St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

John 12:20-33

Suffering is Part of Existence

Suffering or pain is not something that we can choose or not to choose. Is it? We don't have an option on this matter. Suffering is a very much part of our existence. Suffering and pain will always be there.

I am not talking about a huge, dramatic suffering. I am talking about what we experience in our daily living.

We get hurt.

We get disappointed.

There are things that frustrate us and annoy us.

Worries and Anxiety.

Illness.

Lack of confidence.

Guilt

Difficulties in relationships.

All of these are what cause suffering in us. Suffering is not something we can avoid. It always comes to us like an uninvited guest. It intrudes our lives. It takes away joy from us.

When we Suffer

Suffering makes us weak. When we suffer, we question, Why do these things happen to me? Did I do something wrong? We wonder whether God loves us. When we suffer, we feel lonely. We feel distant from people. Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's us. We may distance ourselves from them. We don't want to meet people when we suffer. The extreme suffering makes us feel that we are abandoned, abandoned even by God. Jesus cried out on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That shows the extreme suffering Jesus experienced. It is more painful than saying, I am hurt .

When we suffer, we feel small. To inflict suffering on Jesus, that was what they did. They try to make him feel small. They humiliated him. They ridiculed him. They put on a false crown made with thorns. They put on a royal robe. They bowed before him, calling him Majesty. Then they slapped him, spat at him and punched him. They tried to make Jesus look most pitiful.

Losing to Suffering

That's what suffering does to our lives. It takes away our dignity. It makes us feel small and pitiful. We lose confidence. We feel like we are nobody.

When we let suffering oppress us, dominate us, and control us, we lose ourselves. We lose confidence. We lose dignity. We lose even our identity. We lose everything. That is when suffering destroys us. And suffering wins. That's when suffering intimidates us. It makes us run away from it.

Overcome Suffering

It is one thing to say that suffering is an inseparable part of our lives but it is another thing to say that we have to live under the dictatorial control of suffering. We don't have to let suffering do that to us. That is not what God wants from us. God taught us to OVERCOME OUR SUFFERING. Jesus came to us to show us the way to overcome our suffering. Jesus went through greater suffering than most of us. But he didn't let suffering control his life. HE OVERCAME SUFFERING.

In John, he said,

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world! (John 16:33)

Conquering the world means to have victory over suffering. He defeated the suffering. Conquering suffering does not mean that there is no more suffering. Jesus still went through it but it could not dominate him. It could not paralyze him. Suffering could not intimidate him. It could not control him. That is the strength of Jesus. And we need that strength.

We will experience suffering but the important question is whether we let it control us or we LET SUFFERING SERVE US. Be prepared. Be prepared to take on the challenge of suffering.

St. Paul

St. Paul went through a lot of suffering. We can see that in his confession.

Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. (2 Corinthians 11:23-27)

He went through a lot. But we see that even this much suffering could not control him. We can see that in his confession.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9)

We cannot avoid suffering but we can defeat it. The more you try to run away from suffering because of fear, the more it will control you. If we let the suffering control us, we will lose life. We cannot live anymore a meaningful life. It will scare us. It will make our life dark. And it controls our daily thinking. What kind of life is that?

Let Suffering Serve Us

What we need is the power to defeat our suffering. Instead of letting the suffering control us, we let the suffering serve us. Jesus and St. Paul received so much suffering, but they didn't let suffering control them but let suffering serve them.

Listen to St. Paul.

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (Romans 5:3, 4)

Does it look like he was controlled by suffering? No. He let suffering serve him. He even boasted in his suffering. Suffering could not destroy him. It could not make him a lesser person. Suffering actually made him stronger, more patient, more character, and more hope.

Jesus also said,

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

A grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies – This meant the suffering of death. Even the suffering of death became a seed that brought about life, Jesus said. To Jesus, suffering brought glory, not disaster. We see that in today's scripture. He always said that my time has not yet come. But in today's passage, he said finally that my time has come.

And he said,

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (John 12:23)

He was talking about the hour to take the cross. And yet he called it the hour to be glorified. Suffering brought him glorification, not humiliation. To Jesus, glory and suffering – they are two sides of the same coin. Suffering doesn't destroy us, it brings glory. Jesus transformed the power of suffering from destruction to construction. Now suffering serves Jesus.

Do not React with Emotion

When suffering hits, don't react with emotion. You will lose the game. You will become desperate, sad and dark. And even become angry. That is how you fall into the trap of suffering. If we do that, it will start having power over you and control you.

Suffering, of course, is hard to bear. Jesus also confessed today.

Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say Father, save me from this hour ? (John 12:27)

But he said immediately that it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. He didn't say why this is happening to me? He said let it come. I am ready to take you on. Jesus was ready. He was ready to face his suffering.

And he said,

Father, glorify your name. (John 12:28)

He saw that his suffering will bring God's glory.

My friends, when suffering visits, look to God. Don't react. Don't fear that it may destroy you. Look to God. That was what Job did. Job was the person who knew something about suffering.

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; (Job 42:5)

 Face Your Suffering

When we suffer, we don't feel God's presence but ironically, it is also time to really meet God meaningfully. When we suffer, that is the best time to seek God. Because you need God. You have this desire you didn't have before. That desire is possible only when you are desperate. The desire that we couldn't have when times were good, that desire we will arise from within us. We will seek God concretely and desperately. Our outcries become real. Our prayers become real.

And face your suffering. Suffering will lose its power. It will lose its power to torment us. It will start serving us. It will make us stronger. It will make our existence solid. It will create hope within us. THE SOIL THAT HOPE GROWS IS SUFFERING. The hope our comfortable life could not create, our suffering will create. That hope is the hope that saves us. Through that hope, God's glory will appear.

My friends, we can defeat the suffering. Suffering itself will not destroy us. When we have the right attitude, suffering will rather serve us. Suffering will guide us into deeper faith in God. When life's storms hit you, be still. In that calmness, look to God. You will be able to rise with God above the storm.

The post Let Suffering Serve Us appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Numbers 21:4-9

Dissatisfaction

We often take things in life for granted. Even the most precious things in life, we take for granted. Food, shelter, the air we breathe, the family, health, and good life – these are precious things. Without these things, our existence is not conceivable. But often we take even these essential things in life for granted.

Dissatisfaction begins to arise within us when we start taking things for granted. When we take our food for granted, we want better food and when we don't get the better food we want, we become dissatisfied.

Mary Jo Leddy said, in her book, Radical Gratitude

Our general dissatisfaction with ourselves, with others, and with the world is possible only as taking for granted becomes a habit of being.

In the wilderness

Don't take things for granted. That was what the Israelites had to learn in the wilderness. They had to learn that they should take nothing for granted. Right from the beginning, everything was possible because of God's goodness. Without God's power, they could not escape from the hands of powerful Pharaoh. Without God's miracle, they could not cross the Red Sea. Without God's mercy, they could not have food or water in the wilderness. They had everything by God's grace. They survived because of God's goodness. They had to learn that lesson in the wilderness Don't take things for granted.

That was the whole point of their wilderness experience. God let them go through the wilderness experience not to make them suffer and make their lives miserable but to teach them this important and imperative lesson. That was what they needed to know to be able to survive life after this wilderness experience. That is what we need to survive our life Don't take things for granted.

Fleeing from the hands of Pharaoh was only the beginning. Being free from the hands of Pharaoh was not the end of their journey. Only the beginning. If the freedom was the beginning, then the abundant life was the end. God wanted them to live abundantly. Not just in material things for yourself but being rich in our soul, being generous to others and making others abundant. That is what our life ought to be. Wasn't that what Jesus said?

 I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Appreciation

As Mary Jo Leddy said, when taking things for granted becomes our habit, dissatisfaction seeps into our soul. When that happens, the problem is we don't appreciate life any more. We don't appreciate important things in life. We don't appreciate the air we breathe. We don't appreciate the beautiful flowers we smell. We don't appreciate friends and family. We don't appreciate life period.

That was what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness.

the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.' (Numbers 21:4, 5)

They didn't appreciate all the things God did for them. Food God provided for them became the miserable food. They forgot about how God brought them out of Egypt. They forgot about how God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night.

Spiritual Amnesia

When we are filled with dissatisfaction, we forget. We forget how good life is. SPIRITUAL AMNESIA. That is the problem. We forget. We forget about all the good things we enjoy. We forget about how life turned out all right even in our difficult times. We forget about the beauty of life. We forget about people who were so good to us. WE SEE WHAT WE DON'T HAVE BUT WE DON'T SEE WHAT WE HAVE.  WE SEE SCARCITY, BUT NOT ABUNDANCE. Nothing satisfies us. People just become more and more dissatisfied.

Living with Desire

We all have become modern Tantalus.

Tantalus is a guy in Greek mythology. He was a king but he was punished by his evil deed. His punishment was for him to stand in a pool of water. Whenever Tantalus would bend down to drink from the waters, waters would go down from him, whenever he reached up to take one of the luscious fruits, the branches would be moved away from him. The word tantalize came from that story.

Living with desire that can never be satisfied is a torture. When I look around, I see a lot of Tantalus. They are very unsatisfied. When nothing satisfies us, when we lose the appetite of life, we feel hopeless, helpless, angry, and even violent. This is not an abundant life. You may be free. You may be free from all sorts of bondage. You may be free from all kinds of restriction. But if we are not free from the desire that can never be satisfied, we won't have an abundant life. When we are filled with dissatisfaction, complaints, and anger, we won't be able to survive. Let alone the abundant life.

God wanted to train the Israelites not to take things for granted, not to forget but to appreciate things in life. Because that is the very basic thing that they had to have to live a good life. Not to complain about what they didn't have, but to appreciate what they had. Not to fear the danger they faced but to trust God who delivered them from the danger. God knew that that was the way not only to survive but to live a good life.

Living with Gratitude

The opposite of taking things for granted is to live with gratitude. Gratitude is the secret of living a good life. The gratitude is our weapon, the most powerful weapon to defeat this false desire. Modern science finally caught up with this secret that God has taught us from long time ago. Scholars start talking about the importance of gratitude for happiness.

The word, gratitude comes from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness. Gratitude is the appreciation for the gift of life. It is to recognize the giftedness of life. We didn't necessarily pay for all that. Life is not what we earned. Life is what is given to us as a gift. There have been so many people who have been good to us. They helped us. They supported us. They loved us. They even sacrificed for us. We are who we are not because of what we did. We are who we are because of what they did for us. Gratitude is to recognize that behind all this, there was good God and his grace. We are like those worker who came just one hour before the closing time and yet the owner gave them a full wage. God has been so good.

Life in God's Hands

When we think that life is in our hands, we get stressed out. We worry and get tired. Because we have to figure out everything. We may be able to deal with life's challenges relatively well but we will become negatively affected. Toxic emotions will fill our hearts. These toxic emotions jeopardize our relationships with others. They also make us very dark and impatient.

When we think that our life is in God's control, we will be able to let go of the fear of control. We will work hard but we don't have to think that everything depends on us. We can do our best and let go. Because we are in God's good hands. God will take care of us. That was what God wanted to teach the Israelites. That was the only way they could survive as a small country surrounded by the super powers. That was the only way they could do what others could not do as people of God. As people of God, they had to overcome unsurmountable challenges of life. To do that, they needed to depend not just on themselves but on God.

With that attitude, we can be unshackled from toxic emotions. When we think that our life is in God's good hands, we can have gratitude. It is to recognize grace, the giftedness of life. It is very important to live with this recognition. We have been so absorbed into us doing everything that we have forgotten how many good things came to us simply as gift.

Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we learned very clearly that we can take nothing for granted during this Covid period. The Prime Minister designated March 11 national day of observance for Canadians who died of COVID-19. Exactly a year ago last Thursday, WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. We never thought that we could close the church, dining and shutting down the whole city. We never imagined that we could not even meet our family. No Christmas service in person, no Easter service in person. Unimaginable. We learned that we could never take anything for granted. Don't ever forget that.

Now let us live with gratitude. Don't let complaints, blames, and toxic emotions consume you. Gratitude is something that you have to practice and cultivate. Write gratitude journal. Set aside time to give prayer of thanksgiving. Write down what you are thankful every day. Be concrete. Be descriptive. Be mindful of things that you are thankful. Make sure you express your gratitude to those who have helped you. As you start living a life of gratitude, your soul will be lifted up. Heavy burdens will be lifted off from your shoulder. Your days will become brighter. Things will work out all right.

The post Giftedness of Life appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Exodus 20:1-17

Promise

We've had a lot of babies born in our community over the past year. Babies bring joy and delight. They bring smiles to our faces. They represent a new promise, the promise of something good.

Each of our lives were brought into this world with this promise. That's how precious I think each life is. We were all brought into this world with the promise of something good that would come from our existence.

But as we go through life, this promise sometimes seems to fade. We get hurt, we experience aches in our hearts, we suffer setbacks and disappointments. That promise becomes more distant, and we often feel alone going about in this world with this weight on our shoulders.

But God does not forget this promise. I believe that God has carried each and every one of us to where we are today. We have each gone through our own experiences, but through it all, God has delivered us from the many dangers, toils and snares we have faced.

We know this, and we declare this when we gather each week. But still, sometimes we feel lost in this life and this world. We don't know where we're going, or exactly how it is we're supposed to live. There are many voices telling us what to do or where to go, but we don't have firm grounding.

This was the story of Israel leading up to today's passage. The passage itself is the famous 10 commandments. We've seen them before. Reading them on their own makes it seem like they're just a bunch of rules. But these commandments cannot be properly understood without understanding the story surrounding it. And the story behind it is that of Israel and God's promise.

God's Promise

Last week, we reflected on the promise that God made to Abraham. This was the promise that God made:

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. (Genesis 17:7)

In Genesis, God's promise manifested in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph: four generations. Each life was so different and each took a different shape, but God's promise was alive in each of those lives.

But by the time we get to the book of Exodus, many generations had passed. Jacob's descendants had settled in Egypt and become numerous. The book begins with an ominous note:

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. (Exodus 1:8)

A prolific people became slaves in Egypt. Instead of promise, there was suffering. The promise that once seemed so alive, now seemed to have disappeared with the passing of generations.

But God did not forget his promise. God came to Moses in a burning bush, and with his mighty hand, rescued and delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. With wonderful signs and awesome signs of power, God brought the Israelites from bondage to freedom.

The Israelites were free, but they were lost. They didn't know where to go, or how to live as free people. Instead, they ended up wandering in the desert.

Their circumstances had changed, but they had not. They still had the mindset of slaves. They were full of fear. When things became difficult, they wanted to go back to familiar circumstances:

Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst? (Exodus 17:3)

They did not know who they were, or whose they were. They had no compass, no anchor to give them direction. Without that anchor, they sought security in what was familiar and gave them food, even if that meant going back into bondage.

The Memory of Relationships

Parents raise their children to prepare them for life in this world. When they're young, keeping them safe is our main concern. As they grow older, we try to guide them and shape their values and what is important to them. We set limits and rules based on what we think is important. Our hope is that they will live in accordance with what is important to us. But ultimately, we know that they must choose for themselves how they will live and who they will become. We cannot force them to live as we want. Children will make their own choices. But if there is love and a modeling of values, the relationship children have with parents becomes an anchor or compass. They know whose they are and who they are. The relationship is what anchors us and makes us feel more secure in an insecure world. That's why when we lose our parents or loved ones, we feel like we lose an anchor. But the memory of our relationship replaces the flesh and blood relationship. When our relationship has been strong and rooted in love, we want to honour what is important to our parents and live as best as we can in accordance with those values.

Cementing the Relationship

Israel did not yet have this relationship with God. God had indeed done mighty deeds to rescue them from slavery. But it was still a one-way relationship. The story of liberation from Egypt is a powerful story that has provided inspiration for many suffering people in the world. But for the people of Israel, what was even more important was what took place at Mount Sinai. Because at Mount Sinai, they met God. At Mt Sinai, the people cemented their relationship with God. At Mount Sinai, a ragtag group of fugitives became the people of God.

The ten commandments begins with these first words from God:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Exodus 20:2)

God was their personal God who initiated this relationship by coming to Israel's rescue.

The whole story of the Bible in a nutshell is about God who always pursues a relationship with humankind. A God who loves us, delivers us, and pursues us to make us his own.

God's summoning of the people to Mount Sinai was to say this: you are my people. And as my people, this is how I want you to live. This is what God said when he told Moses to gather people at Mount Sinai: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:4-6)

God laid claim on his people and set them apart for a specific purpose. God delivered Israel to make them his people and to invite them to help fulfill God's promise for the world. God's promise to Abraham was to ultimately bless the world. They were to be partners in fulfilling God's promise by living according to God's ways. The commandments articulated this. To love God. To love their neighbour. And to practice these things intentionally as a community by setting aside a day each week: to take a break from the competition, striving and clashing of wills one partakes in throughout the week, and rest in God's goodness.

The foundation of the 10 commandments is a deep relationship with God. A one-way promise became a two-way covenant as the people responded to God's love. At Mt. Sinai, they discovered who they were and whose they were. This identity was to be their anchor and compass once they entered the Promised Land.

You are God's Beloved

You are God's people. If you are going through turbulent challenges, wait on God. God will bear you on eagles wings and deliver you from trouble. If you are going through worries and anxieties, remember God who has delivered you in the past, and surely will again. Our God pursues you and makes his claim over you. You are God's beloved.

The Israelites met God at Sinai in the wilderness. They met God between bondage and the Promised Land. This experience did not happen in the Promised Land.

I believe that if they had gone straight from bondage into the Promised Land, they would have been lost to history. Not knowing who they were or whose they were, they would have melted into the local populations and disappeared.

But in the wilderness they met God, and were forever changed.

Living in the Wilderness

We have been in the wilderness for a while now. Next Sunday will be the one year mark of cancelling in-person worship services, when all of life as we knew it ended. For one year, we have gone through ups and downs, trying to figure things out and make our way.

We see hope on the horizon, as new vaccines get approved and supply increases. I do hope for a speedy return to life, so that we can meet with one another. But I pray that we can enter this promised land as God's people, as those anchored in knowing who we are and whose we are.

Lent

We are in the middle of Lent. It is the period we reflect on God's love shown to us through Jesus Christ. Once again, God initiated his pursuit of us through the life and death of Christ. This pursuit of us is manifested at the cross. At the cross, God carried our weight and darkness, and showed us his sacrificial love, a love that is willing to die for us. The cross is our Mt. Sinai, where we meet God. Instead of I am the Lord your God who rescued you from Egypt , the cross is where God says: I am the Lord your God who loved you and died for you.

This is what St. Paul came to know when he made his confession:

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19-20)

At the Cross

At the cross, God's one-way love for us becomes a two-way covenant when we respond to that love by being crucified with Christ. Our new life in Christ takes on the shape of the cross: Self-giving, loving, vulnerable, humble and willing to sacrifice and serve others. This is the cross-shaped, cruciform life we enter into.

At the cross, we are marked as God's own. It is where we know fully who we are and whose we are. When we are claimed by Christ, we are set apart for the way of Christ in this world.

When life resumes once again, our world will be in need of healing. There will be scars to mend and injustices to attend to. Jesus came to heal and lift up the weak and vulnerable. So too will we be called to be Christ's healing presence among those who suffer in our midst.

God's People

You are God's people. We are God's people.

In this time of wilderness, let us come to the cross. Let us meet the God who died for us and find healing for our wounds. At the cross – our Mt. Sinai – Jesus gives us a new commandment:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

We are God's people. We are Christ's disciples. Let us love one another.

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Genesis 17:1-7, 15-18

Laughter

Laughing has many meanings. We laugh because we are happy and joyful. Or, we laugh because our situation or a story is funny. Or, we laugh because it is so absurd, ridiculous or farcical.

The Scripture says that Abraham laughed.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? (Genesis 17:17)

What kind of laugh was Abraham's laugh? He thought it was ridiculous to think that 99-year-old man would have a baby. But later, when Isaac was born, when the absurd promise was fulfilled, he laughed because he was happy and joyful. And he named the baby, Isaac, which means one who laughs. Laughing is a big theme for Abraham's life.

God's promise

Isaac was a child of promise. He was born by the promise of God. This child of promise was named, laughter.

In that sense, God's promise is somehow connected with laughter. God's promise makes us laugh. Because it is too good to be true. We laugh because it is hard to believe.

Verse 18 is very interesting. When God said to the 99-year-old man that he would have a baby, Abraham responded in this way.

O that Ishmael might live in your sight! (Genesis 17:18)

You gotta be kidding, God. I am a hundred-year-old man! 100-year-old man being knighted by 94-year-old queen is one thing but having a baby? Have you seen Tom Moore being knighted by Queen Elizabeth. It was so cute. 100-year-old man having a baby? That's too much. I just want you to take care of Ishmael. That's good enough.

The Circumcision

His response was very reasonable and understandable. But strangely in the end, what did he do? He performed the circumcision.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. (Genesis 17:23)

The circumcision was the sign of accepting God's promise. Abraham accepted God's promise, a seemingly ridiculous promise. He laughed because it was ridiculous BUT HE ACCEPTED HIS PROMISE. That was strange. He took God's promise seriously. He didn't just laugh it away. That was Abraham's faith. God's promise was absurd but his faith was also absurd. Through his faith, this absurd promise came true.

That's why we call Abraham, the ancestor of faith. Abraham was a great figure. Through Abraham, Jewish people were established. God's people were established. He was honored in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham was the first person to discover this God whom he could interact by a personal relationship. In that time, people believed in many gods such as stars, sun, and trees. Abraham was the first one who discovered One God whom he could relate to. That's why he was called the friend of God.

Promise

The distinct characteristic of this personal relationship with God was PROMISE. God related to Abraham with this promise. Abraham's life was very closely connected with God's promise. His life journey began with this promise. The reason he left his home town was because of God's promise. The land he arrived was the PROMISED land.

The Lord said to Abram,

Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3)

God's promise moved Abraham's life. To Abraham, the promise was not just empty words. It was something that shaped Abraham's life. He believed in God's promise. Ultimately, God's promise was fulfilled through his faith.

As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. (Genesis 17:4-6)

Abraham discovered this wonderful truth that God leads our lives by his promise. We don't have to figure out everything. God leads us and ultimately fulfills his promise in our lives.

Our life is shaped by God's promise. God gave us the promise through Jesus Christ. That was Matthew's last sentence in his gospel.

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus promised that he would be with us always, to the end of the age. We should hold unto that promise. There are times when it is hard to believe this promise. Especially when life is too hard and we feel too lonely. But hold unto that promise even when the promise doesn't seem real. That is what faith is.

The Nature of God's Promise

We can never easily understand God's promise. It is never easy to accept God's promise. That is the NATURE OF GOD'S PROMISE. God's promise is not understandable and it does not always make sense. It makes us uncomfortable. But when we accept that with our faith, we will be able to enter into the world of promise. We will discover the wonderful reality of promise. Promise comes true by our faith.

We already experienced that when we look back our lives. There were times when our life was so difficult that we didn't feel God's presence at all. There was nothing that we looked forward. We felt that everything was going in a wrong way. But we held unto God's promise that he would always be with us and he would guide us and show us the way. And God kept his promise. He was indeed with us and showed us way.

Jesus' Promise

When Lazarus died, Jesus came to Mary and Martha and he gave them the promise.

I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25, 26)

That was Jesus' promise. Those who believe in me, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. After this, Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus and asked them to remove the stone. Jesus said,

Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.' Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' (John 11:39-40)

Mary and Martha heard Jesus' promise but it was hard to believe. They thought it was too much to believe. That's why Martha said, already there is a stench. That was her way of saying that it was too late. But like Abraham, in the end, she let them remove the stone in front of the tomb as Jesus said even though it was difficult to believe Jesus' promise. And they entered into the wonderful reality of God's promise.

The People of Promise

My friends, we are people of promise. God gave us all his promises. We are all blessed people.

Now, what is left for us is to hold unto that promise. The disciples, even though they practically lived with Jesus for three years, they could not believe the promise of God. Instead of believing in God's promises, they wanted visible signs.

Professor James Edwards said,

Faith that depends on proof is not faith, but only veiled doubt.

The promise is not a visible sign. It can never be. If it is visible, it is not a promise. Because it is not yet a historical reality, it is the promise.  Promise is not yet here. That's why Abraham struggled.

There is always a gap between the promise and the historical reality. We live in the gap. What fills this gap is our faith.

Abraham lived in this gap all his life. His struggle was the struggle of faith. Of course, there were times when he couldn't hold unto that promise. When a scary situation came, he lied He lied that his wife was his sister. He almost lost his wife. Abraham struggled with faith. But in the end, he had a radical faith that allowed him even to be willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. The promise was not yet there but he acted as though the promise was already there. Hoping against hope, he believed.

Faith: Embrace Your Struggle

Faith is not something you can have just because you want to have it. There is a process. Faith is life journey. Faith grows little by little and the growth is often not visible. We all struggle to have faith. That struggle is precious. That struggle makes our faith journey meaningful.

Jesus also had a struggle. His struggle in Gethsemane was the struggle of faith. There is no one who doesn't struggle with their faith. We all struggle. This doesn't mean that we don't have faith. As a matter of fact, that is the proof that we have faith.  Because we have faith, we struggle. Because we see the gap between God's promise and our reality, we struggle.

Don't give up your struggle. Don't run away from the struggle. Embrace your struggle. That is what faith is. And move forward one step at a time.

Trust God's Promise

Holding unto the promise is not the most comfortable thing to do. It is not something you can control or manage. The promise is always beyond our comfort level. It is bigger than you. That's why when we face the promise, we sometimes laugh. But there will be a day when your laugh of absurdity will turn into the laughter of joy.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; (Psalm 126:1, 2)

I pray that your laughter of absurdity turn into laughter of joy. There are many promises hidden in God's word. I pray that these promises become yours. I pray that they are not just empty words in the Bible, but the promises that you hold unto. These promises are not just for you and for your generation. They will continue from one generation to another. If you trust God's promise, you and your children will be blessed.

The post Laughter of Abraham appeared first on St Timothy Presbyterian Church.

Genesis 9:8-17

After the Flood

What we see in today's Scripture is God's aching heart. God felt so bad after the flood. Aching heart comes from love. Where there is no love, there is no suffering. We suffer because we love. We become desperate because we love. What we see in today's passage is God's pain and his anguish. Who am I that God is so brokenhearted about my fate? Am I that important to him?

God saw how evil human beings were. Their wickedness was destroying them. God saw that and felt so desperate. He didn't know what to do. But after the flood, God changed his mind. He said he would never destroy the earth with water. He repeated this word never a few times.

I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.' (Genesis 9:11)

and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. (Genesis 9:15)

Describing God

We see God regretting. I like how the Genesis writer described God. God is like us. God is sad. God repents. God regrets. God is not like a distant super being up there who has no feeling. God is like parents who blame themselves for the suffering of their children even if it was their own faults. I think this describes God more accurately than analytic description of God such as immutability, omni-present, omniscience of God. Trying to come up with an analytical definition of God's attribute through this kind of passage is misreading the intention of the author.

Genesis writer tried to describe God's aching heart for us, in the way we human beings could understand. God changed his mind and declared that he would never destroy the humanity like that. It was more a declaration than a covenant. It was not an agreement of both parties like a contract. God simply let Noah know what he would do. What Noah might do had no bearing on God's decision. Regardless of human behaviors, God said he would not destroy them. He knew that we feeble human beings are too weak to keep their promises. We are too flimsy. Our heart may desire but our flesh is weak. We want to do good with our heart but we do evil with our flesh. St. Paul discovered about himself after meeting Christ. Let us listen to what he said.

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)

When we go back one chapter before today's passage, we see this.

I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth (Genesis 8:21)

Evil From Youth

Evil from youth. This means evilness is embedded in our very being. It is a part of us. So deeply ingrained, God knew that punishment wouldn't do any good.

Look at what they did after the flood. Did they change? They committed a worse evil. They built the Babel tower and said let us build the tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves. That's what human beings are like. If God punished human beings every time they committed evil, no one would have survived. That's why God changed his mind. What human beings could not do on their own, God wanted to do. That is the Good News. We are saved not because we changed and became righteous. We are saved because God changed because of his love for us and that love is God's righteousness. By God's righteousness, we are saved.

The World we Live in

When I see the world we live in, I see hostility that comes from greed. This world is operated not by righteousness but by greed.  People who have power try to have more power, and in the process, they exploit those who don't have much. Isn't that greed? Because of greed, people fight with each other, compete with each other, and hate each other. They validate themselves and invalidate others. God becomes merely inconvenient presence.

Greed is deeply embedded within us. Greed invokes violence. And it harbors hostility within us. This hostility divides us and separates us from God. Punishment has no power to destroy this greed. It makes our greed worse. It only enflames our greed. Greed and hostility go together.

The ultimate hostility of human beings was manifested at the cross. This hostility killed the Son of God. This hostility put a wedge between God and human beings. Jesus came to put an end to this hostility.

This was God's will. God's will is hidden in today's passage and beginning from Noah, God chose to relate to human beings differently with a different attitude. Hostility cannot destroy hostility.

The Bow

In today's scripture, it says,

I have set my bow in the clouds. (Genesis 9:13)

Yes, it is a rainbow. But it is also a bow of battle. We can imagine a deity with bow and arrow but in today's story, there is no arrow. And God hung up the bow in the clouds. In other words, there is no more battle, no more fight. Only peace. God knows all our sins, all our shame, all our wickedness, but he will not go to battle against us. He will do all he can to restore us but not through punishment but through love. Bow is not any more the symbol of battle but of God's covenant of love. God initiated the peace process, not us and it was Jesus who accomplished it.

so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. (Ephesians 2:15, 16)

This is a very new image of God. Gods of this world are the ones who control the world by their power and subjects all under their feet. People tremble before gods and obey their gods out of fear.

A Change in Mind

But God we see in Noah's story is God who desires us so much that he would even go against his nature and his attribute. He changed his mind for us.

Since God changed his mind, we should also change our minds. We have to put down our own bow. I know it's scary. Hostility is our weapon to defend ourselves. But we have to let it go. As God hung up his bow in the clouds, we should also hang up our bow and initiate the peace, first within us, and with others, and ultimately with God. That is what God wants. As long as we have hostility, we cannot survive. As long as we have hostility, a community cannot survive. As long as we have hostility, the world cannot survive.

We reflected on what Henri Nouwen said about hospitality at the New Year retreat last year. He emphasized that we should change our hostility to hospitality. He gives us this image.

When we say, You can be my guest if you believe what I believe, think the way I think and behave as I do,' we offer love under a condition or for a price. (Henri Nouwen)

We cannot call this true love. Jesus taught us to love our enemies. That means even towards our enemies, don't take a hostile attitude.

When God hung up his bow in the clouds, when he changed his mind, he determined to suffer our weaknesses, even our evilness. Instead of judging and condemning people who do wrongs, we should be willing to suffer their shortcomings. That's hard but that's what Christians ought to do.

Let us not cultivate hostility within us. It will kill us and also others. Let us put down our bow and cultivate love.

Starting from Ash Wednesday, we have entered into Lent. Lent is the season where we meditate on the suffering of Jesus Christ. Let us meditate on Jesus' Cross. Jesus put down bow and picked up the cross. Hostility is crucified on the cross.

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Mark 9:2-9

A Glorious Scene

We see a beautiful and glorious scene in today's Scripture. I love it. It is surreal. Jesus' clothes became dazzling white. It was radian. There appeared Elijah and Moses who died long time ago. Their appearance was not like a hologram. They talked with Jesus. And a cloud overshadowed them and the disciples heard a voice that came from the cloud.

It was not something we experience in our mundane life. The disciples experienced something very special. They could not explain what they experienced with their language or logic. Much later, Peter recounted what he experienced on this mountain but he had hard time to describe it. The words he used were Honour , Glory , Majestic glory. He tried his best to describe what he experienced. Unfortunately, his words could not fully capture what he experienced. They didn't just feel that it was wonderful. They were terrified. Peter said, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings. But soon Mark said this, He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

They liked what they experienced but they were scared. Their response was a typical response of those who experience the deep mystery of life. And they experienced exactly that.

What do you see?

My friends, what we see, touch and experience is not everything. There are things that we cannot explain with the language we have and the logic we operate with. I find that very comforting, though. If what I see is everything about this world and about my life, then I will feel hopeless. What I see is that the powerful use their power to exploit the powerless. The strong always look down upon the weak and treat them with contempt. People who are different from those who have power experience discrimination. That is what I see but I am very thankful that life is more than what I see and touch. I am thankful that we experience sometimes the mysterious hands of God that take care of us.

God is still working among us and yet we do not see God. Jesus told Thomas, Do you believe because you see? Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

Six days later

Today's story begins with the phrase, Six days later. Sometimes when you watch a movie, they say, one year later , or one week later . That means what is going on now is related to what happened one year ago or one week ago. When Mark began with six days later , he relates this story on the mountain with the event that happened six days ago.

What happened six days ago? Six days ago, Jesus was with the disciples in Caesarea Philippi. There Jesus asked the disciples, Who do people say that I am? And then again, Jesus asked them, Who do YOU say that I am? That was what happened 6 days ago. In today's story, we get the answer for that question. Today's story is about who Jesus is Jesus' Identity. The answer we get is this:

This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him! (Mark 9:7)

Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God? It means that Jesus is the presence of God. Jesus was the presence of God in this world. Peter felt that. That's why he wanted to build a tabernacle and the tabernacle was where God dwelled in the desert in Exodus. He knew that before he heard the voice from the heaven.

Peter

That's Peter. Many times, he said things that he didn't completely understand. Six days ago, when Jesus asked the disciples, Who do you say that I am? , no one dared to answer his question. But Peter knew the answer and I don't know how. But somehow, he knew. When other disciples were pondering on the question, Peter immediately said what came to his mind.

You are the Messiah. (Mark 8:29)

He didn't understand what he was saying but he felt it. He knew it. He was spiritually connected with Jesus. That's why Jesus loved him, in spite of his shortcomings.

The Identifications of Jesus

Mark records three incidents where Jesus was identified as the Son of God. The first one was when Jesus was baptized. Then in today's passage on the mountain. Then finally at the cross. First two times, God said that but the last one, a gentile, a Roman soldier said it, not God.

Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, Truly this man was God's Son!' (Mark 15:39)

It was God who revealed that Jesus was the Son of God. It was God who started it. But at the end, it was a human being, not even one of chosen people, but a gentile who said that Jesus was the Son of God. It was proclaimed not in the temple but at the cross. The tabernacle Peter wanted to build on the mountain was built at the cross.

The Cross: Where God Is

The cross became God's dwelling place. Even though Jesus cried out on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? , God did not forsake Jesus. God was right there. The world did not see it but God was there. When we suffer, that is a place where God is. When we suffer, sometimes we wonder where God is. But God is right there. When we are insulted, ridiculed, and rejected, that's where God is. This is what gives us the strength.

What we see at the transfiguration on the mountain is beautiful and glorious. But that is not what we experience every day. We sometimes have glorious moments but they are only temporary. Peter wanted to make that temporary experience permanent but he could not.

Our Challenges; Our Cross

What we experience every day is not the experience of transfiguration but of the cross. We face challenges and our problems bring dark clouds over us.  We get bored by mundane life. We worry about the unknown future and we live with fear, running away from suffering. We are scared of death.

But even in our difficult life, we have tried to pursue what was right. Even in suffering, we have tried to keep our faith. Even in our pain and hurt, instead of turning away from our neighbours, we have tried to bring healing and reconciliation.  We have to tried to be one. That has been our cross. That is our cross.

In their own cross, the disciples experienced the glory of God which they experienced on the mountain. That gives us hope and strength. Because of God's presence in our own cross, we can take that cross and walk forward. At our cross, we are surrounded by glory.

United in Spite of Our Differences

We may see hatred and division. We may see injustice taking over people's lives. But we will move forward, practicing love Jesus taught us, pursuing the truth and seeking peace and harmony. We will not be divided by our differences but we will be united in spite of our differences. Our differences make us whole. We also know that the unity is possible only in diversity. And we will continuously serve each other with humility.

There is a black poet who is only 22 year old, Amanda Gorman. She had the honour to recite her poem at Joe Biden's Inauguration Day. Famous people had that honor in the past such as Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and Elizabeth Alexander. In her poem, The Hill We Climb, she said:

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,

but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true,

that even as we grieved, we grew,

that even as we hurt, we hoped,

that even as we tired, we tried,

that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.

When God's presence is with us, the cross cannot destroy us; it will make us only stronger. The cross will give us a new meaning. We will realize that the cross is the narrow road that leads to life and to God.

Jesus' Rebuke

Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah without really knowing what he was saying. Jesus saw that Peter answered it correctly and said,

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31)

Peter didn't like what he heard. So Peter even rebuked Jesus. That was when Jesus said his famous rebuke to Peter,

Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. (Mark 8:33)

Our Suffering

Jesus placed God's presence in our suffering. The REAL VALUE of today's story is not in its fantastic and glorious experience. The real value of the story is that it points to the cross. It is the foreshadow of the cross and ultimately the resurrection. When we suffer, we are surrounded by God's glory. Lift up your eyes and see not only the darkness of your suffering but the glory of God in your suffering. Do not see only what divides us but see what unites us. The place where we suffer will become the place of transfiguration.

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Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Power of circumstances

During my time here at St. Tim's, one of the themes that have been instilled in me is that with faith, our circumstances do not dictate things, but that our faith does. I do believe that. But if I'm honest, I've felt the true power of circumstances, and more than once, these circumstances have brought me to my knees.

This happened most recently about two weeks ago. It was Monday. For pastors, that's the day we recharge and reflect so  that we hit the ground running on Tuesday and build up toward Sunday. But with kids in virtual school since January, there was no moment to recenter myself. I was losing my sense of centredness and quite frankly losing my mind. I was being driven by the circumstances. That Monday, Joonie just could not focus in front of the computer. And I don't blame him – it's hard to expect kindergarten students to stay focused in front of a screen. And I know these circumstances have affected them so greatly too. He was particularly restless and always out of his chair. He was often very angry and moody. Just trying to keep him focused, dealing with his moody behaviour, I lost it. I had a kind of inner breakdown. Me and Deb were short fused and bickering. I was stressed out about the work I couldn't get done. This is when I felt truly brought to my knees by the circumstances.

This past year, we've been at the mercy of constantly changing circumstances. Parents with young children can relate to what I just shared – one parent shared in Bible study that she is simply overwhelmed. For our Hi-C students: this is the time in life where so much of their life experience stems from social interactions and relationships. But all of that has been taken away. Our college students too feel alone, isolated and unmotivated.

The reality of life

We've experienced the immense and fearsome power of nature during the pandemic. I believe we'll be feeling the effects of these circumstances long after life resumes back to normal, whatever that normal is.

This is the reality of life: we are under the constant grip of our circumstances. Sometimes they are good, so we enjoy them as much as we can. We give thanks for them.

But sometimes circumstances bring us down and flatten us. When our circumstances overwhelm us, we are unable to function properly or be the person we want to be. We lose control of our lives, and we lose control of ourselves.

Can we be more?

And so I wonder: can we really live without being dictated by our circumstances? Do our circumstances dictate who we are, what we do, what we think of, and the kind of people we become?

I really think this is a fundamental question for all human beings. Can we be more than creatures of circumstance?

Throughout the long history of the Jewish people, they have constantly been at the mercy of circumstances dictated by powerful outside forces. They could not avoid nor escape the reality of their circumstances.

But the enduring character we see throughout the Bible is that no matter what their circumstances were, they believed in a power that was ultimately greater than the very real circumstances they faced. This power was their God: YHWH, the Lord. Belief in this God was what bound them together as a people.

The psalmist's praise

The Jewish historian Saul Friedlander describes them this way:

Since the beginning of its history, this people has seen itself as alone and surrounded by enemies, and has been incapable of having faith in anything save its God and then its destiny. For centuries, misfortune and catastrophe have always seemed to be the most imminent eventualities, though the trust in ultimate deliverance has never entirely disappeared. Our identity is linked to this vision of the world and of the future. (Saul Friedlander, When Memory Comes)

Today's psalmist is firmly rooted in this tradition. The circumstances he faced and saw were bleak. His people were scattered and lost after spending 75 years in exile with no place to call home. Jerusalem was still in ruins, and the Temple there where God had once resided was in ruins too. Powerful people in powerful countries had dictated their circumstances, and they were suffering and struggling from them.

The content: Praise the Lord

But what is the central declaration of the psalmist in today's passage? It is Praise the Lord , or hallelujah in Hebrew. The psalmist begins with hallelujah and ends with it. In between that beginning and end is the content of his praise. The psalm describes a powerful God who created the world, and this same God who takes care of those who suffer from circumstances brought on by the powerful. In a world that values the strong and swift, the psalmist declares that God is on the side of those who fear him and who hope in him. A God who cares and who is still in charge. That is the content of the psalmist's praise.

This gives us a profound insight: praise is not necessarily or only an expression of joy for the things that are going well.

Praise is the declaration that even in spite of the difficult things in my life, God is in charge and cares for me.

That is a bold declaration. It is an audacious declaration. It even seems like a foolish declaration. When we are brought down by our circumstances, we can't just force ourselves to believe that somehow God is in charge and will take care of us.

Praise: a deep spiritual process

And this is when I realized that praise is not merely what comes out of our mouths. What comes out of our mouths in praise is actually the end of a spiritual process that begins in our hearts; a process that begins in our hearts and ends with the praises that flow from our hearts and out of our mouths.

Praise is a deeply spiritual process. It is a movement of elevation from our present circumstances to God's realm of reality. An upward movement beyond our present circumstances. During this upward movement, our souls become more and more united with God's Spirit. When we've reached God's realm of reality, we see beauty, we experience healing, and we see God's vision for life and the world. When we experience that realm of God's reality, our hearts are changed, and praise flows from our hearts and out of our mouths.

The psalmist says:

The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:2-3)

Praise begins with faith that God has prepared a place for me to heal my heart and bind my wounds. At our Jerusalem, we relinquish our will so that our souls can be pulled into God's saving presence. Praise opens our hearts for God's saving power to come into us.

My friends, we need to cultivate this spirituality of praise, most especially when things are difficult and when we're overwhelmed by our circumstances. This spirituality of praise is the only way we can deal with and overcome the many difficult circumstances that come our way.

Our Worship Liturgy

Our worship liturgy embodies this spiritual flow that pulls us into God's presence. Let me explain our worship liturgy by painting a mental picture.

During the week, we live in the cold valley, exposed to the elements. There may be sunny days where it's nice and warm. But there are also many days when harsh winds blow, when the cold gives us frostbite, food is scarce and predators abound. We can become exhausted and ragged from life in the wild.

But every week, we hear the horn blow, summoning all of us to the base of the mountain. From all corners of the valley, we stream toward the mountain lodge at the base of the mountain. The doors open, and we are invited in. This is our Call to Worship. It is God's invitation for us to enter this precious time with him on the mountain.

We come in from the cold, into the warm chalet room. We feel the warm air in the room; we smell nice food coming in from the kitchen; there are hangers for our wet coats and food for our hungry stomachs. We're encouraged by the presence of others who have made their way into the chalet room. This is the time we sing our praise songs. The time of praise begins to warm us up and open our hearts.

Now that we're warm, dry and fed, we enter into the shower area. There, we see how dirty our bodies have become over the week. We examine the cuts and bruises we have sustained. We take a hot shower to cleanse ourselves of the dirt and dried blood. This is our congregational prayer. Our elder is articulating where we're at, our states of mind, and where we need confession and repentance. This is a moment we look at ourselves honestly to see where we're hurting, what we rejoice in, and what we need God's help in.

From the shower area, now dressed in fresh clothes and cleanly groomed, we walk to the gondola entrance that will lift us up the mountain. We offer our thanksgiving for being in this place. We are thankful for having made it another week out in the wild; we thank God for the provision that has sustained us. We re-dedicate ourselves to God. This is the time of Offering in our worship.

From there, the gondola begins its ascent up the mountain.   On our way up, we feel the sensations in our stomachs as we move upward on the mountain. The earth below gets smaller and smaller as we continue our climb. This is the moment of the Scripture reading and choir anthem or special music. Its purpose is to begin the ascent of our souls to meet God. It prepares us for what God will show us and say to us. We anticipate in excitement what God will reveal to us this day.

Finally, we have reached the mountain summit! The Lord greets us and takes us to a unique spot at the summit. Each time we go up there, God takes us to a different spot with a different view. There, the Lord directs our eyes. We see the beauty of creation from this peak. The Lord points out where we've been treading below, the wrong turns we've been making, the dangerous paths we've been on. The Lord points out things we haven't seen before: a new mountain peak, a new river winding in the valley. The Lord tells us how to get there. What an amazing new discovery! This is the Sermon. It is the Word of God being given to us. We are listening intently, examining ourselves, and being led by God to see God's vision for my life, the world and all the beauty in it. We understand our circumstances in a new light. We see the beauty of life and new possibilities for it.

Having seen God's vision and discovered new insights, we ponder and reflect on what that means for us. This is the Reflection Song and the time of reflection. We sing, we pray, we cry, we feel our wounds mending. We make resolutions to live differently and to think about things differently. We pray for God's help and guidance.

Having experienced all that we have, we join together for a final song of praise. This is the Closing Song we sing. Here is where the process that began in our hearts flows out of our mouths in praise. We sing with a fervour and passion that expresses what we've just experienced in our hearts. We join today's psalmist in declaring that the one who Created everything is the one who cares for me and will see me through.

Being refreshed, given new perspective, and experiencing healing of my wounds, I am charged by God to go back down into the valley. This is the Benediction. I don't go back as the same person, but as one slightly changed. I go back down with praise, ready for another day or week. I am blessed, I am renewed, I am full of life once again. I make a grace-filled descent back down to the valley.

This, my friends, is the whole process of praise. Isn't it beautiful? If we have this spirituality of praise, God's power will sustain us through anything that comes our way. Praise is a spiritual discipline. It's something we need to do everyday. It's something we need to do together every week.

A beautiful vision of worship

The life we live is full of twists and turns. Our circumstances are so powerful and can bring us to our knees. But let us renew ourselves with praise.

The prophet Isaiah said this: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)

What a beautiful vision of worship! Especially when you are knocked down, bruised and battered, bring your whole selves into the process of praise. And as you do so, as your soul is pulled into God's saving presence, open your mouths wide with praise, and let God's praises ever be on your lips!

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Scripture Passage

1 Corinthians 8: 1-3

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Jonah 3: 1-10

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Scripture Passage

1 Samuel 3: 1-10

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