Our Sunday Message

Happy is... : Psalm 1
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
February 4, 2007
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

  “Happy is . . .” There are no limits to the number of answers that complete that statement. Help me to answer that! “Happy is . . . what?” “Happy is . . . winning the lottery?” “Happy is . . . a new BMW?” “Happy is . . . staying at a Holiday Inn Express?” “Happy is . . . financial security?” I can tell you from recent experience that in my house “Happy is . . . waking up to the news that the Memphis City Schools are closed due to snow.” That was happy!
   “Happy is . . . what?” I know what feels good, but is that happiness? I know what makes me laugh, but is that happiness? I know what distracts me when I feel discouraged or depressed, but is that happiness? If I won the lottery, would I be happy? I promise I would tithe it. “Happy is . . . what?”
  Perhaps a better question for us to consider is, “Are you happy?”   Regardless how you define happiness, if you are not happy, it remains an elusive goal.
  The book of Psalms begins with a definition of “Happy is . . .” The Psalmist says, “Happy is . . . delighting in and meditating on the law of the Lord.”
  That’s the kind of thing that we expect to hear when we come to church, but the question is, “Does anybody believe it?” “Do we really think that this is a prescription for happiness?” If attendance in Sunday school or the amount of time that we actually spend in reading and reflecting on Scripture is an indication of what we believe, then who are we kidding? I want to believe it, but some of the most unhappy people that I know are Bible believing people; some of the most angry, judgmental people I know are Baptist preachers; some of the most sour, critical people I know are the most committed to Bible study. I am not telling you anything that you don’t know.
  Pretend for a minute that we aren’t in church. Why does the psalmist say this? The psalmist says this because he was an astute student of human nature and he noticed that there are two kinds of people. Some people are like trees planted by streams of water: grounded, stable, secure, satisfied, steady, strong, unmoved by peer pressure, or popular opinion, or changing circumstances.
  Some years ago, I was jogging in the early morning in Sugarland and I came to an old tree that I had passed many times before but on this day, I noticed a railroad spike driven into its side. I wondered who had put it there. It was rusty and had obviously been there a long time. Was it a cowboy who drove it there to hang his saddle? Was it a surveyor who used it to mark a spot? Was it part of a fence that had once marked this boundary? Whatever it was, that old tree had seen the changes come and go. It had weathered Gulf Coast hurricanes and blistering Texas heat. It had even survived planned subdivisions and suburban living. It had stood the test of time. And there it was, continuing its silent, steady vigil with a railroad spike in its side.
  The Psalmist observed that some people are like that. They have an inner depth, an emotional wholeness, a sense of personal well-being, a spiritual centeredness that is not dependent on external circumstances. Even when things are not going their way, when they experience grief, or face illness, or suffer disappointment, or endure criticism they are not diminished, but continue producing the fruit of a mature life. They don’t need to win the lottery, drive a new BMW, or even have financial security to be happy. You’ve known people like that: steady, strong, secure, faithful.
  But there are others, the Psalmist says, who are easily blown away by life, as Renita Weems puts it, “(they) lack the substance to stay put. . .”1 I like that phrase. They are always looking for something outside themselves to give happiness to their lives and are easily swayed by the next fashion, the next opinion, the next fad. You’ve known people like that.
  What makes the difference? The Psalmist observes that the difference is “delighting in and meditating on the law of the Lord.” But what about those people that read the Bible and become so judgmental? Walter Brueggemann, the Old Testament scholar and preacher, says that this word “law” does not just refer to keeping rules. The word literally refers to “instruction.” He says, “The ‘happy’ person is the one who . . . is consistently open to God’s teaching and direction.”2 There is an inner source of divine wisdom that can guide us to our deepest longings. According to the Psalmist, “Happy is . . . a life that is vitally connected to God, the source of all life, resulting in a stability, regardless of outer circumstances.”
  That’s the kind of thing that we expect to hear when we come to church, but the question is, “Does anybody believe it?” “Do we really think that this is a prescription for happiness?”
  I want to read a section of a letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and Christian martyr. The year of this letter was 1942, just three years before his execution by the Nazis. Bonhoeffer wrote this letter to some of his former students. Notice how the letter begins, “Our dear brothers Bruno Kerlin, Gerhard Vibrans, and Gerhard Lehne have been killed in action.”3 This is a letter written in the face of death. I say that to say that these words are not just what you expect to hear a preacher say at church.
  He writes, “I have been surprised to see that the number of those asking for additional help with regard to meditation has increased just recently. . . . Daily, quiet reflection on the Word of God as it applies to me (even if only for a few minutes) becomes for me a point of crystallization for everything which gives interior and exterior order to my life. Our previous ordered life has been broken up and dissolved in these present days, and we are in danger of losing our inner sense of order too . . . . Meditation can give our lives a measure of steadiness; it can preserve the link to our previous existence. . . . Meditation is a source of peace, of patience and of joy; it is like a magnet which draws together all the forces in our life which make for order; it is like deep water which reflects the clouds and the sun on its clear surface.”4
  Bonhoeffer didn’t win the lottery. He didn’t even survive the war. But he did discover the source of inner order in the midst of outer chaos. That is happiness.
  Are you happy today? If not, are you open to a suggestion from the psalmist? “Happy is . . . the one who delights in the law of the LORD and meditates in his law day and night.”


1 Renita Weems, New Proclamation: Year C, 2000-2001, p. 123.
2 Walter Brueggemann, Texts for Preaching: Year C, p. 145.
3 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditating on the Word, p. 49.
4 Bonhoeffer, p. 51f.