Sermon for January 18th, 2026

Psalm 40:1-3 (OT p.513)

1I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (OT p.616)

1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; 7a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Matthew 5:13-16 (NT p.4)

13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Faith & Film XIV: Song Sung Blue

• Film Clip #1 - Trailer

Three Minute Film Summary

Song Sung Blue is based on the real life story of Mike Sardina and Claire Stengl, two ordinary working-class people whose lives come together through music.

Mike is a Milwaukee mechanic and a recovering alcoholic who occasionally works as a musical impersonator. Claire is a single mother and hairstylist who performs as a Patsy Cline tribute singer. When Mike refuses to go onstage pretending to be someone else, he quits a gig and watches Claire perform instead. She jokingly suggests that if he’s going to sing, he should try singing Neil Diamond. Mike goes home, puts on a Neil Diamond record, and begins to practice. He and Claire strike up a relationship, and they form a Neil Diamond tribute duo called Lightning & Thunder. Their early shows are rough, but they persist. Eventually they get married, and as their act improves, they begin to book regular shows, finding modest success but also real joy performing together.

Everything changes when Claire is struck by a car while planting flowers outside their home. She loses her left leg below the knee. What follows is a long, painful season marked by depression, addiction to pain medication, and a growing strain on their marriage. Claire becomes suspicious and withdrawn, while Mike struggles to hold things together without losing his sobriety.

Claire is eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital. During her absence, Mike is urged by his daughter to return to his AA meetings. At the same time, Claire’s daughter Rachel reveals that she is pregnant and plans to give the baby up for adoption—but what she truly needs is her mother. Claire learns to walk again with a prosthetic, returns home, and reconciles with Mike. Together they resume performing, rebuild their audience, and help Rachel through the remainder of her pregnancy and adoption.

Their story reaches its peak when Lightning & Thunder is invited to headline a show at the Ritz in Milwaukee on the same night Neil Diamond himself is performing nearby. Their show sells out, and Neil Diamond himself expresses interest in meeting them after the show. As they prepare for the concert, however, Mike suffers a head injury. Right before the concert, he tells Claire that none of this would be possible without her, and that she is his everything. The concert is a success—but Mike dies later that night. Claire sings at his funeral, and the film ends with Claire planting flowers once again in the same garden where she was struck by the car, as a recording of Mike singing “Song Sung Blue” plays.

Salt and Light

Although Neil Diamond never appears as a character in this movie, his music and his presence permeate the film in a God-like kind of way. The main characters in the film hold a deep, almost worshipful reverence for him, but also realize they can never actually, really *be* him--and so in the following clip they settle on a different approach:

• Film Clip #2 - Interpreters

This is the same approach we as Christ-followers are called to take in our witness to the world. We don't impersonate, or pretend, or even aspire to be gods ourselves (although the world often tries to convince us that this is an option). Instead, we are painfully and humbly aware our imperfections and our limitations. But at the same time, Jesus (who was God) told us that we are the "salt of the earth." We're supposed to provide taste and flavor to the world. Jesus also told us to shine our light--our God-given talents--for all the world to see. When we do this, we are a beautiful reflection of God's light. We are interpreters, not imposters. We are part of something (and someone) larger than we could ever hope to be in our own right. And like the two main characters in the film, we are reminded that throughout the scriptures, God calls and uses the most ordinary, mundane people to do the most extraordinary things.

Out of the Desolate Pit

This movie has been, without a doubt, the most optimistic, upbeat, and uplifting movie I've seen all year. But it doesn't accomplish this by ignoring the darkness and tragedy that comes into every life. Instead, it highlights the resilience that we are capable of in the face of great challenges. The next two clips showcase this. I'm going to narrate a little bit as we go through each one:

• Film Clip #3 - Serenity Prayer

• Film Clip #4 - Strike Twice

The Psalms often speak of this same kind of resilience--recognizing the anguish and suffering that are an inescapable part of life, but also recognizing a God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death, who lifts us out of the desolate pit, and who puts a new song on our lips (sometimes quite literally).

A Season for Everything

I think what makes this film so beautiful is that it's ultimately a story about...life, with all its twists and turns, all of the extraordinary and ordinary things that happen to us, about falling in love (and then trying to keep that love alive), about finding our meaning and purpose, and helping other people to find their meaning and purpose, too. The scripture passage that best captures this is Ecclesiastes chapter 3, which famously says that there is a season for everything, a time for every purpose under heaven. I looked at that list (a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to love, hate, etc.) and counted 18 different things that there is "a time for" in the passage. Then I thought about the movie and realized about 15 out of those 18 things are depicted.

The author of Ecclesiastes can be a bit cynical in some of his observations (he begins the work with the famous saying "vanity, vanity, all is vanity). But after laying out all of the seasons of life, he eventually comes to the conclusion that two are better than one, "for if they fall, one will lift up the other." He also encourages his readers to enjoy the life that they have been given, regardless of what happens or doesn't happen, for "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all" and no one can anticipate how many days they are given.

There is something beautifully redemptive about those words. And there is something beautifully redemptive about the life that God has given to each one of us. In that vein, I'm going to let Claire have the last word here--or the last song, rather. It's a beautiful song, which she sings at the funeral of her husband. But it's not a sad song--it's a sweet song, filled with wisdom and wonder, with grace and gratitude, for love, and light, and life.

• Film Clip #5 - Claire's Song