Ministerial Lent Sermon

February 25, 2010

Preface

This Lent, each pastor will look at a particular hymn he or she finds important. We are looking at hymns of the faith as part of Lent because it is through hymns that our faith speaks to us in a most personal manner. Hymns are a confession of faith unlike any other for both music and lyrics combine to give a meaning to the words that carry the Word of God to the soul. It is for this reason we need to think about the music and lyrics of our hymns. We need to consider what they actually say for they have a way of becoming part of us. Just as the music of David had an impact on King Saul, so music has an impact on each of us in ways we do not expect.

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A number of years ago, Ethel Ward lent me a book on the history of famous hymns detailing how the authors came to write the hymns. I enjoyed the book so much, that I wrote a series of articles based on what I read. One story, of which I was especially fond, was the story behind the hymn "He Leadeth Me."

To be frank, I had never thought much about that hymn until I read the story behind it. The story resonated with me, and since then, I hear the hymn in a new way. He Leadeth Me is a hymn devoted to Psalm 23, and, in particular, to the line "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”

During the darkest hours of the Civil War, the author of the hymn, Joseph Henry Gilmore, who had recently graduated from seminary, was serving as a supply pastor at a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At a service on March 26, 1862, he preached a sermon on the Twenty-third Psalm. He had intended to preach on the entire Psalm, but, as he prepared, he could not get beyond the words “He Leadeth Me.” The words took hold of him, and he saw in them a significance, wondrous beauty and depth of meaning he had not previously appreciated.

　When the worship service ended, some of the parishioners remained and continued talking about the line, “He leadeth me.” As the conversation progressed, Gilmore began writing on a blank page of paper. He penciled the words to the hymn “He Leadeth Me,” talking and writing at the same time. Then, he handed the sheet to his wife and thought no more about it. She sent it to The Watchman and Reflector, a paper published in Boston, where the lyrics were first printed. He did not know until years later that William B. Bradbury set his words to music. The discovery occurred when Gilmore went to Rochester, New York as a candidate to be the pastor for a church in the city. When he arrived at the church, he picked up a hymnal to see what they were singing, and opened it to his own hymn, “He Leadeth Me.”

This story appeals to me on so many levels. Here is a young man newly graduated from seminary preaching during the heart of the Civil War. That terrible period of carnage and calamity is also filled with some of the richest and deepest religious thought and expression in our nation's history.

However, the mystery for me is the sermon he preached back in 1862. I would like to go back in time and hear it. I have wondered what he said. How did the sermon progress? It must have had an impact for people to remain and discuss it after worship was concluded. I do not know the text of the sermon, but I do know that Gilmore was right; He leadeth me is key to the Psalm and the human condition. It always has been; and it always will be.

The truth is all humans are followers. We like to think that some of us are leaders and some of us are followers. We like to think that this person is a natural leader, or this person has taken control of his or her life. None of that is true. Humans are always followers regardless of who they are or their station in life. Humans follow be it a foot soldier or a general, a private citizen or a president; all humans are followers; it is in our nature. We are all followers because all of us are led by our desires, needs, wants, self-interest and desire for recognition. Being followers is not wrong or bad. It only falls into sin when it comes to what we follow.

We like to think that we lead. We like to believe that we are masters of our fate, who can strike out on our own, and that we are able to decide for ourselves and answer only to ourselves. Atheists like to peddle this fantasy. For the most part, the reason atheists so adamantly disbelieve in God, and try their hardest to have others not believe in God is because it means they and others are not paying attention to their real god, themselves. The reason atheists so vehemently attack Christianity is because Christianity, more than any other faith, is able to expose the nakedness of the atheist self-delusion and vulnerability. Christianity destroys the delusion and shows us that we are all followers and that it is foolishness to think that we can be like God.

Humans are always following; they just do not want to follow God. Part of the sin of Adam and Eve was that they disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. However, another important part of the sin was that Adam and Eve, the crown of God's creation, the creatures who named all the other creatures, and the ones who were given charge of the Garden followed the advice of a snake. They lowered themselves to the words of a serpent rather than following the Words of God.

Adam and Eve submit themselves to being led by the words of a serpent. Consequently, they eat and suddenly their vulnerability is exposed; they see they are naked. They hide. When God speaks to them about what has happened, God asks the question that rings through the Garden, "Who told you that you were naked?" In other words, "To whose voice have you been listening? Whom are you following? By whom are you being led?"

Humans are led but often we allow ourselves to be led by those things that debase our humanity. That is the nature of sin. It is what it means to have other gods before us. God leads us in the paths of righteousness; all other voices led us in the paths of the denigration of the self all while thinking we have freed and glorified the self.

The god of the atheist is the self. The worship of that god is what crucified Christ. It is what continues to crucify Christ. The people who crucified Christ were not atheists; they believed firmly in God. However, they did not want Jesus challenging the image they had of themselves or the world they had made for themselves. The world they knew was familiar and comfortable. They were in charge, and Jesus was telling them to become like little children and to let go of all they had so that they might follow. He was telling them that the greatest in the kingdom was the least among them. He told them that the first would be last and the last would be first. All of this is an assault on the self. Christ's words continue to attack what we follow for we are all followers of the god of self. We follow the god of what is familiar. We follow the god of what we know. We follow the god of what "feels" right rather than the God who calls us to live under his righteousness. We shun the Lord when he leads us to places and valleys we do not know or expect. What we do not see is that "He leadeth us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”

Tonight we are looking at this hymn and the words upon which it is based as part of the season of Lent. What does this hymn mean for us?

Gilmore wrote this hymn following the first year of the Civil War. It was a time of uncertainty and tragedy. Entire towns lost all their young men fighting in a single battle. No one knew what the future held. However, Gilmore was still able to write,

"Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me."

No wonder people stayed after worship and talked about the meaning of "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” They had just heard that even during the tragedy of the Civil War, God was still leading them wherever they were. God would lead them through.

The false gods are always calling to us. They flatter us, and they "feel" so right. However, what they offer cannot bring us through the calamity that this world brings; the false gods only make the calamity worse. The God of Psalm 23 does not flatter the self that so loves to be deluded. Our God leads us with the truth about sins, Christ, and ourselves. In doing so, he is able to bring us through this world and the gods we want to lead us.

Have you have a hatred, grudge, self-pity, addiction, vanity, or resentment that you know is eating away your life? I do. If so, we are being led by a false god fanning our resentment or vanity pinning us to a false promise. Do you look at yourself and see what you are not rather than what God has made you to be? Do you see your vulnerability and try to mask it with false strength, bravado, or by tearing another down so that you feel superior. I do. Then, to us the voice of God says, "Who told you that you were naked? You are following voices that are false, voices that lead to despair, voices that only denigrate the self all while telling you that you are free.”

Gilmore was right when he wrote his hymn. He was right that only the Lord can lead us in truth.

This Lent the Lord leads you through the season to the cross of Good Friday and the light of Easter morning. He leads you in truth, and in love, and into the life of his kingdom. This Lent we follow with music knowing that wherever we go and whatever we will be it is God’s hand that leadeth you and me. Amen.