Worship for the People of God
On Sunday, March 22, 2020
Just a
word before we begin:
Today
is a different day for all of us. We
have gotten so used to Sunday Mornings at church; seeing our neighbors,
families, friends, embracing one another, catching up with the week’s
happenings, and encouraging one another in all manner of life’s struggles. Today is a different day for us. Although we can’t worship together
physically, we worship together today in spirit. We give thanks for the wonder of technology
that allows me to write this from the comfort of my home office and for you to
receive it in the comfort of your own home.
Our
ancestors in the faith endured long moments in time when God sent them out into
the wilderness wandering about for years not knowing where they would end up,
conquering nations exiled them from their own lands making them strangers to
new traditions on foreign soil, the diaspora scattered them across the globe where
they were unable to gather together or to worship together. At one point in their history, the prophet
Jeremiah told the exiles to settle in for decades, not just a couple of weeks,
not even for a year or two, but for decades.
They did not forget their God, even when they could not gather together
in worship. They endured – so will we.
Anne
Frank, in hiding during the Holocaust, wrote “I don't think about all the
misery, but about the beauty that still remains. This is where Mother and I differ
greatly. Her advice in the face of
melancholy is: 'Think about all the suffering in the world and be thankful
you're not part of it.' I don't think Mother's advice can be right, because
what are you supposed to do if you become part of the suffering? You'd be completely lost. On the contrary, beauty remains, even in
misfortune. If you just look for it, you
discover more and more happiness and regain your balance. A person who's happy will make others happy;
a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!"
Julian
of Norwich was sequestered in a small cell during the plague that decimated
Europe. Outside her walls, half the
population of Norwich died, and the plagues continued for years. She had, in 1373, astonishing visions of
Jesus, his suffering, his compassion, his mercy and love. And people who don’t recall anything else
about her know that her mantra was “All will be well. All manner of things shall be well.”
So, I say
to you this day, no matter what happens over the next few weeks, months, or
even the next year; “All will be well.
All manner of things shall be well.”
One
of my favorite passages in Romans tells us, “We have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ…We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope
does not disappoint us…While we were weak, Christ died for us.”
Before
you begin your time of worship – sit comfortably in whatever seat you’ve chosen
to praise God this day. Take a few deep
breaths and experience the presence of God, the great cloud of faithful
witnesses who have gone before us whose own spirits surround you, and take
pleasure in your own beating heart that was called into light the day you were
born.
Breathe
in, Breathe out
Breathe
in, Breathe out
Opening
Prayer
Holy God, even though darkness and
fear threaten to overcome us and swallow us, yet we will place our hope and
trust in You. For You are our light and
our salvation. Your love will shine on
us, in us, and through us as Your people.
Though we are separated this Sunday from one another, we come as one
holy body into Your presence from across seas and lands with different cultures
and traditions, different languages, people of Your own creation whose skin may
have different colors – but in You, we are one.
This separation today reminds us even more strongly how we are united in
Your love. Lord, open my heart to Your
love, my mind to Your teaching, and my spirit to Your call in my life. AMEN.
Prayer
of Confession
Forgiving
God, how many times have I spoken words of commitment and faith and then turned
my back on those commitments to follow the temptations of the world. I wander after the false prophets of greed,
selfishness, arrogance, ignorance, hatred, stubbornness, and then shout my
displeasure at how I am being treated. I
want You to come in and clean up all my messes, excusing me from any
responsibility for them. Forgive me, O
God, for such foolishness. But, help me
remember the power of Your healing love, which has been given to me. Forgive me when I think I know everything and
then discover that I have behaved badly and thought in ignorant ways. Teach me, O God, to listen and to place my
trust in Your abiding love. In Jesus’
Name I pray. AMEN.
Words
of Assurance
Even
though we doubt God’s faithfulness to us, God is steadfast in God’s love for
each one of us. Receive that love in
your heart this day. Know that you are
healed and forgiven in God’s grace and mercy. AMEN.
Prayer
Friends, there is so much we can and
should pray about. Each of you have your
own prayer requests, concerns, and there is much for us to take to God in
prayer this day regarding the virus, those affected, those who are dying, those
who are constantly on the front lines caring for us and protecting us like
doctors and nurses, health care workers, even grocery store clerks and back
room stockers. Take all the time you
need to name these people by groups or to name individuals that you care about
and love. Perhaps take a moment to write
down their names and pray for them.
The
following is a simple spoken prayer from today’s Psalm; Psalm 46, which will
also be the focus of my message later on in our worship together. Each line can be said with a pause afterwards
to lift up your own prayers to God. Read
each line aloud and pause. Allow your
own thoughts to lead you in your prayers to God, and allow some silence for God
to speak to you. Sometimes we fill up
our minds with our own thoughts too much and never let God speak to us.
Be quiet
and listen. Speak and hear. Let us pray:
Be Still
and Know that I AM God.
Be Still
and Know that I AM.
Be Still
and Know.
Be Still.
Be.
Scripture
Passage
Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not
fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart
of the sea; 3though its
waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. 4There is a river whose streams
make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of
the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. 6The nations are in an uproar, the
kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7The Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8Come, behold the works
of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 9He makes wars cease to the end of
the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with
fire.
10“Be still, and know
that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” 11The Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Sermon
Years
ago, a mother of four children came home from shopping to find that the house
was quieter than usual. As most of you
know, when children are quiet, that can be a very bad sign. Well, she looked into the middle of the
living room and saw all four of them sitting around in a circle - very quiet
and doing something with something. It
seemed innocent enough, so she put down her bags of groceries and walked over
to them, looked and saw that they were playing with four of the cutest little skunks
you've ever seen. Terrified, she began
to scream: ''Run children, run!''
So,
each child grabbed a skunk and ran... in four different directions. Now, mom's panicked, and she screamed even
louder. This, in turn, scared the
children and - as a result - each one of them squeezed their skunk! And I don’t think skunks like to be squeezed! Well, these skunks were no exception.
Before
their mother came home, the children were playing quietly. They were still. There'd been no danger, because they hadn't
frightened the skunks... yet. But once
the mom came home and panicked, life got unpleasant really quickly.
In
our text today, the Psalmist is explaining a similar setting. Israel is surrounded by danger; their enemies
surrounded them. If they gave way to
fear, they'd begin to despair and lose hope.
''God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth changes''
WE WILL
NOT FEAR!
This
passage has a way of comforting us, instilling in our hearts and minds the very
idea that God is there for us. God’s
presence is our refuge and strength. God’s
presence is our help and guide in times of difficulty. Our situation today is not too dissimilar to
the story of the mom and her children or of Israel so long ago. We can not give way to panic. Panic will only lead to a very unpleasant situation,
or to despair and a loss of hope.
But
there are times when this ''No Fear'' thing is hard to do because fear is a
natural response to the unknown. There
are things we can't control... and it makes us afraid. When life gets difficult, when there's danger,
and when there's a threat to our livelihood, or we face disease or injury, or
even death - even the most spiritual amongst us can be afraid.
Fear
is a reality of life (all of us have experienced it). And when fear grabs hold of us we can become
anxious and desperate and powerless. When fear controls us - our lives can get really
miserable. Knowing how easily we can
slip into fear, then panic and make things worse, God says to us “Do not be
afraid,” over and over in the Bible. It's
one of the most repeated commands in Scripture. Don't be afraid – Have no fear. I know for myself, there have been moments
this past week when the panic and the fear wanted to take over and unrest my
soul. Thankfully, this passage brought
me back to a modicum of calmness.
Psalm
46 is mostly written in the third person, but then suddenly in verse 10 it
shifts in perspective. In verse 10 God
speaks directly to us. ''Be still, and know
that I am God...''
''BE
STILL.'' This passage is often
translated as quiet. Be quiet. Yes, it’s about being quiet to allow God to
speak to us. To make room for God to do some
work in you. But it has a more urgent message
than just to be quiet. It literally means
to stop. Don't move. Don't fuss and fidget because it's hard for
God to fix things in our lives if we're forever filling up our lives with pointless
movement.
This has been the hardest thing for me
to grasp this week. I realized how much
I fill up my day with pointless fidgeting.
Perhaps it’s because I’m an extrovert and need people and sound around
me all the time. Staying at home with just
the company of my family and my own thoughts has not been good – yes, of course
I love my family and my own thoughts aren’t entirely bad. But, I’m used to moving, being busy. I’m used to going places and being with
people and filling my days and my nights with this and that.
The
second part of the command is Know that I AM God.
I
remember when I was a small child and got a splinter in my finger. I went to my parents because it hurt and I trusted
them to make it better. But, when they’d
take out a needle and some tweezers and would take my finger in their hands, I’d
immediately pull back. Why? Because I knew it was going to hurt, maybe
even more! I’d usually say something
like, “Nevermind, it doesn’t hurt that much.
We can just leave it in.” LOL My mom or dad would then have to say, ''You've
got to sit still. Don't move. I can't help you if you pull away.”
When
life gets difficult, when things aren't going the way we want them to, that's
what we do when life hurts us. We fidget
and fuss, pull away, and we refuse to sit still. In fact, sometimes we panic, like the mom did
in our first story. And the reason we do
that is because we've forgotten the 2nd part of verse 10, ''Know that I am
God.'' In this passage, God is saying, “Trust
me. Trust me. I am God! I can take care
of this.''
Back
when my nephew Lance was about 6 or 7 years old, he came over to our house to
play. I think some neighborhood kids
were there, too. Mom, Dad, my Uncle Frank and Aunt Judy were there on the back porch
watching us. We decided to play baseball. I was at bat and we told Lance to be the catcher,
but he was so eager to do a good job that he ran out in front of me to catch
the ball just when I swung the bat and I hit him in the eye.
Immediately
Mom and Uncle Frank ran out to the back yard to see how Lance was doing. Uncle Frank started yelling that Lance had
lost his eye, while Mom quietly looked at the bleeding wound. Lance, hearing his Dad yelling that he’d lost
his eye made him panic and start to cry while Mom kept telling Lance, “It’s
okay. Let me take a look. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.” Within those assuring words Lance grew quiet. One thing made the difference: Uncle Frank
was hysterical and over-reactive while Mom was calm and not panicked and he
trusted her. Once Lance focused on that
truth, everything became better. Yes, he
ended up getting stitches, but we were right back out in the yard playing the
next day.
That's
what this verse is all about. God is
asking us ''Do you trust me? Well then, be still because you KNOW I am God. So, don't be afraid.''
I've
learned over time that when I'm faced with issues I can't control, I just focus
on God and remember what God has done for me in the past. Of course, I get scared and anxious and
sometimes even a little panicky just like everybody else. But this verse reminds me to be still and to
rest in God because God has it all under control, even into the unknown.
I
heard someone say that they have boiled this passage down to a simple command
for herself – Stop, Drop, and Pray. Stop
the constant fidgeting, drop whatever it is that you are doing and pray, even if
it is only for a few moments. This week
I’ve had longer moments of doing that than I’m used to, but it will remind me
to do this on a more consistent basis when things get back to normal, whenever
and whatever that might look like.
I
want to close with the story of a woman named Gladys. She was a missionary to China who oversaw an
orphanage for Chinese children. But
during the early days of WWII, the Japanese army began to invade the area and
she was forced to flee for her life. So, with only one assistant to help her,
Gladys led more than 100 orphaned children over the mountains to freedom. Have you ever noticed how much food a child
can eat? Well Gladys had 100 children to
care for, and they didn't have many supplies when they fled. The enormity of her responsibility was hard on
Gladys and she began to struggle with despair. At one point, after passing a sleepless night,
she faced the morning with the belief that they had no hope of ever reaching safety.
Just then, one of the 14 year old girls in the group reminded her of their much
loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.
Sadly,
Gladys said ''But I am not Moses.'' The girl said ''Of course you aren't. But God is still God!'' Here's the deal. We aren't Moses either. And we're not Esther
or Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego or any of the other great heroes and
heroines of the Old Testament. But we
serve the same God. They weren't any
different than we are. Their only advantage
was that, when life got hard, and became overwhelming, they looked to God... because
God was God and promised never to leave them. That's the promise we all have
today.
Benediction
This day,
give thanks to God. Endure with strength
and patience and also with the knowledge that God is a Mighty God able to do unbelievably
wonderful things even in times of struggle and difficulty. May your feet be guided in the ways of peace.
Amen.
