Selah

Psalm 46

 

        Today we are celebrating the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. Some of you, particularly those from the Lutheran tradition know all about Luther. I suspect the rest of you are familiar with the great German Reformer.  Since I doubt preaching a biographical sermon would increase your knowledge, I thought I would share an anecdote about Luther which may or may not be true.

        Luther was an accomplished Biblical Scholar. He felt it unfair only those fluent in Latin should have access to God’s Holy Scriptures. To remedy this Luther translated the Bible into the language of the everyday people. Copies were printed and dispersed though out the country side. While it was not a pure translation, no one seemed to care. Not only did it make the Bible accessible, it became the primary text used to teach folks how to read.

        As Luther was translating the Psalms, he ran across a word that seemed to be untranslatable. Throughout the Psalms, at the end of a phrase, the word Selah appeared. Luther could not find the word in any other part of the Bible and he had no idea what it meant. I would like to think Luther approached a Jewish Rabbi and asked how the word might be translated into German. If this was the case the Rabbi would have responded, “It is a word that cannot be translated because it is a word that should not be spoken.” Confused, Luther asked the Rabbi to explain. The Rabbi responded, “How can you speak that which is silent?”

        Truth is we don’t know how Luther discovered the meaning of Selah but he did write this concerning his discovery. “The word Selah is introduced confusedly and altogether without discernible order to show the motion of the Spirit is secret, unknown to us, and by no means possible to be foreseen. Whenever Selah is written, it is meant to interrupt the words of the Psalm in order that we might be brought to a moment of reflective quietness.”   

        I invite you to shut your eyes and hear Psalm 46 as Luther might have heard it.

        God is our refuge and strength,

        A very present help in trouble.

        Therefore we should not fear

Though the earth should change.

The mountains shake,

Though the waters roar with its tumult.

 

                        Selah

(wait 15 seconds then have Kathleen sing)

 

 A mighty fortress is our God,

        A bulwark never failing.      

 

There is a river whose streams

make glad the city of God. 

God is in the midst of the city,

It shall not be moved.

The nations are in an uproar,

Yet when God speaks, the earth melts.

The Lord of host is our refuge.

Selah

(wait 15 seconds then have Kathleen sing)

 

And though the world with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us.       

We will not fear for God has willed,

His truth to triumph through us. 

 

Come behold the works of the Lord.

He makes wars to cease.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

Be still, and know that I am God.

The Lord of host is our refuge.

 

                                        Selah

 

(wait 15 seconds then have Kathleen sing)     

 

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also,

The body they may kill,

God’s truth abideth still.

His kingdom is forever.

 

Selah

 

(Wait 15 seconds)

 

Please open your eyes. I find amazing things happen when we are able to clear our mind and simply encounter the word of God. Silence is difficult. There is so much chaos and noise wanting to break or even challenge our concentration.  Luther’s engagment in the practice of Selah is actually pretty amazing. He was not one who normally held his tongue. When he was handed a Papal Bull declaring he was excommunicated, Luther’s immediate action was to throw the document into a public bonfire. When confronted by Erasmus, a free thinker quite impressed with Luther’s writings, Luther rejected Erasmus on the spot because Erasmus chose to remain in the Catholic Church. When approached by Zwingli over the meaning of the Eucharist, neither man could remain civil causing a rift in the Reformation. Yet on April 17, 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Luther fully embraced the concept of Selah. When asked if he would repudiate all his writings, Luther started to speak, and then fell silent. He asked if he might have the evening to consider his answer. Knowing that the answer might condemn the monk to a public execution Emperor Charles V granted the request. After an evening of prayer and silence, the next morning Luther responded, “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

These three sentences should have guaranteed his execution. Luther only escaped death because Charles V intervened.  The Emperor rushed Luther back to Wittenberg where Luther continued to write, teach, and preach. It was then that the Reformation officially began.

Would the Reformation have begun without those three sentences? Would Luther have spoken those words the day before? Any answer is mere speculation but we all know while a quick retort might give us a bit of satisfaction, it is the thought out response that usually wins the day. How quickly trust breaks down between people because words are spoken hastily. Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. We are like flies on honey hardly caring that later there might be a sticky mess requiring a bit of cleanup. Just imagine what might occur if we stop, and take a moment of silence before we leap. The results might be historic.

I imagine Luther had read Psalm 46 a hundred times before he understood the power of the word Selah. One day in 1529, perhaps during his morning devotions, Luther inserted the word Selah into his reading of the Psalm.  Twelve years after Wittenberg, eight years after the Diet of Worms, the Reformer was overwhelmed by the courageous writings of an ancient poet. As Luther sat in silence new words came which could not escape a marvelous union of ink and paper. Suddenly the Reformation had an anthem.

The third verse has always been my favorite.

And thought this world with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us.

We will not fear for God has willed his truth

To triumph through us

The Prince of Darkness Grim,

We tremble not for him.

His rage we can endure,

Or lo, his doom is sure.

One little word can fell him.

 

I realize Luther clearly states while a battle between Satan and Christ might rage, there is really no contest. But perhaps we need to remember the word could be Selah, for it is in the silence, the holy space, that God’s word of calm and grace and peace has a chance to reverse our initial response of rage.  Truth is, so often our doom is sealed by the careless fire exploding from our lips.

On this Reformation Sunday, in the midst of all the personal and political drama that fills our lives, let our hearts be cooled, let our lips “be felled” by one little word.  

Selah!

        God is our Refuge and Strength.

Selah!

        The nations might be are in an uproar,

but the Lord of host is with us.

Selah!

        God makes the wars to cease,

        God takes our weapons out of our hands,

Selah!

        Then God speaks,

        Be Still,

        In your silence, know who I am.

Selah!

        I am with you,

        I am your refuge.

Selah!                To God be the glory.    Amen.