Sermon 11/19/17
Philippians 4:4-13
Theology at the Theatre: The
Sound of Music
I’ve talked to you before about the first sermon I ever
preached, back when I was a college student, and I preached at my childhood
church on the parable of the rich fool, the parable where the wealthy man
decides to build bigger barns to keep all of his stuff, where Jesus warns us
against believing our lives are all about our stuff. But although that was the first sermon I ever preached, it wasn’t the first sermon I ever wrote. I
had a written a sermon a few years
earlier, while I was in high school. That same pastor who nurtured my call to
ministry and let me preach while I was in college had also allowed me to plan
an entire worship service a few years before for the youth of the church to
lead. I organized everything, and assigned all the parts, and I wrote the
sermon – I just assigned the sermon to someone else to preach. I was far too
nervous to do the preaching myself. So I wrote the sermon for my friend Becca
to deliver. I don’t have a copy anymore, I don’t think, of that sermon, which I
remember was handwritten, not typed, unless I tucked it somewhere in the pages
of my journal from that time. But I remember my text: It was this passage that
we’ve shared today from Philippians 4. And I chose it in particular because I
was so taken by verse 8: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever
is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things.” See, I grew up in the era of the great movie
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,
and the word “excellent” was used frequently in a slang style to denote
everything that was particularly awesome and wonderful. And the idea that the
Bible was telling us we should spend our time thinking about “excellent” things
was very appealing to my young mind.
Indeed, Paul does tell
the Philippians to be grounded in thinking about excellent and praiseworthy
things in their lives, and his short letter is our focus for today as we
conclude our series “Theology at the Theatre” with a look at The Sound of Music. The apostle Paul
visited Philippi, a city in what was the Eastern part of Macedonia, now Greece,
during what we call his second missionary journey, somewhere around the year 50
AD. The church in Philippi was one of the earliest established Christian
communities. Paul’s letter to them is written some ten years after his first
visit to them. The letter is written while Paul is in prison, although since
Paul was imprisoned many times during his ministry, it is hard to determine
during which time in custody he wrote
these words.[1]
Some scholars, however, point to the awareness of his own mortality in
Philippians to suggest that Paul wrote this during one of his later
imprisonments before he was executed.
The word “rejoice” appears 7 times
in the four short chapters of Philippians, which is a pretty high rate of
frequency, especially compared with the rest of the New Testament. It isn’t
just a nice word choice, it’s a definite theme that Paul chooses – he calls us
to rejoice. This call is notable because Philippians is also filled with a deep
awareness on Paul’s part that the span of his life is probably short. He
reflects on his sufferings, on his work in Christ, on his love for the
Philippians, and on the aim and purpose of his work. While some of Paul’s
others letters are instructional, chiding, teaching, Philippians is more of a
letter to loved ones whom Paul misses and from whom Paul receives comfort and
encouragement as much as he gives it.
He tells the Philippians, “For
[Christ’s] sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as
rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. (2:8b-9a) I press
on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”
(2:14) Grounded in this sentiment, in this longing, and in this reflection on
his suffering in service to sharing the message of Jesus, we come to our
reading for today.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I
will say, Rejoice.” Paul does not mean his words to be meaningless or trite,
not filler or fluff. Truly, despite the adversity he has faced as a follower of
Jesus, he is full of joy, and calls others followers of Christ to the same deep
joy. “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry
about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is
commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of
praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have
learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be
with you.”
Paul says he rejoices because of the
consistent concern and support the Philippians have shown for him. Indeed, they
are one of the few places from whom Paul has accepted financial support for his
work in ministry. But, Paul concludes, he has learned to be content with
whatever he has. He has known what it is to have little, and known what it is
to have plenty. And in whatever
circumstance he finds himself, Paul concludes, “I can do all things through
[Christ] who strengthens me.”
Today we turn our attention to The Sound of Music to think about a life
of rejoicing in the midst of great struggle. The Sound of Music is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based on
the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story
of the Trapp Family Singers. The story is set in Austria on the eve of the
Anschluss in 1938, the annexation of Austria by Germany on the brink of World
War II. The musical opened in 1959, and it was adapted into the classic movie
in 1965.[2]
At the start of The
Sound of Music, Maria is a postulant (questioner) at the Nonnberg Abbey,
preparing to become a nun. She sings about regretting leaving the beautiful
hills where she was brought up. She doesn’t seem to be fitting in to life at
the Abbey. She and the Mother Abbess speak together, talking together about the
things that bring them joy when life is difficult. (“My Favorite Things”) Mother
Abbess tells Maria that she should spend some time outside the abbey to decide
whether she is really ready for the monastic life. She will serve as governess
to the seven children of a widower, Captain Georg von Trapp. He and Maria grow
close and fall in love, even as she helps him heal his relationship with his
children. But she’s frightened by her feelings, and heads back to the abbey. She says
that she is ready to take her vows and become a nun, “but the Mother Abbess
realizes that she is running away from her feelings. She tells her to face the
Captain and discover if they love each other, and tells her to search for and
find the life she was meant to live.”[3]
Of course, as all this is happening, we also see the rise of Nazism in the
background, and watch Maria and the Captain resist being caught up in Austria
becoming a part of the Nazi regime, instead fleeing the country secretly.
The song that Betsy sang for us today, “Climb Every
Mountain,” comes both at the beginning and the end of the musical, words that
encourage Maria to follow her true calling, even if that means not become a nun, and words that reflect
the von Trapp family’s calling to resist the rise of Nazism, even if it means
leaving their homeland. The lyrics are simple but poignant: “Climb every
mountain. Search high and low. Follow every byway. Every path you know. Climb
every mountain. Ford every stream. Follow every rainbow 'till you find your
dream: A dream that will need all the love you can give every day of your life
for as long as you live.”
The real life Maria von Trapp reflected in her autobiography
that she was sometimes mad at God, even on her wedding day, because she truly
had felt called to become a nun, and it was hard for her to reconcile the new
path of life she was taking with what she first believed to be God’s call. But,
she said, she ended up experiencing more love than she had ever known, and she
believed that she was following God’s will for her life.[4]
Her years at the abbey, she said, "were really necessary to get my twisted
character and my overgrown self-will cut down to size."[5]
The Sound of Music is a fairly
light-hearted musical, but the real-life events on which the musical is based
were times of true hardship and struggle for Maria, her family, her nation, the
world. Maria remained grounded in her faith, committed to following God’s will,
and able to find deep joy in life in the midst of everything she experienced.
What about you? Is your life filled
with joy? Paul calls us to rejoice in the Lord always. How can we manage such a thing? This past week in our Disciple Bible Study, we talked about the
book of Galatians and the freedom we experience in Christ that enables us to
live a life of love and service, not out of obligation, but in response to
God’s love and grace at work in us. I shared with the class words that are a
part of the prayer of confession in our communion liturgy. We don’t often use
the full formal liturgy, but the language in meaningful and insightful. We pray,
“Free us for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That phrase
“joyful obedience” can seem to be a contradiction. But actually, it is so
descriptive of the life in Christ of which Paul speaks. Despite challenges of
every kind, Paul lives a life full of rejoicing because he has such confidence
that he is following God’s will, living out the gospel of Christ, and grounding
his life in the most meaningful things he can. He knows his true purpose, his
true calling, and that brings him a deep satisfaction, a deep joy that
transcends the sufferings and struggles he encounters.
This week, we celebrate
Thanksgiving. I hope that we are giving thanks, rejoicing for our life in
Christ in ways that are deeper than giving thanks for the delicious food we might
eat, as yummy as pumpkin pie might be. May our hearts be filled with the joy
that comes from knowing that our lives are built on the solid foundation of a
life of discipleship in Christ. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say,
Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not
worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.”
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