Greetings to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. I believe my last couple sermons have recorded successfully. So if you want to listen to those, check them out on our church website. (http://www.piclutheran.org/learn/sermons-2/) My own from this weekend should be up tomorrow.
I have been busy with a lot of details and events coming up. I successfully organized my first hooley. What's a hooley you ask? It is Irish slang for party! I am hosting a party at Dubh Linn's Irish Pub at the end of October and our wonderful secretary came up with hooley for the title. It is for 21 to 39 year old's in the congregation. This is supposed to be my target focus group as the young associate pastor. Most of them in this demographic, (282 on the church record books) are mostly inactive and don't come to anything at church. So my plan is to gently guide them back with more community life events first and then work them back into regular worship and active roles in the church. I sent out 150 invites (those who we actual had emails or addresses for still) and we will see how many we have actually come.
My devotion this morning included Psalm 111 which speaks of the great works of the Lord. Great are the works of the Lord... Full of splendor and majesty is his work... He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered... God's works are great. Creation, the art, the exodus, the ten plagues, the Red Sea, the manna, the promise land, the prophets and wars, John the Baptist, His Son, the disciples, His Son's death, His Son's resurrection, the ascension, the start of the Christian church, etc. That is not even the full list, but is a pretty good highlight reel. However, did you notice something? As you read through that list, did you stop and gasp at each one, or did you simply read through the list without really thinking about them individually? Each one of those is such an amazing work God did through His power and mightiness, that that list should take a person ten minutes to get through as he or she reflects and is amazed by each one. So how come you read through it in a matter of seconds? Because we have heard of these great works over and over. We know the stories, we know how they end, and we don't give them much more thought than that. But wait a second. The psalm states that His works will be remembered, then says the Lord is gracious and merciful. His work is full of splendor and majesty, followed by His righteousness endures forever. These great and powerful works are suppose to be remembered to remind us who our God is. As you read through the list above and acknowledged that each one was indeed a powerful and wonderful work of the Lord, did it remind you of the gracious, merciful, righteous God we have? Or did you blow by that sign as fast as you when through the list?
It is kind of like how every time I see a new landscape, whether it be mountains, lakes, trees, ocean, fields, desert, etc. I always stop and take in the full view. I am instantly reminded of how awesome our God is who made all of these wonderful scenes. However, the drive to work that I take everyday, very rarely reminds me of God's amazing artistic ability. I have seen it so many times it has lost it luster. It seems less impressive now that it is routine.
So maybe we shouldn't hear the stories of God's awesome works so often, and then maybe they would be full of splendor and majesty again. Maybe if we only heard the works of the Lord once every two years instead of every year, we would be reminded of His graciousness, mercy, and righteousness again. OR we can go back and re-read that list, this time stopping to reflect on how awesome each work truly is. We can slow down our lives enough to remember the works of the Lord and still be constantly reminded of who is as our God who did these things. We can be impressed by the routine, because instead of acknowledging that we already know that story, we can review and reflect on how that story leaves a different impact on us hearing this time from the last time we heard it. I can watch the same stupid movie 100 times and still laugh every time, why can't I read the same Bible story 100 and still be in awe of the wonderful God we have. He is awesome, He is powerful, He is gracious, He is majestic, He is merciful, He is righteous, He is our loving God who did these mighty acts and wants us to remember them so we will be reminded of exactly who our God is and how He works for, through, and in us. Praise be to this God as hopefully you slow down to be reminded of who He is and what His Son did and continues to do for you each and every day.
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