Drop It (Rev. Andy Whitaker Smith)
In this season of graduating, new seasons, and moving forward, someone recently said: “There’s nothing wrong with falling. Falling’s kind of fun, actually. It’s the bottom that makes it scary.” This is a threshold season, which is was the Latin word “Limen” means—the act of crossing a threshold from what was to what will be: and that is what our graduates are doing. Crossing that threshold from Education—leaving one chapter and entering another. There’s excitement mixed with uncertainty. Part of that uncertainty might be crossing that threshold usually takes more than just one step.
Like David, as he approached Goliath, it may take many steps. And the thing about that journey which David took, that day—it was way more than just facing a physical giant….it was about making a choice: WHO AM I GOING TO BE? Before David ever faced Goliath, he first had to face the pressure of becoming someone else.
Leading up to this story in 1 Samuel 17, David’s story began as a shepherd, the youngest son of a shepherd, overlooked; but anointed by Samuel in the town of Bethelem, because God told Samuel that in that town and in that house, the new King was there. No one expected that it was David, especially Saul, the king at the time. Saul never really seem on board with David’s calling, which maybe explains why Saul did what he did in this part of Samuel’s story:
1 Samuel 17:32–40—Goliath, who’s part of the Philistine army, is their champion and challenges the Israelites to a fight. David volunteers himself, but King Saul says he can’t do it. “You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.” But David convinces the King he can do it, and begins his journey. It may be a short path, but a lot happens. The King stops him and places his own armor upon David. “King Armor” would have been awesome—literally best money could buy. Plus, Saul was notably a little taller than average; so image that, as this story is taking place: He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.
None of our grads are being given armor, this month….I don’t think. Some of them received necklaces and medals and sashes and maybe even stoles (we’ll be commissioning and ordaining pastors, next month). And as those pieces are placed on our grads….so are expectations.
Our students have been preparing for this for years. They have learned and grown and sacrificed and achieved. And now they’re being initiated to take that next step….even if they don’t necesaarily know everything about where they’re going or what it will take to get there. And we might think we do, for them. So we’ll give them gifts and congratulations and hugs and resources; and, of course, ADVICE.
Advice of what to do and how to do it, how to get IT, how to compete, how to succeed….how to BE. Perhaps it’s not armor in the Old Testament-sense, but maybe the moderns armors of this world includes the helmet of success, the chestplate of identiry…the sword of competition. And maybe these moder pressures feel to us and heavy and burdensome as the armor placed on David…which was not meant for David.
The armor fit Saul’s identity, not David’s calling…and David cannot act faithfully while disguised as Saul.
It’s interesting to think about how few rituals we still have, nowadays—especially as we think about the Ritual of Graduation: one of the few milestones in our culture where a person wears a special form of dress, and their community helps them to actively take that next step of life, so they experience that they are moving on. And so, when we face those pressures and challenges and trials, we almost face them as though—even with all this education—we still haven’t been taught or shown how to navigate through them.
Pressures of college, careers, finances, adulting, relationships—what does it mean to succeed, what does it mean to achieve, what does it mean to “arrive”….what does it mean to relate, to be in relationships, to feel connected and that we belong? To say nothing of the world we entering and walking into, where institutions and economies and cultures that we may have thought—or were told—were rock-solid are crumbling around us?
We can be burdened with these questions in the midst of life….like armor. And it can keep us away, and apart….
David’s path was not linear: shepherd, musician, warrior, fugitive, king—all the while people and society telling him over and over again who he was supposed to be. But Faithfulness rarely follows a straight line—it usually causes us to zig and zag. And sometimes faithfulness means trusting the road we do not fully understand.
And God says: Stop. Stop listening to the voices of pressure—even if it’s your own. You don’t need to carry that. You can set it down.
David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.
In that moment of the story, David trusted the gifts God had already formed within him. David tursted the call God had already placed on him. David trusted the journey God had already put him on….and David removed the armor…. and his steps forward, authentically, as himself….around the age of most of our graduates.
Our graduates, just like everyone else, don’t need every answer before moving forward. What we all need is the faith the we can be who we are to do what we’ve been called to do. We’re often comfortable in the church saying our Call comes from God….but our Identity comes from God, as well. And while our paths often can seem uncertain, that listending for God’s continual voice is as life-necessary as the air we breathe. David didn’t always listen to that voice, as the success of his kingdom shadowed his choices to the exploitation of people like Bathsheba. David’s strength was remembering who he was before God…but it’s a strength we forget we have.
Because the reality is: none of us grow older than the pressure of the labels and armors of expectations. If anything, we often just learn to carry them. Some of us graduated decades ago and still wear armor we were never meant to carry.
Which begs the question: what armor are we still carrying? Have we carried it so long….we’ve forgotten what God’s voice sounds like?
What might remind us of God’s voice calling us, calling us back? Maybe something like “Drop your nets…and follow me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
And when we remember this voice, and realize it’s been calling to us all along….we remember our Call. And we set these burdens—these armors down—and in the lightness of the load….we feel free. And we have the strength to move forward. David’s first battle was not with Goliath, but with those first few steps and the world telling him he was supposed to be someone he wasn’t. God reminds us we can set those expectations down, and not even pick them up, in the first place.
And when we walk more freely on our journey, and we encounter others along the path, we have the strength and the joy and the freedom to walk with them, and help them drop their armor.
May we have the courage to step forward—not as who the world says we must become, but as who God is calling us to be.