What do you do when the Ben and Jerry’s runs out?

Psalm 130

        If there is any one here who has never been angry, or depressed, or both at the same time you are excused to go to the fellowship hall and lead a discussion on compulsive lying. Everyone, with the possible exception of Joel Osteen, has had a least one bad day. I count it a great month if I have only one or two hiccups along the way. I also suspect, when we have a particularly bad day, there is a convenient antidote to help take the blues away. I am told some folks shop till they drop. My medication is Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.

        For health reasons I try to limit this excelsior to no more than twice a year but sometimes, particularly in January, when it is too cold to do anything but work, I will open a pint, dive right in, and not stop until the container is empty. On consumption of my guilty pleasure, I consume enough sugar to forget why I was upset in the first place.

        I heard about a guy who would take a spoon and push it into the ice cream cup as deep as possible. He would navigate around the chocolate and through the cherries until he was certain he had reached the bottom of the container. Then he would try to extract the entire treat with one quick twist. He called it his “King Arthur” move. He probably named his spoon Excalibur.

        We all get the blues and while most of us we have a formula for righting our ship, sometimes things really go sideways.  That’s when we start blaming everyone else for our failures. In the history of Biblical Literature the most pathetic words ever uttered had to be, “The woman gave it to me and I ate.”

        I love the myths in the Book of Genesis. Someone with an amazing imagination, and a keen understanding of human nature, re-crafted stories from other cultures and presented them as a prologue for the Old Testament. Unfortunately, instead of discovering the great truths in these stories, we  spend all our time trying to prove they are real. James Ussher, a 17^th century Archbishop from Ireland calculated the date of creation to be October 23^rd, 4004 BCE. Now I am certain Jeri or Ken Engebretson could tell you the Packers played their first NFL game on October 23^rd, 1921. If my father were still alive he would remind me “Les Miserables” opened in Paris on October 23, 1991. But I doubt anyone here still believes the Earth was created 6,000 years ago.

Imagine the Archbishop’s surprise when on arriving in heaven God informed him his calculations were only a few million years off. Of course Ussher was no more surprised than the Apostle Paul. I can see Paul discussing the concept of original sin with a bunch of angels and Jesus interjecting, “Paul, you do know Adam wasn’t real?”

Poor old Adam. He had nothing to wear and his best friend was pretty much a snake. The fact that Adam lived in paradise didn’t mean he wasn’t beyond having a bad day. He loved Eve but felt she just didn’t understand him.  Every day it was the same old routine: pick some fruit, name a few more animals, and go to the country club and wait for someone to invent golf. One day Adam woke up with an amazing   idea. “If I could be God, my life would be perfect.”

He shared this discovery with his friend and to Adam’s surprise the snake had some interesting thoughts.

“You know that the secret to perfection is found in the center of the garden.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you tried the forbidden fruit?”

“Well of course not. God said not to eat it and that is good enough for me.”

“Do you know why you are not to eat it?”

“It’s poisonous.”

“Says who?”

“Says the woman. She said God said if we ate that particular fruit we would die.”

“How do you know that to be true? Maybe God is trying to keep the fruit from you. Maybe the fruit is the secret to God’s perfection. I bet the woman has been eating it behind your back.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Well, she certainly seems a lot smarter than you.”

The next morning the National Institute of Mental Health reported the first case of depression. Adam woke up lower than the overripe peaches in the south end of the garden. In other words he experienced anxiety. Ever notice how anxiety is the first step toward broken relationships, alienation, and often estrangement. It is difficult to trust someone if you think they are working against your best interest. Adam was suspicious of Eve, and God and I suspect even himself. The results were he found himself all alone.

One of my favorite theologians, John Prine, might have had Adam in mind when he sang,

What in world’s come over you?

What in heaven’s name have you done?

You’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness. You’re out there running just to be on the run.

I believe there is a little of Adam in each of us. And unfortunately there is not always enough Ben and Jerry’s to make it better. Sometimes we just have to admit we dug the hole with our own shovel, and we might need a little help from our friends to get back to level ground.

Before there was ice cream there was Psalm 130.

Out of the depths I cry to you. Hear my voice.

Be attentive to my pleas. I know, and you know, and in fact everyone knows, I really messed up.

All I can do now is hope for words of forgiveness.

So I wait, more than those who watch for the morning.

And I believe that through love, I can be redeemed.

Notice the difference between Adam and the Psalmist?  Adam’s sin is that he trusts no one but himself. That’s kind of like selecting yourself as your own defense attorney. Loneliness and anxiety will separate you from God…….. from God’s community…….. and eventually you will end up running just to be on the run.

Somehow, the Psalmist discovered a better way. I imagine initially he tried to do it on his own. But like Adam, all he did was fail. But then he learned to trust those folks he had originally viewed suspiciously. What an incredible discovery to realize we are all flawed folks in search of a little mercy. What a grace filled moment when we acknowledge that the only perfection that matters is when we are able to forgive others and ourselves equally.

I think God created houses of worship because God knew we can’t always navigate life on our own. Every day we hear stories of folks victimized by tragic cycles of violence and exploitation. The greater tragedy is many too many folks believe they deserve what they get. The church must stand against this oppression.

But another tragedy is there are a lot of folks who feel they don’t deserve God’s love. They can’t seem to understand we are all flawed and yet God still loves us.  That’s why we are here. Within these walls, no one is any more perfect or imperfect than anyone else. Within these walls, mercy, not condemnation, is not just expected, it is required. Within these walls, stories are heard, tears are shed, and laughter exchanged. Within these walls each person is celebrated, each person is lifted up and when necessary each person is forgiven. I like to think the most important thing we do within these walls is to prepare ourselves to go outside these walls and spread a gospel of trust, a gospel of reconciliation and a gospel of love for one another.

In a world dominated by suspicion, false news, rumors, social media, and darkness, where on earth can we begin? Allow me suggest a crazy idea. Take your bulletin home and put the cover on your refrigerator. I want you to look at it until you think of someone who is discouraged, whose anger has raged too long, who has shut out the rest of the world, and has no song in their heart. Then want you to go to your local grocery store and buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream. Unannounced, drop by on your friend, show them your best King Author move, and eat that pint of Cherry Garcia………together.    To God be the Glory,    Amen.