ordinary Days”—about half the year. Tabernacles, the third and final annual festival, celebrates the latter harvest of grapes (fruits), and commemorates how God tabernacles with his people as they make their way towards the Promise Land. It reminds us of our daily journey through life—our “ordinary days” of work and play, discouragement and hope, misgiving and fidelity. Christ remains with us during our ordinary days. Something like this:       

Spring              -Passover/Easter rejoicing in Christ our Passover Lamb.

            Summer           -Pentecost celebrating the outpouring of the Holy.

            Autumn           -Tabernacles celebrating how our Triune God tabernacles among us

                                      during our “ordinary days”.

Other things can and have been said… like how the grain harvest (bread) celebrated at Pentecost and the grape harvest (wine) celebrated at Tabernacles reminds us of the bread and wine of our Lord’s Table. Or, that the latter harvest of Tabernacles points towards Glory when we gather at “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rv 19:9). There’s always more. I suppose we are free to imagine our own Christian Calendar “bringing out treasures old and new” (Mt 13:52). Just don’t clutter it up.

Pentecost and Israel’s Annual Festivals:

When the Day of Pentecost had come

(Acts  2:1)

Pentecost is the second of three Torah prescribed annual festivals. It goes like this (Dt 16):

            Spring              -Passover celebrating the budding of the first fruits, and

                                                Commemorates the Passover lamb slain setting Israel free.

                                                Reading of Song of Songs filled with budding fruits.

            Summer           -Pentecost celebrating wheat (grain) harvest, and

                                                Commemorates the giving the Law at Sinai.

                                                Reading of Ruth and how God provides at harvest time.

            Autumn           -Tabernacles celebrating the latter harvest of grapes (fruits), and

                                                Commemorates Israel’s 40 years of tabernacle wanderings

                                                Reading of Ecclesiastes with its “times and seasons”.

Earth (agriculture) and Heaven (God’s gifts) give the festivals their annual rhythm. You can’t celebrate God’s gifts of deliverance without rejoicing in the earth’s goodness. We are estranged from agriculture’s annual rhythms. We just go to the grocery store and buy food. I’ve heard it said that due to big agriculture and big science, only three percent of our population work the fields producing more than we can consume. I suppose that’s a blessing; but, not one we are close to. We don’t experience the anxiety of seed time, rains and harvest. We imagine bread and fruit just popup on the shelves.

It goes back to creation (“let the earth bring forth”), and that rainbow that reminds us of God’s promise (Gn 8-9):

As long as the earth endures,

   seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,

summer and winter, day and night,

   shall not cease.

Our fallen earth remains good (Ac 14:15-17): “The living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, … gives you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and fills you with food and your hearts with joy." Israel’s three anuual festivals provided the occasion for God’s people to give thanks to God for the gifts of “rains from heaven and fruitful seasons.” That’s why, at each and every meal, we pray our prayers of thankfulness for God’s earthly bounty to us.