Scripture Psalm 133 (New English Translation)
Look! How good and how pleasant it iswhen brothers truly live in unity.2 It is like fine oil poured on the head,which flows down the beard—Aaron’s beard,and then flows down his garments.3 It is like the dew of Hermon,which flows down upon the hills of Zion.Indeed, that is where the Lord has decreeda blessing will be available—eternal life.
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What we have before us today, is a short but very powerful psalm. It is accredited to King David and was often sung by worshippers as they ascended the temple mount.
For us, as 21st Century Christians, it does contain a few difficult words or phrases that might be hard for us to interpret these days.
For example, when was the last time any of you had oil lavishly poured on your heads? It’s not done in our world today like it was thousands of years ago. During those times, each time someone was ordained to be a priest, they got this treatment!
And the word “brothers” in the first line. What does that even mean? Actual brothers? People who get along together? Worshippers? What about sisters?
We live in a very different time than these people of God did. And over the hundreds of years of stories being passed down orally, once they were written down, they were changed, reinterpreted – you know, Kinda like we do when telling a story! You remember it one way, and your mom remembers it differently! The point of all of scripture, wasn’t history or exact words, it was to give us an overall picture of who God is in their worldview. And all who wrote or changed or added to the stories really did an amazing job.
But aren’t there disagreements about this, Pastor Cathy you might be asking?
Yes, we all don’t ever think the same about everything! But that doesn’t ever give us permission, as a follower of Christ Jesus, to condemn, to hate, to yell at, or to turn others away. We are only supposed to love as God loves us.
We, however, cannot even agree on what that looks like.
We live in a world where everyone can say anything they want and get away with it. People are full of hatred for those they oppose. It is in our very nature to defend our views and beliefs to the point where we are barely treating those opposed to us like human beings, let alone people made in the image of God! We are also quick to dismiss those who are different from us. We are threatened by differences.
We all have done this. We all have gone there.
but in this difficult little Psalm, the writer makes a bold claim that unity (among God’s family) is the KEY to enjoying God’s blessings. And not only that, but it is also the key to life forevermore!
So how do we achieve unity in this world? Is it even possible?
Let’s look a bit closer at this psalm…
Psalm 133 seems to be addressed, not to individuals, but to the whole Family of God! The family of God, on pilgrimage three times a year, from all over the Promised Land, singing their way up to the temple to worship, where they knew that they would come into the presence of God.
Some scholars believe that this was indeed written by David at a time of a national re-union. This would mean all of the tribes of Israel, even those who didn’t agree and had maybe even fought each other, embarked on the same pilgrimages to worship together, in God’s presence at the temple.
Look! How good and how pleasant it iswhen brothers (all tribes, all enemies, all people whether they like each other or not!) truly live in unity.
Is that what unity looks like today?
People tend to think today that unity is the same as uniformity. That’s where everyone thinks the same way on every issues. But that isn’t unity.
I think the Apostle Paul described unity very well. Remember his insistence that the Body of Christ, with many members, has a multiplicity of gifts, a variety of ministries. He also insisted that this body was united in a mystical union composed of both male and female, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, black and white and every other type of difference you can imagine.
God wanted the family that was chosen to be the light on the hill, to live in UNITY. We can try on our own, but it truly takes God’s help to achieve real unity.
In other words This unity that God required would have to come from God!
What do you think about all the various Christian religions in the world today? Each with their own church. Their own rules. Each reading the Bible differently. Why can’t we worship together?
God wanted his people to make a pilgrimage together, ally and foe together. And This pilgrimage and the worship of God in God’s presence, was the action that God wanted from God’s family. They had been chosen by God, from all the nations of the earth. They were the example of the family of God.
That such a diverse people could be united is the miracle of the church!
But we know that the miracle doesn’t always happen.
Someone once said that church is the most segregated hour on Sunday.
Some united methodist’s still won’t welcome a woman pastor or a black pastor.
And the fight continues over others who are different.
Can we ever be unified?
Psalm 133 highlights the blessing that comes to God’s people when they are united in their journey into God’s presence. Coming as God’s family, together, united with a purpose.
Such Unity is described as…
fine oil poured on the head, which flows down the beard—Aaron’s beard, and then flows down his garments.
We may not have that tradition anymore, but look at what else is in this one verse! abundance Oil was not a cheap commodity. Oil was used for special occasions – like consecrating priests. Also A generous host would provide oil to a guest for anointing before a meal (Luke 7:44-46)3. And don’t you recall a woman who anointed Jesus before his burial? Costly oil.
But on Easter, these gifts of mourning took on a new meaning as hope spread from the empty tomb. Life is no longer scarce but abundant, no longer rationed but spilling over like an endless fountain.
Just as the lavish oil covered Aaron’s head and beard, and flowed down onto his clothes, the brotherly/sisterly harmony among all of God’s family as they traveled and worshiped together, set them apart as God’s people to God’s service.
Methodists talk about sanctification a lot. So this probably isn’t new to you. But, Sanctification is the state of being set apart for a special purpose. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are a vessel for God. Also at our Baptism we are set apart for God, but not alone! Because as sanctified and set apart people, we enter into the FAMILY OF GOD.
It truly takes all of us together! To grow together. To be an example for those new in the faith. To show what unity looks like. Without such unity we cannot serve God as we should!
Further, Unity
is like the dew of Hermon,which flows down upon the hills of Zion.
Mt. Hermon is the highest mountain within view of Israel. It looms 7,500 ft. above sea level far to the north of the Promised Land.
This mountain captures moisture like no other geographical feature in that area.
It is snow covered most of the year, and in the Middle East, it’s DEW is crucial, feeding the headwaters of the Jordan River and making Galilee green.
So, he’s saying, when God’s people are united in their service to God and in worship, it’s like the waters of Hermon falling on Zion, making that desert as fertile and fruitful as the region around the mountain.
Unity not only makes God’s people fit for service; it also makes them fruitful in all their endeavors.
Christianity was never supposed to be an individual endeavor. We’ve made it into a personal choice. But then what? That’s where unity is so important! We lift one another up! We teach each other! We succeed together. We fail together. We move as one in the journey.
Harmony among God’s people is the KEY to God’s blessings on all of creation, which includes we humans.
God blesses us with eternal life, redeeming us with his mercy that flows as lavishly as the oil and the dew upon us!
This blessing is bestowed when God’s people are united as they gather and serve together in God’s presence. In any and every place where his people are united by their faith, their hope, and their love, worshipping God and serving him together in the world, are our blessings.
Here’s how Paul put it in Philippians 2:1-7. “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.”
Several weeks ago, God put a thought in my head that I’ve been meditating on. God asked me, “When did the church become a building, rather than a people?”
I don’t know when exactly. But I know that even now, thousands of years later, to most people, church is just a building that we go to. But that is not how the church started. The church was the people.
The early Christ followers knew what we know too – that We can do more together rather than remaining isolated and alone. Rather than trying to be in ministry with only a few. Rather than having a service when we want it, on the day we want it, because we’ve always done it that way!
This separation, trying to do everything independently, is not of scripture. The opposite is true! The New Testament proclaims unity in Christ! The OT proclaims unity in God!
So can we be unified today in 2024? I believe that we can and should. I believe that we can and should work together. That we can and should share space. That we can and should serve together. We are better together!
And if we don’t, Well it is not because we aren’t faithful! It is not because we aren’t serving God in Christ Jesus. But it might be because there isn’t enough to pay the power bills, or a pastor, or fix a leak in the roof.
When this happens, our desire to remain independent has weakened our ability to spread God’s love to all the world. We have truly allowed selfishness to rule over the work that God is calling us to!
This is not a new thing! Churches have been struggling for decades, and yet, it’s like no one has been watching or listening. And so we continue to hobble, doing what we can with what we have.
But just think what our churches could do together! Think if we all shared a common vision from God! Think what would happen if all Methodists, including democrats, republicans, women, men, the old, the young, and more could start to get real with one another, honest with each other, agreeing to disagree, and loving because that is what the Family of God does – Just think.. I believe that we would draw closer to God and to each other!
The Unity of God’s people is a blessing from God! It’s time to declare, as Bishop Carter did at Annual Conference, that the old is gone. The new has come!
We are better together! And it doesn’t have to be complicated! Not if we put aside the things that divide us and come together as one Family of God. Setting aside our selfish wants, To serve, to minister, to teach, to rejoice, to worship, to love one another.
I want to leave you with this story. There is a movie called Ruby Bridges. It’s the true story of the first black child to attend an all white school in 1960 in New Orleans, LA. Ruby was only 6 years old. She and her mother were escorted to the school every day by 4 US Marshalls for a year. As they passed through those gathered to protest at the school, the people were yelling, cussing, spitting, and treating this little girl in a way that was less than human. They even threatened to kill her and her mother.
A psychologist was hired to observe how this horrible trauma would affect the young girl. But at school she acted like every other child – happy go lucky and always ready to play. This was unexpected and so the psychologist asked her one day what she felt towards the people who were treating her this way.
She told him that every morning, she prayed for them. He asked her why she did that and she responded, “Well don’t you think they need prayer?”
He asked her what she prayed and she said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” This made the psychologist speechless.
This young child was able to pray for those who hated her. She used the words that Jesus had prayed on the cross. I believe that she was filled with the Holy Spirit who comforted her and protected her spirit, allowing her to put aside hate, and instead demonstrate pure love.
Living in unity has extravagant and abundant benefits and blessings far beyond measure. Even if we are not yet fully there, God willing, full harmony with all people is a place toward which we are moving.
God WILL bless each and every one of us. With life. Abundant Life forevermore.
Amen.
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