“The God at the End of .Com”

2nd Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 — preached at Foundry United Methodist Church July 11th, 2021

I am always amazed at the richness and depth of Scripture. You can return to a passage over and over again and, invariably, each reading raises more questions than it answers. Fresh examination of our most beloved passages brings new insight and deeper dialogue with every encounter.

Contrary to popular belief, Scripture is not a roadmap which always lays out clear boundaries and mile markers for a to-scale spiritual journey. Nor is its prophecy a predictive panacea, or cure, that explains away our uncertainty about the future .

It is rather, I think, a divine invitation. In its words, we meet God at the intersections of our collective past, the present, and the future to receive God’s word for us right now. In it we recognize and remember that God shows up, over and over again at the intersections of our faith and doubt, our hope and fear, our joy and our sorrow. And when we accept the invitation to meet God at those intersections // new joy and abundant life often await us around every corner. As we meet God today where our story intersects with that of David, Michal and the people of Israel, let us pray:

Come Holy Spirit, Living Light of Love, and illuminate our lives anew. Grant us fresh grace, so that as we ponder the possibilities of your leading through THESE words, we might receive and welcome their comfort and challenge. Take the humble offering of this preacher and make of it what it needs to be so that—whether through me or in spite of me—you might be glorified, your people edified, and together we might draw a little closer to Your Kin-dom come. Amen.

It was a new day in Israel! The people were turning the corner of a past rife with internal division, political anarchy, and war with the Philistines. These changes culminated in the return of the Ark of the Covenant—the physical representation of God’s power, presence, and preference for the people of Israel—to the center of their social awareness as it is escorted out of obscurity in backwater Balle- Judah and into their new capital city of Jerusalem.

What unfolds, on the one hand, is prime political theater. David represented a radical change in leadership from his predecessor, King Saul. A popular military hero with a keen sense of how to rule, he threatened familiar institutions and power structures, along with those who benefited from them. By intertwining his kingship with the unifying religious symbol of the Ark, David appeals to the peoples’ religious devotion and offers proof in his procession, into HIS capital city, that his reign and leadership are blessed by God.

But, while there are certainly political motivations for David’s decision, the ark of the covenant is no mere political symbol. Sincere and raucous joy accompany its arrival in the city. The Ark, after all was proof that God was with them even as they turned the corner toward a new way of being Israel together. Proof that God was able to take moments of unprecedented change // and leadership from surprising and unexpected places // and new rituals and ways of gathering together and make of them opportunities for healing, hope, and wholeness.

David is one of the Bible’s more complicated figures. A egomaniac with a seemingly insatiable bloodlust and a penchant for pursuing his own best interests most of the time. But here takes advantage of a strategic opportunity to usher people into the healing presence of God following decades of communal trauma. And his reckless joy, his willingness to literally dance like a fool in front of his people, abandons assumptions about how a king should behave and invites people to consider new ways of recognizing and responding to God’s presence.

Whatever David’s political motivations, the Spirit of God moves in them and maybe in spite of them, creating much needed space for people to remember, recognize, and embrace the hope of