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3. Comfidénce
- John M. Buchanan

Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago
Scripture
Jonn 9:1-11
| Samuel 16:1-13

" the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks on the heart.” -1 Samuel 16:7b (RSV)
hes been in
aes center of

Harvey Cox, professor of Theology at Harvard Ufermen* | ye

everaksh -
Divinity schoo eine lat Pique -5e

bob -
backsnantheetesmaneheuteudy wrote a short memoir ee ae

. . ‘ rec
a few years ago about his personal faith experience evy_oaunbe o
under the title, Conse As I Am.'.) Cox, whose re\er~
theology is broad, liberal, full of life and has a Wis fost wait
ce
passion for peace and justice in the world, grew up \ yor ee
eee —_—— Ci Wes G
in a small] conservative Baptist Church in Vannes +
Pennsy varia. \ He recalls that church with fondness portent.
_— recom,
and respect and remembers singing the old gospel Hy Z
ga tee Ww vi
hymn, AGC oe f _am, without _one plea, But that Thy e< wae L clu
blood was shed for ne." J Ga & AL

He reflects: [ though the words may sound Spa\er OS

—_—

ee | en ll

lJachrymose to many, |For me they still convey a

- sense of cggfort and assurance.\\ Was I really
acceptable to God ‘just as I am?? Was it true that

te Sa Pe ee, ge cg

Il needed no improvements, (no alterations... If

BS

true that was very good news to an adolescent who

See a

was always being reminded... of my shortcomings and
Wi

~~ defects."
a G And then this distinguished intellectual

GQ ase
Hut \pwaus- recalls those hazardous ass. | He wasn't very good
[os Se | eel ee

at sports, \there were better musicians in the band,

Sar a the girls preferred other fevions.\ He wasn't the
Sse a ee,
smartest, and although he was sure his parents

meee

loved him, he was not at al] sure he would ever

live up to their expectations.
ieee. RRS iy

™ "But God accepted me just as I am? coo

“That was not judgment but good news. | Years

Jater, when I read Paul Tillich's famous sermon,

‘You are Accept | knew exactly what it meant,

and I could hear the melody of the old hymn still

humming on in the back of my mind.” [Just As J Am.
———— gre eo
p. 151-152]

in Vex tales
NREL RARE ae,

e t _—Sp Life, I have been proposing
WAN efeceme, is like a journey, a faith journey, a

e

» Der een
we CO ek
AVSULS iil +y
é

ws ae Bed
wel

dus

|

Journey made sacred by the one who calls us to it,

travels with us Nona provides for our needs along
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the way.
; pegan by Hunky
We ia wont about Sarah and Abraham who wat tha ax 4 “15;
; xc! i settled, stable
hear a summons to let go of their securities, \pick Satis Ged where
up and moves they actually do it, actug]ly trust \_ “4
= ee — +
God with their future_and the adventure beains@y erpan<-
pe “NPN
wad Ancl we thought “one | Peagige oe me ne nner oh. Exudw? -
"murmypipgin the ra Fqy pt
wilderness" and wishing they were back where there 5\ovue re

was food and water | And we entertained the notion

that when you do walk away from whatever provides
Chemnne SE
you security, when you acknowledge your ultimate
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vulnerability, the emptiness of your hands — God

Pe eT =
provides. — Wal uouv weed « +

NONI
pees, Confidence -{the sense that
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So, this

we can do it,ican be faithful,{can live up to our
CETL a

a

potential\ can be true to the end. \\ And another
Sree. oe,

SS
great story: \this one about a man who would be and

es:

Nosua puget
was way oy

was King, \Israel's most memorable leader, David.

It is a magnificent saga.\ It has all the elements
ae eet D

of a gripping novel or scap opera: intrigue,
ees eg

7 F i. r 7 e 7 J
conspiracy, \lots_of sex and yiolence.\ family

trageay..O3 Joseph Heller has written an irreverent
=a eg

but affectionate novel about the career of this

remarkable man, God kaos. \ In it David says, a

don't like to boast, but I honestly think I've got
aera (eee

the best story in the Bible. \ ord Sarah's fun,

Ele

Abraham is ever up to the mark,\Moses isn't bad, I
SEES a, —_— ae

have to admit, but he's very, very long with all
le

ERT

those laws. | Moses has the Ten Commandments, it's

Genre cert

true, but I have better Vines. \I've got the poetry
a.

and the passion." | [p. 5]
een

I want to focus on the begjnning of the story

but it helps to put it in the context of his
Sa Gee

remarkable life. | Several centuries have passed
[=o

since the Exodus and the wandering in the
a | omaniaeiniiadinamesitictian 2
wilderness. \ Israel's Sacred Journey has brought

We

Israel's first Kia, , Saul , ge

4

them to the a and now a monarchy is forming.

Fe. Comm ik Wire. tyous ta isk + WAS UC adtR

NOMI

Dal iedwis — ulv AL Greeks _ added. “S.

* ae Saul, WITT start the anification of t of the Palaesne
Pe lestianias

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Kingdom. avid will succeed . him and in several

years for ars forge a 1 Powerful nation- state out of twelve
——— 19H

loosely organized tribes of wandering Semites | It
1s one of the major political and military

achievements in all of history. | David had to have

ed ee a
been a brilliant strategist, an inspiring leader.
| iano

He was also one of the most human characters in the

———S

<a ees
the capital of the Kingdom, makes it_the cent the center of

the nation's religious lif life, leads saeraiyin a there -
er apreris = if Rn

Sane ing Naked naked before the Lord.
Falls in love with Bathsheba; she “7

becomes pregnant; \re arranges for her husband's ——
toe

death, deca’ Mthcheba: the child dies shortly | eS slays

Bible\ David conguers, establishes Jerusalem as

_—~ after birth.\ David's grief is intense and aipiic. (Ar
[Eee a | ~ — * yin
but not as intense and public as a later grief wher 90! a ;
his son, Absalom, leads an armed insurrection aw ers. vy
oD
against him and is murdered in order to save David: Av +

("Absatom, oh my son Absalom,"}he cries in one of Jey

oS. Se 2 '
the most poignant tragedies in all of literature! ve

JS - 5

And if you can stay with this story and

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aren't too embarrassed or scandalized by its
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humanness and earthiness, what comes through is a

sense that if God can stay with David, Pan accept
Pnpeers

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David and love him like a son - in spite of

——

everything David does - just maybe there is room in

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the Kingdom for you and me. {Just maybe there is a

place in the wideness of God's love and grace and
eae eee —

therefore room for a little confidence.
ee Mite

The story could not begin more modestly.

Saul is through. \ God’s man Samuel is scouring the
pence Ree Ey eee ad

countryside looking for a new king. \ tr he knows
who he’s looking for, no one else does. }He goes to
ee a el
Bethlehem to see a man who has a lot of sons.

Sec Toe, ee, i

Wey
And now we're ready to hear ih i, \peg
‘ he I shy

the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel: At
"The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve u a Pow

over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being

king over Israel? Fill your horn with oif, and go;
I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehnemite, for I

have provided for myself a king among his sons.'

a 6

And Samuel said, 'How can I go? If Saul hears it,
he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a
heifer with you, and say, "I have come to sacrifice
to the Lord." And invite Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show you what you shal] do; and you
shal] anoint for me him whom I name to you.’
Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to
Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him
trembling, and said, ‘Do you come peaceably?’ And
he said, 'Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to
the Lord; consecrate yourselves, and come with me
to the sacrifice.’ And he consecrated Jesse and
his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

“When they came, he looked on Eli’ab and thought,
‘Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.' But
the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his
appearance or on the height of his stature, because
I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man
sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks on the heart.' Then Jesse called
Abinadab, ancl made him pass before Samuel. And he

ax

|

said, 'Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ Then
Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither
has the Lord chosen this one.’ And Jesse made
seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel
said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen those.'
And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’
And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but
behold, he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said
to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him; for we will not sit
down til] he comes here.’ And he sent, and brought
him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes,
and was handsome. And the Lord said, ‘Arise,
anoint him; for this is he.’ Then Samuel took the
horn of oi7, and anointed him in the midst of his
brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily
upon David from that day forward."

——_—_—_——> The eoint is that the one_who would appear

Sete Se

least qualified is the one God wants to be King.

Eli‘ab fad what it takes. Even Samuel was
impressed, | But God has other ideas. \ The point is
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that there is a dynamic at work in this situation,

Perna me ea

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a dynamic built into the nature of reality, we

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believe, call a2) | God is operating with a
po en

different set of criteria. |God,. this magnificent

old text tells us from across 3,500 years, “SEES

a
not as (we) see.”{| We look on outward appearances.
— aT i Mie

God looks on the heart. \ so Jesse's strapping sons

are rejected. \ cou wants the little one, |the child

Gece | eee

out in the field. \ Some later writer can't resist

telling us that David was actually quite handsome.

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But the point has already been made.\ David doesn't
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get to be King because of his looks: \ in fact it is
tas Ty

;

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not because anything about David is kingly at al).
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It's because God_sees something there which no one

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else can see.\ It's because God’s love penetrates a
Se ee fee EE

lot of sins,\ covers, accepts, forgives, empowers.

It's because we live in a state of grace.

The point - the point of the whole Bible -

the point of Christianity -\is that_God's love is

hot based on the productivity, \vatue or

accomplishments of human beings. \God loves us for
who We” we are. ( "Just as we are, “fall unrealized

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ea

a

== We know now about the psychology of grace.

— spp

If grace is a bit of a stretch for you

Ween,
intelectual ty\ clinical psychology will document
Sg ee Eee ee.

its therapeutic reality. \ We know now that

acceptance is very close to the beginning of the

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healing process; {that part of what has to happen is
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a person's learning to accept, lio “own his or her
— a sees

own feelings and that it is healing when the
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therapist does just that \ perhaps for the very

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first time in the individual's entire experience -
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actually accepts him/her, \doesn't judge or condemn Q $ Cas
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gute - Dacertor’s \ A
or criticize, but_accepts.( Popp Varun. weye & Bs +hE%-

We Know now the reality of grace in ~ gut vet ter
== _—
- physiological terms.}| Medical science can tel] us = i

that there is the power of life in grace and love;
ee ee a, {

that little ones eat more, [steer more,\ survive more |
ee St =a eT
when they are stroked, cuddled, rocked and loved.

We know that one of the few things we can do fora |

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newborn addicted te cocaine because of the mother’s | i
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habit, is to hold on tightly and rock during the Aur Wass Gq
Well 6 Wirkdrawed.

3~ 10 anak ease

reo ttherava 1. .

We know now that there is a very_elementar

cause-and-effect relationship between grace and

We enable
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our oe eee to love by loving eet, And we know,
eee ea

I suspect, more than we'd like to admit, about the
—— ed ——
pain of relationships from which grace is absent:

Tove. We don't love until we are lov lo

the pain and anger of alienation... waiting for the
Cie

other to make the first move, \responding to one

—

another's sullenness, \getting angry at the other's
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anger,\ retreating further and further into the
age

Ce ell

contained fortress of self... until the miracle of

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grace happens and one decides to stop keeping score

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and calculating offenses and waiting in stubborn

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resentment for the other to shape up - and simply
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walks across the room, becomes vulnerable and

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opens his or her arms and says, "I love you.

Grace. \The miracle,
And we know, but do not like to know, about
[a j= oioane
the politics and economics of grace.\ My proposal
Ro SSS... Sen

for the most critical problem immediately
fe we eee ee

3- 17

confront in rnatin- —— 7s upban :
ae Grace, a, uae Lo Wer gor ~ M Avaric
4

= violence. Chicago Iribune columnist, Clarence Page,
wrote an excellent editorial leesilimmele about the

frightening new phenomenon of urban young people

killing 9 one another for Clothing ~ the right
wor Mea kere
Jacket, for instance. Se ‘Chicago may be leading the

a

kil 1-for-clothes _ trend he said. | Whatever

possesses a youngster to kill fh youngster for

a jacket I wonder, if it is not a complete absence
——— SS -

of the value of human life. age reflects:
————S—*

(RE —

"Poverty alone does not lead into crime. { But those
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who think they have no money or no power

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undoubtedly have a tough time feeling good about

eel

themselves in a saciety that places so much value

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on money and power.

"The resulting lack of self-esteem can result in |
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self-destruction, \including drugs, crime, street
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gangs or other hazardous temptations that rush in

SERIE rte ce

Go fill the self-worth vacuum....

{hat might _begin to explain." savs Page, “why

{ols ar already ¢o crowded wost
we deLranc Ft AM 6 owe laws .| TL cead
ww wes uit rv ae 4 a

4 ef aa OW cities Us aad
Wa Conr—ys
nie — Sowet War or S. AGive ir Chine —
we a et te Mov al i ane
WMighs- * i+ — work ae van
ts alk

young men in Harlem have a higher death rate than
their counterparts in Bangladesh." | (Chicago
Tribune, 3/21/90]

When there is no grace_in the system, when

the traditional source of grace - namely stable,
loving and accessible families —- do pot exist and
where Secondary sources of grace - wel! funded,

PE

safe and effective schools, \and social services,
pe a

| ne ae
even churches - are not visible, accessible or
See oy,
don't exist,\ then we should not be surprised at not

only the inability to love, but the inability to

care and the consequent absence of value about life
eres

~ any life.

We live in a state of grace -jor we aren't
| ee a ee) ed

living much.
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In the journey of life there have been people
for most of us, who had confidence in us:\ who saw
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something in us no one else could see;\ saw
as es Sle EE

something in us we ourselves didn't know was there, ane
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had trouble believing was there. \ We have been

blessed, most of us, by people along the way who in

one way or another said "yes" to us,| had confidence

tne

———

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in us and their confidence had a powerful effect.

a ienneme,

Almost in spite of ourselves we began to experience
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a little self-confidence,(a little self-esteem. \ rf

the teacher thinks I can do it, \maybe I can | maybe
ee qe ee ee ee See
I can play the solo, memorize the Lines\, hit the

— —

batLwrun | ‘ \ she thinks J can do this:
hinks I could write poetry. | o trigonometry,
— ay

become apwastr
neurosurgeon... Maybe there is something here
(x) —

Aw ¥\yuw cn pretty important, at least potentially important.
wi

ewe 2 sie > ,~ They are our ne. those_cheerleaders who urged
oN yaw us on,\and whose graceful confidence in us gave us
ae Ep

\s confidence in ourselves.

Nurs “ We are blessed by them alang the vay. | We are

blessed by them stil]. | And the astonishing

assertion of Christianity is that even if you are

not blessed by people who love and accept you and

see potential in you and have confidence in you:

even if you never have been blessed, there is one
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who loves you and accepts you and knows everything

about you -\all1 your flaws and failures and

eae as

frailties - and still loves you.\ stil) sees your
eee 5 ie ey
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potential, still has confidence in you.
fie ee
One of the great ironies is that the religion
MR ee ee

whose purpose it is to announce this good news is

|

often better at reqinding us of our shortcomings
eet

| nore eloquent in

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|

than reminding us of our value:
(te ll

|

describing our sin than our potential:\ more
Gao. --=

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effective in making us feel guilty than giving us
eeu a

confidence for the journey.
renee. | [ei |

The great tragedy is that the Gospel is Src v
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B... t

presented as a courtroom drama and we are on trial

- rather than a reunion_with the one who loves us

unconditionally.

To the psychology of grace, \the relationship
ES

of grace, \ the politics of grace 4 we add the grace

of Jesus Christ which says that the one who created
fenestra See Site:

you joves you [ancl accepts you and there is nothing
meme Sas ee

you have ever done ~ or can do — that will change
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that love and that acceptance.
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( Oh, you can hide from it\ You can ignore it.

You can choose to argue with it and about it.| You

5 15

Vou Com Sry te tte shes 4 NL aad
Omdtouw & WW - -
can doubt it,| disbelieve it and deny ie) au you

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cannot change it. \You can live as if you don't
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matter to anyone, \ but it isn't true because you do
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matter to someone. \ You can live as if your life
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has no value, but it isn't true\, Your life is
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Valuable to God.

David. back on the very edges of history, was
one of the first to learn it. He_was also a poet
(et i

Sh
and although we cannot know for certain that he
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actually wrate Psaims,\ many of them are attributed
Bree: mm,

(Sree.

to him, including the most beloved of them all,

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titled "A Psalm of David"...

And I Tike to think that the opening words:
a= SS tern ee
("he Lord is my shepherd, I shal] not
have something to do with that day he remembered
7 ~ shepherd
all his life, [hen he was out Fal his father's

sheep |and old Samuel Jooked him in the eve, this

non-descript wisp of a boy, and said # “This is the

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And I like to think that all his vife,| on the
a ea
day his baby died,| the day _he | he had to hide from his

own troops, |the day they they told him his beloved son
was dead \; that David remembered that there was one
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who loved him and cared about him and had

canfidence in him.
Pa |

And I Vike to remember that 1,000 years

tater \when Jesus, who had made the blind see, and

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the lame walk, and the oppressed and beaten cown,
fama TR, Ee ORE eet

the unlovely and unloved, stand up straight and

tall... when id i
the city of Jerusalem one day, he crowds that came
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out to meet him said { "Hosanna to the Son of
a :
David!"

naar

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And I like to think that as he faced that \a ot
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Wy Week with high intentionality and incredible
——a eS ay

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bravery...\ and as he died an almost intentional
EE et

death, alone, that there was a strong confidence

———, aeniin

which came from his own faith that God's love for

Sse

him was boundless.
And so, I like to think it is and will be for
se
each of us.
een

3- 17

"Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!

I once was—lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.