Refuge (Psalm 46)

In this sermon, Matt Crummy opens Psalm 46 by starting where the psalm starts: with God. Drawing on Rabbi Abraham Heschel's idea that faith is "the integration of the known with the unknown," Matt shows how the psalmists bring their fears of an uncertain future to the God they know. He traces the psalm through three movements: God's presence as our refuge and strength, God's formation of his people like a river reshaping the landscape, and God's renewal of all things as he breaks the weapons of war. Along the way, with help from Augustine and Josef Pieper, Matt reframes the famous call to "be still" not as idleness but as a kind of holy release: letting our hands drop and trusting that we are in very good hands.