You’ll Never Walk Alone

Adapted from a sermon written for REL 812: Principles and Practices of Preaching at Yale Divinity School
Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
~Psalm 139:7-10, The Message

On Easter morning, I woke up and scrolled through Instagram. I wish I could say that it wasn't the first thing that I did on Easter Sunday... but it was. I scrolled through and scrolled through and saw image upon image from around the country and the world with the caption "He is Risen!" There were beautiful photographs full of beautiful people in beautiful places. People talked about how they had made themselves up to look special because it was Easter. One of the captions even had the hashtag #thingsIdoforJesus. And so, my mind urgently turned to my own appearance and how I could participate in this 21st century Easter ritual. I mentally flicked through my wardrobe and chose what I would wear, and also what my husband, Andrew should (or more specifically should not) wear. I stacked up a pile of books and boxes to get the perfect angle, balanced my phone precariously on top and ran to get the perfect picture. I wanted everyone to know that I knew that Christ is Risen, and I wanted everyone to know that my life was as joyous as the Easter story.

But, as the day went on and more people posted their Easter photographs, I began to feel weird about the effort I had taken that morning to post something on the Internet. I looked at the pictures of people watching church together as a family, all with their Bibles open, carefully highlighted and aggressively annotated, and remembered that I had fallen asleep during church the previous week. The picture I had crafted was hardly candid. It had been staged for an audience I cared much more about in that moment than the person who had risen from the dead and had given cause for the caption.

It is easy in this time of social distancing and self-isolation to put on a performance for those who live outside of the four walls in which we are quarantined. This performance might be the perfect photographs I mentioned above, but it might be something else. Maybe you're emphasizing the heap of flames that you're sitting in so much that the joys of your daily life are being masked. Maybe you're really struggling but don't really know how to ask people for help so you continue to smile. Maybe you did pay attention in class and maybe you did write that paper but you don't want to shame anyone else. This last point might not be me, but I'm sure it's someone. A couple of days ago, I was praying about this sermon because I had no idea what I was going to say and I felt God tell me to "tell the truth." My initial reaction was to say... "well, obviously I'm going to tell the truth!" I went back and forth and back and forth about what to say and found myself returning to this popular Psalm. Psalm 139.

I pleaded with God. Please! Let me write on something else. I don't want to talk about Psalm 139. I'm not ready to talk about Psalm 139. It's not as fun as something else. But, here we all are. Just as the Lord called Samuel, so too do I say "Here I am, Lord." And, just as the Lord called Jonah, so too has the Lord called me today even though I tried to run far away from this passage. So... may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my Redeemer.

While a significant percentage of studies, sermons and talks on Psalm 139 entirely focus on body image and positive self worth, I want to take us in a different direction today. I mentioned it because it would be remiss of me to fail to mention it altogether because it is an important aspect of reading and understanding this Psalm. But, when God called me to tell the truth about this passage, I believe that I was called to search for another kernel of truth contained within this Psalm.

And so, I want us to backtrack from verse fourteen and read verses seven through ten. In the Message translation, they read:

Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!

Psalm 139:7-10, The Message

Acclaimed Old Testament scholar Renita Weems writes in her book, Listening for God, about her experience waiting in God's silence. As I've been reading it over the past week, that has felt like more relatable content than the verses I just shared from Psalm 139. I'm not even trying to avoid God's Spirit. I just can't seem to find it. And, it makes me feel as if I am alone.

Especially at this time of widespread loneliness, it can be challenging to feel as if God has abandoned us also. I want to take a moment to just acknowledge that many of us feel like God has forsaken us during this time. We don't want to feel this way, but we do. Acknowledging a problem doesn't necessarily fix it, but it helps us realize where we are. And right now, many of us feel alone.

But, Psalm 139 reminds us that God is with us. And, it's not just Psalm 139.

Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9, NRSV

Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10, NRSV

The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love, he will exult over you with loud singing

Zephaniah 3:17, NRSV

And, in the words of Christ...

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Matthew 28:20, NRSV

We have evidence and reminders in Scripture that God is always with God's people. And, I hope each of you can look back on a time in your life when you felt like God was with you, even in the midst of trial or challenging circumstance.

But, I want to pose one more thing. I think back to many of the prominent figures in the Bible and I remember that God meets them when they are alone. When God came to Moses as a burning bush, Moses was alone. When God came to Elijah under the broom tree, Elijah was alone. And, when God came to Mary to announce the coming of her son who would be the Christ, Mary was alone. There are countless more examples in the Bible of God interceding with humanity in intimate, individual moments. These are some of the more dramatic ones, but we can also think of the quieter moments. In Luke 5:16, for example, it is written that Jesus frequently left the disciples to go and pray. At another point, Jesus tells those around him to go inside to pray. He says,

But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:6, NRSV

Many of us are alone right now, or at least more alone than we were six weeks ago. Now that we are forced to shut the door and pray to our God in secret, maybe we will experience God in a whole new way. Maybe we can see this as an opportunity for God to come to us in an intimate and individual way, just like God did with these figures in the Bible. This past weekend, we celebrated Easter. While Easter is a time where churches usually rejoice in loud singing, we must not forget that the resurrected Christ did not come loudly. Jesus came quietly to Mary in the garden and simply called her by name. "Mary."

I think that part of the reason I post on social media during self isolation is because I miss people. I crave their comments because I miss hearing their voices. As someone who experiences love through quality time and words of affirmation, Zoom simply doesn't cut it. And so, I seek out other avenues to receive these forms of love. When I posted the photograph of Andrew and I on Facebook this Sunday morning, I was hoping people would see it and remember that I exist. But, as God has revealed to me in the past 48 hours or so, God has been with me all along, showering me with blessings even though I don't necessarily feel or understand them. Maybe that's what God wanted me to tell you when I felt called to tell the truth, that God has been with us all this entire time. We have not been forsaken or forgotten. Psalm 139 reminds us that God is with us in the midst of this storm.

Maybe, without the noise and distraction of our ordinary lives, God will use this time to come to each of us in quiet ways, just like with Mary Magdalene by the tomb. Or, maybe it'll be a loud proclamation like Moses and Elijah and Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced. Perhaps the voice will be so quiet that we can barely grasp it as God. Regardless, we can be confident in these words.

Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?
    to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!

Psalm 139:7-10, The Message

There is a song that is sung when Liverpool Football Club plays its matches. No matter if we win or lose, the same refrain is sung: Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone! There is something uniquely special about listening to a stadium full of people blare out the same words and the same song. It's not quite church, but it's close. And so we sing together:

When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm, there's a golden sky and the sweet silver song of the lark. Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone. You'll never walk alone!

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

The song has recently been used as an anthem in the UK and across the globe in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Radio stations have played it in honor of the many many healthcare professionals and essential workers who are laboring tirelessly to ensure that we will all remain safe and well. This song is for them, but it is for us also. My prayer is that you will walk on through the rest of this self-isolation and social distancing with hope in your heart and know that you never walk alone. Amen.