Settling Down
It was a dramatic scene – God’s people moving with God to Jerusalem, a life of traveling with God that they knew before defeat at the hands of the Philistines. And now, after King David and his Ark recovering army defeated the Philistines, they would find a home in Jerusalem. A home with the Ark. A home with God.
It is a dramatic scene today, God’s people returning to a life they knew a world of community and interaction before the siege by COVD-19. Not exactly the life they knew – we knew – but a changed world. The constant throughout both stories is the presence of God, the hope of God.
With the Ark installed on a cart King David and the thirty thousand people began their procession, taking the newly reclaimed Ark toward Jerusalem. The life of Israel up to this moment was held inside the four-feet-long, two-feet-high, and two-and-a-half-feet-wide box. The Ark contained the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments received by Moses from God on Mount Sinai after Israel had been freed from their bondage in Egypt. The Ark symbolized God’s protection over God’s people. Inside the Ark is where God dwelled.
As Israel moved so did the Ark. It was carried on two wooden staves – poles – by Levites, members of Israel's priestly class. The Ark had accompanied Israel into battle, meaning that as Israel traveled and fought God was with them. Mighty King David recovered the Ark after it had been lost in battle with the Philistines and was now moving the Ark into Jerusalem.
This procession must have been a remarkable sight – thirty-thousand people along with all that would be needed to support and sustain them moving together, and at the head of the procession was the Ark (not being carried by the Levites on wooden staves) and King David. There was music and was David dancing. This was a moment of celebration for Israel, and for King David a moment that would legitimize and strengthen his rule and kingdom.
The way in which Israel's religious life was ordered was about to change. The nation was about to go from a confederacy of tribes to one whose religious identity went from being on the move to being centrally located in the center of the nation's power.
Over the past month we have experienced change in the way we orient ourselves and move about our own community. Just three-months into 2020 significant change, without much warning charged into our lives (minus the dancing) and changed the way we lived as a community. Our entire world was changed. In the church we centered our shared life on gathering week after week in sanctuaries, church social halls, school cafeterias, bars, and wherever else space can be found to proclaim the lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation. Regardless of the church you attended before March of 2020, each week the proclamation was the same. But then, with a different kind of fanfare then that of King David, change was forced upon us. Change intended to do no harm to one another and those within our broader communities. And now, we find our world changing again.
Ask any child and they will tell you change is not easy. Adults can use words like adaptability to highlight strengths but when you get down to it our kids know better than we do. Change is not easy. Many of us find comfort knowing that the trivial things - and at times not so trivial things - in our lives are constant, not changing because if they did, when they do, finding our footing becomes increasingly difficult the longer we have been doing what it was that was changed.
Change can cause us to take our eye off the main thing, the main thing that our communities and families gather for and proclaim week after week. Change in the church raises our anxiety as many of us see the church to be a constant - an unchanging body. The main thing remains the main thing - Jesus Christ crucified, dead, and raised reconciling all of creation with our Creator – even while the world is changing.
As the Ark made its way toward Jerusalem and then into the city change was occurring, all the while King David led the procession with dancing. This change caused the procession to lose sight of the main thing - that God dwelled among the people in the Ark. The Ark was not transported as required by the Law. The Ark, rather than being carried by Levite priests, was placed on a cart. It was pulled. And what happened next, was left out of our scripture reading. Not by the reader, verses 6-11 were omitted by the Revised Common Lectionary. Verses 6-7, “When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God.” As the Ark on a cart was being pulled by oxen and not carried on wooden staves, moved along the uneven road Uzzah was struck dead for acting too casually with the Ark, with the dwelling place of the Lord. We do not know why this change in transporting of the Ark was made – maybe in the rush to get the Ark to Jerusalem they forgot or figured it did not matter. The Revised Common Lectionary left out what we need the most to understand change while being a community of people living as witness to our risen Lord.
As the world resumes more and more in-person and indoor activities, and as changes we were forced to make 16 months ago either become permanent or relics of the past the church as a choice to make - what will we keep with us and what will we allow to be left behind. How might we enter the new space we find ourselves in with singing and dancing, and at the same time not become too causal with that which the church has been doing since Mary and Mary found the tomb to be empty?
Israel's story in 1 and 2 Samuel is one of change. The cycle of the story in 1 and 2 Samuel from Israel's defeat and loss of the Ark to the Philistines defeat and Israel's reclaiming of the Ark does not bring to reader, it did not bring Israel back to the original starting point. The story may have pushed Israel into a new physical location with a new King legitimized buy by the move but God, who had been with them - delivering them from captivity, bringing them all the way to the City of David - that God was steady, unwavering, and faithful.
Change was inevitable for the people of God then and is inevitable for the people of God today. We may change how we gather, where we gather, and then change it all again, but what we give witness to and proclaim does not change - Christ resurrected and reigning. We may dance and sing, we may play the organ, riff on a guitar, or bang on a cowbell and God remains God. God remains with us by the love of God our Creator, the grace of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Back to Uzzah for a second. I know that it sounds like Uzzah was trying to help and he was. There are many thoughts on why he was struck down – he was too close to God’s holiness, or it was an issue of purity, meaning he was not ritually clean for the procession to Jerusalem, he was not ritually prepared to come before the presence of God.
For us, we believe that God’s power and presence were nurtured in the ark of Mary’s womb, God in Jesus Christ who suffered for us rather than striking us down. As we move closer to exiting this pandemic the power of Jesus Christ is with us in our songs, prayers, and yes, even in our dancing – of celebration and even lament. With us, in the same way, Christ was with the saints before us and will be with the saints that are yet to come.
