Above All Nations

From a Sermon Delivered at Pommern Lutheran Church

Iringa, Tanzania 24 Aug 2014

Flying Over Tanzania - June 2014

This is my second visit to Iringa this year as the Director of Bega Kwa Bega for the Saint Paul Area Synod. I have now been here for more than two months. In ten days or so I will be returning to America to continue the work of our partnership there. There journey will take me by plane from Iringa to Dar es Salaam and then on to Amsterdam and the American city of Chicago, where my parents live.

I have learned to enjoy flying. This is good because my work involves traveling between America and Tanzania quite regularly.

I especially love the flight from Iringa to Dar es Salaam. As the small plane takes off from Nduli it turns to the East. From the windows you can see the mountains that surround Iringa, the plains near Isimani, and -on a clear day- where the land falls away into the Rift Valley on the way to Mtera. The flight follows the course of the highway. You look down on Ilula and can see where the road it Image goes off on the right. You see the rushing river near Ruaha Mbuyuni, the way the mountains give way to the flat lands of Mikumi, and then the sprawl of the buildings and roads that make up Dar es Salaam.

Closer to my home, I enjoy flying in to the airport at Chicago - especially at night when the lights of the city spread as far as the eye can see. There are so many lights that you can perfectly see the outline of the Great Lake Michigan - a dark shape surrounded by a sea of light.

These are truly beautiful sights. They make you feel like you are on top of the world. But they are nothing compared to the view that God has. . .

In today’s Psalm*, we read:

From heaven the Lord looks down    and sees all mankind;from his dwelling place he watches    all who live on earth—he who forms the hearts of all,    who considers everything they do.

God’s view takes in all of the word; it is not limited to a small window in an airplane. God’s sees mountains and rivers and cities like we do; but God also sees the heart and soul of all of God’s people. God sees everything.

As God looks at the world, what does God see and what does God value?

As humans, we have divided the world into nations and states. We have drawn borders on maps and raised armies to defend them. We have elected presidents, served kings, and followed chiefs to build our own sense of security. 

We clear fields, cut trees, and dig mines to extract resources.  And then we build roads and train tracks and airports to trade them. We bargain with one another, we cheat one another, and we deal dishonestly with one another so that we can amass fortunes for ourselves - to buy ourselves a better future.

When we look down on the Earth from on high, we take pride in the ways that we have transformed the world. We value our leaders and our armies and our wealth. 

But, again, as God looks down on the Earth, what does God see and what does God value?

Certainly God sees our nations and our leaders and their armies. But do they fill God’s chest with a sense of pride? No! As the Psalmist writes, “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. . . [These things], despite [their] great strength cannot save.” Ultimately, they are nothing more than things humans use for or against one another. Ultimately, salvation belongs to the Lord.

Certainly God sees what we have done with God’s creation. God sees what we have made with the natural resources he has blessed us with. He sees our tall buildings and our roads and the small items that we make with our hands. He sees our economic systems and how some collect more than their fair share of the resources to grow in wealth and prestige. He sees how a small number of people reap most of the harvest, leaving the majority to go hungry. 

He sees that we call this ‘success’ . . . and does it fill God’s chest with a sense of pride? No! The Prophet Amos says this: “Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, . . . “The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything [you] have done.”

If God sees what we see but does not take pride in the things that we take pride, where else does God cast God’s vision and in what else might God value?

Again, Psalm 33 provides an answer. The Psalmist writes, “ . . . the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

God’s vision and God’s favor rests on the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, and marginalized. God values and takes pride in the places and things that our human view overlooks.

This is in line with what we read in Matthew 25. In a parable describing the judgment of nations Jesus says, “‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of [God’s] family, you did it to me.’” You who for give food to the hungry, give drink to the thirsty,  welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison . . . In God’s eyes, you are blessed and you will inherit God’s kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.

The Son of God came to earth not as a mighty king with strong armies or as a wealthy trader with prestige and influence. Rather, He came as the son of a carpenter and spent his life and his ministry among those who had very little or were left behind by those who were deemed a ‘success’. He came so that all might have an abundant life. He died and was raised again to forgive all of us our sins - all of our sins-  including the sin of overlooking what God sees and what God values. This is Good News. 

My friends, my hope and my prayer for us gathered at Pommern this morning is this - that we may begin to see the world as God sees it and to value it the way that God does. That we may be a people who find ourselves  among the weak and the vulnerable. . . praising God by helping the poor, tending to the sick, feeding the hungry, and advocating for the voiceless.

May we be a people who joins the Psalmist in saying,

We wait in hope for the Lord;    he is our help and our shield.In him our hearts rejoice,    for we trust in his holy name.May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,    even as we put our hope in you.

Amen.

*The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania creates its own lectionary to follow throughout the calendar year. You can find weekly themes and daily readings via their online calendar.