Sermon Tone Analysis

Selma Budahn

July 14, 2005

Psalm 90

*“Jesus and Selma – A Love that was Shared”*

Leonhard, Ardis, Arline, Viona, family and friends of Selma Budahn, Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Many days and many times I sat with Selma and we read her favorite psalm, Psalm 90.

Over the years I have pondered why she liked this Psalm so well.

To be honest, when I first read it to her and even now some of the words get stuck in my mouth.

To be sure there are many comforting words here, but there are many words that give discomfort as well.

It is not like the 23rd Pslam that comforts us like a warm blanket.

The 90th Psalm sometimes slaps us in the face with brutal honesty.

And it explains for us the powerful understanding that this gentle Christian woman had of her relationship with her God and her Savior Jesus Christ.

It shows us that Selma’s relationship with God was not based on warm and fuzzy feelings but on a real relationship that she had with the living God.

So, for a short moment, sit with me now and ponder these words and let us reflect on Jesus and Selma, and the love that they shared.

Psalm 90 starts of well enough, we read, “LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You /are /God.”

Certainly Selma found comfort in these words.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place.”

A dwelling place is a home.

Selma understood that her true home was with God and in knowing him.

But then the Psalm takes an unpleasant turn, “You turn man to destruction, And say, "Return, O children of men."

For a thousand years in Your sight /Are /like yesterday when it is past, And /like /a watch in the night.

You carry them away /like /a flood; /They are /like a sleep.

In the morning they are like grass /which /grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers.

For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.

You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret /sins /in the light of Your countenance.

For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.

The days of our lives /are /seventy years; And if by reason of strength /they are /eighty years, Yet their boast /is /only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Who knows the power of Your anger?

For as the fear of You, /so is /Your wrath.”

These are not your usual words of comfort.

It was kind of distressing reading them to a woman who might go to be with the Lord at any moment.

And in that moment she would face a God of wrath, one angered over the sins of men, angry even at Selma’s sin, and angry about our sin.

These are not warm and fuzzy words; these are words of brutal honesty.

These words talk about the days of our lives on this earth, Seventy years, or eighty years if we have the strength, and in the case of Selma 97 long years.

As the words of the Psalm express, Selma knew God to be justifiably angry about sin.

Just like a parent is angry when their children disobey, God is angry too.

Just as a good parent disciplines and punishes their children, so that in the end they might be guided in the right direction, God disciplines us.

Our lives are filled with suffering and finally we die.

We don’t want to think about God in these ways but we must so that we are able to understand His great love for us and His great love for Selma.

Just as a good parent doesn’t relentlessly punish their child to the point of hopelessness neither does our God.

Rather, He teaches us the way of salvation.

The Psalm goes on, “So teach /us /to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

And have compassion on Your servants.

Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

Make us glad according to the days /in which /You have afflicted us, The years /in which /we have seen evil.

Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children.

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

What does God teach us?

He teaches us to cry out to Him for mercy and then to trust that He will be compassionate to us.

This is what He wants for His children.

This is why He sent His Son Jesus into the world, to be compassionate and loving.

That is why God sent His Son to die on the cross.

Jesus loved Selma and us so much that he gave His life for us all to take the punishment of sin upon Himself and it’s curse of sorrow for ever, so that we can live again in gladness and joy.

This is the quiet joy that Selma had, that made her glad even in the days when she waited quietly for her deliverance from this life.

The work of the Lord appeared to her as she saw her Savior Jesus Christ and believed in Him with all her heart.

She found true love in the life giving, life sacrificing love of Jesus Christ.

Selma found gladness in Her Savior that was always with her, as she said over and over, “My Jesus is right here in bed with me”, He is always beside me.

From the moment she was baptized Jesus was there.

He was their when she confirmed her faith in Him.

Jesus was there when my great uncle Herman Cares officiated at her wedding to Paul at Zion Lutheran Church.

Jesus was there all the days of her life.

And Jesus is here now, as we remember how He was with Selma, and as we remember the love that they shared.

Selma shared the love of Jesus Christ with us.

She shared it in the raising of her family and with everyone she met.

She shared it in the service of her church.

She shared it through all her years of adversity, a witness for all of us to see.

She shared it with me.

As a pastor, most people think that we visit the sick and the shut-in to minister and encourage, reminding them that God has not abandoned them, but continues to be present even through suffering and loneliness.

This is true.

But with Selma, it was different.

In a way, Selma was my minister.

She always encouraged me.

She always reminded me that God had not abandoned us, but that He was always present with us.

When I visited Selma I always received more than I could ever give away.

I will greatly miss her.

But I look forward to seeing her again, standing beside my Savior Jesus.

As all good relationships require communication and conversation, our relationship to God requires talking with Him.

This conversation we call prayer.

Selma was a praying woman.

Every visit she wanted to hear about you.

She wanted to know who she could pray for.

She wanted to pray for her church.

She always reminded me that my family and I were in her prayers.

I think her greatest prayer was for her family, that her children and grandchildren might have the same relationship with her Savior as she did, that they might understand their sin, and their need for a Savior.

That they might understand that without Jesus, life is not worth living.

That they might come to church and find the same hope and gladness that she found.

For 97 years she prayed and prayed, through her prayers God has established the work of her hands for her.

His glory was revealed to them.

Selma’s work is done.

She is with the Lord her God.

In Jesus Christ, she has found her dwelling place, a place prepared for her by Jesus Christ and the shedding of His holy blood.

It is Jesus that said, “In my Father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

We always joked with Selma that her mansion was not finished yet, the final nails hadn’t been driven, and the pictures hadn’t been hung on the walls.

It’s finished now.

Her Savior has taken her to be with Him.

I just wish I could have seen the look on her face when she saw it for the first time, and as she was wrapped in the embrace of her Saviors love – a love that Jesus and Selma shared, a love that we can all share through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today as we share sorrow and joy we can be comforted knowing that the words of the 90th Psalm are true – Now Selma is satisfied with His unfailing love and now she sings for joy and knows eternal gladness.