psalm 19 sermon

tomorrow i preach at bethel community presbyterian church in san leandro. the scripture chosen for me was psalm 19, which if you have been reading lately, i feel spoke deeply into my experience at the commission on the status of women. and so, here is my what i am starting from as i work towards tomorrow morning. i am going to try to be brave, preaching from notes or nothing at all, and trying to have fun with a congregation that i am told will talk back to me. so this was simply step one in the preaching process... getting all the thoughts into some kind of organized whole as a jumping off point.

beware the length.

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The work of God is woven into the very fabric of the world. So often we do not see the threads that demonstrate that work, we simply see the blessings that result, not realizing we should be grateful to God. Psalm 19 tells us that God’s voice is present without words, but the voice is not heard.

The same can be said of the work of women. So often, in many places, it is women whose work is invisibly woven into the success of their families, their communities, their countries. Their voice cries out, without words, and is ignored.

I had the privilege of spending last weekend at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women with as a part of the Presbyterian delegation, with women from the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, Racial Ethnic Young Women Together, and Presbyterian Women. The Commission happens every year, convening for international discussion on the status of women in general and a particular theme in particular. Equal sharing of care giving between the genders, particularly in the context of HIV/AIDS, was this year’s theme. The Presbyterian delegation’s presence, like the presence of other non-governmental organizations, was to advocate for women using a faith based perspective, out of the experiences of women’s lives in our communities and ministries. To do this, we worked with a group called Ecumenical Women that brought together many denominations to provide a more powerful, progressive voice. This group represented denominations, churches and ministries from all over the world, and women from across the globe started every day at the CSW in worship together.

Advocacy is not the only function of the CSW. Women from all over the globe also come to New York City to share stories, to network, to build global community. Many of these stories, like the voice of God present in the heavens and the firmament, are not heard often, if at all. This is a place for them to be voiced.

As HIV takes its toll, transforming into AIDS, and parents can no longer care for themselves, girls are often the children who stop going to school in order to care for their parents and the family. In places where the HIV infection rate can be as high as forty percent, people can feel so stigmatized by their status that they refuse to leave their home at all. One woman who ran a Lutheran ministry that supports AIDS patients in Colombia told of families gathering when someone is diagnosed with cancer. Support is shown, love is shared. They circle the wagons to protect, support and love one of their own. When someone is diagnosed with HIV, it is conflated with morality and no one gathers. The infection is sometimes even assumed to be punishment from God for not following God’s law.

Psalm 19 really challenged me to try to see where is God’s law here. These are not situations that inspire the rejoicing we see in this Psalm. Souls are dying, not reviving. Eyes do not seemed to be enlightened. Instead we seem to be feeling around in the dark for a solution.

This is not God’s law. This is mistaken as God’s law. But, because the stories of love and care are not voiced, these oppressive theologies remain intact. This evens happens here. Men in the early stages of the epidemic here didn’t always know how to deal with the disease through their faith. It is not unheard of that someone would stop life saving treatment because they saw their disease as punishment from God for their homosexuality. Needless lives were lost because we didn’t give voice to God’s law. Today, African Americans are the fastest growing group of new infections in this country, and AIDS is the leading cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. Where is the voice of the church, speaking God’s law into this situation?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. How did he fulfill it? By healing the sick, associating with the outcast, touching lepers, talking to women, welcoming children.

To fulfill God’s law in the struggle of women and the fight against AIDS, whether here or abroad, is to stand with those who suffer, do what we can to ease their suffering, and speak God’s love into the spaces that we can. We can always be better at doing that as individuals and as communities. The church can be better at doing that. When we approach these issues according to the law of God, we bring the transformative love of Jesus Christ into the world, enabling us to live in hope.

God’s work has to be recognized for us to see God’s law and live accordingly. So is true of the work of women. We must see the work of women to be able to respond and empower them in accordance to the laws of God, not the laws of men. One cannot happen without the other.

When we recognize the work of God, when we live by God’s law, we can approach these problems, support women in their work, care for those with AIDS and empower them to live fully as God calls them to, then our eyes will be enlightened, our souls revived, and we will rejoice. When we recognize God’s true law in the love of Jesus, life will taste sweet, dripping with the finest honey from overflowing hives.

And so I close with that hope, and the prayer at the end of this Psalm: may God clear us of hidden faults, that we may be blameless and innocent. May the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, the love of our souls and the work of our hands be pleasing to God, not just within our faith communities, but in the world. Amen.