Cholesterol hasn’t a chance
by Shane Altmann
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I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord – in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the Lord (Psalm 116:18,19).
Read Psalm 116:1–4,12–19
It takes me about 15 minutes to drive to work. Recently, I have been working my way through some random things I used to listen to in the 1980s. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an 80s music nut. I was there 40 years ago – I don’t need to go back and stay there, but there are a few eclectic things I like to revisit.
Like Chess. The musical, not the game.
Smash hits like ‘One Night in Bangkok’ and ‘I Know Him So Well’ are mingled in with some other fun songs and lyrics. I laughed out loud in the car this morning listening to the opening number titled ‘Merano’. The song describes a Tyrolean spa town where the chess world championships were being held at the beginning of the show (Bangkok later on, thus that song).
My favourite classic descriptor of the town of Merano is ‘This is the place where your arteries soften, cholesterol hasn’t a chance.’ People are clever, aren’t they? So funny. What a classic, what a place.
And so is today’s psalm – a classic, I mean. I remember so vividly being a young lad going off to church every Sunday. We always sat near the front (although, where I went to church, that was also not that far from the back, as it was only small), and we sang the liturgy. The pastor would chant the first line, and the congregation would bellow out the reply.
Today’s reading forms a significant part of that memory. If you turn to page 25 of the Lutheran Hymnal (aka the black book) – I happen to have one in my office that apparently belongs to Ascension Lutheran Church Rockingham (sorry) – you will find halfway down the page, the offertory, that prayer you sing when the offerings are being taken forward to the altar. I remember singing that thing so loud:
In the courts of the house of the LOOOOORD,
In your midst, O Jeru-uuu-sa-lem!
What a fervent young Christian I was! But I loved it, particularly because it was part of the service without communion, which was always shorter than the one with communion.
Or maybe because, even then, I knew God was listening. Maybe the psalmist nailed how I felt in the first verse.
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice.
God’s word speaks so beautifully into every part of our lives. It reminds us that he is the source of our joy, the comfort in our suffering, our fortress and our guide, our shepherd and our friend. That he is for us, he hears us, he loves us, and he is active in the world, moving things forward for us. He prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. He provides us with green pastures. He is our Tyrolean spa, our mountain air.
Seriously, cholesterol hasn’t a chance.
Lord, what shall we offer to you for all your goodness to us? If it were silver or gold, we would bring it. But we know through your word that the offering you desire is a willing and contrite heart. So, Lord, create in us a pure heart and put a new and right spirit within us. Grow us into lives of service. In Jesus’ name, and for his sake. Amen.
Shane Altmann is the principal of Faith Lutheran College Redlands in Queensland and has served in education for more than 35 years. Married to Monica and father of two children, Harry and Zoe, Shane has learnt that he is largely helpless without the love and support of the people with whom he lives and works. A pilgrim of multiple Caminos de Santiago, a Penrith Panthers tragic and a restorer of old stuff, Shane loves a project and, when he is able, fills his days tinkering with something.
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