Thanksgiving for Recovery from Grave Illness
A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David.
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O Lord,
you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.
To you, O Lord, I cried,
and to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
~ Psalms 30 (NRSVUE)
STORYBOOK: Twirl by Emily Lex
Have you ever seen a young child twirling, spinning, and dancing, just totally in the moment and feeling fancy-free? Well, twirling, spinning, and dancing are joy-filled activities, aren’t they? They are not things that we often do when we are upset. No! They are ways that we express the positive emotions we feel inside when we experience happiness, delight, joy, and unencumbered freedom!
My granddaughter Eliza just got something called a sensory swing for her half-birthday. I know, sensory swings, half birthdays, what is this world coming to? Well, I guess when you’re two-and-a-half, waiting a whole year for a birthday seems like a lifetime because when you think about it, it kind of is! And I guess, why not celebrate when you can? So, this sensory swing is like a giant loop of stretchy fabric that hangs from the ceiling, and Eliza climbs into it like a nest or a cocoon, and then she twirls and spins and has the time of her life.
Watching her spin and hearing her giggle, I remembered being a child myself, standing in my backyard with my arms stretched out wide. I was looking up at the clouds and I just kept spinning and twirling until I fell over and couldn’t stand up straight anymore. And thinking a little more about that, I never worried about getting too dizzy or falling over. I just remember the wind on my face and my arms as I twirled around with an utter sense of joy and freedom!
We have several young people in our congregation who love to twirl and spin while singing or listening to music or playing because they feel positive, uplifting energy within themselves, and it calls them to move their bodies and dance. And honestly, to be able to connect to such joy and delight is such a wonderful gift, my friends!
But twirling and spinning can also be the way that we describe our lives when they feel out of control. And that kind of twirling and spinning, rather than bringing a sense of joy and delight, usually brings with it a sense of fear and uncertainty because it feels as though the world is spinning too fast or out of control as they say. And we can’t seem to balance our lives or the things that are happening around us.
Well, in today’s scripture reading, we find King David struggling. He is not twirling and dancing out of a sense of delight, but rather, his world is spinning out of control. You see, he remembers a time when he felt secure in himself, a time that he felt loved by God. But then he got sick and felt as though God’s face was hidden, and without feeling God’s presence in his life, he became anxious, he felt lost, and he became discouraged. So, he did as many of us do when we find ourselves in trouble: he prayed to God.
Actually, David wept and begged for God to look upon him with favor. And as we heard, God responded and turned David’s mourning (or sadness) into dancing. So, for David to feel free, free enough for his time of sadness and mourning to turn into a time of joy-filled delight so that he could twirl and spin and dance. Now, I don’t know that he actually did that, but for David to feel free and filled with joy, he needed to know that God was there with him and he wasn’t alone. And I think a lot of us feel that way sometimes.
Folks, Psalm 30 is filled with raw emotions just like our everyday lives are. From begging God and crying for help to singing and praising God, and from being dismayed and wearing sackcloth to being clothed in joy and giving thanks forever. That was quite an emotional journey that David made, wasn’t it? The truth is, there are so many times and situations in our lives when we walk down a similar path, and we become overwhelmed and anxious, and we have a hard time seeing good in the world around us. But it’s in times like those that we need to have faith and trust in God to heal us and help us. After all, we are God’s children, and God created us, as we are, to share the amazing gifts that we’ve been given.
In our storybook today, we heard even more about twirling, spinning, and dancing. Do you remember? As the storybook tells us, Audrey loved to twirl. Twirling made her happier than just about anything else in the world. That is until she started to doubt herself and question whether she was enough. Audrey suddenly forgot how much she loved to twirl when she realized that she couldn’t float like Mr. Duck, or fly like Miss Butterfly, or hop like Little Bunny. But that’s because she wasn’t Mr. Duck, or Miss Butterfly, or Little Bunny. She was her own unique, one-of-a-kind, made in the image of God, Audrey.
The good news is once she stopped trying to be something that she wasn’t and just let herself be free, leaping and dancing and twirling like God created her to, she began to sparkle and shine from within, again, as a delightful feeling flowed through her.
Folks, Herbert Hoover once said, “Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit.” When we keep our focus on our faith, we remember that God is always with us, setting us free from all that binds us, filling us to the brim with gifts of grace to share with the world, and twisting and turning our sackcloth into clothes of joy, our mourning into dancing, and our struggle and worry into praise and thanksgiving. And if that’s not enough, as our storybook reminded us, God surrounds us with the beauty of creation as the birds sing their songs, the honeybees buzz, and the sweet scent of wildflowers fills the air.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, but more importantly, as you go out into the beauty of God’s creation, what might you need to let go of to be truly free? What worries or concerns can you hand over to God? What gifts do you need to embrace, or what jealousy do you need to let go of? Because you, my friends, were created to sparkle and shine. You were created to twirl and spin and dance. You were created to be the unique, one-of-a-kind, made-in-the-image-of-God person that you are! And you were created to be free!
So, my friends, may it be so. Thanks be to God, Amen!
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