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Trinity Episcopal Church Hattiesburg, Mississippi Fifth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 8) July 1, 2007 Go To Trinity's Home Page

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
Galatians 5:1,13-25
Luke 9:51-62
Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 75 th General Convention of the ECUSA

I will cry aloud to God; I will cry aloud, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hands were stretched out by night and did not tire; I refused to be comforted. I will remember the works of the LORD, and call to mind your wonders of old time. I will meditate on all your acts and ponder your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; who is so great a god as our God? You are the God who works wonders and have declared your power among the peoples. By your strength you have redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. The waters saw you, O God; the waters saw you and trembled; the very depths were shaken. The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; your arrows flashed to and fro; the sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, yet your footsteps were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20)

What Sayest Thou, O God?
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop

     More that half of you are falling asleep – or are likely to enter the twilight zone of sleepiness in the next 11 minutes. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 60% of American women say they only get a good night’s sleep a few nights per week or less and 67% say they frequently experience a sleep problem.[1] Fifty eight percent of all adults have symptoms of insomnia at least a few nights a week.[2]

     Lack of sleep, sleeping too little, and having difficulty falling asleep are very common problems in our work-focused society, and have become big business. Nightly there are television advertisements for prescription and over the counter sleep aids. Alex Weprin of Broadcasting and Cable magazine reported in June that the Luna Moth Campaign for the drug Lunesta was identified as the most memorable commercial among adults advertised during prime time. Another prescription sleep aid, Rozerem, which features Abraham Lincoln and a talking beaver in their ads, took the fourth slot, giving sleep aids three out of the five most memorable ads in the survey.[3]

     Insomnia is also a prominent theme of popular music. Remember “Count your blessings instead of sheep” sung by Bing Crosby in White Christmas? How about something more recent, like “Sleepless” by the rock band Crimson, “No Sleep Blues” by the Incredible String Band, or “Sleepless Nights” by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris? How about some other contemporary titles like, “Just can’t go to sleep,” “Insomnicide,” “I’m so tired,” or “I need some sleep?”

     I know for myself, one of the things about trying to fall asleep is that all those little physical things that I hardly notice during the day become magnified as I try to slip into the arms of Morpheus; that little itch on my foot becomes unbearable; that little pain in my shoulder grows to the point of complete discomfort. Or if manage to sleep for a couple of hours, I suddenly awaken to the sound of a voice in my head yammering on, obsessing about some problem that has me worried. My mind takes off like a rocket trying to come up with plans or solutions. We all find ourselves lying in bed from time to time, “compulsively turning our problems over and over and playing out the solution we’ve come up with as if we trust neither yourself or God to work things out.”[2]

     But the difficulty with night-time problem solving is that the problem is absurdly overblown and the solutions border on the irrational. Problems that I might handle quite well during the day when I am rested have a way of becoming overwhelming, impressing me with a sense of hopelessness. And if I have a nonspecific pain at the same time, my mind convinces me that I must have a huge malignancy somewhere.

     Although our culture and work may be causing a greater percentage of us to be sleep deprived, the ancients were not unfamiliar with insomnia and how overwhelming life can seem in the middle of a sleepless night. Consider the writer of the Psalm 77. In the verses we did not read today, the writer says, You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old … I meditate and search my spirit: “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”

     “Talk about an irrational leap by a tired mind! One moment the psalmist speaks of being unable to fall asleep; the next, memories of things long past flood in on him. Then he concludes that God has abandoned him and that God’s steadfast love has ceased forever! But when the mind cannot shut off, and is alone with itself in the dark, crazy conclusions like that take hold,” hopelessness grows, panic sets in, and we quickly run down nightmarish paths of pathological ponderings.[2] It’s no wonder people seek medication to help them sleep!

     But of course, worrisome things don’t always keep us awake. Sometimes we just can’t fall asleep or stay asleep. Sometimes sleep just evades us, and all we can do is toss and turn and fluff the pillow. On those occasions, you might want to read the e book Insomnia? 41 Simple Tips for Getting to Sleep to learn about how facing north, wiggling your toes, or rubbing your stomach among other things can help induce sleep.[4]

     But there is another reason for nighttime wakefulness. Studies have shown that many of our dreams involve personal problems or the events of the day that troubled us. However, the language our brain seems to use to do this work is symbolic. When we awaken and try to apply logic to the symbolic goings on of our unconscious mind, we can potentially create the kind of angst that keeps us awake.

     The Old and New Testaments contain many stories of dreams that warned and protected, dreams that inspired, dreams that told of the future and of God's will. The early church regarded dreams the same way that the Bible does, as revelations from God. In fact, people who could interpret dreams and offer advice on them, were highly respected, and even kings sought out their services. And over the past several years, there has been an active attempt in many corners of the Church to recover and explore the richness of dream interpretation in the light of Judeo-Christian wisdom tradition. These explorations have shown that most dreams are symbolic and need to be viewed that way. The symbols will come from the dreamer’s life, and are therefore very individualistic. For example, Joseph was a shepherd, and he dreamed of sheaves and sun, moon and stars bowing down (Gen. 37:1-11). These are the images of a shepherd boy who lived in the fields. King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of statues of gold (Dan 2:31ff), which are things familiar to one who lived in a palace. What a given dream might mean is drawn from the experience of the dreamer. By depending on the Holy Spirit, the meaning of a dream can be drawn out from the heart of the dreamer, and the dreamer will instinctively know when an interpretation is correct or not.

     The Jewish Talmud says, “A dream unexamined is like a letter unopened.” University of Arizona psychologist Rubin Naiman notes that the Talmud reminds us that dreams come from a very different world than the one we spend most of our waking hours in.[5]

     Charles Colson is a man who knows that dreams and insomnia are ways God gets his attention. Colson, as you remember, was special counsel to the President in the Nixon White House who was convicted and sent to prison over the Watergate cover-up. Although a baptized Episcopalian, he became a committed Christian while in prison. After he was paroled, he had trouble sleeping in his comfortable bed.

     One night, after tossing and turning fitfully, he finally fell asleep and dreamt of his time in Maxwell Prison. He awoke with a start remembering a conversation he had before his release with an inmate named Archie. Archie had said, “So you’ll be out of here soon. What are you going to do for us?” Colson responded, “I’ll help in some way. I’ll never forget this stinking place or you guys.” “Archie shot back, “They all say that! I’ve seen big shots come and go. They all say the same thing. Ain’t nobody cares. Nobody.”

     As a result of his later nighttime memory, Colson went on to found the Prison Fellowship Ministry to keep his word to Archie. This has been a great spiritual help to thousands of inmates.

     We humans need to sleep; science and medicine have proven that. But not God. Psalm 121 says that God never slumbers nor sleeps. It could well be that during times of rest and sleep that our minds can connect with God in more profound and deeper ways than it can during our busy wakeful hours.

     So the next time we can’t sleep, I suggest that we look and listen for God. And then maybe,

     When the constant sun returning unseals our eyes,

May we, born anew like morning, to labor rise.
Gird us for the task that calls us, let not ease and self enthrall us,
Strong through thee whate’er befall us,
O God most wise. (From the hymn, “God that madest Earth and Heaven”)

     Ok, now wake up!

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2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel .” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel . Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan .” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan . Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.” He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, “Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan . He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

1 I will cry aloud to God; *
I will cry aloud, and he will hear me.

2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; *
my hands were stretched out by night and did not tire;
I refused to be comforted.

11 I will remember the works of the LORD, *
and call to mind your wonders of old time.

12 I will meditate on all your acts *
and ponder your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy; *
who is so great a god as our God?

14 You are the God who works wonders *
and have declared your power among the peoples.

15 By your strength you have redeemed your people, *
the children of Jacob and Joseph.

16 The waters saw you, O God;
the waters saw you and trembled; *
the very depths were shaken.

17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered; *
your arrows flashed to and fro;

18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world; *
the earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was in the sea,
and your paths in the great waters, *
yet your footsteps were not seen.

20 You led your people like a flock *
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Galatians 5:1,13-25

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God . By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem . And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem . When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God .” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God .”

Collect of the Day

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[1] http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=huIXKjM0IxF&b=2434067&ct=3618771.
[2] Data from Timothy F. Merrill. “Song of the Insomniac.” Homiletics 19(4):11-15, 2007. Also, this sermon was inspired by this piece and borrow extensively from it.
[3] http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6449120.html
[4] http://www.westsong.com/publishing/insomnia.html
[5] http://www.jewishtucson.org/page.html?ArticleID=131584

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Copyright © 2007, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
28 June 2007

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