This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached the Second Sunday in Lent, February 25, 2024. The text I preached on was Psalm 22:23-31.

Death is always nearby. We were reminded of that on Ash Wednesday, when we heard again the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shal return.” And sometimes we are reminded of it when we are faced with the death of people around us. We recently had a death in the congregation, Tom Chamberlin. There are always so many deaths in the news. Recently, we’ve heard about the death of country singer Toby Keith. Audrii Cunningham, an eleven-year old murdered in Texas. Cheryl Schilling, shot dead at her home just across the bridge in Columbia, New Jersey. Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader imprisoned for speaking out against President Vladimir Putin. 

And Nex Benedict. The death of Nex Benedict touches me especially. Nex was a high school student in Oklahoma who identified as nonbinary. That means that they didn’t identify as either male or female, and asked others to use the pronouns they and them when referring to them. And whatever your own views are on gender identity, what happened to Nex a few weeks ago is unacceptable and horrific. Nex was regularly the victim of bullying, and on February 7 was involved in a fight with three other people in a bathroom at their high school, which led to them being admitted to the emergency room. The next day, Nex died. From what I have read, it’s not at this point clear whether their death was the result of the fight or not. But what is clear is two things: they were bullied for being different, and they are now dead.

This death touches me particularly because I have a child who is a high school student, and who identifies as nonbinary. I don’t like living in a world where this kind of thing happens to children like mine.

I say all this not to start a political debate, but rather to say that we live in a world that has a lot of suffering, and hate, and death. I don’t know that I talk about that suffering much in my sermons. But perhaps I should.

Now some might say, “Pastor, please don’t talk about things like this. We come to church to escape from the outside world. Tell us good things.” And I would respond, “I understand. I’d rather not talk about them either.”

But I think that puts us in the position of Peter in today’s gospel reading. After Jesus spoke about his own impending death, Peter took him aside and said something very much like, “Jesus, don’t talk about things like that. We are following you to escape from that world. Tell us something good.” Jesus didn’t respond approvingly to Peter.

Jesus needed to talk about his own suffering with the disciples, because it was real, and it was important, and it was part of why he was there.

And I think we need to talk about the suffering in our world, because it’s real, and it’s important, and it’s part of what we are called to do. We come here every week to praise God, and if we only praise God when things are going well, then what use is it? If we have to close our eyes to the suffering around us in order to praise God, then what is the point?

But, as they say, I’m preaching to the choir. We know better. We know that suffering happens. We know that we all go through it sometimes, and that at all times there’s somebody suffering. And yet we praise God here, every week. How do we do that?

It’s good that we’re looking at the Psalms this season, because I think today’s Psalm helps us understand what we’re doing here, and why, and what difference it makes. Listen again to a few lines from Psalm 22, lines we proclaimed a few minutes ago:

• “You who fear the Lord, praise him!”
• “The Lord did not hide his face from me but heard when I cried out to him.”
• “The poor shall eat and be satisfied!”
• “All the families of the nations shall worship before him!”
• “All who sleep in the earth bow down before him.”
• “Future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance.”

This is a song of great praise! The speaker is telling us that something so amazing has happened, that they’re going to praise God forever, along with people of every nation, along with people who have already died, and along with people who haven’t even been born yet. It doesn’t get much more praise-y than that.

But this isn’t the whole story of Psalm 22. We only proclaimed the second half of the Psalm today. And if this second half is a great hymn of praise, then the first half is one of the most bitter laments ever written.

It begins, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Other lines include:

• “I cry by day, but you do not answer.”
• “I am a worm, and not human – scorned by others, and despised by the people.”
• “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint… My tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.”

It goes on like this for many verses – brutal suffering, told in bitter detail. The author cries out again and again for God to be with them, just to be there. And what’s remarkable is how quickly it changes. I’ll go into more detail about this at the Bible study on Tuesday night, but for now I’ll just say that suddenly, the Psalm goes from “God, please be with me” to “I know that God is with me.” And that leads directly into praise.

It’s not clear that the suffering has ended, but it’s clear that the speaker experiences God’s presence within that suffering. And I think that is what enables them to praise.

Consider Job. Do you know the story of Job? Job had everything – lots of wealth, a good wife, great children, a productive farm. And one day it was all gone. All of it. His wife, his children, his animals, all dead. His barns on fire. He himself was covered with sores. He had nothing left. Obviously, he was angry and hurt. Job cried out to God to do something! He cried out, demanding that God show up and explain himself! And after a while, God did show up. God came and spoke to Job, but God didn’t explain anything really. God didn’t give Job what he wanted. And yet, right after that visitation, Job sang a song of praise to God. Because he experienced God’s presence.

Consider Betty Shaffer. Betty was a very faithful member of the church I served as pastor. Her husband was ill for a long time, and when he died, she was heartbroken and grieving. And she went to church the following Sunday. Many people who saw her expressed their surprise that she was there – how could she be at church when her grief was so raw? Her response to them was simple: “Where else would I be now?” Where else would she be but praising God, even when she was suffering? She trusted that God was with her, even then.

We can praise God even when we can’t find anything in our lives to thank God for. Praise and thanks are not quite the same thing. We thank God for something God has done for us, whereas we praise God simply for who God is. And even when we can’t feel that presence, we trust that God is still there, that God is still doing what God promised.

Consider Jesus. He prayed this Psalm on the cross. Remember how Jesus said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was quoting Psalm 22. At the greatest moment of suffering, Jesus remained steadfast. He suffered, trusting that God was doing something amazing. Trusting that his suffering would be worthwhile. And it was. Through Jesus, we have all been forgiven, we have all been redeemed, God has drawn near to us all.

And so we, like Job and Betty before us, can praise God even when we are suffering. And so we, like Peter before us, can learn to praise God even when we witness suffering.

And praising God doesn’t just mean worshiping together on Sunday morning. We praise God with our lives, with our choices. We praise God by living a life that glorifies God, that honors God, that brings life and hope to God’s people everywhere.

And so we can lift up the names of those who have died. Tom. Toby. Audrii. Cheryl. Alexei. Nex. We can give thanks for their lives. We can pray for their families to receive hope. We can pray for justice for those who were murdered. And we can live our lives in such a way to make this world a safer place. A safer place for everyone, no matter their nationality, no matter their age, no matter their gender identity.

And as we do that, we praise God even amid a world that knows so much pain. As the author of Psalm 22 wrote,

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. To him shall all who sleep in the earth bow down. Future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.”

Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay