Fear, Foes, and Armor
A Brief Homily on David and Goliath by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
April 26, 2009

We have been blessed this morning to hear the children of our congregation bring the message of scriptures to us. It is presumptuous of me to try and add to their message, and so my remarks will be very brief, and will focus on the message that I just heard this morning.

First: fear: “He's big, he's hairy, he's ugly and he's scary.” Most of us are not called upon to do combat with giants, but we do face other Goliaths in our our lives. They are hard decisions, ethical issues, problems with no easy answers that often mean sacrifice, pain, and perhaps hardest of all, change. In my own life, Goliath is the reality of pastoring a church in the 21^st century. It is not hairy and ugly, but it is big and it is scary. We are battling a rising tide of secularism on the one hand, and what I would describe as consumer spirituality on the other. One is telling us that Christianity is irrelevant, and the other seems to be celebrating that reality by reducing Christian faith to being happy, successful, etc. “He's big, he's hairy, he's ugl and he's scary.” You have your Goliaths also.

Second: foes. Most of the time the easiest course of action in life is to avoid the giants that are out there. So we avoid the hard decisions. We go along with injustice, lies, and other behaviors so that we can get along. When asked, “who will fight the giant? We join the chorus: “No me! Not me! Not me!” I love the line that the children sang:

“We'd love to see what a hero would do.

But we are not heroes for one thing is true:

The one who is brave, courageous and bold,

Is not very likely to ever grow old.

We need to see Christian faith as an heroic calling. The story of David facing Goliath is a reminder to me that we need to be as bold in facing the challenges of this world. We need to find some David's, (male and female) with the moral courage to stand up to the giants of social injustice, poor education, mis-shaped values and deception that we regularly experience. As a child I heard that “you can't fight City Hall.” The story that we just heard said: “Yes, we can.... and we can triumph.”

Third: Armor: “Put on the armor, tighten the straps Button the buttons, and fasten the snaps.” David rejects Saul's armor. Not only does it not fit... it does not fit the challenge. I sometimes think that we are absolutely stuck in our thinking when it comes to the armor that we don when we face the challenges of life. David met his Goliath with five stones and a sling.... but most importantly with the conviction that God is the source of all strength and protection.

We have challenges before us... and they appear like the giant Goliath, taunting us to come forward in battle. The temptation is to duck the foes.. let future generations deal with it... put in our time, play it safe and survive.... Or we can put on the armor of faith... and meet the challenges. Our young children gave us some good news this morning. Amen.