Words of Welcome

Trinity Church, Speyer, Germany Organ pipes Psalm 100 When I was growing up in the Episcopal Church, I regularly encountered  Psalm 100 in our worship services. And we knew the Psalm by its Latin title: Jubilate Deo. While the wording was different at points from the NRSV, the message was the same: “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” Although there are times when we need to be still in the presence of the Lord ( Ps. 46:10 ), there are also times when we need to turn up the volume and let loose before the Lord. It might come in the form of song or it might come in the form of dance. Just remember that David danced before the Lord when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem ( 2 Sam. 6:12-15 ). It’s worth noting that this invitation to make a joyful noise before the Lord goes out to the entire world. But here is the question of the hour: Why should we make a joyful noise before the Lord? After all, we’re living in a difficult moment in history. We hav...

1 Kings 17:8-16 I may have already told you the story of my time at the Pasadena YMCA. It wasn’t the most pleasant of times, and it was the one time in my life when I wasn’t always sure where my next meal would come from. I did lose weight on my "one-meal-a-day" diet, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Still there never was a point in my life where I thought I was really in danger of starving to death, and my experience was nothing compared to what so many in the world go through every day. Back when I was a kid, moms and dads would prod us to eat our spinach or lima beans, or maybe the brussels sprouts, by telling us that starving children living in China or Africa who’d love to eat that wonderful vegetable sitting untouched on our plates and growing ever colder by the minute. Like most children, I would say: "Then let them have it!" I mean, if they wanted it, they could have it. I might feel sorry for them, but that wasn’t going to get me to eat the benighted vegetable....