THE AUDACITY OF PRAISE
A sermon by George R. Pasley
John 12:12-16; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11
When I was in college I enrolled in an elective, textile production. I figured since I was a sheep farmer that would be a fun course to take.
Little did I know how much fun it would be. When I went to the very first class, I discovered I was the only male student in a class of several hundred women. For a college junior, that was a pretty good deal, but it got even better when a very attractive girl walked into the lecture hall and sat down beside me.
I learned her name, Corrine. We walked out of class together because she lived in a sorority that was one block away from my fraternity. I didn’t walk with her always, and our conversations were rather light, but when we a fraternity event arose on the calendar, I called and asked her to be my date.
One of my friends, Larry was sitting in the room when I called. He heard me ask for Corrine and his jaw dropped, his heart skipped three beats, and he almost fell on the floor. He pantomimed his astonishment to me while I waited for Corrine to come to the phone. Corrine, after all, was considered to be the most attractive sorority girl on campus, and he couldn’t believe I had the audacity to ask her out.
Well, she said no. Turns out she had a serious boyfriend. But I think that story would still make Larry laugh.
Some might still think I’m audacious. After all, a certain United Church of Christ minister in
That might happen, but whether it does or not, it seems that the church is called to the act of audacious praise.
That’s the way it was on the first Palm Sunday- Jerusalem was an occupied city, complete with a garrison of the most well trained soldiers that ever were. Surely some of those Roman soldiers were present and accounted for on Sunday when the crowd took Palm branches and gave Jesus a parade complete with epithets. John’s Gospel doesn’t say it, but all the others do: They proclaimed Jesus as a future king that day.
Audacious, wasn’t it?
I’m willing to go out on a limb here- I suspect that some of the soldiers laughed, others were astonished, others expressed scorn, and others made up jokes.
Audacious? You bet it was! Especially considering what happened just five days later: Jesus was condemned, and executed on across. I’ll bet the passing of those soldiers’ jokes went into overdrive on Friday night and Saturday…”He came to town in the name of the Lord, and left town in a body bag.”
Or something like that.
In fact, even the stubborn belief that Jesus rose from the grave did nothing to soften the scorn of the Romans. After all, he was CRUCIFIED, and as far as they were concerned not even a resurrection could take away the scandal, the shame, the DISGRACE of crucifixion. Worse yet, as far as they were concerned, he was a crucified-wannabe-king.
But as soon as they were legally allowed- a time span of only 300 years- the Christians started re-enacting that parade and singing their audacious praise: "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Maybe it didn’t seem so audacious then- after all, even the Emperor Constantine was a Christian.
Maybe it doesn’t seem so audacious today- after all, there are 20 some Christian churches in town.
But think about it: our Palm Sunday celebration is inexorably linked, by its history and by our celebration, to the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, trial, denial, abandonment, condemnation, suffering, crucifixion and burial.
On the first day of the week we remember most vividly his death, we shout "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
Hosanna? In the presence of death? That’s either rude, or it’s audacious.
But we shout it, we sing it, and we even insist on it when the lectionary suggests we read all of the passion narratives.
Maybe it’s denial, but I choose audacious because praise is often audacious…
The year after I graduated from high school my alma mater had a great basketball team, but they started out poor. Very poor. The lost every game in December, and the last game of the month they lost by a score of 105-41.
I was there, and I remember.
But guess what- the cheerleaders still cheered. The play on the court brought some groans, but it didn’t bring any boos.
They were our boys and our friends, and we cheered as well as we could
Praise is audacious.
In 1988 the Baltimore Orioles started out the year by losing their first 21 games. But when they came home after a long losing road trip, there were 51,000 people in the stadium, every one of them cheering as loud as they could. Every sportswriter in
Praise is audacious, so let’s praise the Lord!
Praise IS audacious, especially when you offer it in losing situations.
I was reminded of this Monday night, when Allan Rockwood led our ecumenical Bible study at the
Al had us read from Psalm 69, and he identified the Psalm as describing a situation of extremis- utter desolation and pain.
But guess what?
In verse 29, the Psalm reads: “I am in pain and distress,” but verse 30 begins “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him in thanksgiving.”
That’s pretty darned audacious.
Most of the Bible’s Psalms of lament and desolation do the same thing: they start out in pain, and end in praise.
Amazing? No, it’s audacious. PRAISE THE LORD!
But there’s more to being audacious than just being absurd, especially when it’s praise of the Lord.
Praise proclaims a different reality than our circumstance, no matter what they are.
Praise proclaims the reality of our faith.
Palm Sunday praise proclaimed the resurrection even before anybody understood what Jesus had been trying to tell them.
Praise in the lament psalms proclaimed trust in a God who could and would deliver.
Why, the very act of praying in a time of desolation proclaims faith in a God who would hear their prayers- and a God like that is worthy of praise!
That’s the kind of God Duke Ellington wrote about in a song recorded by Mahlia Jackson and alter, Jennifer Holliday
Ooooh...
Lord, dear Lord above, God almighty,
God of love, Please look down and see my people through.
I believe that God put sun and moon up in the sky.
I don't mind the gray skies
'cause they're just clouds passing by.
Heaven is a goodness time. A brighter light on high.
Do unto others as you would have them do to you.
And have a brighter by and by.
Lord, dear Lord above, God almighty,
God of love, Please look down and see my people through.
I believe God is now, was then and always will be.
With God's blessing we can make it through eternity.
Lord, dear Lord above, God almighty,
God of love, Please look down and see my people through.
That was a hymn of faith for a suffering race- in 1943 when Ellington wrote it, and in 1965 when Mahila made it a hit.
That’s our God, worthy of praise, knowing he saw Jesus through all that long Holy week, all that long weekend, all the way to the grave.
He humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We NEED to praise a God like that.
PRAISE THE LORD!
Now, if God saw Jesus through that, then we know by faith the same God can and will see us through whatever our hard times are-
A denomination torn by debate
An economy sinking fast
The death of a friend
The end of a relationship
A new war every day
Insults and injuries
Confusion and bedlam
Chaos and taxes
Whatever, God can do it!
Those our just a few local circumstances, but whatever the circumstances, anywhere in the world, whatever our prayer, they are never so dire that the God who heard Jesus cry on the cross can’t hear our prayer too, and if God can hear God can act!
God might not do it our way, I know that for sure.
But God will do it in a praise worthy way, I know THAT for sure J
So PRAISE THE LORD!
Praise is audacious.
But praise is practical, too.
Praise tells the world our God will not give up, but when we tell the world we tell ourselves!
When we praise, we stop looking at the circumstances, and just like the prophet Isaiah, we see that it is the Lord who will help us.
I know a boy who just yesterday turned 11. It was a happy day for him, but the first four days of the week were pretty desolate and painful for him and everyone around him.
He suffered and he did not suffer silently.
But I gave him a motto, and somehow it struck chord and he kept it.
“I can do this” is the motto I gave him, and he did what needed to be done and rejoiced at its completion.
So let this be our motto: God can do this.
Then begin the praise and do not stop, no matter what.
That may be audacious, it is audacious, BUT…
It’s the only way to live.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
