Worship in the Worst: Of, “Worth-Its”, and “Write-Offs”.

 October 12 2025

Psalm 118

         I like to watch NFL games any chance I get, and its expected that during the halftime shows often there is usually a feel-good story involving the players. A recurring theme to these stories is how players who have been written off by one team becomes known as a player who is worth it, worth what that player has always they were worth. Its hard for us Browns fans to watch as Baker Mayfield, once the famed quarterback of the Browns offense who nonetheless was written off, is now setting records and saving his team week after week down in Tampa. Sam Darnold, now the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, was also written off by multiple teams but now has lit a fire under his team. 

         Now, it is easy to understand why stories about players who have been written off over and over but who now are being paid what they’re worth are so beloved by even those who aren’t sports fans because, you see, this is a universal story. Almost everyone has been judged unworthy by someone else, and written off. We all know how bad that hurts. We all probably know the indignation of being snubbed by someone, finding ourselves being somebody who is just not worth the other persons attention.These are the kinds of experiences that get under our skin. When we think of the worst this world has to offer, being written off is perhaps the worst of these because this wrong is one we can become fixated on until it takes on a life of its own. So it should come as no surprise that this worst experience, this being written off by someone, can certainly end up affecting our worship of God, who is always worth everything.

         Well, this very common experience of being written off, is, I believe, the key to unlocking the mystery found in the last Psalm is this series, Psalm 118. Now, much this song is a merely a wrap up of what we have previously heard in the earlier Psalms in this series. You see, on the night of Passover, as part of their worship, families would sing six songs which told the story of their humble beginnings as slaves and the wonder of the God who saved them. As expected, this last song, the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm, summarizes the lessons of this wilderness wanderings, yet it goes further, for here, in the last part of this last song, we discover the purpose God has for those who are his people. God is taking the cornerstone once rejected and and making this stone to be once more the very foundation of our life together. Just what this cornerstone is will become clear as we listen to this song.

With all of this in mind, we begin to take a look at the one-hundred and eighteenth Psalm. For the people of Israel, this song was one of the most beloved of all the Psalms. Those who sang this song at Passover would have thought nothing of it that they had sung this song twice in the course of the week. You see, the, “Hosannas”, sung by the crowds when Jesus entered into Jerusalem were merely the last stanzas of this one-hundred and eighteenth Psalm. These, “Hosannas”, are a cry, an earnest plea, for God to intervene and save us. This was their hope when Jesus came to town. Yet, if they would have understood this song I believe that would have realized the answer to their prayer was already there upon their lips. 

So, we should wonder just how God will save us and just what is it that God is saving us from. Perhaps the answer will be found in this thumbnail sketch of the wilderness journey that we find in the early stanzas of this song.  Well, the song begins with a celebration of the name of God. This is to cause us to recall that the first mention of the name of our God occurred after Israel put God to the test, when they failed to trust his promise of faithfulness to them. Yet, even though God suffered the indignation of having his very reputation called into question by the very people he had redeemed from slavery, God did not write them off. No, instead, God gave the very people who had shamed him, water out of a rock so that they might have life. 

You see, the failures of the people of God are important for in these times, the unchanging character of God is discovered. Through it all, our God is always found to be a God of steadfast love and faithfulness. In the stories of the wilderness journey, our God is always found to be a God who is steadfast, standing fast with us; loving us; and, always being faithful to us. This character of God is contrasted by the people of God who failed to have faith in him time and time again. Yet, God never would write them off; no, in every circumstance God found his people to be worth suffering for.

Well, as we look at this song we begin to realize that the clue to how this song is structured is found in the reference to the, “house of Aaron”. You might recall that Aaron is the high priest who spoke his blessing over the people so that they might bear the name of God. So this calls us to pay attention and discover this blessing interwoven throughout this song. Well, in the fifth verse, we find the songwriter taking a long, look back. He states that God had heard the cries of his people and has set them in, “…in a broad place.” When we hear of them now being in a, “broad place”, we are reminded of the first song sung this night of Passover. There the people of God were found to be in a narrow place, a tight spot, unable to go forward or back, as they were slaves down in Egypt. Now, in this last song, the people remember that their life has changed all because, in their time of affliction, God stepped into this situation taking upon himself the very affliction of his people. So, for a nation of slaves, people so easy to write off, God instead finds them worth stepping into their situation in order to save them. This is the Passover story,  a story that begins when God steps into our impossible situation, a situation of death, and he makes a way through death, the death of a lamb, so that his people might have a life beyond death. This is what is meant when the voice of Aaron says to us, ‘The Lord bless you”, 

Well, the song continues and in the eighth through the thirteenth verses, the song reminds us of how it is better to take refuge in God, than to trust in man. The reason for this confidence in God is that when the people of God were surrounded by their the enemies, they were able to cut them off by relying upon the name of their God. As the song exclaims, “When the enemy pushed hard against us, when the people of God began to falter, it was the Lord who was their help.” So, the people of God remembered how throughout their journey in the wilderness it was always God who guarded and protected his people. This is the truth Aaron spoke of when he said over the people of God, ‘The Lord keep you”.

         Well, as the one-hundred and eighteenth Psalm goes on, the songwriter calls us to remember the victory God won for his people when he parted the Red Sea and how they escaped from the Egyptian army.  You see, in the fourteenth verse, we hear Moses standing on the far side of the Red Sea, singing his song of triumph “…the Lord is my strength, and my song: he has become my salvation.” Yes, how wonderful to know that the God who is our strength and our song has now saved us when we were found in desperate straits. This is why the psalmist cries out, “Glad are the songs of salvation found in the tents of the righteous! The Lord has done his work with great power!” Now the psalmist knows that because of the great power of God to fight their battles, the people of God, “…shall not die, no, they shall live so that they might recount the deeds of the Lord.” Again, as they retold these stories of victory, they knew that  they did so only because God stands with them and fights for them. You see, this is just what Aaron is saying to us when he tells us, “The Lord be gracious unto you”. 

         Well, so far, this song is simply giving us a review of what has been sung about over the course of this Passover evening. Yet, here, in the eighteenth verse, the songwriter reveals a new understanding about God. You see, it is here where we hear of how God used those difficult days wandering about in the wilderness as the means to discipline us severely. Here we can sense the same train of thought found in the fifth verse of the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, where we are told,  “Know then in your heart, that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” So, this discipline of God is done for the same reason that a loving father teaches their children. This is what is told to us in the third verse of this eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, that our Father God wants us to learn that the words he speaks to us are to be considered our very source of life. Through out the wilderness ways, Father God told his children, “I promise to always be faithful to you even when you continue to fail me.” It is as if our Father is whispering in our ears, “You my child, you are worth it”.  Our good Father simply refuses to consider us to be a write off. No, our Father is able to use our failures to teach us to rely upon his faithfulness, So, it only makes sense that our hearts find our Father God to be worth everything to us. This is why we are able to worship God in the very worst of what we are going through.

Well, when we know God as being our Heavenly Father, this gives us a clue to figuring out what the song means when it tells us, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” This stone, so strong, so straight and perfect is found to be, strangely rejected by those only called the, “builders”.. How very odd that the very best stone, one that is the ideal cornerstone, is found there on the scrap heap. We are right to wonder just why would something considered to be the very best, in one breath, be in the very next breath, so roundly rejected? 

         Well,  a clue that proves helpful in solving this mystery is found by understanding that in the Hebrew train of thought, the idea of building is often associated with family. The Hebrew words used for son and daughter both derive from the Hebrew word used for building. Perhaps, then, it is not a leap to believe that what is being built is a family whose Father is almighty God. So the cornerstone, the stone which holds everything together, what if this is the most important aspect of family life together? It is this most critical aspect of family life that those building families have rejected. To figure out just what this cornerstone might be, we find that the teachings of Jesus are of great benefit. At the end of the fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus asks us, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you receive? Don’t those farthest from God do the very same thing? I mean, if you greet only those who love you, you really aren’t doing anything different from anyone else, are you? I mean, isn’t this just the way the people of the world do things?” You see, Jesus is telling us that the families of the world are constructed on the premise that some people are worth the effort and those who aren’t can be easily written off. The rule is, show some love or hit the road. What Jesus is saying to us then is that God expects more from us than this. The standard, the cornerstone of this family God is building is the same standard that God has for each one of us. The family of God is built on the words our Father continues to whisper to us, “My child, you are worth it”. Our Father refuses to write anyone off. So, it just figures, as the Father finds everyone to be worth it, then we too are to learn these words, and say to one another, “My child, you are worth it.” 

Now, when we understand that the our life as the family of God is built upon these words, then it makes sense that people reject such a notion. You see, all of us want to reserve the right to write people off. We want to tell people that they have messed up one too many times so out you go. We all just want to love only those with whom we are absolutely certain will love us in the same measure. The problem with such thinking is that it is not much of a leap from writing people off to hating them. Hatred, throughout the Bible is seen as a dangerous place for us because hatred can spiral out of control so that we end up having a burning desire for revenge. One only has to think of the story of Cain and Able found in the fourth chapter of Genesis. There, when God asks Cain where his brother Able is, Cain tells God,  “Am I my brother’s keeper?”,  Clearly, Cain had easily written off his brother Able. So it should be no surprise that Cain would end up hating his brother Able, and that such hatred would lead Cain to seek vengeance against Able, killing him with a rock. 

What most people are not aware of is that seeking revenge is an addiction much like an addiction to a drug. In a book entitled, “The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction”, the author, James Kimmel, writes that revenge is sought after when we experience real or imagined grievances-perceptions of mistreatment, injustice, humiliation, shame, betrayal, you know, when people write us off. The result is that we seek revenge against a person who has hurt us. Now what is most interesting is that scientists have found that seeking revenge activates the very same circuitry in our brains associated with addiction. So seeking revenge just leaves us desiring to retaliate even more, so that we become consumed by the very hatred that rises up in us when people choose to write us off. The bottom line is that when we become addicted to revenge then we are no longer able to worship God. You see, when revenge consumes us then there will be nothing left with which to serve God who expects us to serve him with our whole self. In the end, God is the one who gets written off instead of being found to be worth it all.

          So, the reason we must find all people worth it, worth putting up with when they fail us, worth offering the gift of forgiveness to them, is that unless we find them worth it, then, in the end, we will no longer find God worth it. The Psalm tells us that we can only enter through the gates of righteousness when our Father’s words, “My child, you are worth it”, are the words we speak to everyone. Only then are we able to enter and stand before the face of God. The righteous are those who those who know that all people are worth it, because their Father God, has taught them these words.  God speaks these words without any expectation of love in return, and so should we. So, it is our worship of God which keeps us from being the worst to others, writing others off as those we find to be simply not worth it. You see, if God is worthy then all people must be found worthy, for if God does not write us off in our failures then we too cannot write anyone off for their failure to love us. This is the Word of the cross, the very place where our Father speaks to us, “My child, you are worth this”. Yet the breaking of the body of Jesus and the shedding of his blood is not just for us but this word is for everyone.Now all can be certain that God will never write them off. So, when we desire to write someone off, we must ask ourselves, is God worth it? Do we find God worth it all, worth even finding the next person worth it all? I pray that that our worship of our Father keeps others from experiencing the worst from us. Amen!

         

          

Worship In the Worst: Withstanding a World at War

 October 5 2025

Psalm 117

         You may have not been aware of this but there was a rumor floating around that the Rapture was going to happen on September 25^th. It turned out to be more of a rupture instead of a Rapture because it turned out to be a big bust. Of course I couldn’t help but think of the end days, and scriptures like Matthew 24, the sixth through the eighth verses, where Jesus tells his disciples, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but do not be alarmed for this must take place, yet even still, this is not the end.” What Jesus tells us is a fairly evident fact, that even here some 2000 years later we are indeed a world at war. If you go to the website, “Our World in Data”, and find the section on, ‘War and Peace’, you discover this very truth.  I mean, did you know that since the year, 1800, over 37 million people have died as a result of war? It goes on to say that it has been centuries since the world has had just one single year when there has not been not some sort of armed conflict between nations. Perhaps the most alarming data found here is that every year there are, on average, 150 armed conflicts around the world. So, yes, Jesus we agree with you, for we do hear of wars and rumors of wars. Now, if it is true, as General Sherman was once quoted as saying, “War is Hell”, then for many people around the globe they are experiencing hell right here on earth. As we consider in these series of messages, “Worship in the Worst”, we must wonder just how does our worship of God witness to a world where so many people are experiencing war, one the very worst of human experiences? 

         An answer to the question of how we, as God’s people, can witness to a world of wars and rumors of wars, is as Jesus tells us, we are “…to see that we are not alarmed”. So, I have to ask, just how are we doing at not being alarmed while we live in a world at war? Well, there is a very important reason why Jesus gives what seems to be an impossible order. You see, it is here at the beginning of the fourth chapter of James, that you find a very good reason why we are to be people who are not alarmed all the while living in a world at war. James writes, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”. The answer James gives is this, “…your passions are at war within you.” James goes on to explain, “You desire and can’t obtain, so you murder. You covet and cannot have what you desire, so you fight and quarrel. The reason you do not have is that you do not ask God for what you need. You do not ask God for what you need because when you do ask you do not receive what you have asked for. You have never stopped to consider that the reason why you have not received what you ask for is that you only ask for what fuels your passions; your wrong motives are so very evident. You are people who are trying to be a two-timer in your relationship with God. You are trying to keep your lover, the world, on the side all the while thinking you can still have a relationship with God. Do you not know that if you are a being all chummy with the world then you are, in that moment, making God your enemy!” You see, when one’s passions are at war in their heart then they will end up having a heart with a passion for war. So instead of having a heart that is contented with what the Lord provides, people will instead covet what they do not have. The burning desire to obtain what one does not have leads people to use and abuse others to get what they want. So when Jesus says for us to be, “not alarmed”, he is telling us to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the answer. The answer is, as Jesus says, for us to to not be alarmed for we are to have hearts at peace because there is no longer a war waging inside of our hearts. 

         You see, if we are to have peace in this world at war then our hearts must no longer be full of passions at war within them. This is what  James gives as the answer to our restlessness, found later in that same fourth chapter, “…purify your hearts, you double-hearted.” James is saying that we can indeed live in a state of rest; all that is necessary is for us to have a  heart healed of what is tearing it apart. This means that our hearts must be brought back to a state of absolute loyalty to God.  No longer are we to have a heart that chases after the world while still attempting to be in a relationship with God. No, now is the time to have a heart that desires only one thing, and that one thing is God. This is what it means to have a heart that is purified, a heart that desires only the one, true, living God. 

         Now, we should not be surprised at this this answer, that it is vitally important it is for us to purify our hearts because this answer is found the Psalm we studied last week, the one-hundred and sixteenth Psalm.This Psalm is part of a group of songs sung on the night of Passover. You see, it is here, in the seventh verse of this song that we are told, “Return O, my soul, to your rest and peace for the Lord has made you whole.” Here God calls us to come back to where our hearts are at last at peace, no longer alarmed even in a world at war. God calls us to throw the worry of the wilderness out of our hearts and to once again find God alone worthy of serving him with our life. When our hearts are purified then we are at last able to rest, to have a heart settled in perfect peace. 

Well, when we hear what God expects it sounds like not just a big ask but more like an impossible one. I believe that on our own, getting our hearts brought back to a state of rest and peace is beyond us. What a relief to know that God understands our limitations. This is why God created us to need other people. You see, God expects that we worship him every minute of every day. Yet, once every seven days God  calls us to worship together. This day is set apart given in order for us to experience a Sabbath rest. You see, God’s plan for us to withstand a world at war is for us to stand with each other in our worship of God. So when people ask us, why do you get up on a Sunday morning and gather together with your church family for worship every week, the answer is that we come to have our hearts healed.  We desire to once again be able to say that deep in our souls we have indeed returned to a place of rest. You see our witness is not that we are people who never mess up and in our weak state go out and chase after the world. No, our witness is that we know that in order to withstand the world and its hold on us, we have to stand with others in  our worship of God. As we stand together with each other in our worship of God, the wonder of God, his grace, righteousness and mercy is witnessed here among us. This is the promise we find at the end of the twentieth chapter of Exodus, where we are God says to us, “In all places, where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you, and I will bless you.” Those we stand with in worship cause us to remember that our God is a God whose very name is steadfast love and faithfulness. This is when we know that our God is indeed present with us, giving us the blessing of his presence. This promise from God is to be our most valuable possession, that which is worth everything to us. So as we ponder how we might stand on these promises of God, let us sing together, “Standing on the Promises”, found on page 410.

You see, the reason why we must stand on these promises of God is as the song tells us, here the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, this is just part of living in a world at war. These doubts and fears make us wonder, is God standing with me right now, in this trouble that I am facing? We worry that if we fail to witness to the wonder of God, will God still be found to be standing with us? You see, the worry of the world has a way of, “dissing”, on us. We go from being at ease to being dis-eased. We go from a state of comfort to being in a state of dis-comfort. We are no longer contented for we find ourselves quite dis-contented. Can you see how one can begin to look at their neighbors in such a state and say in their hearts, “I want what they have.” So when this world at war causes a war to stir up in our hearts we desperately need to stand together in our worship of God. Together, our worship empowers us to confess with the the Psalmist “ My soul has returned to a place of rest”.  

         You see, when we worship together, what happens is much like an activity we used to do in youth group called, “Car Wash. In this activity, I would have the youth group form two parallel lines, facing each other. Then, one by one, each person would walk down the line, past their friends and hear them say something positive and uplifting about them as they walked by each person. The negative insults of the world would get washed away by the overwhelming words of love. In a very similar way, when we come to worship together we gather to speak to one another words of love to help to wash away all the ways of the world has dissed on us. This is why when people find themselves dis-eased, we surround them in prayer, so they can once again stand on the promise of God that he is standing with them in their fight. When people are feeling dis-comfort, we comfort each other with the promise that we will be with them in life’s struggles.When we are dis-contented, together we discover a life of contentment when we care for one another, helping each other out when life is tough. 

         You see, it is in this time of gathered worship, that restless, anxious and worried souls like ourselves can come and have our hearts repaired and restored. As we worship, we are made whole once again so that we at last can experience a peace beyond our understanding. We discover that this healing is found when we stand with each other in worship and our brothers and sisters witness to us the truth of the promises of God. Jesus, speaks in the eighteenth chapter of Mathew, that where two or three are gathered, there is where Jesus will be. These two or three are the number of witnesses necessary to speak the truth. So, through their testimony then, we are certain Jesus is present, that God does indeed stand with us. What good news for those who come to worship God yet who also find themselves doubting the promise of God. When those who doubt stand together in worship with those who testify that the presence of God is there with them, they too can find the certainty that God does indeed stand with them as well. The hearts that come to worship divided in their loyalty to God are to find that their hearts have been healed, purified once more. 

When we stand together in worship in order to withstand the world, we experience our salvation. Salvation is when our hearts that were once filled with warring passions at last become purified. This is the power found when we experience the wonder of God, his grace, righteousness, and mercy. These actions of God cause us to worship the name of God, his unchanging character, his steadfast love and faithfulness. This is what the people of God learned as they wandered in the wilderness after they has been set free on the night of Passover. In this series of messages we are looking at the songs which were sung as part of the celebration of Passover. These songs, you see, were the songs sung by Jesus on the worst night of his life, songs that assisted Jesus to worship in his worst. We can know then that these songs can also assist us to worship in our worst. In our scripture for today, the one-hundredth and seventeenth Psalm, we are told that all of the nations are to come and praise our God. All peoples are called to come and glorify the Lord. The reason why the whole world is caught up in worship is that they have left their warring ways behind them because they too have experienced the wonder of God. Now they too know that the name of our God is steadfast love and faithfulness. This is good news for our world but imagine as Jesus and his followers sang this little ditty as part of their Passover celebration. Just what were their thoughts as those who were living under the harsh rule of the Roman Empire. I mean, did God really think for a moment that these occupying forces deserved to know the steadfast love and faithfulness of God? Even though this song is what was sung every year by God’s people, that all people, everywhere, were going to be praising God for his name, his steadfast love and faithfulness, they had to wonder, just how would God fulfill this promise.

         The answer is perhaps, that as the people celebrating Passover would have sung this one-hundred and seventeenth Psalm, they may have remembered how the people of God wandering in the wilderness had come into contact with the people of Moab. This story is found in the twenty third chapter of Numbers. You see, the king of Moab was distressed when he witnessed this great horde coming up out of Egypt and who were now wandering about in the wilderness. So he called a powerful spiritual man to place a curse on these intruders. Well, when this great spiritual man named Balaam went to place a curse upon Israel, God whispered in his ear that the people of God were unable of being cursed for God had blessed them. What becomes apparent through this story of Balaam is that the promises of God upon which we take our stand are founded upon the unchanging nature of our God. So yes, when we proclaim that God has blessed us, we do so knowing that there is nothing that can remove this blessing God has given to us. As the Holy Spirit then overtakes Balaam, we hear the Spirit witness that the people of God are a people who stand apart from the nations. Balaam sees that these are the upright people who stand with the God they know stands with them. As Balaam goes to speak to King Balak, we find that the Spirit comes on him a second time and this time Balaam learns that the living God is not like humans for he does not lie; God does not change his mind. The Holy Spirit also told him that the living God is not a God who requires us to say special words in mysterious ways to figure out what this God is up to. All one needs in order to discover what God is up to is for them to look at his people, this is where the nations can watch God at work. Our God is found in the worship of his people, this is just who our God is. If this is who our God is then this is why we can also know without a doubt we can stand on his promises. When we know this is who our God is, then yes, our God is indeed worthy of our worship. You see, these God inspired speeches spoken there in the wilderness speak to us of a God who can and will bring our world back to a state of flourishing for one day he will be king over all. This is the God who is able to bring the nations to know his name for he is indeed a God of steadfast love and faithfulness. This is our God, the very God we remember, the God who can be found in all places, the God who shows up anytime we stand together in worship in order to withstand a world at war. Amen!

 

Worship In The Worst: Our Witness to His Wonder

 September 28 2025

Psalm 116

         I have always loved history, especially American history. After you study history awhile, you begin to remember the significant dates in the life of America, like December 7 being the attack on Pearl Harbor, or November 11 is the official end of World War 1, or June 6 is when the invasion of Normandy in World War 2. Well, something happened in our American journey on September 15^th that I believe should be just as important to us not just as citizens but also as Christian’s as well. You see, September 15^th in 1963 was a Sunday, a time of worship. On this particular Sunday, just as the congregation was gathering, a bomb ripped through this Baptist church. On a Sunday when the youth of the church were slated to lead the service, four young girls died instantly in the blast. Another young lady survived with severe injuries. Now the reason why I believe we should remember this horrific even is that this terrible tragedy happened right here on American soil in a town called Birmingham, Alabama. You see, this bombing of a house of worship was the response to a court order requiring the end of the segregation of public schools in Alabama. As I pondered on this event, I thought this has to be one of the absolute worst scenarios, to experience such a loss of life in a moment when people were preparing to worship the living God. As I meditated on this some more, God seemed to ask me if such a situation would arise today, would I be willing to go and stand with those who had been attacked? In other words, would I be willing to worship with others in their worst even if in doing so could result in death? This is not as an unusual question as it sounds, for if you follow the outcome of this church bombing you will find that this tragedy led to a series of marches held in 1965, from Selma to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama. As they were preparing for the second of these walks, the organizer of them, Martin Luther King, put out a nation wide plea for clergy and citizens to join the marchers in this peaceful demonstration calling for change. The call resulted in people from all across America going to Alabama to march alongside those who were not even safe when they went to worship. One of the pastors who marched on the second march, James Reeb, was beaten so severely that he lost his life. As a pastor, I cannot but help but wonder, would I would have the courage to do what this pastor felt called to do.

         As it turns out, our worship of God is to create in us a heart of courage. This is what we will discover in this segment of this message series called, “Worship In Our Worst”. To help us to understand how our hearts might be strengthened we will look at the one-hundred and sixteenth Psalm. This Psalm is one of the six songs that would have been sung by the people of Israel on the night they celebrated Passover. As their families gathered around their tables, eating roasted lamb and unleavened bread, they would have sung these Psalms beginning with the one-hundred and thirteenth Psalm and finishing with the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm. As we  follow these songs along, we find that they are taking us on a journey through the wilderness, a journey which began on that fateful night called Passover. Passover is when the people of Israel ate their roasted lamb and unleavened bread with their sandals on their feet and their staff in their hands, waiting with anticipation of at last being free. In their freedom, they were to find God alone worth serving with this new life he had given to them. The people of God are to say, “Yes, God is indeed worthy”. God desires that we also know that he is worthy not just when life is all sunshine and smiles but also in the worry of the wilderness. You know, those times when worry consumes us and threatens to drown out our worship. The truth is that God is always worthy of serving because God does not change, there is no shadow of turning with our Heavenly Father as James so aptly put it in the first chapter of his letter. The character of God, his very reputation on which he stakes his good name, is that he is and always will be, a God of steadfast love and faithfulness. We experience this love of God as we take into our hands the life he gives to us. His faithfulness is found as day by day as our living God never ceases to give us evermore life. 

          So, those who know God as being a God of the steadfast love and faithfulness are to find God worthy of giving their very life in service to him. God desires that we might bear his name, carrying his steadfast love and faithfulness out to those who desperately in need of knowing that God cares deeply for them. God places his name upon us through the blessing of Aaron. In the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers, God tells Aaron, the High Priest, to place the following blessing over the people of Israel: The Lord bless you, and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord rejoice in your presence. And give you peace. Through this blessing, the name of God is placed upon the people. 

We bear the name of God when we follow his lead, being people with the same character as the God that they worship, those who love others with steadfast love and faithfulness. We bear his name when we go to the place of human affliction and through our being present in their affliction, the afflicted can be certain that God is present there too. We bear the name of God when we watch out for the safety of others. We must be always willing to intercede for others in order to protect them from danger for God has done so for us. We bear the name of God when we we are gracious, and we show unmerited favor towards those we know are in need of our generosity. We bear his name and God rejoices for we have gone from serving dead gods doing deeds that only have a dead end, to serving the living God, showing steadfast love and faithfulness to others. We live this life of love not because all of the people that we meet are worth the effort. No, the reason we demonstrate steadfast love and faithfulness is that we are convinced that God is worth whatever it takes to serve him. 

Now, when we bear the name of God, God promises us peace. Now in a world where peace is often difficult to find, this promise is quite astounding, isn’t it? Well, what we must also know is that the peace God promises to us is only given to us when we are willing do something for God. You see, peace is ours when we turn and show God the same steadfast love and faithfulness he first demonstrated to us. This giving of our love to God is what is being sung about in the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm. We hear this right from the first line of the song, “I love the Lord my God…”. The reason given for this outburst of love is that God heard our cries when we so desperately needed mercy. So because God has inclined his ear to us, we are led to respond. Yet we should want to know, just how do we love God? The answer the songwriter gives to us is that we call on God for as long as we live. Right here is the answer as to how we are to give steadfast love and faithfulness to God. We demonstrate our steadfast love  to God when we cry out to God. Our faithfulness to God is demonstrated when we promise to continue to call upon God for the duration of our life. 

         You see, as the songwriter goes on to explain, our love for God is discovered in a moment when we come face to face with death. As the song so vividly sings of that moment, here in this time when death has caught us in its trap, when the grave has begun to pull us away from the living, when we have suffered distress and anguish, this is when, with no other options left, we decide to call on God. You see, in our worst, the way we show our love to God is to find him worthy of our trust. We must have certainty that it is only by trusting solely in the name of God, his unchanging character, only then will we find deliverance in this moment. So when we cry out, “O, Lord, I pray, deliver my soul.”, what God hears is, “I love you”. 

Yet, we might wonder, just how can we have absolute certainty that when we turn to God that God is going to deliver. Here the songwriter chooses three very important aspects about God that provide a foundation for our trust. These actions of God are what might be called the wonder of God because they cause us to be in awe of our God. The first of these actions is that God is gracious. What does it mean for God to be gracious? Well, at the beginning of the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul gives us one of the best images of grace. Grace, Paul explains, is our God-given place to stand. We are assured a place in this world and this place is right next to God. We are also told in the eighth verse of that chapter that God loves us because he chooses to stand with us. So grace is God’s decision that together we will take our stand against the world. When we understand grace in this way, isn’t it right for us to be in awe and wonder of our God? Yet this grace is not just for us, alone, because we are told that God is also righteous. This means that while God may show us his favor he, nonetheless, does not play favorites; anyone is someone who can stand with God. Again, when we know that God is willing to stand with everyone, how can we not be filled with awe and wonder? Yet God is not finished  because the Psalm also tells us that our God is merciful. The God who stands with everyone is a God who seeks always to bring more life never condemnation and death. This should absolutely cause us to be amazed and filled with wonder at what only our living God can do! So it is this grace, righteousness, and mercy of our God, this is what we might call the very wonder of God. This wonder of God  is what our lives are to witness to. You see the songwriter rejoices because they know of the wonder of God.  They are certain that the living God is the God who stands with those who cannot help themselves. Isn’t this wonder-filled news? Our experience with God should always fill us with the wonder of God. 

Now all that God asks of us is this: Be a witnesses to His wonder. Tell others about the God who is willing to save the desperate. We are to live a life that proves to the world that our God is a God of wonder because we stand in wonder of  his grace, his righteous and his never failing mercy. We are witnesses that when we needed God, God showed up, wonder of wonders. When this is our witness then as the songwriter sings, there in his soul, in the very depth of his being, he has found a state of rest, a peace like a river flowing within him even in the worst of life experiences. This is good lead in for us to sing, “It Is Well With My Soul”, on page 705 of your hymnal. 

When you sang the words of this hymn did you hear that the very reason we are able to endure those times when Satan buffets us, those times when trials come, is that Christ has regarded our helpless estate and has shed his own blood for our souls. Here this hymn speaks so wonderfully of the grace, the righteousness and mercy of God. This is what gives us the certainty to say, “It is Well with My Soul”, even in the worst. So we can join with the witness of the writer of this Psalm that the Lord has indeed dealt abundantly or bountifully to us. What the writer is saying to us here is that the Lord has brought our hearts back to a state of wholeness. You see, when we experience the worst life has to offer, our hearts are torn in their loyalty to God. Right then when our hearts languish is when we experience the wonder of God. Here in our worst, the grace, righteousness and mercy of God are given to us without measure. We become a witness to the wonder of God, the very wonder that has made our hearts whole once more.

         The importance of having a wholehearted love for the God who loves us is found in a story from the time of the wilderness wanderings. This should cone as no surprise because these Psalms sung on the night of Passover are a retelling of the journey of God’s people to the promised land. If you listen carefully to this one-hundred and sixteenth Psalm you can hear  an echo of the rebellion of God’s people in the wilderness. The full account of this story is found in the thirteenth chapter of the book of Numbers. There we find the story of when God told Moses to send spies from the wilderness to go and scout out the Promised Land. Well, after forty days, most of the spies return with tales of a land that to them was a good place to die and not much else. They told of how this land was filled with giants and fierce enemies, a land that devours all those who try and dwell there. Hearing such gruesome accounts, of course the people became terrified. They wanted nothing more than to turn around and head back to Egypt. Well, it was at this point, when all appeared lost, that one, lone, voice piped up. This voice told a different story. The voice was that of Joshua. He too had spied the very same land yet he had seen a land that was exceedingly good. Joshua had also known the wonder of the Lord, and he witnessed to this wonder. Joshua was strong and courageous because he never forgot that God stands with us. Joshua was certain that God’s people could absolutely count on God to bring them into this good land which flows with milk and honey. So Joshua urged his people to not fear what opposed them for these enemies would be the ones consumed. You see, it was the people living in the Promised Land, these are the ones who should be frightened for they had nothing to protect them. So can you see how Joshua witnessed to the the wonder of God? He told his people to take heart, there simply was no reason for the people of God to fear for God stands with them.

 Well, after Joshua witnessed to the wonder of God, God right on cue,  enters into their midst. He is rightfully angry with his people, because as God tells Moses, their eyes had witnessed the wonder of God ten times as God performed miracle after miracle. Ten times they had watched God work wonders yet they still worried.  So God rightfully had enough of them. As the Psalmist wrote of this situation, “I said in my alarm, all men are liars.” You see, when the people of God refused to witness to the wonders of God then they did not speak the truth about God and they failed to love God. So God told this generation that they would never enter into the Promised Land, the place the ninety fifth Psalm, describes as a place of rest and peace. 

As Jesus sang the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm as part of his Passover celebration before his death, I wonder if this song is what led Jesus to tell his friends around the table, “Peace is what I leave with you; my peace I give to you” How could Jesus speak of peace knowing he would soon be facing his very death? The answer is found at the end of the sixteenth chapter of John, where Jesus tells his friends, “I am not alone for the Father is with me. I tell you this so that in me you might have peace.” You see, it is the wonder of the Father’s presence which never leaves us, this is what we witness to even in our worst, even if the worst is death. This is why we can suffer with others even if doing so puts us in harms way, for even there we can witness to the wonder of our God. We can witness that God stands with all of us and he will bring us safely home. To God be the glory! Amen!

         

Worship in the Worst: My Worship for Your Worst

 September 21 2025

Psalm 115

         The twenty-ninth of August, 2025, marked the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in New Orleans. Most of us still remember how Katrina had first slammed into the Florida coast but then jumped over Florida to land in the Gulf. There Katrina quickly picked up strength from the warm waters. At one point Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane but fortunately it slowed down to only a Category 3 level when it made landfall. Despite it’s power, the biggest issue was not so much sheer destruction but rather the incredible storm surges Katrina created. Some areas had surges over twenty feet high. These surges caused the levee system that protected New Orleans to fail so that over eighty percent of New Orleans was quickly flooded. Over 1300 people in the Delta region died from the affects of this deadly storm. There was also an estimated 125 and 200 billion dollars in damages. This made Katrina one of the deadliest and costliest storm to ever hit the United States.

         Now it should come as no surprise that with a storm creating this much havoc that the government was soon overwhelmed in their ability to bring the substantial relief that the thousands of displaced people sorely needed at this time. Yet all was not lost because it was not long after Katrina subsided that there began a groundswell of activity pouring out, headed south to bring more life to a place where so much life had been lost. In the years that followed the onslaught of Katrina it was estimated that the Salvation Army assisted over a million people who had been displaced. The United Methodist church, for example, mobilized almost 60,000 people to go and aid in the restoration efforts. They fixed and repaired over 20,000 homes destroyed by Katrina. In the United Methodist church alone there was 66 million dollars pledged to bring assistance and relief to those who had experienced such devastating losses. Yet, this was but one denomination’s efforts. There were thousands more churches large and small who packed up there gear and headed south to help the rebuild. My Dad and his friends went to help several times and they even got to experience what Mardi Gras was like in Biloxi, Mississippi.

         Now, when we look back on that horrendous storm it is easy to focus on the death and destruction. Yet, we must not forget that in response to a broken world which brings forth such destruction there is a force which moves those not directly affected to go and to serve in times of need. We should be, I believe, be just as in awe of this force as we are when we stand in awe of the power that we witness in a hurricane. This force which moves people to respond to those who find themselves in the worst is called worship. You see, my worship of God is supposed is to have an affect on you when you find yourself in your worst. And, likewise, your worship is to affect me in my worst. It is in our worst that we are to discover that we do not have to suffer alone because someone, somewhere, has worshiped God. When your worship moves you to serve me in my worst then I find that even there in my worst I too am able to join in the worship of our God, praising him for sending people to serve others in their worst.

         This worshipping with others in their worst is what was witnessed in the aftermath of Katrina. This is also the same truth that we find in a song sung by Jesus and his followers. This song is what we know as being the one-hundred and fifteenth Psalm. In this series of messages, called, “Worship in our Worst”, we are looking at the songs sung by Jesus the night before he was to face the worst day of his life. That night before his crucifixion Jesus and his friends were celebrating a Jewish festival called Passover. This was a night to remember how these once former slaves down in Egypt had become Israel, the people of God. As part of the celebration the people of God sang six songs, what we now call the one-hundred and thirteenth Psalm through the one-hundred and eighteenth Psalm. It was these songs that I believe strengthened Jesus as he faced the worst this world had to offer. So we can follow the lead of Jesus and discover in these songs truths that assist us to worship when we face the worst this world throws at us. Today we come to the third song sung that evening as Jesus and his disciples sat around the table. 

         The one-hundred and fifteenth Psalm begins with a phrase that has been strangely missing from the earlier Psalms sung that evening. This phrase is this, “…steadfast love and faithfulness”. The song writer exclaims that it is not our name which is to receive the glory for only the name of God is worthy of being exalted. The name of God is his very character, this is what we are called to consider as having the utmost worth to us. The reason why the name or character of God is to be worth everything is that our God is a God of, “…steadfast love and faithfulness”. Now the reason why this phrase is so important is that steadfast love and faithfulness is God’s unchanging way of being with us. If you were to read through this entire book called Psalms, you would discover that this way of speaking about God is found everywhere in these songs. We even find this phrase in the first chapter of the gospel of John where we find that grace and truth, the same as steadfast love and faithfulness, this is ours through Jesus the Messiah. 

         It is important for us to realize that when this Psalm now sings of the name of God, it does so because of what was sung about in the previous two songs. We are to ask, just what has happened that we are now absolutely certain that the nature of our God is steadfast love and faithfulness. Well, in the previous song we heard about how God brought forth water from a rock. You see, it was here at this rock that the people of God questioned whether God was with them anymore. They had run out of water, things were getting desperate, the circumstances were yelling in their ear that God was nowhere to be found. Perhaps this God had brought these poor former slaves out into the wilderness in order to kill them all. These are rather disparaging thoughts about the God who had freed them from their slavery, don’t you think? Well, God was not pleased when the worry of his people drowned out their worship. Yet even though they did not find God worthy of their service, he nonetheless caused the rock to spring forth a river of water. Once again, the living God brought forth more life because this is just what a living God does. Jesus tells us this very same truth at the end of the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew when he says that our Heavenly Father makes the sun rise on the evil and the good and he also sends the rain on the just and the unjust. This life we are living is given to us by God regardless of whether we find him worthy to serve or not. This care of every life regardless of a persons relationship with God is what defines the very character of God. We can know God as being a God of steadfast love because he gives life when life is needed. This more life that is given by God is given in the hopes people might find God worthy of their service, willing to give their life  to a God who is worthy of serving. Yet even when we refuse to give our lives to him, God still remains faithful in giving life to us. You see, it is only in our failure to be faithful, only in those moments where we question the very faithfulness of God, this is when God shows up and proves us wrong. It is only when we realize that God gives us life regardless of our faithfulness, only then does the name of God becomes known as being steadfast love and faithfulness. This is why the name of God should be worth everything to us, because the name of God is our very lifeline in every sense of the word. 

         The importance of knowing the incomparable worth found in the name of God is vital when we compare the worship of our living God and the worship of the dead, so called gods. These gods, are as the songwriter tells us, the works of human hands. These dead and lifeless works of our hands cannot speak to us as they do not have a mouth, nor can they watch over us as they have no eyes. These works of our hands have no ears to hear us when we cry and they they have no hands to give us a gentle touch. They can neither walk with us nor talk with us as we go about our day. These are fairly obvious observations. Yet, here is the point the song writer is trying to make: Those who worship these works of their hands will become just like those very works. You see, the danger of not finding God worthy to serve is not that God will stop giving you more life. No, the danger of not finding God worthy to serve is that you will become like whatever you find worthy of your service. If the works of your hands are what you choose to serve then you will be come as dead as those lifeless works. You may have a mouth but you will be unable to speak up on someone else’s behalf. You may indeed have eyes but you will be unable to see someone who stands in need right in front of you. You might have ears yet you will never hear the cry of the hurting who are right beside you. So your hands will not touch another’s hand nor will your feet walk with another through the trials they are facing.They may be cry out in desperation but your voice will be strangely silent. 

Now, this may seem to be a bit much, yet we must ask, could this really be the way of those who refuse to find God worthy of serving? Well, Jesus gives us a parable which indeed proves this point. This story is found at the end of the sixteenth chapter of Luke. There we are told about an extremely wealthy man who dressed in glorious finery and who ate of the finest gourmet food. In contrast to this man, there was at his very front gate, one called Lazarus, who was covered with sores. This man could only get whiffs of the delicious food being consumed right inside this gate while just outside he found himself hungry and alone. Jesus goes on to tell us that even the dogs came and licked this poor mans sores. Think about this; here was a man called Lazarus who was invisible to the eyes of the rich man. The cries of Lazarus were never heard by the ears of the rich man because he had long ago quit listening to what lay outside his gate. No, it was only the dogs who came and cared for Lazarus  him as best they could. Just what does it say when a pack of dogs is more aware of a person needs than you are? It says, obviously, that this very wealthy man had found that only the works of his hands, his wealth, was worthy to be served. Over time he became one who was just as dead as the wealth that he had for so long found worthy of serving. So, it should come as no surprise, I guess, that in the end, this rich man found himself in a place where he was the one who could not be heard or seen as he suffered eternally.

         So, yes, Jesus’s does give us an image which conveys the very truth found here in the one-hundred and fifteenth Psalm. Those who find the works of their hands worthy of their service will in the end, become just as dull and lifeless as those objects they worship. Yet, the song writer does not leave us there for he calls Israel, the very people of God, to come and place their trust in God. As Israel places her trust in God then, just as the idol worshippers eventually discover, the people of Israel will become like the God that they worship.Now, the next two stanzas of this song center around the strange term, the, “house of Aaron”, and the theme of blessing. Here is a good time for us to pause and sing, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, found on page 11 of your hymnals. As we sing, let us consider what it means for God to be for us a fount of blessings. 

As you sang, were you able to hear the song remind us that God blesses us through his grace, by his streams of mercy, through his redeeming love that we are fixed upon and by rescuing us from danger through the giving of his own precious blood. If this is how God blesses us then we should not be surprised that these same blessings are heard in the wilderness experience where Israel was blessed by Aaron. This story is found at the end of the sixth chapter of the book of Numbers. There we find God instructing Moses to speak to Aaron, the high priest along with his house, his sons, that they were to bless the people of Israel by saying to them: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord’s face will light up at the sight of you and he will give you peace.” Then God tells Moses this, ‘In this way so shall they place my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” After we hear this blessing, doesn’t it become clear that the one-hundred and fifteenth Psalm is singing about this wilderness experience? The Psalm sings of the God who is our help and shield, the one who keeps us and rescues us from danger; such is the blessing of God. The Psalm sings that the Lord remembers us when we are weak and broken and in need of grace. So yes, we can proclaim that our God indeed offers us streams of mercy which never ceases and he saves us by his redeeming love; all of this is God’s blessing to us.

         Once we experience the blessing of God then the name of God is said to have been placed upon us. In other words, it should be obvious that we now carry with us the steadfast love and faithfulness of God.You see, we are set free to love because we now trust in God alone to keep us safe. We are to know God as being our shield, the very who covers over our life so that death will not harm us. We also find that we have faith because our Lord is faithful to remember us, always aware that we are fragile beings, easily broken, terribly in need of grace.  As the Psalm sings to us, we are to stand in awe of being given the very favor of God. It is this fear of the Lord that casts out all other fears so a perfect love can now live in us. As we go forth to live out his steadfast love and faithfulness we do so before the very face of God, a face that overflows with joy anytime we show up. Here in the presence of the God who rejoices over us, we cease our striving and discover a peace, a contentment that is ours as we live out the love of God before the face of God. So through this whole experience of God’s blessing, his being our shield, his gracious dealing with us, his rejoicing over us and the peace that is found in his presence, we are transformed into people who have upon them the very name of God, people abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. You see, as we find God worthy of give our very life to serve him alone, we will discover that we are known as being those who bring steadfast love and faithfulness to any person, in any situation, even in the worst this world has to offer like in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane. Our worship will be found to be exactly what is needed in the worst that others face. So we go to the hurting of this world so they might know that the living God has not changed, his steadfast love and faithfulness remain, this is who our God is forever and ever,Amen! Yes, the name of our God does indeed deserve the highest glory even in the lowest of circumstances. So let us go forth in the power of this name so that all people might praise the Lord! Amen!                          

Worship In the Worst: A Worship Louder Than Our Worry

 September 14 2025

Psalm 114

         For whatever reason, Covid seems to be back on my social media feed. It seems that just when those thoughts I have about those days have quieted down, Covid finds away back in. When we consider what are some of the worst times to live through, I would say that most people would say it would be those terrifying days when Covid swept over the world. I mean, most everyone had friends and family who caught the virus and many of us knew those who tragically died from Covid. Some, like myself caught Covid and now we find ourselves with lasting problems that we still deal with today. So when we stop and consider the overwhelming devastation that we lived through, it should come as no surprise, that the biggest toll of Covid was not just physical health but our mental health as well. I recently saw a study by the World Health Organization that was done a couple of years after Covid, and worldwide they found that the prevalence of anxiety and depression went up by 25%. Covid caused the world to be forever frightened of being out of control which is anxiety and the realization that there was nothing we could do to be in control which is the very definition of depression. These are the feelings that have forever scarred our world because of going through this time of Covid.

         Now we all know that you won’t find any mention of Covid in the Bible, but what we do find are scriptures which paint for us vivid images of people whose faced anxiety and depression.These feelings took over and began to control those very same people who felt so out of control. The place where all of this worry is found is called the wilderness in our scriptures. What may surprise us about this wilderness experience is that this is exactly where God leads his people, to the very place where worry abounds. I believe that God does this so that we who listen in on this story will wonder, why would God do such a thing? Just why would God, place his people in a situation where they realized without any doubt that they were no longer in control? I guess when we ask the question the answer seems rather obvious, doesn’t it? God is the one who forever in control, this is what must be learned there in the wilderness.

         Today in this the second of messages concerning our worship in the worst, we are going to take our look at worship one step further, and consider if our worship can stand the test. The test, is this: Is our worship louder than our worry? To help us figure out how it is possible to worship louder than our worries, we are going to listen to a song from the songbook of the people of God called the Psalms. Psalm 114 is part of a collection of six songs that the people of Israel would sing on the night that they celebrated the festival called Passover. Passover, as we may remember is when God shielded his people from the angel of death because they had painted the blood of a lamb upon their doorposts. This terrible night is when the Pharaoh would witness the death of his first born son because of his refusal to submit to the request of God to allow the people of Israel be set free from their slavery. So, Passover was celebrated at the beginning of every year as a way of remembering when their life as a free people became a reality.

         We might also recall that Jesus and his disciples celebrated Passover on the very same night when Jesus was going to be betrayed by one follower, another follower of his would deny even knowing him and the rest of his friends would simply abandon Jesus on the very night he needed them most. Now even though Jesus was well aware of what lay ahead of him, he still was able, on this very night, worship his Father. I believe that the truths found in the six songs that Jesus sang on the worst night of his life anchored his soul so that he could worship even in the worst. 

         As we look at this one-hundred and fourteenth Psalm that was sung by Jesus and his friends, it seems rather straight forward, doesn’t it? This song is continuing the story that began on the night when the people of Israel had been set free by an act of God. In the original wording, we are told that Israel went out from the narrow place. This is how the people of Israel spoke of their time in Egypt, as being caught in a narrow place, a tight spot, unable to go forward or back. This is the same wording found in the ninth verse of the sixty-third chapter of Isaiah, where Isaiah writes that there in that tight spot, their affliction, God was found to be there with them right there in their affliction. In his love,God saved them and in his pity he redeemed them, lifting them up in his arms and carrying them along the way. Here Isaiah reminds us that the God we worship is the living God, the very source of life himself, his life being the life which brings forth more life even in the lowest moments of our life.

         When we know that our God is life always bringing forth more life, then it makes perfect sense that we will find him worthy to receive our life for we know that as we serve him, our life will join with God in bringing forth more life. When we find God worthy of the ultimate price, then it makes sense that our praises will become the sanctuary God dwells in. Did you hear the one-hundred and fourteenth Psalm say that Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his home? This idea is just a repeat of the truth found in the twenty-second Psalm which states that God is seated upon the praises of his people. When we appraise God and find that he is indeed the price of even our very life, then God is pleased to abide with us.

         When this Psalm continues, it sings of how the sea looked at God and fled. This is a reference to a moment when the people of Israel stood in awe of God and rightfully, worshipped him. Of course, I’m referring to the parting of the Red Sea. This experience happened when Pharaoh came to his senses after a period of mourning, and he decided to take his army and chase down Moses and the people of Israel in order to bring them back into slavery. Now, the people of Israel had been led by God to camp right in front of the Red Sea. Well, this is right where the Egyptian army catches up with the people of Israel, a place of understandable worry. The people of Israel could see the Egyptian army bearing down on them from behind. Ahead of them, they saw the sea which to them was about to be their watery grave. So they began to complain, loudly and they grumbled, telling God that it would have been better to be a living slave then to be in the dead in the wilderness. Ever feel that way? Of course, all of us have at one time or another wondered just why God has led us to the situations we find ourselves in. Well, Moses tells the people of God to fear not, to stand firm and see the salvation of God. Then Moses tells them the Lord was going to fight for them, all God’s people had to do is to just shut up and watch God work. 

         So God tells Moses to go forward. When Moses lifts up his staff, the water  separated so that all of the people of God could cross on dry ground. The water became like walls on either side of the people and they went right into the midst of the sea walking on dry ground. Well, the Egyptian army decides to pursue the people of Israel. The army charges into the midst of the sea but when the people of God were safely through the sea, Moses took his staff closed the sea over the Egyptian army burying them in a watery grave. So what began as worry for the people of God ended up being a time of worship instead. Moses could not contain himself. He sang a song of loudest praise, a worship song that influences all other worship songs. One of the most memorable lines Moses sang is this, “The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation.” Moses is singing about his experience with God. He sings of how when all hope was gone, when their strength to keep going began to fade, this is when God came to them and gave them life. So, yes, God became known as their strength and they praised God for his gift of freedom and life with songs of praise. Yet now, standing on the far side of the sea, they knew something more about God. God is now to be known as their salvation. Our living God is the God who is life, a life which brings forth more life and this life given to us by God is a life that is greater than death. One of the greatest moments in the life of the people of God is when they realized that the God who gives us life is the same God who watches over that life to keep it safe. This is why we are told that all of the people sang, the women leading the praises with the sounds of tambourines and with dancing.

         When we understand that hidden here in this one hundred and fourteenth Psalm is the one of God’s greatest victories, the very life of God’s people being snatched out of the jaws of death, we can begin to see how this would affect Jesus and his followers. Jesus knew that in the next few hours, he would have to endure being seized as if he were a criminal, hauled before an unjust court and tried on bogus charges. Jesus would be mocked and slapped, beaten and whipped and a crown of thorns pushed down hard upon his head. He would carry a heavy beam on his bloody shoulders to a place of death where he would be nailed to that beam and hoisted above the ground gasping for breath. Jesus was well aware of all of this as he sat there at the table even if no one else had any clue. Yet, in spite of this, Jesus continued to worship his Father. As the songs that Jesus sung reminded him, his Father is ever faithful to watch over the life of his dear Son, keeping his life safe, just as story of the Red Sea makes so clear.

         Yet, as good as the one hundred and fourteenth Psalm is at reminding us of this high point in the life and worship of God’s people, this song also goes on to sing of what is perhaps the lowest point in the relationship of God and his people. The last stanza of this song says, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.” While most people may not understand this reference, make no mistake, Jesus and his followers were well aware of the tragic event to which this verse points us to. In fact, Jesus would be acutely aware of what this means because this miracle of bringing water out of a rock is the where Jesus found the correct response when he too was tested for forty days in the wilderness.

         The story of God bringing forth water from a rock happened shortly after the people of Israel were rescued at the Red Sea. In the seventeenth chapter of Exodus, we read of how God led his people deep into the heart of the wilderness, where worry began to shout at them so much louder than their worship. You see, God had led these former slaves to a place where there was no water at all to be found, anywhere. Go ahead and place yourself and your family into just such a situation and be honest, how is your anxiety level as you find that all of your canteens are empty. At this moment, be honest, what are you finding to be swelling up in you, overwhelming worry or overwhelming worship? Most of us are familiar with the song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, but have you ever considered how the words of this song hit us different when we are going through a time when our worries seem to be louder than our worship. We are now, going to pause to sing that song. As you sing, listen to how the words of this song help us to worship when our worries prove louder than our worship. Turn now to page 139 in your hymnals and consider the truths this song speaks to us when life is at its worst.

Well, the very truths about God which we just sang about were long forgotten by the people of God as they worried there in the wilderness. For them the faithfulness of God was not great, no, for them, God’s faithfulness was absent. They cried out to Moses saying that since he had gotten them in this mess then he had better get them some water, and do it quick. Such is the voice of worry! It is right here that Moses hits upon the real issue in this situation because he asks the people this: Why do you test the Lord? In other words, the real question on their minds was this, “Is God with us or not? Has the living God abandoned us to death? Yet, we have to ask, do we really need to wonder if the God who has given us life, the God who has kept that life safe, is this God still with us? You see, this is the basis for all worry, this uncertainty of the goodness of our living God. This worry seems to be absent when Jesus was lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, a place Satan would test him. Satan wanted to know, is Jesus really is the Son of God? So Satan, in one of his tests, told Jesus to throw himself off of the highest point of the Temple, some four hundred feet off the ground. Satan wanted to see if the Heavenly Father would indeed keep the foot of Jesus from hitting the ground as is implied in the ninety-first Psalm. Jesus replied to Satan, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Jesus knew very well of this incident where God brought water from the rock, the place where the people of God let their worries become louder than their worship.  Yet Jesus also knew that God inhabits our praises. Jesus understood that if we continue to serve God and worship him alone then God will be found making his home in our worship. You see, our living God remains the same in the best of times and in the worst of times, a God always worthy of offering our lives in service to him. The mountains and the hills are witnessed to be worshipping God, skipping and leaping before the Lord in every circumstance, so why are we not doing the same?

Well, it should come as no surprise that God did indeed have the means to bring forth life in the land where worries abound. We are told that Moses was instructed by God to strike a rock and out of this rock flowed a stream of water, bringing forth life and more life. “Where is God?”, came the question. God answered, “Of course, I am with you, always.” The God who parts the Red Sea is the same God who can bring forth water in the desert. The question remains: Why did the people of God stop praising him there deep in the wilderness? Why was it that their worries spoke louder than their worship?  Why put God to the test when we can instead praise him and know with certainty that he dwells in our worship? The answer to worshiping God in our worst is for us to remember that God is not only our strength, and he is not only our song but our God is indeed our salvation. 

         Jesus did indeed remember the goodness of his Father so that he could worship him even beneath the shadow of the cross. You see, when we hear Jesus cry out from the cross, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”, this is not Jesus overcome by his worry. No, here Jesus is singing praises to his Father for this is the first line of the twenty-second Psalm. This song exclaims that, “….our God is holy, the one who our father’s trusted, and the God who delivered them.” This song Jesus sang is a song of defiance against all worry and anxiety for it praises God. Jesus knew our  praises will be what God will call his home, even if that home is the cross. So Jesus had no need to worry for he never stopped finding his Father worthy of serving him. Jesus offered his life upon the cross so we might never forget that our worship can indeed shout louder than our worries.  God be praised! Amen!

         

Worship in the Worst: Worship Our Living God

 September 7 2025

Psalm 113

         I’ve been through a lot of different job applications over the years but perhaps the strangest job interview I ever had was when I applied at an electrical supply company called State Electric. The manager, Ned, was a very Christian man and he was excited to find out that I was a part-time pastor. Well, as we wrapped up the interview he asked if he could pray and I said that would be great. So I was glad to have a boss who loved Jesus. Well, a year or so into the job, Ned, comes out from his office looking pretty down and he strikes up a conversation with me. He tells me that things were not going well with the store, the numbers were down, sales projections were off, and the state of things was getting to him. Well, I turned to him and said, “Have you prayed about it, Ned? His face turned a shade of red, and he barked, “Well that’s a cavalier attitude!, and he marched back to his office. Now, I had no idea what his blow-up was about. I didn’t even know what it meant to have a cavalier attitude. I had to take to Google to found out that a cavalier attitude meant that I was being rather dismissive of Neds concerns when I asked if he had prayed about his situation. Yet, I really was not being flippant or off-handed in my remarks to Ned when I asked him if he has prayed about what was troubling him. No, I firmly believed, and still do believe that when life is at its worst you can still find ways to worship God, and prayer is a good place to begin doing so. Now, such actions may not immediately provide the answers that one is searching for. Yet, despite this, what worship will do is to is to bring an awareness that God really is with you when it feels like the walls are closing in, and that is what should matter most.

         A good example of the importance of being able to worship in the worst of times is found in the response to the terrible events that happened on September eleventh, 2001. Most of us remember where we were when the first plane hit the World Trade Center tower in New York. The TV coverage played the video non-stop, this horrific scene when the jumbo jet plowed directly into the first skyscraper. While we were attempting to make sense of what had just happened, another jet flew in and hit the second tower. This was the beginning of one of the worst disasters to ever happen on American soil. Almost three thousand people died and thousands were injured in these brutal attacks by Al-Qaddafi terrorists. 

Now, along with these terrible memories of that day, what I also remember about that tragedy is that brought people everywhere to begin singing Amazing Grace. People didn’t turn to the National anthem, even though this was sung as well, but instead our country seemed to find the comfort it desperately needed  when life was at its worst, there in a song about God and his grace shown to even wretches like us. Just what does this song written by John Newton so long ago, speak to us even when life is at its worst? Perhaps it is that when life falls apart the God we so desperately need is the God who offers us this amazing gift called grace. A word from God simply would not do in this instance. No, in the face of such overwhelming death and destruction we needed God to move and act and extend his grace. Here in this sing we remembered that we have a God who welcomes us home to shelter us when our world seemed to be crashing in upon us. With this in mind, we going to pause the message for a few moments and turn to page 343 in our hymnals to sing a few verses of Amazing Grace. As we sing, I want us to focus on the words that we sing. Let us consider just what might have been the thoughts that the songwriter, Issac Watts may have had when he wrote this song. Most importantly just let us wonder just how this song is indeed able to assist us to worship God even in the worst life has to offer.( Sing, “Amazing Grace”. )

So what can we now say that  about this song, Amazing Grace? Just what does it say to us when life is at its worst? Well, it begins by reminding us that when our life was as low as it could get, God still showed up. It was when we were a wretch, or in our day we might say a wreck, this is when God saved us. When we were lost it was God who came and found us. When we were blind, God gave us sight. This gentle, caring way of our God that we simply call his grace, this is what causes us to be in awe of him. Yet this same grace is what relieves our fears when we are afraid. John Newton calls us to consider that God rescuing us from succumbing to the fears that threaten us, this grace, this should be precious to us for this grace has been our assurance from the very moment that we first believed. So when our nation faced this terrible disaster on 9/11, this song, Amazing Grace, brought comfort to our hearts because it reminded us that beyond this death and devastation is a God who saves, the God who relieves us of our overwhelming fear so that we might once again be able to believe and find hope.

This power of a song to speak to people the truths they need to hear in moments when worshiping God is difficult is something that is embedded within our scriptures. The morning stars sang when God brought forth creation and so singing was there in our very beginning. The power of a song is that singing aids our memory. Advertisers know that jingles are not easily forgotten. All I need to do is start singing, “My bologna has a first name…”, and from somewhere deep in our minds out will come the worst, “Its O-S-C-A-R”. When we know the power of a simple tune then it should come as no surprise that the largest book of the Bible, hands down, is the book of Psalms, the song book of God’s people for thousands of years. We, unfortunately no longer know the tunes but we do have the words that had been sung, so at least we know just what should not be forgotten for these are the truths that lead us to worship in our worst.

         These Psalms were the foundation of worship for the people of Israel yet even though people know this they often are surprised that Jesus and his disciples sang these Psalms together. In the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, the thirtieth verse, we are told that it is only after Jesus and his followers had sung a hymn that they then went to the Mount of Olives to pray. Here, on what had to be the worst night of his life, Jesus worshipped his Heavenly Father, first through singing, followed by a time of prayer.

         Now there is evidence to support the belief that the Psalms that were sung during Passover are the one hundred and thirteenth Psalm through to the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm. As we might recall, Passover is what Jesus and his disciples had been celebrating just before they headed out to the Mount of Olives. So as part of their last supper with Jesus, the disciples may have sung, over the course of the evening, these six songs. They would have needed no songbooks for these songs they would have heard and sung along to them when they were but little children. Children were an important aspect of the festival the people of Israel called Passover because this was a night of remembering the fateful night when long ago, God caused the king of Egypt to grant freedom to his slaves, the people of Israel. They were to remember how God instructed his people to gather as families in their homes. They instructed by God to slaughter a lamb and take its blood and paint the doorposts and lintel, marking them out as being God’s people. Then they were to roast the lamb, and prepare themselves to leave Egypt quickly. When evening came, the angel of death came upon the land of Egypt taking every first-born child and first-born animal as well. Yet, the people of God would be spared because the blood of the Lamb made it possible for God to shield his people from this terror. They could indeed say that the angel of death had, “passed over”, them.

         So, the people of Israel were commanded by God to remember this night when they had come up out of Egypt through the grace of God in this celebration called Passover. Over time, the people of Israel added six songs that assisted them in their worship that evening. As Jesus and his disciples gathered around that table that evening, ready to eat the roasted lamb and hear again the story of that night, it was only Jesus who knew what lay ahead for him. Only Jesus knew that this was going to be the worst day of his life. We are right to wonder just how could Jesus share in the worship of that Passover all the while knowing that he was going to be the very Lamb whose blood was shed for the sins of the world? I believe that those songs Jesus sang that evening were an important element of his preparation to offer his life as a ransom for many.

         With all of this in mind, let us imagine ourselves sitting at the table with Jesus and his friends, singing the one hundredth and thirteenth Psalm. They would have sung this song with just as much ease as we do when we sing, “Amazing Grace”. This song begins by declaring that the Lord our God is to be praised! Four times in three short verses the song insists that we must get busy praising God. And just who, is it that is to praising God? The song says that it is the servants of God, this is who is to be praising God. This is an echo of what is heard in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, where we here that the people of God are to serve God and worship him alone. These two ideas, service and worship belong together for to worship God means that we find our service to God worth what ever it might cost us. What is often missed when we speak of praising God is that there is a connection between our praising God and us having something appraised to figure out its value. It may come as a surprise but the word, “praise”, and the word, “price”, come from the same roots. So our praising God is much like an auction where we come before God and say whatever the price, whatever the cost, I am willing to pay the price to serve you alone, O God.

         We are left wondering, then, just why we as the people of God, are to be willing to serve God and instead of receiving anything for our labor we instead are willing to pay whatever the cost for the privilege of working for God, why is this our overwhelming desire? Well, the song continues by asking us, “Who is like the Lord our God? Who is like the One who is seated on high yet who looks down at the skies and the earth? The song asks us to consider the reasons why we have placed such a high value on our relationship with God. What is it about our God that sets him apart from all the rest that we might desire to serve? The song goes on to tell us that what our God does is that he raises the poor from the dust. Our God lifts the needy from the waste heap.In other words, while our God is high above all nations, his glory reaching high above the heavens yet where he is also to be found is with those who are found in the very lowest places a person can find themselves, laying in the dust, discarded in a pile of waste. The prophet Isaiah repeats this very truth in the fifty-seventh chapter, the fifteenth verse, where God says, “I dwell in the high and holy places. Yet, I also can be found with those whose spirits are broken, those of a lowly spirit. I am there to give new life to the spirit of the lowly and to make the hearts of the broken pulse once more with life.” Here we discover the reason why our God is to be appraised to be of great worth to all of us, and that is this: Our God is the living God. Now, yes, that seems to be rather obvious, doesn’t it? Yet, what we need to remember is just why does it matter that we know that our God is a living God, the very source of all life? The reason why it matters is for us to consider life, and as we ponder on life we should realize that what defines life is that life always brings forth more life, pure and simple. So to say that our God is a living God means that he is life, a life which brings forth more life. Jesus even says quite clearly in the sixth chapter of John, that he is the bread of God who came down from heaven to give life to the world. Here again we find the living God reaching down into our world to bring forth more life. You see, just as in the days when this Psalm was written, there are many so called gods which people find worthy of giving the sum total of their life to, yet there just is no possible way for a dead god to bring anyone more life. This is what is insinuated in the last verse of this one hundred and thirteenth Psalm. Our God gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. This just makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean how non-sensical to pray to a dead god to bring forth more life? No, what we find through out scripture are story after story where our living God becomes the living hope for those in search of more life.

         You see, the reason that God makes the lowest of the low have a seat next to the ones who are considered to be great is that life makes us all equals. It is death which gives us the illusion of power, this which is the power of princes. No, the power of living God is not the power which raises up the powerful but instead the power of the living God is the power to bring forth more life. This is the very reason why when we step back to appraise this life we have serving God that we find that our living God is worth receiving our life because we know that life brings forth more life. So as we give our life to God we will find that we have more life just as planting a seed brings forth an abundant harvest. This life our living God gives to us is the life of more, the, “more”, found when all people, princes and paupers alike, are equal and united. This is the beautiful vision held forth in this opening song in the celebration of Passover. As Jesus was preparing himself to worship in the worst life had to offer, these words sung by him affirmed his conviction that giving his life fully over to his living Heavenly Father was worth going through the worst. Jesus sang knowing that life always brings forth more life so to give his life meant that in some way there was going to be absolutely more life. This is the very same hope we find when we sang, Amazing Grace in response to one of our nations worst tragedies. We sang to remember that by God’s grace, beyond this death and destruction, life will go on for we serve a living God whose life brings forth more life. This is why we are willing to set the price of our service to our God as being the gift of our very life.We do so because we are absolutely certain that our giving of our life to our living God can only bring forth more life. God indeed be praised! Amen!