(Psalm 139:1-18)

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.  You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?  Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall fold me fast.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite parts of my birthday celebration was when my parents, mostly my mom, would talk about when I was born, when I was a baby.  I was the fourth of four so there really weren’t very many details about that day, and the ones they did remember were rather sketchy, yet I just loved to hear the story.  I continued that tradition with my kids to the point at which even THEY got tired of hearing about the day of their birth.  We retell the stories of our grandchildren’s births as well.    

I’ve noticed that since my mom and dad and sister have died there really is nobody left to tell the story of my birth.  That simple fact is true, or will be true, for us all at some point.  Today’s text is the assurance that there is One who holds our story sacred forever.

The Psalmist puts it into words: “For it was you, O Lord, who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb….  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”

I was given a plaque once with a saying that I just love.  It goes something like this: “A friend is one who knows your song so well that when you are unable, she will sing it to you.”  God knows our songs, and, if we’re lucky, a few others do too. 

To be able to listen well enough to learn another’s story, another’s song, is a gift.  It is so much easier to talk about ourselves.  It takes time to hear and discover another’s story.  It is so valuable to be the listener, and it is so wonderful to be listened to.  To be the recipient of someone’s attention is simply divine, like this morning’s text….

Again, the Psalmist tells us about the way that God knows us: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me….  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.”  God knows all about us…and still adores us.  I’ve heard some folks get nervous when they hear this passage of scripture because they have those dark places that they don’t want anyone to know about, especially if they understand God to be a punishing God who could whack them for their thoughts or deeds.

But I think this text is reassuring because not only does God know all about us, but, intentionally, God created us just the way we are, knitting us together in our mother’s womb.  It is as though God is not limited by time or space but has our whole story laid out.  God sees the whole picture.  The Psalmist says in his prayer, “Wonderful are your works, O God.”  That includes us.  God knows us completely and still loves us.

And, as we talked about last week, it seems, sometimes, like we are covered in darkness.  The Psalmist reassures us that even the darkness is not dark to God, the darkness is as light. 

…Today in the United Methodist Church is what we call Human Relations Day.  It is always observed on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend because as United Methodists we believe in the development of better human relations, and we seek to empower others to become the whole persons God intends.  Surely this is the continuance of the work of Dr. King.  Next year I hope for us to observe the special offering that comes on this day that supports specific ministries that are intended to help people become who God intends them to be.  It can be another way for us to observe the Martin Luther King holiday.  Don’t forget.  Next year!

Today’s scripture is about God’s deep love and regard for us, and from this directly flows our love and regard for other human beings because we are ALL God’s children.  We can all read the Psalmist’s words and know they are about each one of us, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me…for it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” 

It doesn’t say these words are only for those who have done nothing wrong (though, of course, none of us could qualify there).  It doesn’t say this is only for people who earn a certain amount of money or behave in a certain way, or those of a certain color or of a certain gender or age or sexual preference.  It doesn’t specify a certain religion or political affiliation.  It is directed to each of us, an affirmation of each of our lives, an honoring of God’s creation come to pass within each one of us. 

So, we learn to love and care for one another by watching the way that God loves and regards us, the way we are known completely.

On this day in the life of the church I always like to find a quote from Dr. King’s speeches or written words or, in the case of today, from a January, 1965 interview that he gave to Alex Haley which was subsequently printed in Playboy magazine.  Some may remember that this was a rather shocking decision on his part, but it turned out to be an excellent interview and is very in depth. 

You may recall that Alex Haley became the author of the book, Roots, that many of us fell in love with in 1976.  It was THAT good.  But in 1965 Dr. King had just won the Nobel prize for peace, and Haley had to work really hard to score this interview because King was so busy working tirelessly for civil rights.  It is quite a deep dive into King’s theology and philosophy that underlaid his work in non-violent resistance.  We celebrate him on this weekend because his work changed this nation in a profound way, and this interview gave people a chance to know him. 

I had not read it all before, but it is definitely worth our time, even now, 58 years later.

Haley’s opening question was, “Dr King, are your children old enough to be aware of the issues at stake in the civil rights movement, and of your role in it?”

King’s answer was that they were, especially his oldest daughter Yolanda who had asked him why he had to go to jail so much.  His answer was that he was involved in a struggle to make conditions better for the ‘colored people,’ and thus for all people.

He followed with a story that illustrated how Yolanda became painfully aware of the segregation that Dr. King was working to change.

He said that the family would often ride with him to the Atlanta airport when he was flying to destinations where the civil rights work was happening.  They would pass a place called Funtown, a sort of miniature Disneyland with rides for kids.  Yolanda would inevitably say, ‘I want to go to Funtown,’ but he would avoid directly replying to her.  He said he did not know how to explain to her why she could not go there. 

“Then,” said Dr. King, “one day at home, she ran downstairs exclaiming that a TV commercial was urging people to come to Funtown.  In Martin’s words: “Then my wife and I had to sit down with her between us and try to explain it.  I have won some applause as a speaker, but my tongue twisted and my speech stammered seeking to explain to my six-year-old daughter why the public invitation on television didn’t include her, and others like her.  One of the most painful experiences I have ever faced was to see her tears when I told her that Funtown was closed to colored children, for I realized that at that moment the first dark cloud of inferiority had floated into her little mental sky, that at that moment her personality had begun to warp with that first unconscious bitterness toward white people.  It was the first time that prejudice based upon skin color had been explained to her.  But it was of paramount importance to me that she not grow up bitter.  So I told her that although many white people were against her going to Funtown, there were many others who DID want colored children to go.  It helped somewhat. 

“Pleasantly, word came to me later that Funtown had quietly desegregated, so I took Yolanda.  A number of white persons there asked, ‘Aren’t you Dr. King, and isn’t this your daughter?’  I said we were, and she heard them say how glad they were to see her there.”

…And so we come to today when there still exists, as there always has, systemic racism.  It underlies much of the hatred that is now going on in our nation and world.  You may recall what former President Barack Obama and his family had to endure as he ran for president and spent 8 years in that office.  First, accused of not being a native born American (his father was Kenyan but he was born to his American mother in Hawaii) and then suffering the underlying, subtle prejudice that every person of color endures throughout their lives.

Dr. King was standing up against blatant racism.  We must stand with all our neighbors of color as brothers and sisters in the family of God, not quietly looking down on folks who are different than we are, but as folks who celebrate, as we do, those who have been formed by God, praising God because we all have been fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Our God has made us all from those countless creative thoughts that are God’s.  There are so many.  They are more than the grains of sand.  We may try to count those grains but can never complete the task.  It doesn’t matter because God knows, and we are still within God’s care.      

It’s time for us to have the courage to create a world where we think about others more than we think about ourselves because we are a part of this network of mutuality that cannot be escaped because that’s how God created us.

This is who we are as children of a God who lays his hand upon us, a God who knows everything about us, a God who has lovingly formed us and is with us still.

            Because of this, we have no choice but to be makers of justice and peace, to follow in the footsteps of those like Dr. King who dedicated their lives to working for civil rights, but, not only that, we are to dedicate our lives to discovering the divine in each other.  Amen.