{"id":863,"date":"2011-09-11T14:57:32","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T19:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?p=863"},"modified":"2011-09-11T14:57:32","modified_gmt":"2011-09-11T19:57:32","slug":"a-sermon-from-an-alumnus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/a-sermon-from-an-alumnus\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sermon from an Alumnus"},"content":{"rendered":"

On occasion, we like to publish something by one of our alumni.\u00a0 Here is a brief homily by Ben Fike, a 2011 MDiv graduate and now campus minister of the University Church of Christ in Abilene.\u00a0 Enjoy!\u00a0<\/strong> And, if you have a sermon of your own that you’re particularly proud of (it’s okay to be proud in this case!), send us a link or a manuscript.\u00a0 We would like to collect such things for wider circulation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further Up and Further In: Psalm 1<\/em><\/p>\n

By Ben Fike<\/em><\/p>\n

at 9 o\u2019clock worship service, UCC Abilene, 8\/28\/2011<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d Every family, every group of friends, every road trip I\u2019ve been on. There always seems to be someone asking the question, you know? \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d When I was growing up, it was my older brother. Every family vacation, every dinner, every outing \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d We\u2019ve only just arrived at my grandpa\u2019s farm, only just pulled into the parking lot of Walrus Ice Cream in downtown Fort Collins, CO where I grew up and he asks the question – \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n

Where do we go from here?<\/p>\n

What happens after this?<\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s 28 years old, my brother has long outgrown this. Although, I wonder if any of us ever really do. As human beings trapped within the constraints of time and space, it\u2019s hard not to get caught up in the endless momentum of it all. Always moving forward, always pressing on. One year, one month, one day, one event, one moment to the next. And then what?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

What classes are you taking next semester? What are you going to do after you finish your degree? What are your plans for the summer? What are you doing this weekend? What are we doing for dinner?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is no surprise then, that the Psalmist writing Psalm 1 imagines life as if it is a way, a road, a journey. Or more specifically, two ways – the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. \u201cThe Lord watches over the way of the righteous,\u201d he writes.\u00a0 \u201cBut the way of the wicked will perish.\u201d Of course, when he puts it that way, there\u2019s really no choice is there? Do you want to walk the road of the righteous or<\/em> take the path that sinners tread, follow the advice of the wicked, sit in the seat of scoffers? It\u2019s like here\u2019s two options: 1. You can jump off a cliff, or 2. You can go out to a nice steak dinner with friends. You decide.<\/p>\n

I think we get this. We get that we would rather walk along the way of the righteous. We would rather God lead us ahead as we move forward through this life. If life is a way, a road, then we want to walk the path with God rather than without. I think we get this. Right?<\/p>\n

<\/strong>But it strikes me, that the Psalmist is not content to keep us moving in one direction, as if the passing of time is the only force at play. As if forward momentum is the only direction we can grow. No, the image shifts, the metaphors mix. And in the poetry of the psalm we find the righteous pilgrims, whose \u201cdelight is in the law of the Lord, and on God\u2019s law they meditate day and night\u201d But they are not described as wanderers, troubadours traveling down the highway.<\/p>\n

No, the psalmist tells us, \u201cThey are like trees.\u201d Like trees?<\/p>\n

Yes, \u201cLike trees planted by streams of water,<\/p>\n

which yield their fruit in its season,<\/p>\n

and their leaves do not wither.<\/p>\n

In all that they do they prosper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like trees planted by streams of water. Can you imagine anything more stationary? Can you imagine anything more passive than a tree?<\/p>\n

But then, maybe that\u2019s part of the point. To be among the righteous is not merely to be busy, on the move, tracking forward, as if the passing of time controls all that we do. No, to be among the righteous also means to be rooted, to be deep, to sink our legs deep into the life-giving streams flowing from the throne of God. The water of life. Streams of mercy. Justice rolling like a river.<\/p>\n

To live in the way of righteousness means God calls us forward, but also grows us deeper, deeper, deeper into God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

The metaphors are mixed, but maybe this is what it means to live among the righteous. We are mixed metaphors. We are walking trees. We are stationary pilgrims. Traveling without moving. Roots sinking deeper into the soft soil as we follow God down the road. Maybe this is what it means to live among God\u2019s people. Moving forward but growing deep.<\/p>\n

My hunch is that if you\u2019re like me, we often live as travelers. Pushing on down the road ahead. Always wondering what is just beyond the horizon. Wondering what God\u2019s plan for us might be in the future. What\u2019s next? Where are we going? What\u2019s after this? But perhaps we get so busy sometimes, so caught up in the passing of time, that we fail to live also as trees. To be still. To meditate on God\u2019s Word. To drink deeply from the life giving waters of God as they swish and swirl around our roots. To grow deeper into God.<\/p>\n

My hope for us all as we begin the semester, is that we do not get so caught up in the forward momentum of life that we fail to let God grow us deep. Don\u2019t become such a pilgrim that you fail also to be a tree. My hope for us all is that we do not get swept up into life on the road so much that we fail to let God\u2019s streams of mercy sweep around us. My hope for us all is that as God leads us forward, God also grows us deeper. Deeper in God\u2019s way of self-sacrificing love. Deeper into each other.<\/p>\n

In the final book of C.S. Lewis\u2019 Narnia series, The Last Battle<\/em>, at the end of the world, all the characters \u201cpass on\u201d from the Old Narnia to the True Narnia. As the children and the creatures and talking animals of Narnia are met with the endless expanse of True Narnia – like a vision of heaven – so real, so green, so fresh it makes their old life seem like a dream. At the end of all things, Aslan, the Lion-King, calls out to those following him, and says, \u201cCome further in! Come further up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Further up and further in. This is the way of the righteous. Walking trees. Stationary pilgrims. May God lead us forward. May God grow us deep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On occasion, we like to publish something by one of our alumni.\u00a0 Here is a brief homily by Ben Fike, a 2011 MDiv graduate and now campus minister of the University Church of Christ in Abilene.\u00a0 Enjoy!\u00a0 And, if you have a sermon of your own that you’re particularly proud of (it’s okay to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3538,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Sermon from an Alumnus - ACU Graduate School of Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/a-sermon-from-an-alumnus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Sermon from an Alumnus - 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