Sermon 8/22/04
Oh, Great! - Jeremiah 1:4-10
(view lectionary notes for this text)
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made, I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; how great thou art, how great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; how great thou art, how great thou art! When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; And when I think that God, his Son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in; that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and die to take away my sin; When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God, how great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; how great thou art, how great thou art!
"How Great Thou Art" is a beautiful hymn written in 1886 by Carl Boberg. Boberg, a Swedish pastor, "was caught in a sudden thunderstorm while visiting a beautiful country estate. As the storm passed, giving way to the sweet songs of birds and a green countryside glistening in the sunlight, Boberg composed the nine original stanzas of this hymn" as a poem. Years later, he was surprised to hear his poem being sung by a congregation we has visiting, the words having been set to a traditional Swedish tune.
"In time," according to one website, "the hymn was translated into German and Russian and was noticed by a British missionary who was serving in Ukraine. That missionary, Reverend Stuart Hine, was visiting a home in the Carpathian Mountains" where he was inspired by the conversion of several new Christians. After witnessing their faith, he wrote the last verse that we sing in today's hymnal: "And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; that on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art!"
The hymn "How Great Thou Art" suggests our understanding and beliefs that God is greater than we can imagine, that God is the source of all creation and beauty and goodness in our world. "How Great Thou Art" is a testament to the power of God. As Christians, we believe that we humans are faulty and limited. We know that we make mistakes, we sin, we screw up. And we believe that God knows us, knows our world. We believe that God has created all that there is. Yet, with all these beliefs, I am still amazed at how often we insist that we know better for ourselves and our lives than God does. Such a hymn as "How Great Thou Art" reflects our awe at God's greatness, our awe at God's love for us, our awe and wonder at God's relationship to us, that God would even take human form to become close to us. Yet, even as we sing this hymn with such gusto, with such hearty enthusiasm as we normally use for this well-loved hymn, I wonder how it is that we continually fail to connect God's greatness to our own lives.
Let's look at our Old Testament reading for today. We read in this introduction to Jeremiah, God speaking to the young prophet: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah responds to God, "Ah, God, truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." But God responds, not accepting Jeremiah's protests, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you." And God touches Jeremiah's mouth, figuratively, and continues, "Now I have put my words in your moth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
That is indeed a great and awesome experience of a great and awesome God at work in Jeremiah's life. God declares that God has known Jeremiah since before he was born - and more than knowing Jeremiah, God has even had plans for which Jeremiah was consecrated from before his birth. God knows all about Jeremiah, and has a path for Jeremiah to follow. But Jeremiah has to accept God's call. And despite his belief in God, his knowledge of God's greatness, goodness, and wisdom, Jeremiah somehow still manages to question God's plans, and wonder if God really knows what he's doing. Jeremiah tries the excuse of youth - "but God," he pleas, "you've forgotten, no doubt, how young and unqualified I am!" God doesn't want to hear it. "Don't whine, don't hem and haw. You shall go and you shall speak. Don't be afraid - I am with you. Your mouth, my words."
We modern-day Christians are much the same. We believe that God can do anything - anything except figure out what is best for us. I'm not sure why it is - perhaps we don't really believe that God will bother to look into our own small lives - that God will bother to dream for us and plan for us. Perhaps we believe that God only calls the talented and select few into service. Perhaps we believe that God only makes plans for those who have not screwed up as much as we have screwed up. Perhaps we're just like the student who doesn't know the answer to the question, hoping that that teacher won't call on her, trying to be invisible in the front row of seats in the classroom. Whatever our reason, again and again, in scriptures, and in our lives today, we humans try to tell God we have a better plan whenever we get the chance.
The Bible is full of God calling unusual people, working with the most untalented sorts, overcoming the most energetic protests from those who end up being our heroes and models in our faith journeys. God chose scrawny David to defeat giant Goliath and reign over Israel, even though David sometimes committed terrible sins, even after taking the throne. God chose Peter, an uneducated fisherman, to be the leader of the Christian movement, and he told Jesus to get away from him because he was too sinful. God chose Elizabeth, an old woman who thought she could never have a child, to bear John the Baptist into the world, and her husband was so doubtful that God could bring to pass these plans that he was struck mute for Elizabeth's entire pregnancy. God chose Jonah as a vessel to save Nineveh from destruction, and Jonah actually literally fled by sea in the exact opposite direction.
And if we're not convinced by biblical examples, if we feel perhaps that we can't relate to these long ago figures of faith, perhaps we can connect with some more modern figures, from this favorite 'failure' list from the Ann Landers column. (2) Albert Einstein was 4 years old before he could speak. Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school and was considered "unpromising." Beethoven's music teacher once said of him, "As a composer, he's hopeless." When Thomas Edison was a youngster, his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. He was counseled to go into a field where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality. F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his employer would not permit him to wait on customers because he "didn't have enough sense to close a sale." Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Winston Churchill had to repeat the sixth grade because he did not complete the tests that were required for promotion. Babe Ruth struck out 1,300 times - - a major league record.
The hymn we study today causes us to ask the question - who is it that we think is so great anyway? Do we think that God is great? Or do we think that we are so great that we are beyond God's plans, God's power, God's love, or God's grace? If we protest against God's call, if we insist God has got it wrong, that we aren't qualified, that God picked us out incorrectly, that we're not chosen and unique, we're essentially saying that we know better than God - and that is a dangerous position to take! When humans try to place themselves above God, the consequences are rarely good!
Let your soul sing, as you look around this gorgeous creation, as you sit next to God's beautiful creations, as you let your life be filled with wonder. God has known you since you were in the womb. God has made plans for you, before you were even being formed. O Lord, our God! How Great Thou Art!
(1) http://www.stinalisa.com/HowGreatThouArt.html
(2) http://www.blountk12.org/Tnsndweb/classes/manges.htm