1/27/08                                                                              Psalm 27:1-8, 13-14 

“ONE THING”

Rev. James Singleton

There is a moment of painful decision that comes around to every child once a year. Family and friends are all gathered around the table, the lights are dimmed, and everyone begins to sing “Happy Birthday” as the candle lit cake is set in front of the birthday child. Then, after the singing, someone gives that frustrating command, “Make a wish.”

Make a wish? I only get one wish? How do you narrow down all the things that you want to one thing? I don’t know about you but I always wished for three more wishes.   

If you really did have only one wish that you could make for your life, a wish that would come true—what would you wish for? Would you go practical and wish for a million dollars? A new career? A new house?

Or would you go more general and wish for good health? Happiness? World peace? A Buckeye victory over an SEC team in a National Championship Game? (Sorry, I still haven’t gotten over that). What’s that one thing that you need most of all?

Psalm 27 is one of 150 psalms or songs in the Old Testament that the ancient people of Israel used to sing in worship. King David is said to be the author of Psalm 27.

King David came up through the school of hard knocks. He had enemies and people who were out to do him in. He had troubles that surrounded him like an army. He knew what it was like to be engulfed in dark, confusing times. He had a family who was not always supportive of him. He knew what it felt like to be pushed down, to be betrayed, to be falsely accused, and to experience bad things. He knew what it was like to sin against God and to reap the consequences.  

And yet, Psalm 27 is one of the most positive, encouraging psalms ever written. How is that possible? Why does David not cry out against the injustice of life? Why does he not rage against the darkness or speak of his fears in the face of his adversaries and troubles?

Psalm 27 is a psalm of strength and courage despite all of the difficult circumstances that David faced in life because he had found the one thing in life he needed most. He made his one wish and it came true and it will come true for all who seek it. Look at verse four: “One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”

That one thing that David decided he needed more than any other thing is to seek and find God’s presence in all circumstances in life. And his wish came true. How else do you explain these words despite all of David’s hardships: “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

The early Celtic people who lived in the British Isles believed that you could go to certain places to be closer to God. These places came to be known as “thin places” because it was believed that in these locations there was only a thin divide between the material and spiritual worlds.

You have probably experienced a thin place of your own—the beach early in the morning, a mountain at night under a starry sky, a rocking chair when you are feeding your infant, this sanctuary when someone makes a confession of faith, a cemetery where you go to be close to one you can no longer touch. Thin places remind us that heaven and earth are closer than we usually realize.

That was David’s one thing he wanted more than anything else—he wanted to be aware at all times, in the good times and in the bad times, that God was near to him, that God loved him, that God would fight for him and protect him and bless him in this world in which he experienced people and circumstances that fought against him, tried to destroy him and cursed him. David wanted to find thin places during times that were thick with trouble.  

For David, thin places were not merely geographical locations, but could be any and every place if only he had the awareness to seek for God’s face. If he could live out a faith that realized that God was always there for him, then what or whom would he ever have to fear?

            Dorothy Bass is a historian of American religion who notes how often we ask one another "How was your day?" It is a kind of question that usually comes from someone who really cares, but is often met with a vague response like, "Not bad."

Bass tells the story of a mother she knows who has quite a different way of asking that question. As she tucks her children into bed each night, she asks them this question: "Where did you meet God today?"

And they tell her, one by one: a teacher helped me, I made a new friend, I saw a tree with lots of flowers in it. She tells them where she met God, too. Before the children drop off to sleep, the stuff of their day has become the substance of prayer. They are reminded that their entire life is a thin place where they can discover the presence of God near to them if they look. For God is always to be found, but only those who are intentional about seeking ever find.

Thin places wait to be discovered. You will find them down the corridors of schools and hospitals, in places at work and the familiarity of home. You can even find them during times of dread and great concern when it suddenly becomes clear that God is even here and you have a peace that passes all understanding.

            Wherever you go you are never anywhere where God does not already live. When David said that he wants to live in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, he didn’t simply mean the church, he meant he wanted to live in such a way that he recognized that everyday he lived in the house and presence of the Lord.

He wanted to live a life of faith that reminded him that he was God’s family and despite the dark and confusing times, despite the disappointments and hardships, in God’s house you are forever secure. To live in God’s house is to know that you live in the love and presence of God every minute of every day.

As a Celtic prayers goes:  

"Where is my home? Is it the house where I live, the garden where I sit in summer, the country where I roam, or the church where I worship?
The place I call home is where my heart is at rest. And my heart is most at rest when it turns to God in prayer. So wherever I pray is home."   

If we substitute panic with prayer, worry with worship, fear with faith, trepidation with trust, concern with courage, helplessness with hope we will discover that every situation is a thin place where God can be found.

Seeking God does not prevent evil from assailing us. But for those who seek the one great thing in life, God’s Presence, there is nothing in life and nothing in death that can defeat us.

There is an absolutely stunning scene in the 1989 movie, Romero. The film recounts the true story of Archbishop Oscar Romero who confronted and was eventually assassinated by the El Salvadoran government back in the 1970s and 1980s during a time of religious oppression.

In this one scene, Archbishop Romero is leading worship in the sanctuary of a small village. Government troops proceed to the church and demand that everyone leave immediately. Timidly, and with evident unease, Bishop Romero faces the leader of the soldiers. The soldier mocks and humiliates him, physically forcing him to leave the church. As he stands outside the sanctuary, he looks at the faces of the people of the village, realizing he has let them down.

With resolve, he returns to the church. Marching up the aisle, he ignores the shouts of the military men and begins to gather up the communion that was scattered on the floor during the first altercation. Refusing to acknowledge the soldiers, Romero humbly gathers the wafers.

The commanding officer pulls his rifle and begins spraying the front of the church with gunfire, just over Romero’s prostrate form, destroying everything on the altar. Once more, Romero is lifted to his feet and forcibly evicted from the church.

Visibly shaken and distraught, Bishop Romero gets in his car and his driver pulls away, leaving a cloud of dust. The villagers watch the car dwindle in the distance, despair and defeat on each face. There is an oppressive sense of hopelessness and fear saturating the scene. As people begin to disperse, the sound of an engine can be heard just prior to the Archbishop’s car emerging from the dust cloud. With new resolve, Romero steps from his car, and his driver helps him put on his vestments—the robe and stole of his office.

With head held high, he moves toward the doors of the small church. The camera pans across the faces of the men and women—young and old—in the crowd. Eyes sparkle and jaws set and people begin to fall in formation behind the Archbishop. As one body, knit and joined in spiritual courage and righteousness, they march to the church, standing toe-to-toe with the commander.

For a brief moment, he and Romero freeze in a stare-down, and then the commander looks away and lowers his gun. Romero and the villagers reclaim God’s house, defeating the powers and principalities of this world by faith.

Psalm 27 reminds us that despite enemies and adversaries all around us; despite the fact that life can be a battle and we frequently experience reasons to abandon our faith, if we continue to look for God, if we continue to believe that we will find God’s light in the darkness and God’s strength in the struggle, we will find our courage and confidence.

Those who seek God’s face at all times will never be victims.  Victims are helpless but the faithful will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. We will not have to die before we see a slice of heaven, if we remember to do that one thing necessary—to seek God’s face at all times and in all circumstances.

As you go forward into this year, there will be places that will be thick with troubles, but every thick place is also a thin place where God’s light breaks through for those who seek it.

Roger Grecni witnessed to that just a few weeks ago when, despite the darkness of death bearing down upon him through a brain tumor, he stood up in the midst of this congregation and made his reaffirmation of faith that God is his light and salvation, so whom or what shall he fear?

When you have that one thing, to behold the beauty of the Lord at all times, what else do you need?

AMEN.