Sermon preached at Stockbridge Presbyterian Church June 6th, 2021
Psalm 138 (Common English Bible)
I give thanks to you with all my heart, Lord.
I sing your praise before all other gods.
2
I bow toward your holy temple
and thank your name
for your loyal love and faithfulness
because you have made your name and word
greater than everything else.
3
On the day I cried out, you answered me.
You encouraged me with inner strength.
4
Let all the earth’s rulers give thanks to you, Lord,
when they hear what you say.
5
Let them sing about the Lord’s ways
because the Lord’s glory is so great!
6
Even though the Lord is high,
he can still see the lowly,
but God keeps his distance from the arrogant.
7
Whenever I am in deep trouble,
you make me live again;
you send your power against my enemies’ wrath;
you save me with your strong hand.
8
The Lord will do all this for my sake.
Your faithful love lasts forever, Lord!
Don’t let go of what your hands
have made.
As I look around and even into the homes of those I have yet to meet I am a thankful person. It has been quite the journey to get to this day and this is only another beginning. We don’t know much about each other yet except for a few things that drew us to this point. We are here first because of the call of the Spirit of God. That same Spirit called me in and through my journey of faith while also calling this church to where it is today. God called a PNC together that faithfully listened, met, listened, wanted to call it quits, and then was drawn to what they saw on a page that turned into interviews, phone calls, watching sermons and reading studies. Many of you prayed for this day when you would get to meet your pastor and I, along with many others, have prayed for the day that I would preach in front of my new congregation and open a new chapter of ministry.
For you all it has been 2 years of giving thanks, of lamenting, of celebrating, of mourning, of living out the day to day life as individuals and community; albeit very different than expected as the pandemic changed our daily rhythms of life. But in all things there was a sense of thankfulness. A thankfulness for the ministry of Susan, a thankfulness for the ministry of Betsy, a thankfulness that you weren’t on the PNC through this process. A thankfulness for the opportunity to connect via technology and a thankfulness for a caring community.
For me it has been a tough 2 years as well. March of 2019 I was excited to deliver my sweet precocious Micah and two days later was in the emergency room with intense pain like an electrical fire going down my legs and eventually a full paralysis of my outer limbs. Through intense IV and physical therapy I was able to return home and learn how to walk again. I had some pretty rough moments, some times I cried out to God in lament but I thought about scripture, particularly the teaching of Jesus and the Psalms that show there is a thankfulness to all things that helps us understand our relationship with God a little deeper.
My relationship got deeper with God not because I was diligently studying the word but because I was deep in real prayer with my Creator. I cried for God to make it stop, I cried for God tears of joy for the sweet baby in my life, I cried to God in anger, in fear, in joy, in everything. I allowed God to pour into my life and open up myself in real ways to the congregation I was serving and in turn God blessed me with their rich stories. Stories of pain, of grief, of loss, of scarcity, of great joy.
As we get to know each other I will be blessed with your stories and together we will learn about thankfulness to God in all things. This Psalm is one that shows us the wealth of ways to pray, which is our connection, our relationship to God. The author vows to praise God in all things, to live into God’s grace, there is a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s answered prayers, a plea for guidance and support, an understanding of the hardships of life, and more praise. So in essence we see from this ancient hymn that we can come to God in all circumstances but in relationship with the holy there is guidance about praise and thankfulness.
By being thankful to God for all things it gives us perspective. It gives us a chance to step back from the current moment in time and see a bigger picture, see that we are a part of a bigger picture.
The second part of the psalm talks about devotion and God’s faithfulness which is the word CHESED it is about steadfast love which occurs 127 tims in the Book of Psalms alone. This characterizes a covenant relationship between God and the people of God.
Hesed is often used in conjunction with “faithfulness (‘emeth). Both are self-descriptive words used by God in the revelation to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 34:6-8). The Hebrew verbal root of ‘emeth is ‘aman, meaning “be firm, be reliable, be permanent,” and is the root from which the word “amen” is derived. The psalmist thus gives thanks to, makes music to, and bows down toward God because of God’s name, covenant commitment, and firm reliability.
We will be going through a Summer of Thankfulness where we will look into the stories of the Old and New Testament and how God’s faithfulness and the people’s devotion come together and sometimes feel far away. That is how life is; sometimes it feels as if everything is falling into place as we hope and sometimes it feels as if something is fighting against our every move. I have lived both sides of this in the last few months for sure. I know many of you have lived this in personal, professional, family, school, and spiritual life. Here we are today, this is the promise we have, the moment right now. We have perspective of the past and hopes for the future but God reminds us about the covenant that says “I will be with you always.” God is with us through all things in life and therefore we need to be thankful in all parts of our life because no matter what, here we are, with what we know and what we have and there are blessings that God gives us.
It would be easy to throw our hands up in so many situations and just give in and give up. But what if we took our situation to the Lord in prayer. Stepped back and gave thanks. It could change the way we live.
God is there with us in the muck of things and promises to never leave or forsake us.
My story would be filled with a lot more pain if not for God’s faithfulness. The devotion I had to my family helped me strive and work so hard to come home to my newborn and my devotion to God gave me the strength through the tears and allowed me to face each day as it came. I pray that for you that happens as well. That you have devotion that God has given you and that you take each day to think about at least one thing to be thankful to God for. I have seen it change everything, especially as you keep adding to the list.
I took a moment to reword Psalm 138 for us as a prayer for today.
It’s another day Thank You.
For all that is in me Thank You.
As far as I can see and as long as I can understand, thank you. It is heard and is pleasant in your ears.
You are the most holy and most worthy to be praised. All of creation calls out in thanksgiving, so I will too.
Life gets pretty tough sometimes and there are moments where I feel like I can’t go any further. But there you are right by my side.
I want others to know your great works throughout time and in my life. There is so much you have given us. If those in governments, if those on the streets, if those in the remote corners of the earth only knew, they would thank you too.
I may not have it together but I will still sing of your faithfulness.
In the times that are tough, you are there, so thank you.
In the times that I feel cornered and hurt by others, you are there, so thank you.
In the times when I feel isolated and alone, you are there, so thank you.
In the times when everything is going well and I forget, you are there, so thank you.
In the times when I’m overjoyed, you are there, so thank you.
God help me to recognize your presence in all things.
Help me to understand your plan in my life.
Guide me to love like you love.
Amen.
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