Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1: I John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19
The Rev. Candice B. Frazer
We are God’s joy in the world. In every moment of life, we have a choice—we can be a creative or a destructive being. We can build this world up or we can choose to tear it down. The responsibility for making that choice lies solely within each of us. No one can dictate our actions, beliefs, or thoughts; they are ours alone. Yes, other people might contribute to our decision-making process—your boss yells at you at work or your husband brings you flowers—but it is the way in which you perceive and receive those things that will help determine your response of compassion and joy or frustration. The more positive energy we effect in the world, even in the face of negative events, the more creative the world becomes.
The psalmist this morning knows this truth about us. The choice between good and evil is placed right at the beginning of the Book of Psalms:
Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked…
They are like trees…
bearing fruit…
everything they do shall prosper.
It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
The psalmist offers us more than simply a choice in how we live; he is defining a path for us to take. The first word of the psalm is translated as “happy”. In other versions of the Bible, this word is often translated as “blessed”. The word in Hebrew is ashre’ and its counterpart in Greek is makarios. We know the word makarios from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5—“Blessed are those…” the beatitudes.
The interesting thing about the Hebrew word ashre’ is that it better translated as something like “walking a certain way” or “following a particular path.” But “Walk this way are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked” doesn’t really roll off the tongue or improve the poetry in English. To translate ashre’ as “happy” yields a sense of contentment and right purpose or direction. The psalmist is trying to help us understand that living a creative life is more than making a good choice, it is an intentional trajectory that propels us forward in the world.
We know that those who walk this path will be fruitful and prosper. It is no mere accident that they traverse this course. The psalmist gives us a few hints at how to walk the path of the righteous. First, they are those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked. When I was growing up, my mother would warn me about the people I chose to hang out with. She would tell me that I could not change people, but I could change the people I hung out with. She understood how much my peers influenced my thinking and my choices, and she wanted my sister and I to always aspire to greater things. She loved to tell us to shoot for the moon, because even if we didn’t reach it, we would fall amongst the stars.
Mark Twain says, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” So don’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, or linger in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seats of the scornful—don’t surround yourself with destructive people much less journey to the places where they are. Find the places and people of hope and joy and inspiration—commit to being in those places and with those people.
The psalmist goes on to declare that those who are happy are the ones who take delight in the Lord and meditate on his ways day and night. Though the psalmist uses the language of law—he is speaking of Torah—the first five books of the Bible beginning with Genesis. These books are the foundation of Scripture in which God creates and humanity works out how to be in relationship with God. We don’t get it perfect, this relationship with God—we never have and probably never will—but it is not perfection that the righteous, those who are happy, are truly seeking. It is the relationship—the direction that God calls us to in following him.
To be a sinner is to be one who is out of relationship with God, one who seeks the destructive path. They are the chaff which the wind blows away. They neither bloom where they are planted, nor do they bear fruit—they do not bring lasting beauty to this world, nor do they nourish the lives of those around them. They are not judged by the righteous, they judge themselves:
Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,
And the simmer in the council of the righteous.
Those who are happy, who walk the path that God has laid before them, need not be concerned with the judgment of those who are wicked. The more we align ourselves with the behavior of others, especially those who the psalmist deems wicked and sinners and scornful, the more likely we are to become like the other. This is the psalmist’s warning to us, and he sums it up in the final verse:
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked is doomed.
We need not worry about the sins of others as much as we need to focus on who we are, who we choose to be around, and how we choose to live. What spaces and people occupy our lives? Are we creating homes and schools and workplaces filled with possibility or are we too focused on limitations—saying “no” when we could say “yes” and watch and see what might just happen? Saying yes is risky but it is also the path of creative life.
Those who are happy, or blessed, are those who choose the path of creative vision and action in this world. They nurture others, not tear them down. They spend their time in the sacred places of the world—at church, in nature, with those who build them up and dare to dream with them. They fill their world with that which is good and creative and builds up the kingdom. When they find themselves in frustrating situations or amongst those who scorn and speak derision, they are able to see through the eyes of a compassionate heart, seeking the humanity of the other that draws them together instead of tearing them apart. They do not judge for they know that they don’t have too, instead they trust in God’s abiding love—knowing that though they are in this world, they do not belong to this world; they belong to God.
There is a Cherokee Indian legend in which an elder of the tribe speaks to his grandson. He tells the boy that a battle wages inside him between two wolves. One is wicked—he is anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good—he is love, peace, joy, hope, serenity, kindness, humility, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. He goes on to tell the boy that the same battle is being waged inside the boy and every person he meets. The grandson asks, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee replies, “The one you feed.”
Every day, every moment of our lives we have a choice to follow the path of the happy or that of the wicked. To choose the path of the happy is not to choose self-fulfillment or prosperity or wealth—we will not be happy simply by getting what we want. To be one of those who are “happy” only happens when we choose to connect to the source of life…when we choose God. Every moment of life, we have a choice. We can be a creative or a destructive being. We can live into the joy of God as has been given to us. We can build this world up or we can tear it down. Happy are those who delight in God.
Amen