Sing!

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.’ Therefore in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ (Psalm 95, NRSV)

Make a joyful noise to the Lord. Come into His presence with thanksgiving and praise His holy name!

Just thinking about all the things God has done for me makes me want to sing! I can’t help but praise Him, even if it seems like everything around me is falling apart, because when I get right down to it, He has done more good things for me than things are going wrong now.

That is what the psalmist is getting at here. If we really just took a moment and did an evaluation of things, we would find more good things from God than things that are going wrong and that is reason to sing!

One of my former pastors always said if you sing well sing loud, because God like to hear you sing, and if you don’t sing well sing even louder to annoy the person next to you, because God really loves hearing a joyfilled noise! And that is what our singing is when we realize all He has done for us, a joyfilled noise!

Shared Reading of John 9, Lent 4A

Great idea!

michaelrinehart's avatarMichaelRinehart.com

The readings for Lent A are long stories. Lent 4A is the entire ninth chapter of John. An interesting way to present this gospel may be through a dramatic reading. Find someone to coordinate this effort. That person will only need to find 12 people and rehearse them. Pick people who can speak up and won’t be too nervous.

Speakers may sit wherever they wish, scattered throughout the congregation. Parents should sit together. Pharisees might sit together. Have each person remain seated unatil their first line comes. When their line comes, they should read it, then remain standing for the rest of the reading. Read through it together 30 minutes before the service.

​E – Evangelist

​1 – Disciple 1

​J – Jesus

​N1 – Neighbor 1

​N2 – Neighbor 2

​N3 – Neighbor 3

​B – Blind man

​P1 – Pharisee 1

​P2 – Pharisee 2

​P3 – Pharisee…

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Brought down the wall!

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, 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. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God. (Ephesians 2:11-22, NRSV)

You who were once far off have now been brought in to the fold.

The compound fence has been brought down!

Jesus took the barrier that once kept some out out of the way. No longer is there anything but ourselves keeping us from being a part of the fold.

Jesus took what was two separate entities and made them into one. He took two nationalities and made them one body.

So now we are united in the blood of Christ and that is stronger than anything that could cause hostility between us.

Let’s rejoice that God through Jesus has made a way for all to be a part of this wonderful life giving party!

God Provides!

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.’ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?’ And Moses said, ‘When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.’ (Exodus 16:4-8, NRSV)

God provided for the needs of His people wandering in the wilderness. They were complaining because they did not have the food to eat like they did back in Egypt. They focused on their needs and empty bellies now and remembered the good things about where they came from. They completely forgot about the fact they were slaves, they just remembered the good food they had to eat!

So God heard their complaints and gave them manna in the morning and meet in the evenings. God provided for their needs. He made sure His people were given what they need.

Has God ever provided for your needs? By taking care of a bill, providing a car when it was needed, or a job, or anything? God provided for His people in the wilderness and He still provides for us today!

Trust that He will provide for your needs!

condemned

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ (John 7:53—8:11, NRSV)

Jesus was in the temple or on His way tot the temple, when He is brought a woman who has sinned. She was caught in adultery, my first thought is if she is committing adultery, where is the other person? It takes 2 to tango after all…

But that’s not the point… The scribes and the Pharisees want to stone her, and Jesus simply tells them to let the first one of you who is without sin to cast the first stone. After a while they are all gone and Jesus asks two questions, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

No one has condemned her. Which is interesting because the next thing Jesus says is “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.” You see Jesus could have condemned her, because He met His criteria for the person that could cast the first stone.

Jesus knew she was a sinful person, just like the scribes and the Pharisees that brought her there. But He looked on her the same way He looked on the scribes and the Pharisees and you and I, with love. He loves us enough to give us a second chance, and be gracious to us when we get it wrong.

He is the one that can condemn us, but yet He chooses not to when we turn to Him and confess we are wrong.

So trust in His grace, mercy and love!

reckoned

We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:9b-12, NRSV)

If we hold to a religious system we are trying to work our way in to the good graces of God.

Paul had to tell the Romans, that grace was a gift, not because of anything we had done. It was faith and grace that brought us to a saving relationship with God and not following a set of codes set down as a religious system.

You see Abraham did not receive his acceptance with God because of his circumcision. Abraham received his circumcision as a sign of the righteousness he received from God!

So the physical sign is not what saved Abraham, but the physical sign was a reminder to him and an outward sign of God’s inner work!

Do not be fooled by anyone that tells you that we must trust in the laws and systems of religion. Only God can save you, not following the system or trusting in any thing other than the grace we receive by faith through Jesus Christ!