“Shield: Carrying the Weight of God” a sermon by Rian Adams

Rian Adams Sermon “Shield: Carrying the Weight of God.” Second Sunday of Lent, Year C

A shield normally has one  job… the difference between life and death can be how well a shield does that job. A shield’s job is to protect. In the Genesis passage God identifies as a shield – protector – to Abram… Gen 15:1 “Abram, I am your shield.”

It’s clear from the beginning of the story, God desires a relationship with Abram where God protects and guards him.There are many layers in God’s announcement, “I am your shield.” In the original Hebrew, shield (Mah-gane) is usually in masculine form. It means “to protect.” It’s a picture of God’s mighty arm holding a heavy shield that prevents arrows from nicking our vulnerable places.

But interestingly, it has a feminine use too, “to gather under” is one possible translation. God gather’s us under wings of protection. Another, far more enlightening feminine use, is “the thick hide of a female crocodile.” I wonder… can that expand our understanding of shield to include something we wear and not simply something we hold. It’s a powerful image of mother God shielding us with her thick skin. The blows reach her skin, they pummel her, she feels the pain, but it doesn’t breach her.

“Abram, I am your shield.”

When arrows try to puncture our soft hearts, her skin is the shield that absorbs the spear.

The shield imagery doesn’t stop there.

If you google “shield” the first shield you find, in search and images, is the shield of Captain America. I find it interesting to note: The most popular shield on the internet belongs to a super hero.

That hero is the archetypal warrior who is the pillar of justice, good, and morality. Our culture instantly equates a shield with a hero. It’s telling that our association with shield is one made from the strongest metal on earth. If you’re a comic geek you’re probably aware that Captain America’s shield was created by accident.

The shield’s creator worked with mythic Wakandan Vibranium. But the shield’s creation is not without misunderstanding… The metallurgist worked long hours and fell asleep before the final metal blend was complete. He took no notes, so the shield’s contents are a mystery.

The image creatively suggests that the God who shields us will always remain a mystery. We will never fully figure out how, or why, or even when God shields us.

The writer of Ephesians says to take up the shield of faith… There is some kind of mystery to God that we will never fully understand and we must simply hold sacred space for faith.

God protects us in ways that are mysterious. My guess is we can point to pivotal moments in our lives when God shielded us from injury, deceit, or distress.  We probably didn’t noticed it then but hindsight, combined with spirituality, helps us see the mystery of God at work in many things.

However, as with any metaphor, it always offers a holy invitation to listen for deeper meanings.

As the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung says, we learn to listen by “cultivating the creative art of inner conversation.

That imaginative conversation reminded me that a shield is weighty.

While I served as a soldier in Afghanistan, my body armor, my shield as it were, was roughly 75lbs of gear. I carried these body shields on my chest and back. Each day I shouldered the weight of my vest, attached the Velcro, buttoned the snaps, and prayed that I wouldn’t need it.

I wore these shields for months on end. What stands out to me is how quickly my body normalized the weight. The armor merged and became one with my body. I wore it like it was a second layer of skin. One post-deployment struggle was feeling naked without body armor. My body familiarized the weight of its shield and it found comfort knowing it was there should it ever be called upon.

But it was not without its difficulties.First, it was heavy. My shoulders are still tense from the weight because it was a constant burden. To this day I get 5 CCs of steroid in my right shoulder every 120 days. The pain is so that I welcome the cold steel of an 18 gauge needle as an old friend who visits for dinner and tells good stories.

Second, the sand in the deserts of the Middle East and South West Asia work their way between the collar bone and the shoulder strap.  Hour after hour it rubs and grinds. You treat it with cream and band aids, it doesn’t do much. Every day I was reminded that my body shield was a double edged sword.

The body that it protected was the same body that it injured.  

New medical studies say the same. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of military personnel who retired with musculoskeletal damage increased 1000% between 2001 and 2010. Military physicians now make the direct connection between the weight of body armor and chronic injuries.

It appears that carrying the weight of body armor for prolonged periods inflicts a harsh toll on the body. That leads me to a curiosity… I wonder what the weight of a shield teaches us about God?

I wonder if people feel like God is a heavy weight to shoulder? “Abram I am your shield… to carry.”

The weight of faith, in a world filled to the brim with governmental tyranny and human suffering, must be a reality we are willing to own.   If God is like a shield then we need the spiritual freedom to admit when our arms tire. Although it’s scary to admit we need help, its essencential to grow into our vocations.

 Even Jesus tired under the weight of his calling, the Gospels tell us another helped him carry his cross.

The psalmist understood the tension of God as shield.

In Psalm 33 he balances the protection of God with the need to patiently wait. He says, “We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our shield and our help.”

 Maybe C.S. Lewis was on to something when he said that God’s glory is a weight to carry.  I have friends who wear the weight of God. They shoulder the difficult joy of Christ’s ministry of mercy. But they grow tired carrying the God who protects them.

That’s why Jesus calls us to be a shield to our sisters and brothers! Jesus said,“Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.”

In the original language, mercy literally means a surrounding of compassion. Jesus asks us to be like God… and shield one another with mercy.So when I buckle under the weight of church imposed perfection, love me like a soldier and pull me out of harm’s way. When I’m exhausted, hold up my hands like Aaron and Joshua did for Moses, and when I’m attacked, be Paul’s shield and quench fiery gossip.

Be my shield. Have mercy on me, surround me, as I attempt to wear the wdeight of the God who protects me.

Amen.

Note: This sermon was prepared and preached at Sewanee as part of a doctoral program. 

Note: If you’d like to check out my other writings, you can find them here.