Words of Welcome

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” That’s what the crowd shouted when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Perhaps they sensed that Jesus was enacting the 118th Psalm as he entered the gates of the city in triumph. Yes, this was the day the Lord had made, and so they rejoiced and were glad in it! ( Mk. 11:1-11 ) The Psalmist declares: “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” We’ve been invited to join Jesus in entering those gates so we can give thanks to God whose steadfast love endures forever. Palm Sunday serves as a transition point between the season of Lent and Holy Week. The opening lines of the 118th Psalm serve as a perfect closure to our Lenten emphasis on the covenants God made with the people of Israel. That is because God’s steadfast love is the foundation for these covenants.  The Hebrew word that is translated here as “steadfast love” is chesed. This is a powerful word ...

Psalm 111 “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, who rules all creation. O my soul, worship the wellspring of health and salvation. All ye who hear, now to God’s temple draw near. Join me in glad adoration.”  With this hymn, we lift up praise to God our creator who is the “wellspring of health and salvation.” We celebrate the one who “o’er all things so wondrously reigneth.” We do this in a time of pandemic when we might feel more like singing a lament than a song of praise. Nevertheless, we hear the call to sing praise to God in this word from Psalm 111 .  The psalm begins with a “Hallelujah” and concludes with a declaration that God’s “praise endures forever.” This song of praise invites us to give thanks to God with our whole heart because “great are the works of the Lord.” Scott Hoezee captures the feel of this Psalm when he writes: Psalm 111 is a shook-up bottle of champagne when the cork flies off: it is effervescent, effusive, and thus it is delightfully over th...

  Psalm 148 The joyous strains of the angel voices singing praise to God can be heard echoing from the heavens and across the mountains. They invite us to join in singing  “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!” Yes, “Glory to God in the Highest!” And as Isaiah declared: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness” ( Is. 61:10 ). Let us, therefore, join this joyous chorus that brings together the voices of heaven and earth and all that dwells within them, in shouting “Praise the Lord!” Or, if you prefer the Hebrew, we can shout “Hallelujah!”   This morning we gather on the third day of Christmas, which means our true loves should give us “three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!” That means there are still nine more days of Christmas before the season closes on January 6, the Day of Epiphany. January 6 is the day western C...

Isaiah 55:10-13 You know the theme song from the Sound of Music:         The hills are alive with the sound of music; With songs they have sung for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with the sound of music.          My heart wants to sing ev'ry song it hears. These words may create a certain picture in our minds of Julie Andrews running across a mountain meadow in the Austrian Alps, singing to her heart’s content. But she has nothing on the prophet we know as Second Isaiah.  Isaiah joyfully declares to a group of exiles:    “For you shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands” (Is. 55: 12).  When you hear these words from the prophet do you catch a vision of joy and peace? Do you hear a song of joy and peace spreading across the mountains and through the trees? ...

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...

Mount Shasta from South Gate Meados Psalm 148 “Praise the Lord from the heavens!”  “Praise the Lord from the earth!”  “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.” (Ps. 148: 1, 7, 13).  With these words, the Psalmist calls us to join together in worship as we continue the Christmas journey on this last Sunday of the year and decade. During this Christmas season, we encounter Emmanuel, the child born in Bethlehem, who reveals the message of the incarnation that “God is with us.”  In this celebration, we’re reminded, as Gregory of Nazianzus puts it, in him “the heavenly one is now earthly.” Because “Christ is in the flesh, exult with trembling and joy” [ Festal Orations , p. 61]. We began our service singing “All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing; Alleluia, Alleluia!” This hymn is a paraphrase of  Saint Francis’ “Canticle of the Sun,” which is i...

Vincent Van Gogh, "Sheaves of Wheat" Psalm 126 I took the sermon title from an old gospel song written by the nineteenth-century Disciples’ “singing evangelist” Knowles Shaw . While the song isn’t in our hymnals, it pops up regularly in popular culture. You might have heard versions of it in episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Batman, and especially the Simpsons. It’s even been featured in films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . For some reason it appeals to the popular mind, even if Mainline Protestants rarely sing it. That goes for Disciples, because even though Shaw was a Disciple, the last Disciple hymnal that includes it was published in 1953! This song is based on the sixth verse of Psalm 126 , though the version of the Psalm we shared this morning lacks the words “bringing in the sheaves.” But, if you go to the King James Version you’ll find the words that inspired Knowles Shaw to write this song.  “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious see...

Psalm 34:1-8 Taste and see that the Lord is good! Taste and sight are two of the senses that help make life what it is. For instance, when we sit down to a meal, we take in the smell, the sight, and then the taste. It might be sweet or savory. Some like the sweetness of cake and others like the savoriness of chips. Some like kale and others don’t. So, when it comes to taste, we’re all different.  If you want to know more about such things, I suggest watching episodes of Good Eats with Alton Brown. He makes a big deal about how our taste buds work. He likes to illustrate his message, since the viewer can’t smell or taste the food he is demonstrating. He might show a chart of the tongue, pointing out the  different sensory areas found on the tongue. There is sweet, salty, savory, sour, and even bitter. Yes, there is a sensor in our tongues that looks for bitterness.

Psalm 8 Homiletical theory suggests that the genre of a text should determine how it is preached. When it comes to the Psalms that bit of advice poses a problem for me.  Since I’m not a poet, trying to write a poetic sermon might not work all that well. But, even if you’re not a poet, it is good to regularly visit the Psalms. That’s because they speak powerfully about God and God’s creation. So, in the coming weeks most of my sermons will draw from the Psalms. However, I do want to put your minds at ease. I won’t be writing any bad poetry to share with you!   The Sunday after Pentecost is known as Trinity Sunday. It’s on this day in the church year that we focus our attention on the nature of God. From a theological point of view, the doctrine of the Trinity is a good reminder that God transcends our attempts to define God’s nature. When we look to the Psalms for guidance on such matters there is a Latin phrase that captures the essence of this:  Lex orandi, lex ...

Psalm 148 Just a few days ago many of us opened presents that were laid out under a tree or perhaps hanging in a stocking.  So, here’s my question – when you were opening gifts did you show proper gratitude?  Were you exuberant in your declarations or did you mumble a word of thanks, even as you were thinking – “I'm not sure what to do with this sweater? There is a reason why it’s easier to give a gift card than pick out a gift.  Even if you have a list, you could come home with the wrong thing, and that doesn’t lead to much happiness on the part of the recipient!   Parents often require their children to say thank you for gifts received.  Call Grandma, we tell them, and tell her how much you love that sweater she knitted for you.  You know, the sweater you wouldn’t be caught dead wearing outside your bedroom.  But whether you liked the gift or not you have to muster enough enthusiasm to thank the giver.  Saying thanks for gifts s...

Psalm 100 The news is bad. Jobs are being lost, homes foreclosed, there are wars on two fronts – of course gas prices have gone down. Things have gotten so bad that this might be a good year to cancel Thanksgiving. I mean, how do you give thanks when the world seems to be crumbling in around you? And yet, giving thanks is something we should do only when the news is good? Whether or not we feel in the Thanksgiving mood, the holiday is upon us and we’re being asked to give thanks. The truth is, if we’re willing to pay attention to our lives, I expect that every day produces something for which we can give thanks. Consider this statement by Jimmy Carter: When we wake up in the morning, when we meet a friend, when someone lends us a hand, when one of our children or grandchildren expresses love, when we go to a job that is gratifying, when an unanticipated opportunity arises, when we see a beautiful sky, or when we have any kind of exciting experience -- all of these are...