What's in a promise? Or, why you'll never hear God say, "Let's make a deal" (sermon from Baden Powell Sunday worship, Feb 17, 2019)

Reading: Psalm 116 (adapt. from tr. by Leslie Brandt, Psalms/Now, 1973)

The Book of Psalms is a book of extremely honest prayers and songs.  When we read the Psalms we don’t have to pretend that life is always happy, or that the world is always fair.  All that the Psalms ask of us, really, is that we be honest and that we do our best to bring every aspect of our life to God, to see what God’s good will for us might be. 

Psalm 116

I know that God is here.

I know this because when I was alone and afraid,

     feeling weak and helpless,

God looked upon me with love

     and responded to my cry for help.

There was a time when I didn’t care!

     I was not aware of any real need for God.

But then I hit bottom.

     I lost what I counted on.

     Death itself reached out to take me in.

     There was no one else to turn to.

I cried out to God in my desperation.

I could almost feel God’s invisible hand

     encircle me and draw me in.

Now I am convinced.

God is here, and I will trust God forever.

I will no longer wait for pain or suffering

      to drive me to God.

I will walk in God’s pathways for my life.

      I will remember all my promises made to God

          and in God’s presence,

      and I will follow through on them.

I can never repay God for God’s ever-present love.

I can only dedicate my life to praising God

     and to serving God wherever I may be.

I am God’s servant;

     I am God’s beloved child.
     I shall love God forever.
I will proclaim to all the world: 
     “God is in our midst.”

What I hear in this Psalm is two things.  

One, that no matter what, even in the worst of times, God is here and God is near, ready to help even before I open myself to God and ask for help.  I can trust God forever, even before I choose to trust or act in trust, because this is what God has promised.  This is the kind of God, God has promised to be no matter what.

Two, that the psalmist (and therefore I, when I read this with an open heart) will do the same.  Will be the same as God -- no matter what, being and doing what I have promised to be and to do.

In just a few minutes we will be entering into perhaps the most important part of our worship today -- the renewing of our promises as Guiders, as Scouters, and as members of this church.  We do this every year, and it's an important part -- maybe the most important part of our annual Baden Powell Sunday worship.

With that in mind, today I want us to think about two kinds of promises.  

One is a handshake kind of promise.  The kind of promise you make with someone by "shaking on it."  What are some examples?  Some of the kinds of promises we make and seal with a handshake?

Maybe you and a good friend agree to always be friends and have one another's back, and then you shake on it.  Maybe you get a job: you agree to do the work, the other person agrees to pay you, and you shake in it.  Maybe you're buying something: you agree to pay a certain amount of money, the other person agrees to show up with what you are paying for, and you shake on it.

And that's a good way of doing things.  Handshake deals often feel far better, and can feel more binding than a mere paper contract.  "My handshake is my word" is a tried and true foundation of good business and good relations.

But even a handshake promise -- a handshake deal, is conditional.  It does depend on the other person (and you) being good to their word and honest to their handshake.  And if one or the other of you breaks the deal, doesn't follow through on the promise, all bets are off.  The deal is broken.  If one breaks their promise, the other is not bound to theirs.

That's one kind of promise -- a handshake promise that (kind of) seals a deal.

There's another kind of promise, though, that involves doing something different with your hand, than shaking someone else's hand.  Can you think what it is?  What other action you might perform with your hand when making a promise?

How about raising your hand?  Holding it up in the air, kind of reaching for God and kind of holding yourself up open before other people, the way you do when swearing -- that is, when promising in court to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?  

That's also a promise, but a different kind of promise.  Not really a deal, because you're not making this as a reciprocal promise with any other person.  It's more a vow or an oath, which is a promise in front of people in general and in front of God as well to be a certain kind of person, to act in a certain kind of way no matter what.

It can also be made -- have you seen this? -- by holding your hand over your heart, which is a way really of making the promise with yourself, and saying you are promising that from your heart and with all your heart you will be this kind of person, who will act this kind of way no matter what may come, what others may do, or even what others might fail to do.

That's an oath.  A vow.  Not at all just a deal.  And the Scouting and Guiding Promises are like that -- like an oath, like a vow.  A promise you make based on what you know to be good, to be that kind of person.  That that kind of good person is what you want to be, and will be no matter what.

I want to read you a little bit of Lord Baden-Powell's final letter to the members of the Scouting movement:

I have had a most happy life and I want each of you to have a happy life too.  I believe that God puts us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life.  [For Baden-Powell, belief in God was assumed, and all the world was seen as a gift from the overflowing generosity of God that does not stop, no matter what.]  Happiness does not come from being rich, nor merely being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence.  One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy [i.e. learn as early as you can to be the kind of person you really want to be], so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man.  Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world [i.e. God is generous to make the world good and humanity happy no matter what -- just because that's how God is and promises to be] ... And the real way to get happiness is by giving happiness to other people [i.e. to do as God does, to be as God is by just being a good and generous character, regardless of what the other is like or what the other does, but because you simply have promised to be this way].  Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that you have not wasted your time but have done your best.  "Be prepared" in this way to live happy and to die happy -- stick to your Scout Promise always -- even after you have ceased to be a boy -- and God help you to do it.

In other words, based on what you know God has given and the kind of God that God has proven to be, on how good life is and is meant to be for all, and on how good it is to share the happiness and good of life with others, promise -- make an oath with God and yourself, to be the kind of person who does that.  Make an oath and a vow with God and yourself to live that kind of life yourself.

And one last thought.  We are dealing with God here, with making a promise before God,if not also to God, to be at least a little bit like God in the way we live our life.  And the point is that God doesn't make deals.  God is not the kind of God who makes the deal kind of promises.

I know sometimes we think God does.  When I was younger and in high school -- even university, sometimes before a big test that I thought was going to be hard and that I felt I hadn't studied enough for, sometimes I would pray, "Dear God, if you help me -- if you let me get a good mark on this test, just this once, I promise I will study harder and keep my work up-to-date better next time."

Does that sound familiar?  Or maybe you've done something wrong, and don't really want to get caught and face the consequences, so you pray, "Dear God, oh God, if you just get me through this, help them maybe not find out, help them be lenient and forgiving, I'll do better, I won't mess up, I won't do that thing again.  I really have learned my lesson, God.  I really have.  Believe me."

Or sometimes we think it goes the other way too.  We think if we do the right thing, God will somehow reward us -- that we can make a deal with God to help us not be sick, to help us be successful, to make our life easy.  Have you ever heard preachers or anyone else say, "If you pray, if you attend church regularly, if you tithe and give ten percent to the Lord's work, if you follow all the rules and stand up for God, God will bless you, God will save your loved one from cancer, God will make you rich and successful, God will make you happy and keep you from sorrow and despair"?  Or maybe it's even the ultimate deal we are told we can make with God, or that God makes with us: "if you're good, if you live a good life, God will let you into heaven."

But God is not that kind of God.  God does not make little handshake deals with special or particular people.  God does not make secret little deals on the side with special persons apart from what's on offer for everyone else.

Rather God is the kind of God who swears oath kind of promises, who commits to vow kinds of promises to be a particular kind of God, and to do particular godly kinds of things no matter what, no matter who, no matter when or where or why.  

God promises, as the psalmist came to know and as we come to know, to be near.  To hear us when we cry even before we cry.  To love us even before we know we can be loved.  And to help us even before we ask for help.  And not always in the way we may want to be helped, but always in a way that will lead us forward, help us to grow and to heal in the way we need to, and walk in such a way that we and God can walk together more closely and consciously.  "I am that kind of God," God says, "and will be that kind of God no matter what, because I promise.  You can believe me."

And God calls us to do and to be the same -- to let ourselves know what is really good, a good way of being, and then promise -- really make a commitment with ourselves to be that kind of person doing those kinds of things no matter what.