May 15, 2023 — Psalm 31

“In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame;

  in your righteousness deliver me. Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities, and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away. Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege. I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help. Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.” Psalm 31:1-10, 21-24

“The 31st psalm is a universal psalm of thanks, a psalm of prayer, and a psalm of comfort, all at the same time. It is spoken in the person of Christ and of His saints, who, on account of the Word of God, are plagued their entire lives—inwardly with fears and troubles; outwardly with persecutions, slander, and contempt. Yet they are comforted and delivered by God out of all of them.” (Martin Luther, Reading the Psalms with Luther)

“In you Lord, I seek refuge.” We can never know for certain who wrote these Psalms, but many of them are attributed to King David. And of course, we know that David had his dark days. His affair with the wife of Uriah the Hittite caused him much grief. He lost his child — he lost so much. And yet, if he did write this Psalm, he gives voice to his ultimate relationship with G-d — it is in the Lord that he found refuge. He goes on to say: “Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.”

Often times we believe that we have done too much to be worthy of G-d’s love and grace. We believe that whatever sin we have committed is too much to be forgiven. Again, this is why we read the Psalms — and should pray the Psalms. These are words written by sinners just like us. And it is in their words, we find hope — and strength: “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank You for taking from us that heavy load of our sins which we could not bear, but which You bore in Your own body on the tree, ransoming us from eternal death. Grant us patience and resignation in suffering with You, that we may willingly take up our cross daily and follow You through suffering to glory. Amen.

Pastor Dave

May 14, 2023 — Easter +5A, Acts 17:22-31

“Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,
 ‘For we too are his offspring.’
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

You know, sometimes your best sermon, or your best argument falls upon deaf ears. This is true for Paul, here, in Athens, when he is brought to the Areopagus, in our reading from Acts 17. Perhaps it was his opening line that almost doomed him: he says, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.” Perhaps there is sarcasm in his voice — or perhaps he is just stating the facts that everyone could see in Athens. You see, there may have been as many as 30,000 shrines to gods in the city of Athens. And yet, even within this city that was replete with gods, there was one that stood out for Paul. He found a shrine to “An Unknown god”. Paul says, in essence, “I see how religious you are — that you hedge your bets by erecting a shrine to an unknown god among you.” Tell me my friends, how do you worship something that has no name, no identity, and no image? 

Now I need to emphasize something important to this story of Paul: he is on trial.  This was a dangerous moment for Paul. He was alone, his buddies Timothy and Silas had yet to join him. But what I am amazed about Paul and his sermon here, is that he is not just merely defending himself against this court. He is taking the time to use his rhetorical skills to challenge the Greek worldview. So, is he insulting his audience? That would seem too dangerous. But he doesn’t pause often to allow the court to make any comment — he continues on “So let me tell you about this god you do not know, but who I know so well.” In the art of persuasive speech, Paul is using an image many of the Athenians could relate to — they lived in the presence of so many gods. So Paul launches his defense from a place they can relate — even if they do note a hint of sarcasm. 

The G-d that Paul knows is, unbeknownst to them, the “unknown god” among them. This G-d is not unknown — it is the G-d who made the world and everything in it. It is the Lord of heaven and earth — and this G-d does not need a shrine, a statue, or even a temple. The G-d who created everything needs nothing that man has to offer — nothing man could build — nothing. Imagine being in the tribunal listening to Paul —- here in the Areopagus. These Greeks have surrounded themselves with shrines, statues, temples built to appease gods of all kinds. In fact, the shrine to an “unknown god” is the result of an unusual ritual — setting loose hungry sheep to see where they might lie down in the presence of an invisible god. There those sheep were sacrificed to a god that may not have been known to these people — but sacrificed none-the-less — hoping to appease that god so that an outbreak of the plague might be abated. And apparently it worked — so this shrine continues to stand in the presence of the Athenians. And now this Israelite, Paul, although a Roman citizen, this outsider is telling them that there is only “One G-d” — and that G-d that Paul knows is the one THEY call unknown. Now, would they listen to Paul? 

Paul reaches his dramatic conclusion — Paul says: “In this G-d I am preaching to you about, in this G-d who created all things, heaven and earth, the seasons — in this G-d we live, move and have our being.” And then to make his point, he quotes one of the best known and beloved poems of the Athenians: “we live, move, and have our being, or as even some of your poets claim “For we too are his offspring”.  The righteousness of man will be judged through Jesus Christ, the offspring of our One G-d who was raised from the dead. This G-d, the creator of all things, has been made known to us through Jesus, whom G-d raised from the dead. 

Jesus is the resurrection, the incarnation of G-d — the one who will judge all people. Paul has given his best sermon, mixing together Athenian philosophy and poetry — using his context and content to craft a remarkable sermon. And we may only have a part of that sermon — for can we believe that Paul would have been able to preach this sermon “off the cuff”? Perhaps — but Paul has achieved his intent. No, he does not have thousands who accept his message immediately. But he has a few who agree to give him a second hearing.  

What we can say about Paul is this: his sermon certainly is filled with the Holy Spirit — the spirit of truth and the words and teachings of Jesus are what allows Paul to continue — the same Spirit that allow us to continue, even in the face of such trials and tribulations.  

Pastor Dave