Sermon Tone Analysis

Call to Worship

L: The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it; \\ P: The world and those who live in it belong to God. \\ L: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in the holy place?

\\ P: Those who have clean hands and hearts will receive blessings from the Lord.

\\ L: We are a company of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob; \\ P: Therefore, let us prepare for the coming of the King of glory.

\\ —Based on Psalm 24.

\\ PRAISE SONGS         This Is the Day # 10

                                    Great is the Lord   # 30

                                    Thy Word   # 35

GREETINGS

Children’s Time            Show the children a pair of cheerleader pom-poms.

Ask for a volunteer to stand and show you how the pom-poms are used to cheer a sports team.

Quiz the children on why cheerleaders jump around and shout and wave pom-poms.

Suggest that it helps the sports fans to feel excited, and united behind their team.

Tell the story of King David, who was a true cheerleader for God.

Point out that “*David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals” (2 Samuel 6:5)*.

Have the children raise their hands if they think that David helped his people to feel excited, and united behind God.

Then hand out tambourines and castanets and cymbals to all the children, and have them play their instruments and lead the congregation in a cheer: “*Go, go, God! Go, go, God*!” Have the congregation applaud the children for being their cheerleaders for God.

Hymn                           Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart   # 496        

INVOCATION ~/LORD’S PRAYER   Gracious God, thank you for sending your Holy Scripture to us this morning.

Let it be like a song in our hearts, a song that sticks with us, a song that we find ourselves humming long after we have left here.

Let it be a song that changes us and makes us yearn for the fulfillment of your will among all peoples.

~/~/~/

Living God, you invite all your people into the dance with you.

It is a dance of praise, a dance of creativity, a dance of justice and a dance of rejoicing.

We’re not always comfortable dancing in public; sometimes we feel self-conscious about the way our bodies look, and other times we feel we should present a more serious image to the world.

Help us to overcome our reservations and to give ourselves wholeheartedly to your dance.

Help us to feel you dancing with us and to teach the dance to others.

In the name of the Lord of the Dance, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

praise

ill

mourn

new pastor

SPECIAL MUSIC       Kevin Clark, trumpet   

Offering

Hymn                           I Know Who I Have Believed # 493

Scripture text    2 Samuel 6/:1-5, 12b-19/           /The Ark Brought to Jerusalem /1 David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. 2 He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah(Kiriath Jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill.

Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it.

5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD , with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

\\ Sermon            When the Ark Got Parked

*Whether picking up the ark of God or changing a church, it is essential to seek God’s will and be constantly conscious of his presence.*

In most cases, church-changing is controversial.

Change always is.

The question isn’t, “Should we do this?”

The question is, “Is this what God wants?” \\ Whose idea was it when King David took 30,000 raiders to bring the lost ark of the covenant from the thieving Philistines back to Jerusalem?

Was it David’s or was it God’s?

\\ The Bible is ambiguous about who made the original decision.

There’s no record that God requested a change in venue.

“Let’s go get God and bring him home!”  was David’s idea.

That it was successful was God’s doing.

~/~/~/            David’s achievement in creating the united kingdom of Israel rested on a number of factors, his military skill chief among them, and it was through a number of victories against Israel’s nearby enemies (especially the Philistines; 2 Samuel 5:17-25) that he was able to bring both relief from external threats and consolidation of his own power within and among the twelve tribes.

Those expeditions (e.g., 1 Samuel 30:1-20; 2 Samuel 5:1-10) lay behind the word “again.”

\\ One of David’s most important early tactical decisions was to make the ancient Jebusite city of Jerusalem his capital (2 Samuel 5:6-12), a political decision that was reinforced by the religious decision to bring the ark into the citadel that became known as “the city of David” (2 Samuel 5:7, 9; 6:10, 12, etc.).

The force that David assembles sets out to bring up the ark from Baale-judah, another name for Kiriath-jearim, a village approximately eight miles northwest of Jerusalem.

The fortunes of the ark, recounted most extensively in the so-called “Ark Narrative” of 1 Samuel 4-6, had included its capture by Philistia (1 Samuel 4:11) in one of the periodic battles between Israel and its neighbors on the plain between the Israelite hill country and the Mediterranean Sea.

~/~/ The Philistines had experienced a devastating outbreak of tumors (probably bubonic plague) during the ark’s seven-month Philistine captivity, and in desperation they released the ark with guilt offerings and let it be returned to Israel by an unmanned cart pulled by nursing cows (1 Samuel 6:1-12).

The ark was lodged first at Beth-shemesh, about 20 miles west of Jerusalem, but then remained for some 20 years in the house of one Abinadab of Kiriath-jearim, whose son, Eleazar, was consecrated for its service (cf Joshua 15:9; 1 Samuel 6-7:2).

\\ No reason for David’s decision to bring the ark to Jerusalem is given in the text, but the reason is clear: Having consolidated political and military power in Jerusalem, David needs also to consolidate religious power, which continued to play an important role in the life of ancient Israel.

Prior to the construction of the temple (which David sought but was unable to build), the ark was the most important religious artifact in Israel, symbolizing the Lord’s presence on earth among his chosen people.~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

\\ On the way back home, God clearly says to David, “I’m in charge here.”

\\ What happened was this: At one point, an ox shook the Ark of God.

Uzzah, trying to be the good guy, reached out his hand to steady it.

But Uzzah wasn’t a Levite, and only Levites got to touch the ark, so Uzzah perished on the spot - a turn of events that so infuriated David, that he washed his hands of the whole affair, left the Ark with Obed-edom, a local fellow and went back to Jerusalem.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ \\ When he heard that Obed-edom was greatly blessed by the presence of the Ark, David reconsidered.

\\ To recap: David got angry when it looked as if he weren’t in control.

Then he got scared.

Then he remembered for whom he worked, and then he let God be God.

~/~/~/~/ \\ The entire story is a parable on how to invite, welcome and celebrate the presence of God.

~/~/~/~/~/

Settling on a decision without seeking the will of God is an easy mistake for a church or a person to make.

That’s the first thing to remember.

Before the pledge cards get printed, before the color rendering of the new facility is drawn, before the new pastor arrives, you better all be comfortable that this new endeavor is in the will of God.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s switching the hymnals, changing the hour of worship, shifting denominational ties or moving the church.

We often forget who is in charge.

When we are reminded, we, too, might be angry, or fearful, and be tempted to quit in frustration.

\\ But frequently, change is precisely what God wants of us.

There’s no record that God objected to the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant, a very real symbol of the abiding presence of God, from the Philistines to Jerusalem - even if it was David’s idea.

But we can’t presume to limit God.

\\ Perhaps that’s the second lesson here.

Change has to happen in God’s way.

Uzzah attempted to minister where he clearly was out of his league.

In doing so, he reaches out with his hands and pushes against, constrains, attempts to keep level, ~/~/ attempts to keep God in his box.

Catch the visual image here.

His was such a limited and narrow view of God, that he must’ve believed that God couldn’t take care of himself.

~/~/ God can ~/~/-~/~/ take care of himself.

\\ Then, it’s also significant that David prepared a new cart (6:3) in preparation for welcoming the presence of God in Jerusalem.

True, his plan was foiled by Uzzah’s mishandling of things, but David can’t be faulted for a willingness to create a new vehicle to welcome the presence of God.

\\ Finally, David wasn’t afraid to celebrate the presence of God in wholly flambouyant colorful and daring ways.

\\ The bull was sacrificed.

The fatted calf was slain.

The trumpets were blaring, the people were shouting.

\\ And David, clad in a linen ephod, was dancing.

With change comes opposition.

With change comes scorn.

Not everybody will be pleased with change, even when God is involved.

~/~/~/~/ \\ David’s celebration was before the Lord.

\\ When God is in the house, it calls for celebration.

Worship too often has ignored or dismissed the celebratory nature of the people of God gathered in the presence of God.

When God is present with us, it is cause for great celebration!

\\ Take the true case of two brothers a century ago in Maine who owned a home on the eastern side of Lineken Bay.

\\ The brothers wanted to move that home from the eastern shore to the western side.

\\ One very cold winter the bay froze deep and solid.