May 22, 2023 — Psalm 37 

“Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday. Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” Psalm 37:1-11 

Sometimes it seems like it doesn’t pay to be good — Amen? When evil prospers and the good suffer, it can be tempting to rethink everything we have trusted and hoped for — especially if you’re the one trying to be good. If we are not careful, we can begin to believe it is all for nothing — just not worth it.   

Three times in this Psalm we are commanded not “to fret” (37:1, 7, 8). The Hebrew word means “to burn.” The verb in the Hebrew language can be translated as, “Don’t work yourself into a slow burn”. Don’t let it get under your skin; it will only lead you into wrong (37:8). One reason we get irritated when we see evil people prospering is that we are assuming that we know better. We know how all things should go. We know how to be G-d.

It is G-d’s place to run the world — not ours. Our place in this world is to be obedient — and to persevere. G-d wants us to do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly in G-d’s ways (Micah 6:8). There really is no place in our hearts for envy or dejection or for fretting — our hearts should be filled with hope and trust.  

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you bless the poor with the kingdom of heaven. Teach us to put our trust in the Father and to seek his kingdom rather than to imitate the powerful or envy the rich; so may we serve you now and forever. 

Amen. 

May 21, 2023 – Easter +6A: John 17:1-11

After Jesus had spoken these words [to his disciples], he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
 ⁶“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” John 17:1-11

Do you know?  Do you know where or when or why? This has been the question asked by people for thousands of years – around the world, around our country – around our community. We are people who seek information, so we ask this question a lot.  We ask this question because we want to know – knowing is important in this world. Do you know where or when or why?

Do you know why – perhaps we should seek an answer to the question “Do you know why Jesus had to die on the cross?”  Look, how do we know anything? Where do we go to get answers to our questions “Do you know?”  How do we get to know G-d – or Jesus?  Or, better yet, how about this one – Do You Know Jesus?

We know that this world is a crazy world sometimes. Christians are persecuted because of their faith – people suffer for their faith. And yet we gather for worship, claiming our Christianity. Because when we claim our Christianity, we have some assurance of eternal life. This is one of the questions that Jesus appears to be answering in his prayer from John 17 – the prayer we know as his “High Priestly Prayer”. How can we know eternal life? Jesus says, “This is eternal life – that you know G-d and Jesus Christ.”  The problem, as I see it, is that over the millennia we have divided ourselves, as Christians, on just this issue – “How do we know G-d and have the assurance of eternal life?”  And we have even divided ourselves on how we are supposed to encounter Jesus?

Jesus knows that the world has an evil bent to it – that evil seeks to divide people – especially divide people on how they can know G-d. We all want more knowledge – more knowledge about G-d – more knowledge about how the world works. That is why we ask questions like “Do you know why, how, when, where, what…?”

It is here in this “church” we gather as the “One, Holy, catholic, Apostolic, Church” seeking a unity of faith that will be a witness to the community and to the world. We gather often so we can strengthen our relationship with Jesus, and with each other – so we will be One with G-d and One with each other. This is why we worship – this is why we offer faith formation – this is why we do mission, ministry, service, good works – why we give, serve, learn, teach, volunteer.

Pastor Dave