Thursday 28 April 2011

Easter Sunday 24 April 2011, Matthew 28:1-10, Bruce

A very happy Easter to you all. This is a short précis of what I said on Sunday.

Matt Harding has released a YouTube clip called Dancing. It shows him first alone, doing a weird little dance, flitting from scene to scene in different locations all over the world. Just as you begin to tire of it, he is joined by crowds of people who join in the dance. He dances in Tel Aviv and he dances on the West Bank; he dances with whales and he dances in freefall. It is an insignificant little film, but charming and fun, symbolic of the spread of something from the one to a few, to bless the whole world.

On that first Easter Sunday morning a few women received the astounding news that Jesus is risen. They were not expecting this; they thought they were going to complete the funeral rites for their deceased master. They heard the news from the angels and they believed it, but then they also met Jesus for themselves; they heard the good news but they also had a personal encounter with Jesus.

Each of us has to marry up the objective proofs about the resurrection that we find in scripture and the tradition with a personal encounter for ourselves.

We use the image of lights shining in the darkness. Here in the church we light a big candle to symbolise the presence of Jesus among us as we worship, and today we are encouraged to take home a small light for each household, to celebrate the presence of Christ in our roads and streets. As we light the candles each week, we encourage each other to show God’s love, and to pray for our neighbours and the residents where we live.

Saturday 16 April 2011

Sermon for Sunday 17th April 2011 - Palm Sunday, Kim

PSALM 118:1-2,19-29

As we come to the last of the Psalms in this Lenten period, we see that this psalm was written for a festival procession to help celebrate some national deliverance. At the same time most of the psalm 118 can easily be used in thanksgiving by an individual for something good that he or she has experienced and it resembles Psalm 116.

Although the representatives of the nation have come together in Psalm 118, it would seem to be the king who leads the procession. In response to prayer and without allies he has beaten off the enemy attack and won the victory in the name of the Lord.

The procession reaches the gates of the city or possibly the Temple enclosure, and the king ceremonially asks the guards, or the priests, for admission. The response is the opening of the gates for the righteous king. We will have no difficulty seeing it as reflecting the great drama of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As pilgrims approached Jerusalem from the east, they descended the Mount of Olives to the Kidron Valley, then mounted a long stairway to the

eastern gates of the Temple Mount. Because it was so sacred, the temple was protected on all sides by walls with strong gates that could be opened to admit worshipers as necessary. But only those who purified themselves by a ritual bath could enter the temple itself. Hence the references in verses 19-20. The popular Christian anthem, "Open the Gates of the Temple"

is based on these verses.

The verses that follow were recognized by Jews and by Jesus as messianic. David, and subsequent kings of his line, foreshadowed the final righteous King of Davidic descent. David seemed to be a rejected nobody when he was an outlaw in the later days of Saul’s reign, when Saul was trying to build up the nation, but he became the chief cornerstone. Now this day celebrates his triumph, and it is commemorated by later kings. The expression ‘Save us’ in verse 25 has been translated into Greek and English as HOSANNA. It is believed that the procession had been carrying leafy branches and is bringing them to surround the altar with its projecting horns at the four corners.

We can see how Jesus was identified by himself and others with his King Messiah, when he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and entered the Temple Courts. The people shouted their Hosannas, and blessed him as the Messianic Son of David who came in the name of the Lord. They carried branches as they went to meet him, some of which they spread on the road before him. He was welcomed in the Temple but not by the priests, their place was taken by children.

When his authority was challenged, Jesus quoted this psalm, identifying himself with the rejected stone, which became the chief stone of the building.

As we may have notice listening to the Psalm of the past weeks in Lent, The Book of Psalms is a collection of songs expressing different moods and experiences of people, and even though the psalms were written a long time ago, they still speak of the same emotions and yearnings that we experience today. This psalm expresses thanksgiving and joy. It was created as a personal hymn of thanks to God for the delivery from a difficult situation. It was also expanded to contain the nation’s gratefulness for God’s action in their common life. It was used by the people of Israel in different ways. The Feast of the Tabernacles being one of these celebrations. If there was a wonderful reason to celebrate, it would be that of God giving freedom to his people and freeing them from the oppression of Egypt. However, as you might remember, they had not been happy at the time. They cursed Moses, moaned about not having enough food and shelter, they rebelled against God who was behind their current misery as they saw it then. A joyful celebration such as the Feast of Tabernacles would have had a deeper meaning. On the surface it was a song of praise of a people who looked back at their own story celebrating freedom. But it was also the time they admitted that they were wrong in their perceptions and actions. They rejoiced and gave thanks to God who was with them and had not abandoned them despite the fact that they were willing to abandon him.

Despite the people’s lack of imagination and trust in God, God was with them and was there for them all the time. Surely that was a reason to celebrate? Don’t we have a reason to celebrate today even with all the bad things around us all in this world; God is with us and will continue to be with us in all the good and the bad. Surely this alone is a reason to celebrate. A reason to shout out: ‘O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!’

And so this is what we join in doing today, when we celebrate Palm Sunday. We rejoice at the way people recognised and celebrated Jesus. But in the background as we might think about it later we know that people of old and even today do not recognise Jesus. We can rejoice in the Lord’s Day and be glad in it. Despite our failures and foolishness, God is faithful. We all can look back at our Christian history and our personal stories too and in the face of our guilt, but more

Importantly, we can embrace the fact of God’s love and forgiveness and is a permanent presence in our lives and the lives of others. That God accepts us. In God, we can become the cornerstone not a rejected nobody. In God, we have hope! Should we not then rejoice saying with the psalmist: ‘O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!’

Prayer: Father, help us to rejoice and sing with the Psalmist in all situations, good and bad. When we are lost for words, help us to use these wonderful psalms as our own praise to you. Amen.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Sunday 10 April 2011, Lent 5, Psalm 130, Bruce

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive

to my cry for mercy.

This is the heart of prayer and trust, and a real expression of praise. Imagine Jonah lost in the belly of a fish, beyond all hope. What was it like for Mary and Martha as they buried their beloved brother Lazarus, lost (as they thought) and gone from them forever in the grave? This is true prayer, a heart calling out in desperation directly to God. Couples are at their most honest when they lose their tempers, and we pray most sincerely when we are in distress. It has been estimated that 70% of the psalms are what we describe as psalms of lament. They give us a language to express how we are feeling, to voice our fears and doubts, while always remembering that God loves us and is on our side.

3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I spoke recently about a Canonical reading of the psalms, that those in this section are a response to the captivity and exile of God’s people, recalling generations of those who had rebelled against the Lord God. This understanding of history suggested strongly that God had judged his people, and that their sufferings were the result of their sinful past.

Tom Wright reminds us that suffering can also be a doorway to depression, that we blame ourselves for all that goes wrong. Psalm 130 is an invitation to see things from a wider perspective; it is not all about us.

The truth is that we do need to confront and acknowledge our utter sinfulness. If you do not take the sickness seriously, you will not submit yourself to the blood tests and procedures that will put you right. If you ignore the judder or strange noise in the car, you may very well end up with a long wait at the roadside, or worse. In the same way, we need to face the fact that nothing we do or accomplish in life is perfect, or even approaching it. All that we do is tainted. And these verses say that true forgiveness, absolute freedom, comes from God. More than that, we are in the position of a servant who has confessed to the boss in fear and trembling, convinced that we will be given the sack, and we have discovered that he is a man of compassion, who forgives and understands. As a result we admire him more, we are more determined than ever to do a good job for him. In the same way as we begin to understand the depth and selfishness of our sin, but also of God’s grace and forgiveness, so our hearts are released to love him, to surrender ourselves to him absolutely. And we are filled with a godly fear, a true and deep reverence that we express in worship and lives of obedience. We are not afraid of God; we love him because he first loved us.

5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

He is the one we cry out to when things go wrong, when we are in the valley of the shadow of death; when we have prayed that we shall not be brought to the time of trial but delivered from the evil one, but then things are bad anyway. At that time we wait. Our whole being waits. These prayers are not idle chatter, the reading of a few words off a sheet. Such is our involvement and distress that we are totally caught up. Ballabriggs was so committed to winning the Grand National that he was too tired to go the winner’s enclosure and went straight back to the stable. We sometimes wonder if God has heard us when we pray, but perhaps it seems to him that we are somehow not interested in the answer. Psalm 130 connects us with those times when are absorbed in prayer.

And we pray in hope and expectation. The watchmen on the walls of a besieged city strain anxiously to hear any dangers or threats. Most of all, though, they look for the coming of daylight, the end of their shift and a better chance of defence. This is an optimistic image, for they know that the day will come. Whatever darkness you are going through, God will answer and bring relief to you.

7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love

and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

What started as a personal cry of distress broadens out into an encouragement to all the people to trust together in God. This is one value of the psalms, that we can voice these songs of praise and trust together. You may be in fine spirits today, and may God bless you; in meditating on this psalm together, we stand alongside our sisters and brothers going through hard times. Who knows, there may come a time when they will stand alongside you?

With him is full redemption, he will redeem Israel from all their sins. The image is of the relative or family friend who steps in help when one is sunk in debt or trapped into slavery, and buys us out. There is no limit to the love, generosity and grace of God, for you today. Whatever you feel that you have done or not done, however bad you feel about yourself, Jesus has made a way for you to be fully forgiven and cleansed, and wants you to live life to it’s fullest extent. He loves you.

Next week is Palm Sunday, and then we go through Holy Week together. As we tell again the story of Jesus’ last days and of the salvation he won for us, may we understand more fully the depths of our need, but more than that, the depths of his love and grace for us.

Discussion Starters

1. When was the last time that you felt let down by God, and how did you respond?

2. How do you respond to the thought that deeper awareness and confession of sins brings us closer to God?

3. What does redemption mean for you.

4. How much do you think that God loves you?

Sunday 10 April 2011, Lent 5, Psalm 130, Bruce

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive

to my cry for mercy.

This is the heart of prayer and trust, and a real expression of praise. Imagine Jonah lost in the belly of a fish, beyond all hope. What was it like for Mary and Martha as they buried their beloved brother Lazarus, lost (as they thought) and gone from them forever in the grave? This is true prayer, a heart calling out in desperation directly to God. Couples are at their most honest when they lose their tempers, and we pray most sincerely when we are in distress. It has been estimated that 70% of the psalms are what we describe as psalms of lament. They give us a language to express how we are feeling, to voice our fears and doubts, while always remembering that God loves us and is on our side.

3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I spoke recently about a Canonical reading of the psalms, that those in this section are a response to the captivity and exile of God’s people, recalling generations of those who had rebelled against the Lord God. This understanding of history suggested strongly that God had judged his people, and that their sufferings were the result of their sinful past.

Tom Wright reminds us that suffering can also be a doorway to depression, that we blame ourselves for all that goes wrong. Psalm 130 is an invitation to see things from a wider perspective; it is not all about us.

The truth is that we do need to confront and acknowledge our utter sinfulness. If you do not take the sickness seriously, you will not submit yourself to the blood tests and procedures that will put you right. If you ignore the judder or strange noise in the car, you may very well end up with a long wait at the roadside, or worse. In the same way, we need to face the fact that nothing we do or accomplish in life is perfect, or even approaching it. All that we do is tainted. And these verses say that true forgiveness, absolute freedom, comes from God. More than that, we are in the position of a servant who has confessed to the boss in fear and trembling, convinced that we will be given the sack, and we have discovered that he is a man of compassion, who forgives and understands. As a result we admire him more, we are more determined than ever to do a good job for him. In the same way as we begin to understand the depth and selfishness of our sin, but also of God’s grace and forgiveness, so our hearts are released to love him, to surrender ourselves to him absolutely. And we are filled with a godly fear, a true and deep reverence that we express in worship and lives of obedience. We are not afraid of God; we love him because he first loved us.

5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.

6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

He is the one we cry out to when things go wrong, when we are in the valley of the shadow of death; when we have prayed that we shall not be brought to the time of trial but delivered from the evil one, but then things are bad anyway. At that time we wait. Our whole being waits. These prayers are not idle chatter, the reading of a few words off a sheet. Such is our involvement and distress that we are totally caught up. Ballabriggs was so committed to winning the Grand National that he was too tired to go the winner’s enclosure and went straight back to the stable. We sometimes wonder if God has heard us when we pray, but perhaps it seems to him that we are somehow not interested in the answer. Psalm 130 connects us with those times when are absorbed in prayer.

And we pray in hope and expectation. The watchmen on the walls of a besieged city strain anxiously to hear any dangers or threats. Most of all, though, they look for the coming of daylight, the end of their shift and a better chance of defence. This is an optimistic image, for they know that the day will come. Whatever darkness you are going through, God will answer and bring relief to you.

7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love

and with him is full redemption.

8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

What started as a personal cry of distress broadens out into an encouragement to all the people to trust together in God. This is one value of the psalms, that we can voice these songs of praise and trust together. You may be in fine spirits today, and may God bless you; in meditating on this psalm together, we stand alongside our sisters and brothers going through hard times. Who knows, there may come a time when they will stand alongside you?

With him is full redemption, he will redeem Israel from all their sins. The image is of the relative or family friend who steps in help when one is sunk in debt or trapped into slavery, and buys us out. There is no limit to the love, generosity and grace of God, for you today. Whatever you feel that you have done or not done, however bad you feel about yourself, Jesus has made a way for you to be fully forgiven and cleansed, and wants you to live life to it’s fullest extent. He loves you.

Next week is Palm Sunday, and then we go through Holy Week together. As we tell again the story of Jesus’ last days and of the salvation he won for us, may we understand more fully the depths of our need, but more than that, the depths of his love and grace for us.

Discussion Starters

1. When was the last time that you felt let down by God, and how did you respond?

2. How do you respond to the thought that deeper awareness and confession of sins brings us closer to God?

3. What does redemption mean for you.

4. How much do you think that God loves you?

Sunday 3 April 2011, Lent 5, Mothering Sunday, Psalm 23, John 9, Bruce

A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter. Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know.'

After the stern warning of Psalm 95 last week, to repent and strive to enter into Rest, we turn today to one of the most famous and well known passages of scripture. It is also one that has brought comfort to many. We have sung it at weddings and funerals, and to many different tunes. The King of Love my Shepherd truly is.

This psalm is special because it seems rooted in personal experience. We can imagine the boy David sent out to mind his father’s flocks, dreaming of what it might be like to be a sheep cared for by the shepherd. Later as king he was called upon to shepherd his people, and at the same time to sing of his own reliance upon the LORD, Yahweh, who shepherded him. Last week we sang in the Venite that we are his people and the sheep of his flock, and this was a common theme for the people of Israel.

This psalm is special because Jesus described himself in John’s gospel as the Good Shepherd. He is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Light of the World, the Door of the Sheepfold, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the True Vine. Good Shepherd seems especially appropriate to chapter nine of John. It is primarily about light and truth, and recognising God at work, but Jesus takes special care to identify the man born blind, meet his needs, and care for him; he acts as a good shepherd. This is in contrast to the Pharisees whom he will castigate in the next chapter as hired hands who do not care at all for the sheep in their charge.

So it is a psalm born from human experience. The Lord is my Shepherd. We heard last week that he is the king and creator of all (and this thought is picked up in Psalm 24 immediately following), and this true. He is also one who shepherds us, cares for us, sacrifices for us.

Therefore we can trust him to meet our needs; we will lack nothing.

Therefore we can look to him to give us repose, to lead us to quiet streams where it is easy to drink.

Therefore we will be conscious of him helping us make moral choices and live amended lives for him

Therefore we will know his “footprints” presence with us in good times and bad time even if, like the man born blind, we do not always realise it at the time.

Therefore we will know his protection as we continue to pray “lead us not to the time of trial”, and “deliver us from evil”; shepherds carried cudgels to defend the sheep and long walking sticks to help them get into difficult places to rescue them. David also carried a slingshot.

Therefore we will know his provision for us even when times seem very hard and material resources are scarce. Olive oil was applied to the forehead of sheep to keep the buzzing flies away – we can look for the Lord to give us moments of calm and rest in the middle of the clamour of everyday life.

Therefore we can confidently expect to continue to enjoy his presence. For David this meant time meditating in the temple. For us, we live with God, and we will step seamlessly into the next reality when death takes us; we will dwell in a heavenly home made for us and which Jesus has gone ahead to prepare for us.

Notice that all this is based on “The Lord is my Shepherd”. When Jane and I were on Lindisfarne in February this year, I went for a short walk. A large flock of sheep was in a field, and one of them had strayed up onto the raised path that I was following. As I approached, but was still some distance away, the lone sheep turned and ran for it. The other sheep nearby also started to run, and soon the whole flock were off, chasing across the island. Sheep who had no idea that I existed found themselves running, but they did not know why; I was too far away for them to see.

We do not say “The Lord is our Shepherd”. This is true in one sense, but we need to remember that we are not members of a flock who mindlessly follow each other. We are each called by name by the Shepherd. Jesus is looking for a personal encounter with you. If you see yourself primarily as a member of this church community, and you are looking for us to meet your needs, shelter you, be all that you need, then I fear that you will be greatly disappointed. We are all sinful folk who are receiving forgiveness and being transformed by the work of the Spirit of Jesus. Try as we might to live well, we let each other down. People who do not have a real relationship with Jesus find it hard to stay here; you need God’s help to be a member of the church. You must have that personal, one to one relationship with Jesus, because he is the one who personally promises to give us that living water, that eternal life, that personal care from the Shepherd.

This is a story that I heard years ago and I am sure exists in many versions. I am glad that I have found it at last on the internet, and I share it with you now.

It was about 1850, March, snow flurries, frozen ground, a log cabin, and in that little log cabin on the prairie was a boy by the name of Timmy, who was dying of diphtheria. The pastor who came to that log cabin that day was a Methodist circuit rider; that is, he rode his horse hundreds of miles to cabins and churches, visiting them every two months or so. This pastor came into the cabin and inquired about Timmy, whom he had heard was sick. The pastor was ushered through an opening in the curtain to a back room where Timmy was sick in bed.

The pastor said, “Timmy, do you know how to say the 23rd psalm?” “O yes, I learned it when I was in second grade, in Sunday School. It goes like this. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.” Timmy rattled the 23rd psalm off rapidly. “No Timmy, that is not the way to say it.” “Ok, pastor, I will say it more slowly.” “Timmy,” the pastor said, “I want to teach you how to say the 23rd psalm. As you begin the first sentence, you count your fingers and when you get to the fourth word, the word, “my,” you grab that finger. A wedding ring is one the fourth finger of your mother’s and father’s hand. It is the finger of love. Say the words of the first sentence as you count your fingers, and then grab the fourth finger when you say the word, my. That will remind you that Jesus is always your personal shepherd, my personal shepherd. OK?” So Timmy practiced saying the first sentence of the psalm. The pastor was satisfied. They said their goodbyes and the pastor left.

The pastor returned to the log cab two months later and it was now spring. The snow was gone and as he approached the log cabin, he saw a little mound of dirt near the cabin with a cross on it. He knew Timmy had died. The pastor went into the log cabin and they talked. They talked about Timmy; they talked about his death; and finally the mother asked. “You know pastor, something strange happened when Timmy died. We kissed him goodnight. In the morning, first thing, we went through the curtain to see him and he was gone; he had died. But it was so strange. His right hand was still wrapped around the ring finger of his left hand. Do you know what that means, pastor?”

Discussion Starters

1. Which psalm is most special to you, and why?

2. What parallels can we draw between the images of the shepherd and sheep in Psalm 23 and life events in our own lives so far?

3. How do we each respond to the idea that we need a personal relationship with Jesus? (See John 10:14-15)

4. Who would like prayer for grace to know more certainly Jesus as our individual Shepherd?

Friday 1 April 2011

Sunday 27 March 2011, Lent 3, Psalm 95, Bruce

Welcome to this latest sermon on the Psalms as we travel together through Lent. Psalm 95 is sometimes called the Venite after the Latin for O Come. It is a command, an exhortation, to be active, to do something. It implies movement. It is extravagant and involving. Make a joyful noise! Shout aloud! It is more than an attitude, but rather an impulse. It is central to our understanding of what it means to be Anglican, for many of us will be familiar with it as part of the liturgy for Matins or Morning Prayer. It is an invitation to join together in worship and prayer. It is possible to be Christ’s and never take part in worship, but this is like having a sports car that never leave the garage, or a splendid cooker but just to eat sandwiches.

Why are we to do this? Because he is the great God, the great King above all Gods. This is a ringing statement of faith in the face of adversity and confusion. Each of the psalms is full of meaning, but it the way that they are arranged is also significant. Book Three of the psalms, ending with Psalm 89, bemoans the ruin of Israel and the way that they have been taken into captivity; it poses the question whether God is really in charge after all, and how are we to make sense of suffering. Book Four, from Psalm 90 on, is a series of psalms celebrating the kingship of God, written from the perspective of those enduring captivity in Babylon.

He is the great God, the creator of all. He made the deepest mines, the highest mountains, the sea and the dry land. We appreciate the wonders of creation and the creator by partly looking at nature, but chiefly by engaging in worship. As Jesus says to the woman at the well, God is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth, in other words with their whole being, and not looking for their own benefit.

So come! He says it again with a different verb in verse six; bow down, kneel, respond, because he is the Lord our Maker, and he is also our Shepherd, the one who saves and protects us. For the Hebrews, this meant the one who delivered them from a life as slaves in Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, and the wilderness to the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. This was when the fiery cloudy pillar led them all t.heir journey through. It connects for us with the salvation that God has brought us through Jesus. We also were slaves to sin and selfishness, cut off from knowledge of God until Jesus freed us. We also have been through the waters, not of the Red Sea but of baptism. We also travel together towards the land promised to us, where we can share in God’s rest.

But there was a problem. The Israelites faced many trials in fact, but there was one main problem. When Pharaoh first said they could leave, he changed his mind and sent a pursuing army, and the people were cut off by the sea in front of them. They were sure they were doomed. Later they found a well but it was full of bitter water and the people blamed Moses and God; God showed Moses how to sweeten the waters. They were hungry and convinced that God would allow them to starve in the wilderness; God gave them manna and quails to eat. They were thirsty, and God told Moses to take the staff with which he had poisoned the Nile to strike a rock at Horeb, and water came gushing out. This is when God opened the crystal fountain. This last occasion took place at a location that Moses named Provocation and Quarrelling – literally Meriba and Massah.

And so the psalmist reminds us that we are the sheep, the flock of God, under his shepherd-like care, and yet we also may be tempted to an attitude the same as that of the ancient Israelites.

Now let’s have some compassion for the people of God, our forebears. To be cut off by a murderous army with all the latest heavy weapons is not a light matter. To be in a trackless waste with women and children and infants, with no food and no fresh water is a most serious matter. These were not the trivial complaints that they did not know the hymns or the sermon was not to their taste; it was truly a matter of life and death.

We also can find it hard to trust when faced with intractable problems. When the costs of running the church seem out of control, when we need an unfeasible amount for the building, when a relative falls seriously ill, when the job falls through, when our relationships are in chaos, then we are forced to depend on God.

But that is the point. We are called to encounter God and grow in him, now, in real life. On 27 March 1860 the corkscrew was patented by M.L. Byrn. On 27 March 1899 the first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi. What is significant about 27 March 2011 is that today God calls us to worship him with all our beings. This will involve us in singing his praise, but also in lives of obedience. We face challenges, both as individuals but also as a community. Is God our Maker, our Great God, our Shepherd, or not? The great problem for the Israelites was that whether or not this was objectively true, it was not true in their own experience. They had observed his miracles and his relationship with Moses the man of God, but it was not true in their own hearts. In fact, they had hardened their hearts. To believe, to trust, is a choice.

The result, the psalmist says in verse ten, was that the whole nation was delayed in their quest for the Promised Land, their Rest, until the disobedient generation had passed away. The implication is that in an important sense, the people of Israel never got there. We read in Joshua and Judges about the conquest of the land, but it seems the hearts of God’s people were never conquered or submitted. That is why, the psalmist seems to be saying, we find ourselves all these years later in captivity in Babylon. We are still in the wilderness, still looking for Rest. And we face the same choice today. We can choose to see God at work, even in the midst of hardships and seeming reverses, or we can assume that he is not among us after all. The writer to the Hebrews also warns Christians considering giving up to consider their relationship with God ‘Today’.

When troubles come, are we shallow soil or weedy soil, where the good seed shrivels or is choked, are we good soil which bears fruit?

To “enter into rest” is to trust God, that he is good and all powerful, and that we whatever he allows or chooses for us is good. Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord ...

Sunday 20 March 2011, Psalm 121, Bruce

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

This is a psalm of pilgrimage – one of a series of psalms “of ascents”, which seem to have been sung by travellers on their way up to Jerusalem, perhaps for one of the three specified times of worship in the temple each year.

Picture the scene. A group of anxious folk are following a dusty track that is sometimes quite rough. They are in remote countryside where there are lions and tigers and bears (or there might be!). They are beginning to droop. Someone, perhaps their leader, strikes up a song ....

“There may be all kinds of dangers in these surrounding hills. The pagan peoples may imagine that their deities live on the different mountain tops. But what do they know? Their ‘gods’ are so ineffectual that they even need to take a nap sometimes! I look up to the mountains, but I can see much further. Where does my help come from? From the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth, of the whole cosmos.” (Eat your heart out, Professor Brian Cox.)

And then perhaps the leader turns to face the rest of his embattled band. Come on chaps! The Lord will keep your feet firmly on the ground, you will be safe! He is constantly on watch, on guard. Children go to sleep quietly if they imagine that mum or dad is sitting up all night next to the bed – our God actually does that for each one of us!

In Hebrew poetry, to speak of two opposites like the sun and the moon suggests that everything in-between is included. In a dry, dusty, barren land, shade is at a premium; God will stop us from being fried by the sun, an external danger. The moon was little understood, but seemed to them to have an influence on the moods and mental health of people – we get our word lunatic from the Latin word for moon. We do not need to take that belief on board, but we can understand that the psalmist is referring to dangers and illnesses that bubble up from within us. So whatever the threat, from out there or in here, God will protect us.

In verse 7 we read that He will protect us from all evil. The singer widens out our assurance of God’s watchful care from this particular journey that we are on, to all of our existence from the cradle to the grave. God is watching over us. It is in the spirit of our Lord’s teaching to us that we should pray “Lead us not to the time of trial, but deliver us from evil”.

This is a song of praise and rejoicing to carry us through Lent, to help us at work, rest or play, as we travel together with God.

Tom Wright reminds us that Jesus would have prayed this psalm. He suggests that we read it at different levels, conscious that Jesus believed this but also that he knew that his calling was to suffer and not always to be protected. If that were so, it would mean that God was still watching over him, even in the midst of pains and trials. It means also that God is watching over all those affected by earthquake and tsunami, warfare and civil unrest, sickness and death. He is the maker of heaven and earth, and we trust him in all things, now and forever more.