Sermon for June 25

The readings

Psalm 23 

 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;

 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.

 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

John 10:1-4

 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by  name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice

The message

Today is our third week with the Psalms.  We hear some of the most familiar verses in scripture.  Psalm 23 is one of the few bible passages I know by heart (I am from that generation where memorizing things has lost a lot of its appeal, I mean I can look up anything on my phone in a few seconds. I can find any passage in my bible app almost instantly).  Over my 9 or so years as a pastor, I have shared the 23^rd psalm with many people at the end of their lives and at almost all of the funerals services I have planned and participated in.  I have a good sense of what it can mean for people at the end of their lives and for loved ones in times of mourning.  God’s promise that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever can bring a reminder to people that since Christ is arisen, we will arise. God’s promise to be with those who are in the valley of the shadow of death, which can be the angry, complicated and anxious space created by the loss of a loved, one can bring great comfort to those who mourn.  

Psalm 23, with its great familiarity and comfort, does fit into its own group of Psalms. Over the past few weeks we have looked at a few categories of psalms including hymns of praise where the songwriter give thanks and praise to God, especially as creator and redeemer. We also looked at Laments or prayers for help, where the song writer calls on the name of God, gives voice to a complaint, seeks help from God and proclaims trust in God’s promises.  Psalm 23 fits into another category called psalms of trust.  Similar to prayers for help, pslams of trust are turned to for help during times of crisis (like being in the valley of the shadow of death).  Psalms for help and psalms of trust really contain the same content, the big difference is that while psalms for help are focused on the struggle, the crisis or the situation that causes fear and anxiety, psalms of trust focus on reassuring people and celebrating that God will help.      

It can also be difficult to get the depth of this psalm when you do not know much about an actual sheep or the actual life and work of a shepherd.  Jen and I have a good sized collection of plush sheep, we have made several visits to petting zoos and saw a lot in Ireland (they really are everywhere) but I can’t say I have any idea what goes into caring for a sheep.  The plush kind only need an occasional dusting. Someone I know lived in and served churches in Montana for several years. She talked about her first sermon there in Montana about the Good Shepherd, which was not a great experience. Afterwards a group of people in the church who worked as actual modern day shepherds went up to her, politely asked “do you know anything about sheep”.  She was invited to visit their sheep, their work and see what they do.  That day, they taught her sheep grow to depend on the shepherd. It’s not just a matter of guarding them from other people or thieves, in many ways a shepherd is needed to care for the sheep, to make sure they survive.  The metaphor of God as shepherd teaches about God’s complete and total care for us.

Many of us know that psalm 23 expresses trust in God with this metaphor about the shepherd being trusted by their sheep.  There is a whole other, different half of psalm 23. The Lord is also the host of a royal banquet. At verse 5, we learn the Lord will  “anoint my head with oil and ensure my cup overflows”.  

Things were very different back then when this song was composed but you did not prepare great feasts for your sheep, anoint or refresh them with oil on their heads or do your best to ensure the flock’s cups of sheep brand wine were always full. No, at verse 5, the psalm changes, it is no longer about God as shepherd, it is now about God as the host of a royal banquet. Of course, most of us know the same amount about Ancient Near East royal banquets as we do about caring for sheep.  The information we have about these events is limited and they have changed from time to time and culture to culture. What is known and shared over time is that these royal banquets were not just big parties.  They were events where a king with sufficient resources took care of your every need, these were events where everything else stopped, sacred so that no one messed with them.  

As we go through the Psalms, we continue to meet after church, to review the psalm of the day and rewrite them for today.  This work is an invitation for us to quit trying to figure out what happened at a royal banquet when psalm 23 was composed and start to wonder what one would look like today, what the world would look like with God as our host.  Ultimately, we are waiting for Jesus promised return when God’s saving work will be completed, these things, or greater things we cannot imagine, will happen and all will be restored. We cannot do this so we wait for God to come as host. As we wait, we work and we try to show people a glimpse of what is to come.  My idea of a royal banquet is silly, impossible, wishful thinking, easily criticized  would be an place where everyone had food and good work, access to healthcare, where there was peace, an absence of violence and the things that lead to violence, where people were not separated, where we all saw each other as Children of God          

We are asked to pursue these things like victory in a war. This section of my sermon is based on  notes from the net bible (I do not know nearly enough Hebrew to do this). It has to do with the last verse, the trust that Goodness and mercy will follow me my whole life.  In Hebrew, the use of radaf, “pursue, chase”  with tov vakhesed, “goodness and faithfulness”  is weird.  This is the only place in the entire OT where either of these nouns appears as the subject of this verb radaf (pursue). This verb is often used to describe the hostile actions of enemies.  The word “pursue” is used way outside of its normal context in a way that creates a unique image of God “chasing down” the one whom he loves.  As God loves us, we are asked to love each other.

Sermon for June 18

The readings

Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

 I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

John 6:35-40

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

The message

Many people have turned to the words of the Psalms to express their religious feelings of frustration, joy and hope (especially when they struggle to or cannot find their own words).   During his life, Martin Luther often turned to the Psalms. In his 1528 preface to a commentary on the Psalms Luther wrote “It could well be called a “little Bible” since it contains, set out in the briefest and most beautiful form, all that’s to be found in the whole Bible” 

The Psalms cover a great range of human experiences and history with honesty and faith.   Around one third of the Psalms are laments.  Those typically follow a pattern: calling on or invoking the name of God, a complaint that describes a particular distress or suffering, an appeal to God for help and a declaration of trust.  Another significant portion of the Book of Psalms are hymns. They offer praise to God and celebrate God’s presence in the world, with a focus on creation and redeeming.  The pslams can be individual, the protests and begging for help of one individual struggling to see God in the world and remain faithful in suffering, or they can be communal, an invitation for all to worship, one person’s celebration of joy at God’s grace or giving voice to an entire community’s mourning a loss in battle.  During our time with the Psalms we will meet after church each week for a bible study where we will focus on what the psalmist is saying and rewriting the day’s reading for here and now.  

Over the next weeks, we will alternate between hymns and laments.  This is the same way we experience the ups and downs of life. The psalms speak to the frustrations that come when everything seems fine and things are finally going well (For instance, after finally finishing several months of updating paperwork for our city preschool contract, we had a few weeks off and then got a brand new issue to deal with). The Psalms also speak to the unexpected help or relief that comes when it seems like everything is falling apart and there is just nothing we can do about it. (For instance, I was trying to figure out how to run the food pantry over the summer months as we waited for the new grant money to be processed how to stretch out the food we had and buy the rest.  One of our volunteers offered to help with a food drive at her school and suggested I give in and do a go fund me campaign.  I did the campaign and we had to shut down in a few hours since we raised several hundred more than we needed. There are lots of other good schools, churches and community groups that could use support. A few days later, we were given extra money from the United Way).  Instead of worrying about paying for Summer, we will actually be able to open extra days.       

 Today, we have our first psalm of Lament.  In this case, it is an individual lament, one person’s expression of their anger, frustration and disappointment. It follows the standard format for a lament.  God is called on with “O Lord” but there is something more going on.  The Hebrew for Lord here is yhwh, this was the name of God, except it’s not really a word.  During periods of time in the Old Testament, God’s name was considered so holy and sacred, it could not be written or spoken.  Instead, they used these 4 Hebrew consonants as a substitute or space filler. The letters contained no vowels which meant the word could not be said (try pronouncing zmym correctly).  When seeing yhwh, the reader would simply say Lord or the name.  This is to help us see the awe of the singer, that one could stand before and petition a God so powerful and complex, the name cannot be said.

The complaint of the psalm writer today is that God is ignoring him.  He feels like God is not listening to him because enemies are being exaulted over him, bad people are succeeding, winning and taking things from him, while he struggles to be faithful.  Then there is the appeal for help “Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! Give light to my eyes”, and the statement of faith or trust “But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation, I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

Let’s be clear here, as easy as it is to show how this psalm fits that standard outline of a lament, It is not easy to get from “God why are you ignoring me ” to “I will sing to the Lord”,  from “God, how long will you hide your face from me” to “I trusted in your steadfast love”;  from “how long must I bear pain in my soul” to “my heart shall rejoice in your salvation”, but that is a journey we have to take all the time. 

We take that journey as we see bad things happen to good people, we take this journey as those we pray to recover, do not, as those we pray to be safe, are not.  We take this journey from why “God, are you ignoring me” to “my heart rejoices in your salvation” every time we have to say “Thy will be done” after a tragic loss, when we see the persecution of Christians around the world (and even here in the US as a group of Caldenain Christians in Detroit were recently taken into custody by ICE agents and are being deported back to Iraq where they will almost certainly face persecution, torture and death)  We ask why doesn’t God protect God’s people, why don’t our prayers change things.  Some people internalize these things, perhaps I’m not good enough, I didn’t pray right, I was bad and am being punished.   That ain’t from Jesus teachings and none of that is true. 

For me, today is a tough day or a good day, to think about these things.  As many people celebrate Father’s Day, I have nothing to really do.  My father passed away about 20 years ago. My father passing away was probably the first time I remember really having to go from “God, why did this terrible thing happen to me” to “My heart shall rejoice in your salvation”.  I wish I had the secret formula for taking that journey and I could share it with all of you, that would make a great sermon, book and viral hit on the internet. Of course, there is no secret way to do this. Instead, we worship and are loved by a God who promises to walk with us as we take that journey.  As our church, we commit to take that trip together, to support, pray for and care for each other.  We remind each other that we are not in this alone.  God’s word is real, God’s promises are true, God listens and God is with us.   Those are the things that lead us to say, My heart shall rejoice in your salvation

Sermon for June 11

The reading

Psalm 100

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

 Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

 Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations

The message  (this text is very different from today's sermon, I guess the heat is messing with me and I did not record / don't remember what I said exactly)

Over the next 5 weeks, we will be focusing on the Psalms.  The Book of Psalms were the song book or hymnal of the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition that our church originates in.  The  word Psalm literally means a song accompanied by a stringed instrument.  They were composed over the course of five centuries with most of them coming from the Southern Kingdom of Israel during the time of the monarchy. The psalms were part of the worship in the temple in Jerusalem but when and how they were used is unclear Many people have turned to the words of the Psalms to express their religious feelings of frustration, joy and hope (especially when they struggle to or cannot find their own words).   During his life, Martin Luther often turned to the Psalms. In his 1528 preface to a commentary on the Psalms Luther wrote “It could well be called a “little Bible” since it contains, set out in the briefest and most beautiful form, all that’s to be found in the whole Bible” 

The Psalms cover a great range of human experiences and history with honesty and faith.   Around one third of the Psalms are laments.  Those typically follow a pattern: calling on or invoking the name of God, a complaint that describes a particular distress or suffering, an appeal to God for help and a declaration of trust.  Another significant portion of the Book of Psalms are hymns. They offer praise to God and celebrate God’s presence in the world, with a focus on creation and redeeming.  During our time with the Psalms we will meet after church each week for a bible study where we will focus on what the psalmist is saying and rewriting the day’s reading for here and now.   

Over the next five weeks, we will alternate between hymns and laments.  This is the same way we experience the ups and downs of life, the frustrations that come when everything seems fine and things are finally going well, the unexpected help or relief that comes when it seems like everything is falling apart and there is just nothing we can do about it.   

Today we start this journey with a hymn of praise.  I want to ask what does it mean to praise, to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to enter the gate of the Lord with thanksgiving, to know the Lord is God and to proclaim his steadfast love endures forever.   I am often reminded that Steadfast is a word that describes very few people and no one all the time.  It was a word that describes God, whose promises are always good.

All of these things direct us to, in words from John’s Gospel, the Word became flesh that lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. To praise God means putting these things at the center of our lives.  This is praise that changes us, surrounds us with God’s word, reminds us of God’s love, that lets other stuff drift away and reminds us about what matters. 

I want to look at one particular parts of today’s psalm, make a joyful noise to the Lord.  Now, a joyful noise is not necessarily a good noise.  Every 2 weeks, I have a church service at an assisted living home on Woodhaven.  In many ways it’s a shorter version of what we do every Sunday here.  We gather to pray, hear God’s word, listen to a sermon, celebrate communion and sing, usually what a friend we have in Jesus and amazing grace.  Now Pastor Sam usually joins me and leads the singing accompanied with his guitar.  Last week, Sam was not available.  Now don’t worry there are 2 or 3 other people who can lead the songs. That week, one of them was sick with a cold and the others were out.   That means I had to do it and that is never a good thing.  We could laugh at how bad it was, I actually recorded myself under the assumption, its probably not that bad.  It was actually even worse that I thought, but it was fun. Praise is us, as we are, comfortable and comforted by our God, it is a giving back of what we experience, we are invited not to be afraid, to remember it’s not a show and freely express our faith.   

Sermon for Pentecost (June 4)

The readings

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Galatians 4:1 

My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; 2 but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. 3 So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

The messages (we had a few today)

It’s sort of hard to describe today’s service and sermon. I’m not entirely sure how to explain it. I had 3 different messages, an introduction and 2 short sermons.  

Introduction: Over the past year, we have followed a list of Sunday readings that basically tell the story of God’s communication with the world in time or chronological order.  We started back in September with creation and went through the great leaders and events in Israel, the prophets, Christmas and Jesus life death and resurrection.  Since Easter, we have looked at the book of Acts and Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which tell us about the early church and what Jesus disciples did in the days, week, months and years after Jesus Ascension, his post resurrection return to heaven. Today our bible reading is out of that order. Jesus disciples were told to do nothing and did nothing until the first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on them.  Jesus told them they would not, could not do the work alone, that he would be with them.  Today’s story happens before anything else.  There are several versions of the Pentecost story in the bible.  They have 2 things in common, what the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does.  The Holy Spirit is identified with the presence of the Risen Christ (as we will hear Paul write, God send the Spirit of his Son into our hearts) and the Holy Spirit’s work is to draw and lead us into a meaningful and joyful relationship with God.

The Biblical timeline is not the only thing out of order today.  As you will see in a few moments, our worship service has been changed.  All of the normal parts of worship, communion, Confession and forgiveness, offering, sermon, hymns and prayers, are still here, just in a very different order.   The normal liturgy or order of worship is ancient and its familiar rituals bring great comfort so I do not change it lightly.  At the first Penetcost, the disciples were celebrating a Jewish festival (today called Shavout, which marked the giving of the law on Mount Siani). Jerusalem was filled with people from around the world.  As the Holy Spirit comes in violent wind, no one knows what is happening.  At church, we are not doing things just to do them, we are not pleasing God by following an order. We are here to worship, to give thanks, to experience the gifts of God and the presence of the Risen Christ. We are also reminded that for people who did not grow up in church, who are curious, who just walk in here, what we do is weird.     

Sermon on Acts 2

We only have the first few verses of the Pentecost story today. After this reading, Peter shares the first Christian Sermon, explaining the story of Jesus, the fulfillment of prophesy and God;s saving work through Jesus death and resurrection.  Once the promised Holy Spirit descends on the disciples, they start speaking in other languages.  They not speaking in tongues, the ancient spiritual gifts where people speak in unknown sounds to express the presence and word of God. Here they are speaking in real, known languages. Jerusalem was filled with people from all over the world and the disciples were able to tell the story of Jesus in their individual languages.  This story centers on communication.   God equips and enables followers to share the good news in all different ways,    

Sermon on Galatians 4

To understand this reading, we need to understand a little about life during this time.  People were all divided by their class or status.  Minors were 3 or 4 years old, unable to exercise their responsibilities, unable to really understand the depth of their power, status or wealth. They would some day be in charge, but not yet.  For Paul, this is the world before Jesus, people did not really get it. They knew God was communicating with the world, they knew the world was more than we could explain with our knowledge or experience with our senses, but no one was sure where it was going.  Through Christ, God’s ultimate love, grace and forgiveness is revealed.

This reading comes to the heart of who we are.  We are not landlords, we are not social workers, we are not teachers, we are not school owners, we are not keeping this church open, we are not part of woodside, we are not helping people, we are heirs to the promises of God.