You silly little pickles …I love that line.
So …Have you ever felt like a silly little pickle?
Like what you’re doing doesn’t make a difference in this world…especially when you look at how huge the problems are that need to be overcome. The devastation from the fires here…in Maui…in Greece and so many other places. The pervasive violence in the world — by gangs or armies or others seeking to expand power and rule by fear. The overwhelming poverty that leaves millions without food, without homes, without education. The sheer number of lives affected by abuse, addiction, mental illness. When I pause to consider the enemies of hope and life and love in this world…they rise up like the mighty walls of Jericho…insurmountable. And sometimes, the little bit I do…seems pointless. My faith seems paltry in the face of all that is wrong. And I hear the voices of from the top of the wall saying “You silly little Pickle”. Aren’t you adorable with your cute little faith…so naive. But you can’t touch this. You can’t make a difference.
I mean really…what can you do…just walking around in circles? That’s just crazy, right? One person walking around doesn’t do anything. But what this story tells us is that one person might not make a difference by themselves…but, when 40,000 walked around that city day after day and raised their voices as loud as they could …the walls fell flat.
Now whether or not you believe it actually happened exactly this way….it’s important to remember that it could have. Have any of you been paying attention to the Taylor Swift Era’s tour phenomenon? In Seattle, the sound coming from the arena registered on the Richter scale as a level 2.3 earthquake. The noise and the movement of the crowds literally shakes the earth.
Now…I know some people who were at that concert…and they are pretty awesome…but I will tell you that none of them are capable of causing an earthquake, no matter how hard they jump or how loud they yell. Yet…together…singing at the top of their lungs along to their favorite songs….it rocked the world. In the same way, 40,000 people marching day after day on the sand surrounding those walls in the desert…and then raising their voices and sounding the horns as loud as they could…had the potential to cause an earthquake on the fault line under Jericho. What do we learn from that? It makes a difference when people move and raise their voices together.
Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington…when over 250,000 people converged on Washington DC at one of the turning points in the Civil Rights movement.. On that day, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King gave his renowned “I have a Dream” Speech. a speech in which he called on the nation to live up to its deepest ideals — that all people are created equal. But his speech… without the hundreds of thousands who marched that day and in all the marches before and since…would have been nothing. Why? Because what made a difference was that people marched and raised their voices together.
Today, we are reminded that our walking…matters. That raising our voice matters. Today, we are reminded that the steps we take and the words we say and the little things we do that seem so small and insignificant…are the very things that change the world and shake the foundations of the walls that have held people out for so long.
Because that’s just the way God does things.
We tend to believe that the world is changed by powerful nations and massive armies …but God, over and over, chooses the underdogs – the small and the weak…the silly little pickles…to change the world. God chooses ordinary folks, fishermen and young girls, samaritan women and people who have been overwhelmed by demons — God chooses people like us, who keep walking…who don’t give up…to bring the walls down. God chooses people like us, who love their neighbors…who welcome diversity and choose harmony and show kindness in often small ways, one day at a time. God uses ordinary folks, like us, who use our voices to speak up when people are cruel, to reach out when people are hurting, and to affirm that every person’s life is precious. We feel so small in the face of all that is wrong in the world…but each of us is a drop in the bucket…that fills the river that carves canyons on its way to the ocean. And together, we are part of God’s mighty work that changes the world. And we can trust God…who gathers the waters into the sea…to use our small and sometimes silly lives to make the world more beautiful. More just. More loving. We can trust God…to use our steps and our songs…to bring light into the darkness and joy to the world.
Last week, during our hymn sing, Miller said he thought about requesting “Joy to the World”, but thought people would object. But that is exactly what we are called to sing, right here, right now… in the face of the walls of Jericho all around us, hurling our hope into the darkness…that far as the curse is found, the wonders of God love are found. We get to have joy…silly little pickles that we are…and we get to march and sing and pray and dance together in God’s light. Amen.
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