Psalm 85
Last week, the first Sunday of Advent, I shared with you that the first three psalms before Christmas (80, 85 and 126) all contain the verb "to restore." Therefore, I thought I would take the opportunity to explore what "to restore" may mean as we prepare for Christmas. As you know, there is a human dilemma in that we spend a lot of time groping on our hands and knees in the dark, hoping to find a light that will reveal the meaning of life, or a lantern that will light our path.
Advent celebrates the "Word-becomes-flesh" God that is coming and will soon be with us, to restore the light. Advent announces that God was not willing to have a distant, arms-length relationship with us who are God's beloved creatures formed in God's image. Advent is all about God's willingness --- even insistence --- to come forward and to become vulnerable, accessible, reachable, and attainable… to restore a relationship with his people.
Let us Pray….
In our home is a wooden antique end table about the height of our sofa, with a marble top. This antique table has a story that comes with it.
You see after graduating from seminary and before being ordained and serving my first congregation, I had about a year where I helped two churches. The first church I assisted was part time for about three months. It was a large church that had a pastor but was waiting for their other associate pastor to arrive. I was willing to help for those three months and needed the money. Well one day the pastor asked if I would go to a nursing home and make the rounds and visit several of the residents who where members for him because he had funeral.
During my visits, one of the women was in a room to herself that was full of antique furniture and porcelain dolls. In our conversation we talked about her life, had communion and of course she discussed the history of some of the furniture and dolls that were all around. She lingered in her story telling on one piece of furniture, this marble topped end table. She shared that she had this end table made from several other broken pieces of furniture. The marble top was a small piece cut from a bar and the legs where from another piece of furniture that had broken. I commented on how wonderful a piece of furniture it had come to be. She then surprised me and said, "When I die it will be yours!" I laughed and I continued on with our conversation. I simply took the statement to be the early onset of dementia or she had me confused with someone else, or said that to all her visitors.
That was my one and only visit with her, as shortly after my three months came to an end and I quickly forgot about it until about five or so years later when a woman called my office where I was pastor. This woman was the executor of the estate for this woman that I had met that one time in that nursing home years before. This executor of the will told me that I was the inheritor of this antique table. I at first refused insisting that there must be some mistake, I was not a relative and only had met her one time, nevertheless, the executor insisted that this elderly woman meant for me to have the table and could I please come and get it. Well, I discussed it with my wife and together we drove to this woman's home and sure enough as I had remembered, there was the table. After visiting with this woman who had been a friend of the woman who had died, the struggle she had in finding my location, my wife and I drove off with this piece of furniture, the story that I shared with you and with the final instructions of the executor that it was my task "to restore" the table.
However, other than that strengthening the legs because of the heavy marble top, I cannot nor could the executor understand what the woman had meant "to restore" the table because as I shared with you, it is unique, constructed out of several others pieces. It cannot be restored or can it?
Psalm 85 begins with a line that was spoken by the people of Israel, back in their homeland after a time of exile as servants and slaves in a country called Babylon: "Lord" the people say "you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob."(v.1) The people are thankful that their long captivity is over, and that God has forgiven their iniquity and "pardoned all their sin" (v. 2).
But still, something else is being discussed. It is emptiness the people feel is very similar to the void that remains deep within that we may feel after we finish High School or earn a degree, start a job, start a family, find a partner, or move into a bigger house, or retire, or it is the feeling we may have when we drive a new car off the lot. We know how fortunate we are. We appreciate God's favor toward us. But we wonder why everything we thought we wanted still is not enough. We wonder why good fortune in this life gives us everything but a sense of peace.
It is to that feeling that Psalm 85 speaks; a recognition that true peace will escape us until our restless hearts begin to rest in God. Serenity cannot be granted by a diploma, a promotion, a partnership, a child, a McMansion, a retirement or a luxury sedan or new pickup. True peace comes through grace to us as a gift from God, and it includes forgiveness of sin and the restoration of our relationship with the Lord.
Psalm 85 tells us that God is generous with peace and salvation, but God requires a response. God requires for us "to restore" a relationship in return. Yet, how like the marble end table are we supposed to restore it since we do not know how it looked like in the beginning?
The only way we will benefit from this gift of grace to restore God's peace is to receive it by turning to God and offering the respect, faith and love that God deserves. Each of us is "to restore" this gift by accepting God's peace instead of choosing to "return to sender" unopened.
Our marble end table has become of our family, moved from home to home, and with it comes the story. In the same way, soon and very soon, a treasure will be given to us that needs "restoration" today; that treasure is the gift of Christ at Christmas --- a gift we can receive with curiosity, laughter, gratitude and delight.
Yet, as I said, this restoration includes a response from us. We begin to respond to this restoration by piecing together our own gifts, the broken pieces of ourselves and our relationships. At a time when Christmas packages are filled with everything but restored relationships, what could it mean to put together a gift of the restoration of peace? Perhaps it may mean to extend steadfast love to a teenager who is rebelling with every ounce of his or her energy. Perhaps it may mean to practice faithfulness in our marriages or partnerships and make an effort to express appreciation to our loved ones. Perhaps it may mean to show righteousness in our school or workplace, by being honest and fair in all of our activities. Perhaps it may mean to work for peace in our relationships, looking for ways to reduce tensions and increase harmony, instead of picking fights and spreading gossip. In other words, restore us, O God; piece us back together. Give us the gift of your peace, so that we can share peace with others. Amen.
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