23rd August 2009 - "Streets of Glory"

Usha Hull - St Mary's
Psalm 24, 1 Kings 8 1-11, Romans 4 1-8

Imagine a convent high up in the foothills of the Himalayas. Imagine row upon row of little girls of various nationalities, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Bengali, European, in white silk pleated dresses, shoes polished to a gleam, hair neatly braided, standing with hands clasped just so, and you begin to get some of the picture. An elocution class is in progress, the vowels being pronounced very carefully. The little girls are reciting together, ‘Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken His name in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.’ In those days the hills were alive indeed with the sound of elocution. Thus I learnt psalm 24.

Looking back, I sometimes think that one of the reasons the Loreto nuns, in the mountains of the Himalayas, Darjeeling, taught us this particular psalm was because this is one of the great psalms of dialogue and dialogue brings an elocution class alive. And in this series of summer Evensongs, devoted to the psalms, I chose psalm 24 because not only is it one of the great psalms of dialogue but it is also a psalm reflecting the glory of God and our own pilgrimage towards that glory. And I’d like to talk about these three points briefly.

As human beings, we love the sound of dialogue, of interaction between two different beings. If we were to base psalm 24 on modern day humour, it might go something like this:

‘ Knock, knock,’ say the priests outside the gate, ‘Open up.’

‘Who’s there?’ ask the people within.

‘The King of Glory,’ answer the priests.

‘And who is this King of Glory?’ ask the people.

And so the dialogue goes on.

The dialogue here is between the priests and the people of God. God, in the symbol of the Ark, comes to the gates, and the call goes out for those who are worthy to come into His presence. And who are they who are worthy? Those who are pure in heart and open to God. And who is it that the gates open for? The priests answer that it is none other than the commander of the armies of Heaven, the Lord of strong and mighty, the King of Glory.

In other words, a question is asked, and an answer is given, a further question is asked and again there is a reply. The Bible attributes this psalm to have been inspired by David, although it may have been written later after the great temple in Jerusalem was built by Solomon.

The psalmist celebrates the time when the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Tablets of the Law was carried in procession to mount Zion from the sanctuary at Shiloh. In later years, when Solomon authorised the building of the Temple, the ark was then carried into the Temple with great rejoicing and ceremony. Some scholars tell us that this psalm was sung on the first day of each week in Temple services. Other scholars seem to think that the psalm commemorates an annual event when the Ark was carried in procession around the Temple.

The psalmist describes God as the Creator to whom the world and all that dwell therein belong. But not only is God the creator and the source of our being, but He is also all powerful, invincible, holy. And the central theme of this psalm, is that everything belongs to God, the glorious and eternal King, and that we are called to worship Him and welcome in His glorious reign.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey reflected much in his life on the theme of glory. Ramsey wrote that the Hebrew and Greek words translated as ‘glory’ in both the Old and New Testaments tell of the revealed character of God and the response of His people in both worship and action. Ramsey believed that no words are more suggestive of the range and character of Christian spirituality than the words ‘glory’ and ‘glorify’.

In his work ‘A Dictionary of Christian Spirituality’, Ramsey says, ‘It is the Christian belief that man exists in order to glorify God with the glory of Heaven as his goal. This response includes both adoration with its awe and dependence, and participation as men and women come to share in the glory and are therefore glorified.’

The authors of both the Old and New Testaments drew clear lines between the glory and omnipotence of God and our own failings, sinfulness and unworthiness, and rightly so. In a Christian context, we believe there is none that is worthy to stand in God’s holy place. Yet, we also believe that we are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven not by merit but through grace. We are all called to be children of God not because we are worthy, but because of God’s great and limitless love. And no matter how weak or how strong our faith, in the end we all stand before God in equal need of His mercy and forgiveness.

And we need to take heart from the lives of the people mentioned in today’s readings. Take Abraham. Twice in his life he lied that his wife Sarah was his sister, firstly to Pharaoh, secondly many years later to King Abimelch, both times for his own self preservation. Abraham was definitely not worthy, but God forgave him much because of his faith. By faith was Abraham justified.

Or take King David. As far as we know, David was an adulterer and murderer. He had put to death the husband of Bathsheba whom he desired. Yet David’s very name means ‘Beloved’ and indeed he was beloved of the Lord, and a merciful God would use him to bring great good out of evil and from his line would our Saviour come.

Stranger still, out of all David’s sons God made Solomon, the son of David’s adultery, the next king and the one to build His temple. Solomon too departed from his holy vocation and was corrupted by his great wealth and power and his large harem of women.

Abraham, David and Solomon were larger than life figures. They sinned on a grand scale, yet in their individual ways they laid the foundations of the Kingdom of Heaven too, also on a grand scale. You and I generally don’t sin on a grand scale, but nevertheless most of us often feel unworthy. Sometimes, we conduct an inner dialogue and ask  ourselves questions like these: ‘Is my faith strong enough to save me?’ ‘Am I good enough to one day go to Heaven?’ ‘If I do enough charitable works during my life will this earn me an entrance ticket to the Heavenly Banquet?’ And the answer, in all instances, must be ‘No’.

Because, when we ask questions like this we are missing the point entirely. We can never get to Heaven, to stand in God’s holy place, under our own steam, no matter how good we are. It is only through the grace of God that we are redeemed. It is through love and blessing freely given that we are made holy and through the unmerited pardon and sacrifice of our Saviour that we are given the right to be called children of God.

I mentioned earlier that it was the people’s pilgrimage to follow the Ark which psalm 24 commemorates. We too are on pilgrimage throughout our lives. And the starting point of our life’s journey towards the glory of God is the acknowledgement of our own unworthiness, absolute honesty and openness towards God, and our willness to commit pure hands and hearts to His service.

So I would ask, as we walk on our own pilgrimages, do we seek to reflect the glory of God in our day to day lives? The King of Glory ever stands at the gates of our hearts and ever seeks to enter. Do we open wide those gates, do we say ‘yes’ to the things God would like us to do? The Gospel of John says, ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and we have beheld his glory.’ Do we seek to ever become more Christlike in our own lives, putting pure hands and hearts in the service of others as our Lord did?

Let’s not forget that God’s glory is often manifested in little things and it doesn’t matter who we are or what we do, we are all equally called to reflect God’s glory in the world. Martin Luther King once said, and I quote, ‘If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music… Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.

‘Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.’

We follow in the footsteps of the King of Glory when we strive to do well the little things we are called to do in His service. We give glory to God when we put our hands to His service and our hearts into what we do. We were created to give God glory and one day, at the end of our pilgrimage, we will enter into the glory of His love. One day each one of us here will stand face to face with the radiance of the One who created us, who has loved us all our lives long and ever sought to welcome and bless us.

I began with a little girl’s elocution class and I end with a verse from a little song which we would sing as schoolgirls, from the lyricist Ned Miller, though if you don’t mind I won’t sing it, I’ll say it instead.

‘He couldn’t move a mountain,
Nor pull down a big old tree,
But my daddy became a mighty big man
Through a simple philosophy.

‘He said, do what you do, do well, now,
Do what you do, do well.
Give your love and all of your heart,
And do what you do, do well.’

May how we live our lives ever give glory to God.

Amen