Psalm 145:1-14 - “The Alphabet Praise of Psalm 145”

8th Sunday after Pentecost
(Year B - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, July 6, and Monday, July 7, 2008

I put up cards with each letter printed on them. I began by explaining that Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, although we are only looking at a portion of the verses—and since Hebrew only has 22 letters, an English equivalent must drop a few letters. Here K is dropped.

Before the text of the sermon, I have placed my compendium version that was used in our liturgy. The bibliography is at the end of the sermon.

Psalm 145:1-14: The Squires Compendium Version
Allworthy God, I honor you as my king,
and as long as I have breath it will praise your name—forever and for evermore;
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you,
I will heap praise on You, I will praise your name forever and evermore.
Can anyone overpraise the Lord—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise,
can anyone exaggerate his greatness?
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told,
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad.
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness,
Your justice makes them joyfully sing.
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness!
Indeed, the Lord is good to all,
his love available to all his beloved creatures.
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord;
those in faith bless You, glory in You.
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory,
spreading the tale of Your power,
Making known what You made, what You did,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Never will Your kingdom have an end;
down through the generations Your rule shall endure.
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable;
how holy in all his works.
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life.

The Alphabet of Praise (sermon)

A
Allworthy God, I honor you as my king,
and as long as I have breath
it will praise your name—forever and for evermore;

Allworthy God,
Almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-everywhere,
Always, above all, all there, all that,
That One, He’s my King.

And as long as I have breath,
As long as I am alive,
As long as air is flowing to my lungs and my brain,
I will lift up my voice,
Lift up my voice,
Great
is the Lord,
Allworthy God.

Forever and for evermore.
Eternal.
No beginning, no end.
Ever anon, ever so, everlasting to everlasting,
When God brings me to His forever kingdom,
There I’ll forever be
Singing praises to thee,
I will lift up my voice,
Lift up my voice,
Great
is the Lord,
Allworthy God.

B
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you,
I will heap praise on You,
I will praise your name forever and for evermore.

Be in my life, Lord, be in my life,
and may I bless You, honor You as holy,
raise up Your Name
like the most holy thing I’ve ever said, seen, touched, felt, or thought.

Be in my life now,
be in my life for eternity,
be in my words of praise
and may those words pile up like a room filled with treasures,
a room filled with bright, beautiful, brilliant words about You, Lord.

C
Can anyone overpraise the Lord—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise,
can anyone exaggerate his greatness?

Because great is the LORD and worthy of praise; (Michael W. Smith)
No one can possibly understand, define, describe, explain his greatness.

Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty,
can any thought wrap itself around His greatness? (RK alt.)

Because great is the LORD and worthy of praise;
No one can possibly understand, define, describe, explain his greatness.

D
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told,
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad.

Oh, we’ve got plenty of stories of our triumphs, victories, and inventions,
We celebrate our ingenuity and congratulate our success,
We let all the world know that we are the champions. . .

Don’t let us fool ourselves, though,
There ain’t nothing here that you didn’t make, approve, and rearrange,
Don’t let us think we’ve done all of this good stuff through the years,
When really our tale is just your tale,
Our victories are your victories,
Our good fortune is not luck—
It’s all what You made, what You did, Lord.

E
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.

Each generation speaks of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tells of your wondrous works. (CBBA)

It’s sort of like what we do with the Fourth of July, Lord,
We celebrate the forefathers, the founders,
the ones who made this country great,
Parades, fireworks, speeches, flags, parties, picnics,
All to commemorate the Constitution and freedom and independence,
Down through the ages, the story of our country is told.

In that same way, generation after generation tell Your tale, Lord,
In the same way, and really, I hope much more than that,
We celebrate our Father in heaven, our Creator,
We celebrate our brother Jesus, our Redeemer,
We celebrate the Spirit, our Sanctifier, Holymaker,
Worship, songs, hymns, prayers, churches, candles,
All to commemorate the Gospel and freedom and forgiveness,
Down through the ages, the story of Your deeds is told.

They say Your beauty glows.
I say You work marvels. (FS)

F
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.

Your marvelous doings are headline news;
I could write a book full of the details of your greatness. (Message)

Some call it fear, as in afraid,
in the sense that Your deeds are terrible and powerful
causing us to shudder.

But it’s not that kind of fear that we’re talking about.
The headlines don’t say, “God has done great things; be afraid!”
No, our headlines say, “God has done great things; praise Him as Lord!”
Praise Him, fear Him, respect Him, honor Him,
A profitable fear that make us realize just who God is—
What He has made, what He has done,
A profitable fear that causes us to turn to Him
asking for Him to help, save, comfort, and defend us.

Famous is our Lord,
He sent His only Son to die for us,
Famous is our Lord,
He raised His Son from the dead,
Famous is our Lord,
He gives us the Resurrection through Baptism,
Famous is our Lord,
He gives us His Son’s body and blood,
Famous is our Lord,
because His grace, mercy, and love
doesn’t match anything anyone else does.

G
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness,
Your justice makes them joyfully sing.

Grateful for Your goodness, God,
Grateful for Your grace, Your gift, Your good, gracious gifts.

God is so good, He’s so good to me.

H
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness!

How gracious, how considerate,
how patient, how kind beyond compare; (GJ)

How slow to anger and rich in love. (NIV)

How loving, how forgiving, how great, how wonderful, how beautiful,
How everything.
How fill-in-the-blank with any positive thing and you’ve got an idea of our God,
Every positive quality you can imagine,
how much more is God each one of those things,
How complete is God in all of those characteristics,
So that you can’t even imagine
how He could be any more positive than all of that combined.

How, indeed!

I
Indeed, the Lord is good to all,
his love available to all his beloved creatures.

The whole world is included, invited, incorporated, involved.
The whole world is in.

His love is a 24 hour ATM with no fees.
His love is an equal opportunity, non-discrimination protected service.
His love is available in every state and every country.
His love is a toll-free number, a free download.
His love has no time limit, unlimited texting, free incoming and outgoing calls.

Indeed, the Lord is good to all.
The whole world is in.

J
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord;
those in faith bless You, glory in You.

All God’s creatures got a place in the choir.
I’d like to teach the world to sing
about Jesus Christ our Lord.
Joy to the world.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful.

Join together, now, let us sing to our Lord.
Join our voices and sing.
Join together and joyfully sing
while jumping up,
jazzed about the Lord,
doing a jig of joy while jamming out on a song about Jesus.

L
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory,
spreading the tale of Your power,

Let them publish the glory of Your kingdom.
Newspapers, books, magazines, billboards, songs, plays, and blogs.

Line after line of words about You and Your glory, Lord.
Line after line of words that all seem inadequate,
not enough, not big enough, specific enough, great enough
to talk about Your kingdom.
We’ll need new words, big words, great, big, beautiful, bold words,
We’ll need more words, lots of words, great, big, beautiful lists of words,
We’ll need more letters in this alphabet of praise,
We’ll need a whole new language in order to fully describe Your glory, Lord.

M
Making known what You made, what You did,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Make known.
Make a movie.
Make a message board.
Make music.
Make it all about what the Lord has done
and make it matter to all the world.

N
Never will Your kingdom have an end;
down through the generations Your rule shall endure.

Never will that feeling have to end,
that feeling of bliss, joy, excitement,
peace, comfort, love, warmth,
Never-ending, that feeling, in His kingdom.

Now God rules,
Then God rules,
Never will there be a time when God doesn’t rule,
So never will you have to be afraid or alone again.

Now you are safe,
Then you are safe,
Never will there be a time when you aren’t safe in God’s kingdom through Jesus.


O
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable;
how holy in all his works.

O how true the Lord is to all his promises, o how gracious in all his dealings!
(RK alt.)

Oh, how loving, oh, how forgiving, oh, how great,
Oh, how everything our Lord is.

Once He has given a promise then count on it being fulfilled. (GJ alt)

P
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life.

Perhaps you will trip, maybe fall, he will help you up;
perhaps be depressed, he will help you get out of it. (GJ)

Picking us up,
Pulling us up,
Propping us up,
Pushing us out,
Prying us out,
So that we’re no longer down, out, fallen, lost, trapped, hidden, buried.

Putting us out of our misery
as in packing us up and sending us to Paradise.

The Lord picks us up
and because of that
We have this alphabet praise.




Key to the Squires Compendium Version of Psalm 145

Allworthy God, I honor you as my king, (GJ)
and as long as I have breath it will praise your name—forever and forevermore; (GJ—RK)
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you, (GJ)
I will heap praise on You, (FS) I will praise your name— forever and forevermore. (CBAA—RK)
Can anyone overpraise the Lord (GJ)—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise, (FS)
can anyone exaggerate his greatness? (GJ)
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told, (RK alt)
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad. (FS)
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works. (CBAA)
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear, (Squires, NIV, GJ alt)
and I will proclaim your great deeds. (NIV)
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness, (GJ,NIV, alt)
Your justice makes them joyfully sing. (FS,NIV, alt)
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness! (RK alt.)
Indeed, the Lord is good to all, (Squires, NIV)
his love available to all his beloved creatures. (GJ)
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord; (RK/Squires, CBAA alt.)
those in faith bless You, glory in You. (FS)
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory, (GJ alt.)
spreading the tale of Your power, (GJ alt.)
Making known what You made, what You did, (CBAA/FS)
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (CBAA)
Never will Your kingdom have an end; (Hubbard, alt.)
down through the generations Your rule shall endure. (RK vs. 4, NIV)
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable; (GJ)
how holy in all his works. (CBBA alt.)
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life. (CBAA, alt.)

(CBBA)
The Holy Bible: Translated from the Original Languages with Critical Use of All the Ancient Sources by Members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America; The Book of Psalms and the Canticles of the Roman Breviary, St. Anthony Guild Press, Paterson, NJ 1950, Psalm 144 (145), pp. 262-263

(FS)
Lyric Psalms: Half a Psalter, Francis Patrick Sullivan, Pastoral Press, National Association of Pastoral Musicians, Washington, DC, 1983, Psalm 145, pp. 141-142

(GJ)
The Lincoln Psalter, Gordon Jackson

(NIV)
New International Version

(RK)
Ronald Knox, The Psalms: A New Translation Sheed & Ward, New York, 1947, Psalm 144 [Psalm 145], pp. 207-208

John 20:19-31 - “ESPN Classic”

Second Sunday of Easter
(Year A - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, March 30, 2008

This weekend’s other services feature the cantata, a service of music and Scripture. It is sung by our Family Singers with additional voices, and in this contemporary version, also features drama clips shown on the screens. This year’s cantata called The Sacrifice: Greater Love Has No One Than This... retraces the Passion and Resurrection of Christ—from Palm Sunday to the Last Supper to the arrest to the cross to Easter morning. In that way, today’s cantata is a bit like ESPN Classic, the cable channel that replays the greatest moments in sports.

(Play video of “NBA Classic Finals Weekend” promo courtesy of Perception NYC; click on picture to see their Website)

Today’s cantata is like ESPN Classic: it goes back to THE classic, game-winning moment in salvation history. In fact, Easter is like ESPN Classic: it’s a replay, a rerun, archive footage of the day Jesus conquered death and rose again.

When I first heard about ESPN Classic, I didn’t really understand the concept. Who was going to watch reruns of sports? Part of the excitement of sports is not knowing how it’s going to turn out. Anything might happen to change the outcome of the game.

Same with Easter, I guess. Does it make much sense to repeat the same story every year? You know who’s going to win the game. There’s no suspense. You know how the story ends. Jesus is rejected by His people, nailed to a cross and dies. Everyone figures it’s over for Jesus. Then on Sunday morning, the tomb is open, Jesus is back from dead, back and better than ever. There’s certainly some great suspense in that story the first time you hear it, but where’s the excitement when you’ve heard it before?

Well, I was certainly wrong about ESPN Classic. Sports fans like to watch classic games, reliving those moments or seeing the games they never saw in the first place. In fact, it became such a popular concept that now other channels like the NFL Network have copied the idea. Sports fans like to watch those classic games again to see what happened and how it happened.

Which is exactly why we have Easter in the Church, why we replay the Passion and Resurrection of Christ in our worship. We have the Easter Classic, because we want to go back to see what happened and how it happened.

First of all, Easter is about remembering what happened. With ESPN Classic, it’s interesting to watch a game when you can’t remember who wins. If you don’t have every season of every team memorized, watching a classic game takes you back to a pivotal moment, one which you might not know the outcome.

Sort of like ESPN Classic, some of the suspense of Easter comes because we forget the outcome; we forget who wins.

Of course, with Easter, you never really quite forget. You know it’s about Jesus. What we forget is that this victory is a truly big deal, and it means everything for us. The victory on Easter means that our sins are forgiven, we can be God’s children again and that after we die, we will live again. We forget that the outcome of Easter gives us hope in our daily lives.

That’s why we replay the Passion and Resurrection, that’s why we have Holy Week and Easter every year, that’s why we mention Jesus dying and rising again every week in worship, that’s why we have the cantata today that takes us through the whole Gospel story. It’s not that we really forget, but we forget that it changes everything about our lives.

Because of the Easter Classic, we no longer wander around in fear, confusion, and hopelessness. The Easter Classic has meant that death is defeated and victory is ours. We can have life again after we die.

Satan would love for us to forget why Easter is important. The world would rather have us focus on the Easter bunny than on the Easter Classic victory on the cross. Our sinful nature would rather spend time thinking about our own thoughts, our own problems, our own desires.

But then like a suspenseful, charging, heart-pounding, intriguing promo ad for ESPN Classic, God’s Word brings us back to the Easter Classic, back to our senses, back to the Truth that Easter changes everything about our lives, our futures, and our purpose in life. When we go back to Easter and watch again what happened, we see that Jesus dying and rising again is what gives meaning to our lives now and gives us the hope for life after the grave.

But sometimes you sit down to watch ESPN Classic, and you already know who won the game—but you want to watch those amazing last minute shots, that game-ending goal-line stand, the persistence of certain players, the game changing events that made the game a Classic. That’s the other reason we repeat the Easter story; we watch the Easter Classic just to see again how Jesus was able to pull off that victory.

So whether it’s each year going through Lent and Easter, or whether it’s today’s cantata, or whether it’s in a Bible study, worship service, or talking with friends, we go back to the Easter story, watching the story unfold again to see what makes it a classic story of divine proportions, see again just what Jesus went through, see how Jesus saved us.

We watch to see how Jesus didn’t fight back when they arrested Him, when they put Him in the penalty box. He didn’t get angry, let His disciples start a fight, didn’t try to escape; He accepted the penalty even though He did nothing wrong; He did the time in the box for the penalties of everyone else; He was arrested for our crimes.

We tune into the Easter Classic to see how in the trial Jesus admitted that He is the Son of God. It’s like a locker room interview with hard-hitting reporters pressing Jesus to talk, but Jesus only says the truth, only says a little, doesn’t try to explain it to everyone, doesn’t expect that anyone is really listening to understand anyway.

We see how the leaders had to make up stuff, in other words, cheat, in order to have Jesus put to death. They didn’t really have any indisputable evidence to overturn the ruling on the field; they didn’t really have a case against Jesus to say that He had taught falsely. So they doctored the videos, stirred up the media, started a smear campaign, got the sports talk hosts on their side, and they brought him down. So the leaders got the crowds stirred up, got some people to make false testimonies, and threatened Pilate with fears of a Jew claiming to be king.

In the Easter Classic, we see how everyone thought the game was over, the fat lady was singing, as Jesus said, “It is finished,” and breathed His last on the cross. We see how the followers of Jesus buried Him in the tomb, huddled up with no time on the clock, feeling like there wasn’t a desperation play to win the game.

But we tune in to watch this every year, watch this every Sunday, watch this over and over again, because we love to see how Jesus rose again from the dead on Sunday morning, the crowd shocked and hushed for a brief moment before exploding with cheers, excitement and hysteria. We love to see how much Easter is a true miracle, a true buzzer beater, a stupendous, unbelievable, exhilarating, tremendous, unexpected, Cinderella finish.

It’s the 16 seed beating the Number 1 seed. It’s the car 5 laps down coming back to take the checkered flag. It’s the Hail Mary pass caught for a touchdown, but of course, it should be called the Hail Jesus pass! It’s the over-the-fence catch to stop a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. It’s a comeback from the dead that conquers sin, death, and the devil, so that all of God’s people have the promise of eternal life through faith in Jesus—our captain, coach, team leader, superstar, first-round draft pick who used to be a walk on, practice squad member, club reject, carpenter-turned-athlete, waterboy. Yes, that’s right, the Easter Classic victory was brought to you by the One that no one thought capable of even playing the game, and yet, now He has given you the ultimate victory.

Watch the ESPN Classic promo again, and see how the narration could all apply to Jesus and Easter.

Where dreams become reality
Where teams become dynasties
Where all it takes to become a champion is just one play.

Where dreams become reality—the dream of salvation becomes a reality in the cross and resurrection, God’s hope to have His people with Him forever, our hope to escape death and eternal punishment, that dream becomes a reality in the Easter Classic.

Where teams become dynasties—the team of Jesus, His disciples, His apostles, they are the dynasty. The Church has become the dynasty, the legacy, the continuing, reigning world champions. Of course, on this team, it’s not because of anything we’ve done. We’ve just been sitting on the bench. Worse than that, we don’t even show up for practice, we’re stuck in contract negotiations, we’re hold outs from training camp, we’re suspended for breaking team rules, we’re under investigation by Congress for lying under oath. We’re sinners, and it takes Jesus to make us into a team, into the Church, into His people who carry out His mission.

Finally, the promo says, Where all it takes to become a champion is just one play. Bigger than any miracle in sports, any classic moment in the NBA Finals on ESPN Classic, bigger than all that, Jesus rose from the dead. That’s the play that makes Him THE champion. That’s the play that makes us champions. He rose from the dead so that we too can have life after death. That Easter morning is “where dreams become reality, where teams become dynasties, where all it takes to become a champion is just one play.” The Easter Classic—that’s the only Classic moment you ever truly need.

Jeremiah 31:1-6 - "Dance of the Merrymakers"

Easter (Year A - Lutheran Service Book readings)

Listen to the audio of this sermon (Real Player)

Unlike most of my sermons, I did not write out a manuscript for this Easter sermon. Because of its intense approach and multimedia format, I just went with talking points to help me construct what I wanted to say. Because of that, I can't print out the sermon here, but you can watch a video of it. Thank you to our computer guru, Larry, who made this video-post possible.

The video clip is from Moving Images for Worship: Vibe Volume One (Zondervan). The song for the second half of the sermon is Songs of Water's "Long Journey Home" (www.songsofwater.com).

Psalm 116:12-19 - “Eucharist”

Maundy Thursday
(Year A - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Thursday, March 20, 2008

(sung to the tune of “Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart”)
Eucharist with a grateful heart, Eucharist to the Holy One. . .

Eucharist. The Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, is also known as the Eucharist. And while it might not look like it, that song we just sang is about the Eucharist.

(sung)Eucharist with a grateful heart, Eucharist to the Holy One. . .

Eucharist is a Greek word which means “to give thanks,” so we could certainly switch the words of that song and insert “eucharist” every time it says, “Give thanks.”

The Lord’s Supper is known as the Eucharist, a Thanksgiving Meal. The name is taken from the fact that before Jesus gave the disciples the bread and before He gave them the wine, He gave thanks. Eucharist.

Which means that tonight, the night we commemorate the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the first time that Jesus offered this sacrament to His people, when He gathered the disciples for the Passover meal but instead took them a leap ahead of anything they had ever experienced on Passover, this night when we remember that the Last Supper is when Jesus invited all believers to come to the table for the Lord’s Supper, tonight called Maundy Thursday, tonight could also be called Thanksgiving.

We give thanks tonight, because Jesus offered Himself as the Passover Lamb, a final and lasting sacrifice to cover the sins of the whole world. At the first Passover, families were saved by the blood of a lamb, one lamb per family, with blood on each of their doors. The first Passover was a one-time event, always to be commemorated, remembered, and celebrated, but there was only one night when the blood of lambs protected the people from the angel of death that swept through Egypt killing the first-born sons of the Egyptians so that Pharaoh the king would let the people of God go. That was one night in history, forever remembered because it tells us who our God is, one night always commemorated because it is good to give thanks to God for what He has done for His people, but it was one night.

So when the disciples gathered to eat the Passover meal with Jesus, giving thanks didn’t make it different. They celebrated, prayed, praised, and gave thanks. These were all of the normal reasons for the Passover meal. When Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave thanks, the disciples wouldn’t have expected anything different than a ceremonial meal meant to help them remember that their God had saved His people and was still their only hope for salvation. When Jesus gave thanks, they may even have had the words of Psalm 116 on their lips—singing those words that we heard tonight.

What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the LORD’S house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD! (verses 12-13, 17-19, NKJV))

So it wasn’t in the giving thanks that made the meal any different, and in some ways, calling this meal the Eucharist doesn’t tell us how different this meal is.

What Jesus gave the disciples on that night, and what He has given all of us, is more than a thanksgiving meal, more than a turkey dinner meant to recall the Pilgrims and Indians. The Lord’s Supper is more than a reenactment, more than a repetition for the sake of remembrance, more than raising a toast to somebody who died, more than putting flowers and a wreath in the shoulder of the highway where someone died in an accident, more than a symbolic gesture to make us think of a spiritual truth, more than a memorial meal shared among friends and family.

The Lord’s Supper is more than that, because it is about God’s action, it is about what God is still doing through this meal.

What the disciples wouldn’t have realized when Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave thanks, was that He was about to give them something more than a one-night in history memory. He was about to give them a life-eternal moment, a connection to God’s love, grace, and mercy, a visible, tangible way of knowing that their sins are completely forgiven and they have the promise of eternal life.

And He wasn’t just going to give them this gift at the Last Supper, a one-night in history event for those gathered in that Upper Room. No, He was giving them a life-eternal moment to share with all people, to share from generation to generation, to share so that it would come down through the ages and miles so that even a gathering of people in Brookfield, Wisconsin, would be able to experience the same life-giving meal.

And that means it’s much more than saying, “Cheers,” “Salut,” “Prosit,” and raising a glass to our dear brother Jesus. This Eucharist is Jesus offering Himself to us as the means, the way to eternal life. It’s the power of God for salvation.

So I’ve always preferred to call it the Lord’s Supper, to focus on the fact that Jesus invites us to eat and drink, Jesus gave His body and blood for us, Jesus laid down His life so that we could have life. I’ve always preferred to call it the Lord’s Supper. . .but Psalm 116, the appointed psalm for Maundy Thursday made me realize that I don’t give thanks during the Lord’s Supper nearly enough.

I mean, I truly believe that we teach the truth according to Scripture about what the Lord’s Supper is and why it gives us hope. I believe that it is the body and blood of Christ in, with, and under the bread and wine. I believe it brings us the gifts of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. I believe it is about God’s action, not ours. I don’t think we are sacrificing Christ again, that He was sacrificed for all people, for all sins when He died on the cross. I believe the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace, a visible, tangible way to connect us with God’s Word of forgiveness.

But I’m afraid that if we let it, we may get ourselves into a trap sometimes of coming to the Lord’s Supper because of what we get out of it. . .never pausing to see that the Lord’s Supper is also a celebration, a memorial, a remembrance of who our Lord is. It’s a thanksgiving meal, it’s the Eucharist, where we turn our hearts to the Lord, rejoicing in what He has done for us, giving Him all the glory, honor, and praise that we can muster, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify His glorious name, evermore praising the Lord.

Psalm 116 verse 17 says, “I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,” or putting it another way: “I will offer to You a song of thanksgiving.” As one scholar says, “Thanksgiving in the Old Testament is word and act, song and sacrifice, address to God and proclamation to others, performed by an individual but in the presence of other people, lifting up the experience of a human being but only to point to the God who has redeemed, bearing witness to the salvation of a single individual…but calling for thanksgiving by a chorus…. It is thanks, confession, and praise all wrapped up in a single reality,” (Miller, 197-198).

That’s the deep, wide dimension of what it means to give thanks to the Lord; it’s the song of thanksgiving that is ringing out through the whole Lord’s Supper—the Preparation, the Prayers, the Words of Institution, serving the meal, singing the hymns, receiving the dismissal and peace, the Thanksgiving Song, and the Thanksgiving Prayer. There’s a song of thanksgiving running through every part of the Lord’s Supper.

“Thanksgiving…is word and act.” We give thanks to the Lord in the words of our prayers during the Eucharist, but our actions also show our thankfulness—coming to receive what He has given, kneeling before Him, taking the bread and wine, the body and blood with honor and respect for the Lord.

“Thanksgiving is…song and sacrifice.” We sing His praises, but we also make sacrifices to Him. Not animal sacrifices like the Old Testament, and not a repeat of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, but as you worship and take the Lord’s Supper, you are giving thanks to the Lord by your sacrifice of time, sacrifice of offerings, sacrifice of a part of your lives that you set apart for the work of the Lord, and the sacrifice of pride, laying down your pride and humbling yourself before God and admitting that you need His forgiveness. That sacrifice is a song of thanksgiving to the Lord.

“Thanksgiving is…address to God and proclamation to others.” You’re coming before the Lord, the Lord’s Supper is about you at the feet of Jesus, but it’s also a way of confessing before others, showing people that you believe in the body and blood of Christ, believe in the Lord, and come to His table to be forgiven and receive salvation.

“Thanksgiving is…performed by an individual…but calling for thanksgiving by a chorus.” We each come forward to receive the body and blood, but we support one another through singing hymns and anthems and saying prayers. We give thanks to the Lord for the salvation He has given all of the people around us.

“Thanksgiving is…lifting up the experience of a human being but only to point to the God who has redeemed.” Yes, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we are laying our sins before God, believing that we need His grace, and experiencing His mercy, but it doesn’t point to ourselves. It points to our God, it points to who God is. We don’t leave here saying how wonderful we are because we took Communion; we go out giving thanks for our wonderful God who has saved us by this meal.

“Thanksgiving… is thanks, confession, and praise all wrapped up in a single reality.” The Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion is thanks, confession, and praise all wrapped up in a single meal. We give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One who is far above our sinfulness, we give Him praise for the body and blood of Christ which is given to us for our salvation.

And that’s why this meal can be called the Eucharist; that’s why this night could be called Thanksgiving, because when Psalm 116 says, “What shall I give to the LORD for all His benefits toward me?.... I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,” when it says this, it’s not turning this into something about our actions, it’s not undoing our theology which stresses that the Lord’s Supper is all about what God has done, what God gives us. This song of thanksgiving doesn’t undo all of that, because the song of thanksgiving, what we sing by word and act, song and sacrifice, what we offer to the Lord is a response to what He has done. The words we say, the songs we sing, the actions we take, they’re all about giving thanks, but they’re all pointing to what the Lord has done. We wouldn’t have a song of thanksgiving to sing if the Lord didn’t take action.

The Eucharist is a thanksgiving meal beyond any memorial, commemorative, ceremonial meal that we can imagine. A commemorative meal is only powerful as far as it causes us to remember something in the past; the power of the meal is in the memory; the power comes from our action in the commemoration.

The Eucharist is far beyond that, because while we are giving thanks, the meal continues to work its power, the meal continues the power that’s always been there, the meal continues to offer what was offered on that first night, the meal continues to give us the body and blood of our Lord in a mysterious way, the meal continues to grant us forgiveness, life, and salvation.

We’re not conjuring up thankfulness for the past; we’re continually being prompted to give thanks through the entire meal because God is still here, God is still giving, God is still working His power, so that even when you think the meal is completed, it continues to feed and nourish your soul.

So don’t be afraid to give thanks tonight, don’t be afraid to be singing, “Eucharist with a grateful heart,” because your song of thankfulness isn’t your focus. It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who takes the bread, breaks it, gives thanks and says, “Take eat, this is My body.” It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who takes the cup, give thanks, and says, “Take drink, this is My blood.” As you give thanks, He gives thanks. As you give thanks, He gives you His body and blood. As you give thanks, He gives forgiveness. As you give thanks, He saves. We celebrate, commemorate, remember, and experience His action in this Eucharist tonight.

Lenten Midweek: “Psalms for Worship, Psalms for Lent”Psalm 67 - “Benediction”

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

This commentary by James Boice refers to Psalm 67 as an unpopular psalm. He says that because very few other commentators or scholars spend very much time on Psalm 67—if at all—in comparison to popular psalms like Psalm 23—“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

But I guess it surprises me that Psalm 67 would be unpopular, because when I read it, I immediately see the great connection it has to the Benediction in worship. That’s the very reason we’ve been using verses from Psalm 67 as our Benediction on these Wednesday evenings.

Psalm 67 says, “God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us,….God, our own God, shall bless us.”

It’s so strikingly similar to the benediction, the blessing that the Lord gave to Moses in book of Numbers, a benediction for Aaron and the priests to use to bless all of the people. It’s the Aaronic Benediction, the traditional Benediction we use in worship, from Numbers chapter 6 that Pastor Dan read this evening as our Old Testament reading: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD look upon you with favor and give you peace.”

Psalm 67 is written with the purpose of reminding the reader of this blessing that they here every time they come into God’s house. They’ve been sent out into the world with God’s blessing, sent out with a peace that can only come from the Lord.

I guess it just surprises me that people haven’t spent more time studying Psalm 67, or using it in worship. I guess it just surprises me that it would be known as an unpopular psalm, because for me, the Benediction is one of the most moving parts of the worship service. So a psalm that reminds me of the Benediction. . .well, that’s a psalm that should be popular.

I grew up in the Lutheran Church, so I grew up hearing the traditional Benediction. Perhaps that’s why I am so fond of it, and if you’ve come to Immanuel from a different background or tradition, perhaps those words—“The Lord bless you and keep you”—don’t quite excite you in the same way, but no matter how you feel about this Benediction, this blessing of God, let me you tell some stories about how I came to be so fond of those words from the Lord.

First of all, the Benediction has always been comforting to me, because as long as I can remember, it’s been a picture in my mind. Now this picture of a smiley face was drawn by our son, Samuel, just a couple of weeks ago, but the picture captures something of what I always imagine when I hear the Benediction: “His face shall shine upon us.”

The Benediction paints a picture for us before we leave church and go back to our daily routine. The Benediction helps us to picture the Father in heaven looking down us, following us with His eyes, not in a scary, Big Brother, surveillance camera sort of way. No, the Father’s face is shining down on us, shining with the brightness of the sun, shining with a smiley face to fill the sky, shining down like those rays of light you see coming through the clouds on a gorgeous day.

Even when I was younger and didn’t understand everything that was happening in the worship service, still those words of the Benediction made sense to me—“The Lord look upon you with favor”—because I knew that look. When you’re young, when you’re little, it’s the look that you’re always hoping for. Everyone is tall, everyone is looking down on you from above, and so you’re always hoping you’ll see a smile, a bright smile, a face of love, pride, and joy when they look down at you.

So it only made sense that we’re all leaving church, needing to know that God’s big smiley face is shining down on us, looking on us with love, forgiveness, mercy, and the promise of salvation in Jesus Christ. We’re leaving church where we just confessed our sins, heard God’s Word about our sins, heard a sermon where we had to think some more about changing our ways; we’re leaving a church service where we also heard forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, but now when we leave, we need to hear it just one more time. And this time it comes with the perfect image to carry with us during the rest of the week: God’s face shining down us.

So the Benediction was always one of the comforting parts of worship for me, but then I left for college. I remember that my dad encouraged me to keep going to church once I was on campus, but the temptations of freedom, independence, and sleep often won out over getting up for church. Most of the first year at Northwestern—without a good Lutheran option nearby—I would get up just barely in time to go to the campus chapel service on Sunday. It was mostly a watered-down affair, short on Gospel, short on attendees, and not much of a fellowship building experience. It was hard to stay motivated about getting up in time.

Except that the campus chapel had a student choir that often closed the service by singing the Benediction, the traditional Benediction, “the Lord bless you and keep you,” in this beautiful arrangement by Peter Lutkin.

Peter Lutkin was Northwestern University’s first dean of the School of Music. A small recital hall named for him remains on campus.

Even if I didn’t get much out of those worship services at the chapel, I left feeling strengthened, comforted, and hopeful, because of those traditional words, those words of Scripture, that Benediction that was so familiar, the image of God smiling down on me with this new melody I sang to myself all the way back to my dorm and my sleeping roommate.

Much like I said last week, there’s something to be said for tradition, repetition, and hearing the ancients worship with us. The Benediction connects us with the worship as God designed it for the people of Israel thousands of years ago. For me specifically, the chance to hear those traditional words, those words of God meant that God was still able to encourage me during a worship service that often wandered away from His Word of hope. Despite what else was happening in worship, His Word came through loud and clear, beautifully sung by that choir, beautiful for the way it sent me out knowing again that through Jesus, God smiles on us with His love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Thankfully, many of the congregations in Evanston used Lutkin’s arrangement of the Benediction, and it was always one of the things that helped me in my spiritual life as I spent a lot of time in strange congregations, strange worship services, during the kind of nomadic college experience.

And then I went to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis where I learned one more thing that would unleash the power, meaning, and comfort of the Benediction.

I grew up, like I suppose many of you, thinking that to make the sign of the cross was a Catholic thing. Lutherans didn’t do that. Somewhere along the line I got the idea that making the sign of the cross was superstitious, and I knew that we weren’t supposed to be superstitious, so I avoided making the sign of the cross completely.

So it came as quite a shock to go to chapel that first year at the Seminary and see all of my fellow students—Lutherans, Lutherans studying to be pastors—and they’re all crossing themselves. At the Invocation, at the Absolution, at the Lord’s Supper, at the Benediction, a lot of them were making the sign of the cross. I couldn’t believe it, because I thought we weren’t supposed to do that.

Until a friend showed me Luther’s catechism. There in the section of the Daily Prayers a little sentence that I suppose all of my pastors had skipped over in Confirmation class, not wanting to stress something that only Catholics did, and there Luther says, “In the morning when you wake up, make the sign of the cross, and say, In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Luther encourages us to make the sign of the cross. I was dumbfounded. And as awkward as it seemed the first time, I tried it the next time I went to chapel. The Invocation: “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Absolution: “I forgive all of your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And then the Benediction: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD look upon you with favor and give you peace.”

I was sold. Making the cross made the Benediction complete. Oh, I mean, God giving me His blessing with that picture of His face shining down on me, that’s His Word promising me His favor, but making the sign of the cross brought it all together, these words from the Old Testament with the Gospel of the New Testament, the blessing of the Lord brought together with the cross and resurrection of Christ.

For me, it just developed the picture even more. The Benediction make me think of God smiling down on me, but making the sign of the cross makes me feel like that’s God’s embrace, His hug, His arms wrapping around me through Jesus.

God’s embrace. That’s not a bad way to think about what happens in the Benediction. God is sending us out with His blessing, with His love, mercy, and forgiveness, He’s sending us out with His watchful protection, with His joy over us showing up in His shining face, but He’s also sending us out with His embrace, His hug. He’s lifted us out of our sins, lifted us out of our despair, troubles, grief, and darkness. He’s lifted us up, embraced us, and holds us forever in His protection.

So now you’ll see me making the sign of the cross over myself, and I encourage you to do the same. Not out of obligation, not because you’re a bad Christian if you don’t, not because the ritual makes the blessing more real, or anything like that. No, I’d just encourage you to think about making the sign of the cross at the Benediction, because I want you to remember that when worship ends, when you hear the Benediction, that God is sending you while He’s looking down on you with favor, His face shining down on you, and His embrace, His arms wrapped around you in love.

You know, going back to that commentary James Boice, he may have called Psalm 67 an unpopular psalm, but he also calls it a missional psalm, a psalm about missions. And I suppose he’s right, because besides talking about God’s blessings, Psalm 67 also says, “[Let] Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!”

This psalm is about God’s blessing going out in the world, His blessing drawing all people to Him, His blessing being over all of the nations.

Which makes me realize one more thing about the Benediction: it’s about mission. When the worship service comes to a close, when we’re sent out with God’s blessing, His face shining upon us, His embrace around us through the cross, He’s also sending us out to share that blessing with the world, with all of the nations.

Psalm 67 is a missional psalm, and the Benediction is about the mission, too. It’s God’s mission; it’s what He’s done for us through Jesus Christ; it’s about His forgiveness, love, and mercy; it’s His gift to us as we leave the service, but it’s also a gift for the whole world.

If we go out thinking about God’s smiley face, if we go out singing a Benediction song (like we will tonight), if we go out knowing that God’s blessing comes through the cross, well, then we also go out realizing that we’ve been given something that God wants to give to the whole world.

So tonight, and for as many times as you can remember, I want you to take all comfort in the Benediction, but also see it as the Benediction Mission. And I want you to think about it this way: when you get a chance to tell someone about Jesus, what you’re really hoping is that one day they’ll be in a worship service, they’ll get to hear the Benediction, they’ll get to see God’s face shining down on them, they’ll get to sing words about God’s grace and favor, they’ll get to be embraced by the cross, they’ll know God’s wonderful blessing of salvation in the cross and resurrection of Christ. That’s your mission: invite someone to hear the Benediction, and now I invite you to hear that Benediction—please stand.

Lenten Midweek: “Psalms for Worship, Psalms for Lent”Psalm 136 - “Prayers of the Church”

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

I spend so much time talking about popular culture and how the Gospel connects with today’s world that perhaps it looks like I don’t have a sense of history or tradition or how the past connects with us.

But the truth is, I love when I hear the ancients singing with us, the ancestors of our faith speaking words with us. The Prayers of the Church are just one such moment when we join our voices in a way that echoes how God’s people have come together in prayer for generations.

Our focus tonight is on Psalm 136 as we explore the Prayers of the Church in worship, and I selected Psalm 136 because of its pattern, written for use in worship, written with the priest or leader calling out each line and then the congregation responding with the refrain.

On page 7 of the bulletin, and on the screen (click on the picture to the right to see entire bulletin insert), we’ll look at three different translations of this refrain. The first, the New International Version, is perhaps what we’re most familiar with these days: “His love endures forever.” After each portion of the psalm, after each part of the prayer, the people respond saying that God’s love will last forever, go on for eternity, and so whatever God has done in the past, however He has shown His love in history, we can trust that He continues that same love, that He will always love His people.

The second translation comes from the poet Gordon Jackson who beautifully translates and paraphrases each psalm in his book, The Lincoln Psalter, which I’ve used in various places for our liturgy on these Wednesday nights. His version of the Psalm 136 refrain is: “For His love goes on forever.” I like that, and we’ve been using his version in our Prayers of the Church just because it helps us remember what it means that God’s love “endures.” His love goes on and on and on and on.

The third version comes from the poet John Milton—a paraphrased version that puts it into English metrical poetry. Milton lived from 1608-1674 and wrote this psalm when he was 15 years old. Since the poem is nearly 400 years old, I suppose it makes sense that his version takes a moment for us to understand. Milton’s refrain says: “For his mercies aye [“ā”] endure, Ever faithful, ever sure.” “Aye” [“ā”] means “forever, always.” In other words, Milton’s refrain says, “For his mercies always endure, they’re always faithful, always sure.”

Now I wanted you to see these different version of the refrain, because I believe the beauty of Psalm 136, the history and tradition of Psalm 136 are in the refrain, because there are different places in the Old Testament that a psalm, song, or prayer was written for use in worship, but many times they used this same refrain—which meant that the people we’re freed up to simply respond, to concentrate on what was being said about God and to God, to let the priest lead them in worship and prayer, and to always have their response on their lips, always ready to respond with a heartfelt refrain: “For His love goes on forever.”

And that pattern of prayer and refrain, psalm and refrain, is very similar to our Prayers of the Church. The pastor calls out in prayer, speaking the prayers of the people, and then when he says, “Lord, in Your mercy,” it signals all of us to join in the refrain, “Hear our prayer.” It’s a call and response pattern, it’s a pattern that’s similar to Psalm 136, it’s a way to free us up in worship so that we can simply concentrate on the prayers, on what we’re saying to God, about God, what we’re asking for, what we’re taking to God in prayer. We’re free to concentrate on the prayer, and the refrain, the response is already on our lips: “Hear our prayer.” The pastor reminds us that God hears and answers our prayers because of His mercy, a love that we don’t deserve, a love that flows freely from His heart, and so when the pastor says, “Lord, in Your mercy,” the response flows freely from our mouths: “Hear our prayer.”

There’s plenty to be said about innovation, creativity, and variety in worship, and we certainly don’t shy away from that. However, when you think about Psalm 136, when you think about the refrain, when you think about how we all can join in the Prayers of the Church, it’s a great reminder that there’s a place for history, tradition, and repetition.

If you don’t think we get excited about repetition, listen to this (10 second sound clip).

Camp Randall stadium, before the fourth quarter, they play House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” and the place goes nuts. They’ve been doing this since 1998, repeating it every game for 10 seasons, and no one seems bored.

Why? Why is that kind of repetition okay? Because we like a certain amount of repetition. We like it when there are little cue ins, little signals to us that something is about to happen that has happened before, signals like “Jump Around” that we know, that we call us to participate. “Lord, in Your mercy,” is that kind of signal, something we repeat to call us to pray, to get you to jump around in your heart, focused on praying and seeking the Lord. “Lord, in Your mercy,/hear our prayer.”

That’s what the refrain of Psalm 136 is—a cue-in, a signal, a “Jump Around” for the people of Israel. When they heard the priest say, “O give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,” they knew right away that their response was: “His love goes on forever.” They knew, because it was an ancient tradition, a refrain went way back in history.

And you’ve already seen echoes of that history in tonight’s worship. We started with the hymn “Oh, that I Had a Thousand Voices” which was inspired by the psalm David wrote which is recorded in 1 Chronicles chapter 16—our Old Testament reading tonight. David’s psalm is a song he wrote for the people to sing as the Ark of the Covenant was being brought into the Tent of Meeting, the place of worship in Jerusalem. The psalm celebrates what God has done, and the people respond with the refrain: “His love endures forever.”

Years later when David’s son, Solomon, completed the Temple, the people again joined in song as the Lord’s glory filled the Temple. They pulled out the old, traditional refrain, their liturgical, worshipful version of “Jump Around,” and they sang, “His love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7)

That was around 950 BC. Flash-forward 300 years when Jeremiah is prophet, and he is calling on the people to repent or face the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet, Jeremiah also carries a promise from the Lord, a promise to save a remnant, a faithful portion of His people, and in painting the picture of the restoration and salvation to come in future days, in helping the people see that picture of what God would eventually do, Jeremiah pulls out the traditional song and says, “there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever” (33:10b-11).

And then perhaps 100 years after that, when the second Temple was completed in 516, according to Ezra chapter 3, the people took their places as was directed by David—500 years earlier—and they sang the age-old refrain, the ageless refrain: “He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.” And that’s probably when Psalm 136 was written and used.

Now when we read Psalm 136, now when we use Psalm 136 in worship, now when we hear those words, “His love goes on forever,” or when we join in that similar pattern and refrain in our Prayers, “Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer,” now we know that we’re standing with the ancestors, standing on the shoulders of giants, hearing the same cue-in, signal, the call to sing and pray, hearing an ancient “Jump Around” that turns our attention to calling on the Lord, seeking the Lord, crying out for God, pleading with Him, thanking Him, praising Him, waiting for His answer to our prayers. “Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.” “O give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, for His love goes on forever.” “Jump around, because the Lord hears your prayers.”

Of course, if Psalm 136 is 2500 years old, and if it is mainly praising God for the things He had done in the past, perhaps it’s still hard to see how this psalm has much to do with us. Sure, the refrain comes up in our hymns, it has that same pattern we use in our prayers, but Psalm 136 itself—does it really have much to do with us today?

Well, on your insert, I broke down Psalm 136 into five sections. And the theme or focus of each section shows up in our Prayers of the Church, so Psalm 136 has everything to do with us today.

Let’s just take a brief look at the five sections, and I’ll show you what I mean. You can take this home and study it more in-depth, use it for your prayers at home, but just take a quick look with me right now. I’ll put it on the screen, too.

The first section praises God for who He is, for His qualities, His characteristics. I titled this section, “He is I AM,” meaning that God is “I AM”—that’s His personal Name, Yahweh, I AM WHO I AM. He is our God, our incredible God, and our Prayers often praise and thank God for who He is, for His love, forgiveness, faithfulness, or as our refrain says, “Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.” We seek God in prayer, because of who He is. He is I AM.

The second section is titled “He made what is,” because it focuses on praising God for everything that He has made—the world, the sun, moon, and stars. And really, when we go to God asking Him to heal people, to watch over newborn babies, to give food to the poor, to protect people as they travel, when we pray for these things, we are acknowledging that God is the only One who can help us with these things. He’s the only One, because He made the world, He is over the world, He is in control of the world, He has the power to grant these prayers, because He made what is.

The third section focuses on what God did to free the people from Egypt, and now we might even more feel like Psalm 136 is history and doesn’t have as much to do with us—unless we see what this section tells us about God. The people of Israel didn’t keep bringing up being freed from Egypt because they all felt connected to that event that happened 1000 years earlier. They brought it up, they remembered it, because it reminded them who their God is. “He destroys the powers that be.” In history, the powers that be were Pharaoh and Egypt. At the time of Psalm 136, the powers were the Babylonians who took the people into exile. And now in our day and age, now the powers that be that threaten to destroy God’s people are sin, death, and the devil, false teaching, and anything that would threaten the Church and our faith. So as we pray for missionaries, as we pray for help in temptation, as we pray that God would give us courage to speak His Word, now we’re remembering that He destroys the powers that be, that He can answer our prayers because He can defeat the powers of this world—all the way to defeating the power of death and giving us the promise of the resurrection through Jesus.

The fourth section, and now we’re on page 8 of the bulletin, the fourth section is titled: “He leads the leaderless and landless.” It’s a section that again goes back to a very specific time in history as God led the people in the desert as they wandered for 40 years after leaving Egypt. He led them when they didn’t know where to go; He led them when they didn’t have a land to call their own. Again, it may seem like it doesn’t have much to do with us today, but this section of Psalm 136 is similar to when we pray for the leaders in our Church, in our congregation, those who are guiding us in our mission. It’s similar to when we pray for building projects and long-range planning. It’s similar to when we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as we wander this world. If God was the leader of the leaderless and landless back in the desert, then we can trust that He will hear our prayers and be our leader today.

Finally, it seems like the psalm just continues to talk about history when it says, “He kept us in mind when we were oppressed,” talking about past slavery or recent exile, but I think there’s a shift here at the end of the psalm. That’s why I titled the section: “He remembers.” No matter what kind of oppression, no matter what kind of exile, no matter where you find yourself struggling and feeling separated from God, he remembers you. He hears your prayers. His love goes on forever.

We go to God with the Prayers of the Church precisely because of this section of Psalm 136. We go to God, because we know that He keeps us in mind when we are oppressed by sin, death, and the devil, and the world around us. We go to God, because He saved us from these enemies through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We go to God, because He gives food to all His creatures, because He cares for our daily needs. We go to God, and we give thanks from the heart to the God of heaven, and His love goes on forever.

As you might have noticed, I gave you some quotes from Milton’s version and showed you with arrows how they match up with Psalm 136. As a way of bringing all of this history together, bringing this ancient psalm that echoes the even more ancient refrain of the people of Israel, as a way of calling us to celebrate the Lord with a refrain as we pray to Him, we’re now going to sing Milton’s version as it was put to song. You’ve got the hymn at the bottom of page 8; it’ll be on the screens, too.

As we sing, I want you to think about how these words come from long, long ago, but still carry what is on our hearts. We pray to God and trust Him to hear us, because He is I AM, He made what is, He destroys the powers that be, He leads the leaderless and landless, and He remembers.

Let’s sing now, and make this hymn your prayer. Please stand.

Celebration of the Resurrection for Sylvia Rollins - 1924-2008

Zechariah 1:14-17
Holy Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Bloomington, MN

Ornery. If we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that one of the words that comes to mind when we think of my Great Aunt Sally is ornery. She was ornery, stubborn, had her own way of doing things.

Of course, that’s not to say that Sally was unloving. She loved her family and friends. One time Susan and I had our boys with us at my Grandma’s apartment. Wanting Sally to see the boys, we called her to see if she’d come down the hall. No, she didn’t feel like it. Ornery, I thought.

But then we offered to bring the boys down to her, and she said that’d be fine. Visiting with her in her apartment, it was clear that she was so glad to see us. There was no question that this ornery woman also wanted to shower love on our family.

I bring all of us this up partly because it’s better that we admit that Sally was ornery and just try to appreciate her for who she was.

But I also bring it up because really you have an ornery God. He’s ornery, stubborn in His own way.

Last Sunday, probably about the time that Grandma discovered Sally in her apartment, I was back in Milwaukee teaching a Bible study about Zechariah—where we hear that God is jealous for His people, that He has a zeal, a passionate, protecting love that demands our devotion because He knows that there is no other god out there.

The passage we were studying is from Zechariah chapter 1 where God says through the prophet:

“I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure…. Therefore…I will return to Jerusalem with mercy and there my house will be rebuilt…. The Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.”

That’s an ornery God. He wasn’t going to let the nation’s push around His people anymore; He wasn’t going to give up on His people—even if they had strayed from His ways. The Lord has such a passionate, stubborn love for His people that He wasn’t going to give up without a fight—to the death.

That’s an ornery God. His jealousy, His love sends Him with mercy and comfort. He draws His people back to Himself.

It’s this same ornery God who out-stubborned Sally. Like all of us, Sally was born a sinner, rejecting God, resisting His love, but God cannot be stopped by our stubbornness.

God’s Holy Spirit overcame Sally’s sinfulness in her baptism. From that day forward, the Holy Spirit worked in Sally—just as He does in you—working by the Word of God to strengthen her faith, lead her in the ways of Christ, comfort her in distress, confront her sin, and give her assurance through the promise of eternal life.

It’s an ornery Jesus we contemplate during these days of Lent. Jesus stubbornly refused to follow the temptations of Satan. Jesus stubbornly refused to back down when the Jewish authorities threatened Him. Jesus fought the temptation to skip out on suffering and death, and instead, He followed His Father’s will.

And even when it looked like Jesus was giving up on the cross, really He was just stubbornly accepting judgment in our place so that His people could be saved. It’s an ornery Jesus that would not let us be condemned for our sins; it’s an ornery Jesus that died so that we might live.

It’s that ornery Jesus that saved an ornery Sally. It’s that ornery Jesus who took Sally in her sinfulness and made her into His holy sister, a holy child of God the Father. And it’s to the praise and honor this ornery Jesus that we can celebrate today that Sally now has eternal life. Like the hymn we’ll sing in a moment, God has taken Sally to the new Jerusalem, her happy home for eternity.

And it’s this same ornery Jesus that promises this salvation and eternal life for you. No matter how stubborn and sinful you think you are, God doesn’t give up. Even if you feel like you’ve rejected Him too many times, remember that He keeps on looking for ways to save your ornery soul to the very day that you die. Nothing stops the jealous, zealous, passionate love of our God.

We can laugh about Sally’s stubborn streak, but God’s stubborn streak is no laughing matter. Instead, it’s what we depend on for eternal life, for victory over death, for turning our mourning into dancing, for making funerals into celebrations of life.

God be praised! He is ornery and has not let His people be destroyed. God be praised! Jesus is ornery and died and rose again to give Sally and all of us life forever with Him. Amen.

Lent Midweek:“Psalms for Worship, Psalms for Lent”Psalm 103 - “Hymn of Praise”

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I’m afraid that in order to describe the emotion, power, and celebration behind the Hymn of Praise and its place in a worship service, I’m afraid I can’t simply tell you about a particularly stirring moment when I was singing the Hymn of Praise in a past worship service.

I’m afraid I can only tell you that the Hymn of Praise should be somewhat like an emotional, powerful celebration that I experienced in a completely different setting.

October 18, 1997. Ryan Field on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Susan and I had graduated and were back for Homecoming and a big football game against Michigan State. [On the screens, you can see a picture of my ticket from the game]. After two seasons that ended with bowl games, the Northwestern Wildcats were fighting an uphill battle in the fall of 1997, so perhaps we weren’t really expecting to win.

But we were with old friends, standing among the current students, cheering every play, wishing we were still on the field with the marching band, and singing the fight songs with gusto.

Then unbelievably Northwestern took the lead in the fourth quarter, 19-17. Yet, the lead seemed like it would be quickly erased as Michigan State marched down the field, time running out, and our defense seeming to just let them come right down into field goal territory.

But the defense held them until the only thing the Spartans could do was attempt a kick on the final play of the game. By this point, everyone’s not just standing, but standing on the bleachers. In our hearts, we “expect victory,” as our sports slogan said, but really, it wasn’t a long field goal, and so could we really expect anything but defeat in the final second?

Well, time seemed to slow down as we sang one more chorus of the fight song, the teams lined up, we all screamed as loud as we could with the play right in front of the student section. The ball was snapped, the ball placed, the kicker kicked—AND IT WAS BLOCKED!!

We erupted in the biggest cheer, sigh of relief, astounded, dumbfounded, bewildered, “I can’t believe what I just saw” noise, and we were all jumping up and down on those bleachers, falling onto each other, hugging, high fiving, amazed at what we just saw.

That moment of being caught up in the air, jumping up and down, singing the fight song, asking each other if what happed had really happened, that moment, that’s why I kept my ticket all these years, and that, I’m here to tell you, is more of what the Hymn of Praise is supposed to be like than anything I usually think we achieve with a worship service.

Think about it. The Confession of sins in a worship should be a suspenseful moment, because really according to our own understanding, according to what we can see, according to the way we’d run the world if we were in charge, when we come to admit that we’re completely sinful, ignoring what the Creator and Ruler of the Universe has said, we should be defeated. There should be no hope of winning or even surviving that contest.

But then like a blocked field goal at the last second, linebacker Jesus reaches up with His big paw, knocks that ball down, and saves the game. Jesus knocks down eternal judgment, so that we can have eternal salvation.

And because of Absolution, because Jesus forgives all of our sins, the Hymn of Praise is meant to be our immediate, emotional, powerful, celebratory response to the victory that the Lord just made happen.

The Hymn of Praise is when we erupt in the biggest cheer, sigh of relief, astounded, dumbfounded, bewildered, “I can’t believe what I just saw” noise, and we are all jumping up and down on those bleachers—I mean, pews—, falling onto each other, hugging, high fiving, amazed at what we just heard from God’s Word.

Back at that Northwestern game we burst into the fight song, “Go U Northwestern!,” but in worship, we burst into the Hymn of Praise, a song meant to capture that unbelievable amazement about the forgiveness that God offers us.

That’s what’s going on with Psalm 103—a psalm of praise, a song of rejoicing, a fight song cheering on our Lord. Psalm 103 sounds better shouted out.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (NKJV)

The Hymn of Praise should be shouted out, or as we’ve been doing each week during this Lenten Midweek series, the Hymn of Praise should be sung out with full gusto. We’ve been using “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” based on Psalm 103, and I’ve been hoping that by using the same hymn each week, that every week you’ll feel more and more comfortable with it until it becomes like a school fight song that has power and energy every time you strike up the band and the crowd sings along.

Because every time I find this old ticket from that Homecoming game, I can remember the ecstatic rush I felt when that ball got knocked down and victory was ours. And really, why should the Hymn of Praise be any different? I know someone will say that it loses its punch because we repeat the same thing every week, or at least the same order of service, that the Hymn of Praise can’t be like a game-winning moment because every week we know we’ll be forgiven and we know we’ll sing the Hymn of Praise.

But I’m telling you, that if an 11-year old ticket stub from a football game from a victory during a losing season can still cause me to remember that emotional, powerful celebration, then certainly when we hear that Jesus Christ forgives all of our sins, certainly that could bring up such a response, too.

Now, I know that Lenten tradition says that we tone down the Hymn of Praise, or maybe even omit it during this season, but I kept it in for a few reasons. One, I wanted to teach about the order of worship during this series, and I’ve always felt that the Hymn of Praise was an essential piece in the drama, the movement and energy of worship. But I also kept it in because even though we spend these weeks of Lent repenting, having sorrow over our sins, and contemplating our need for a Savior, still there isn’t a day that goes by when we forget that Jesus forgives our sins. And I can’t think about Jesus forgiving all of my sins without saying some kind of Hymn of Praise in my mind, shouting or singing about how thrilled and amazed I am that Jesus would forgive me.

So now that I’ve kept the Hymn of Praise in the service for Lent, and now that we’re talking about comparing the Hymn of Praise to that game-winning moment when the crowd goes wild and there’s complete pandemonium, now I’m going to ask you to do something that will completely take you out of your Lenten, traditional, Lutheran element. Some of you won’t want to go there with me, and that’s OK, but if some of you are ready, I want to try the Hymn of Praise again, this time as a cheer.

You see, a lot of times I hold myself back when I’m leading worship, because sometimes what I really want to do is scream and shout and jump up and down and push and pull and wave my arms and say, “Come on! Speak up, sing louder, smile, celebrate!” I hold myself back, because I know I’m not supposed to act like a cheerleader up here, but a lot of times I want to act like a cheerleader, anything to just get us to speak and sing and listen and stand and sit in a way that matches the most incredible things that we’re talking about here.

And this is how it should work.

Go back to that moment of silent reflection during the Confession, the time when you were thinking about your personal sins. Go back to that moment in the service, because that’s the place where the opposing team—sin, death, and the devil—were about to boot that kick through the uprights and win the game. Go back to that moment, stand there with anticipation, suspense, worry, fear, dread, a sense that it is inevitable that you’re going to lose, and then I say:

You wait for the Lord, because his love for you will never run out,
and because he has the power to set you free;
Only he will save you from your sins,
Only he has sent his son to die for you and rise again to give you new life.
Your sins are forgiven in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And then you jump up and join in this cheer:

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!

The cheer is on the screens. The Lord just batted down that ball, stopped the game-winning play by sin, death, and the devil. Jesus just forgave all of your sins, won victory on the cross, conquered death, and has given you the victory over sin and death. Cheer with me!

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!
The Lord’s done so much for us. We can’t forget to give Him all praise, glory, and honor. Praise His Holy Name, because He has not forgotten His people. He came to our rescue, He came to save us, He came to keep us from going down in defeat forever. So let’s cheer for Him.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!

Our team here could be called the Eagles, because like Psalm 103 says, God gives us the youth and strength of eagles. What a mascot for our spiritual condition! We should be considered like small, puny, mutant, ugly, rat-like birds that are barely alive, but God takes us, raises us up above all the others, makes us majestic, strong, sharp-sighted, fearless, and holy in His sight. Let’s go Eagles, let’s go! Let’s go, Eagles, let’s go! Let’s go and praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!

Again Psalm 103 shows us the reason for praising God with a Hymn of Praise or a Cheer of Praise. The psalm says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Think again about that defensive back reaching up to knock down the ball, blocking the kick, and saving the game. Well, Jesus reached up and knocked that ball clear to the other horizon, knocked away our sinfulness so far from us that it will never accuse us again, never be the cause of our judgment and death. So one more time, let’s praise Him, you Eagles! Stand on up!

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!

Lenten Midweek:“Psalms for Worship, Psalms for Lent”Psalm 130 - "Confession and Absolution"

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

From the Liturgy: Confession and Absolution
Psalm 130:1-4a,5-8 - trans. Gordon Jackson, The Lincoln Psalter, altered

Pastor: His thoughts are deep, but we are deep in a different kind of way—deep in the trap of our sins. So we cry out to God saying: Out of the pit we call you, Lord;
People: please, Lord, hear us
Pastor: Though our voices are faint let them reach your ears
People: and touch your heart of mercy.
Pastor: Lord, if you keep a tally of all our sins
People: then all of us are done for;
Pastor: But Lord, you like to forgive;
People: So we wait on the Lord, we wait in our soul,
Pastor: his word is our only hope;
People: We look for the Lord,
Pastor: eager as any watchman for the morning.

Pastor: You wait for the Lord, because his love for you will never run out,and because he has the power to set you free; Only he will save you from your sins, Only he has sent his son to die for you and rise again to give you new life. Your sins are forgiven in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.

The parts of the sermon in blue were read from the center of the Chancel, mimicking the liturgical movement during the Confession and Absolution.

It’s a lovesong for the loveless. Psalm 130 is a lovesong for the loveless and the hopeless. Confession and Absolution in worship is a lovesong for the desperate and the lonely.

“This is a lovesong for the loveless.” The Gospel is a lovesong for the loveless and the hopeless. When we confess to God, when we admit to God that we are sinners, that we are so completely the opposite of what He wants us to be, when we admit how hopeless we are when we look at ourselves, then the Gospel is a lovesong for us, a lovesong for the loveless and the hopeless.

That phrase—“lovesong for the loveless”—comes from a song by a band called the Juliana Theory. I won’t play a clip from the song, because only some of you would appreciate the hard rocking sound, but I’ll put the lyric on the screens, because we can all appreciate how the words apply to Psalm 130, Confession and Absolution, the Gospel, and Lent.

Almost always near the beginning of a worship service, Confession is where we admit that because we’re sinners, because we’re so far from God, that really we have no right to approach Him, no right to come before His presence, stand at the altar, talk to Him in prayer, no right to even think that God should do anything except strike us down dead for our sins.

In fact, a helpful way to imagine that part of the worship service is to think it’s like you’ve been kicked out of church, that you were excommunicated because of your sins during the week, and now you’re coming to God, admitting what you’ve done wrong, asking for mercy, love, and forgiveness, pleading with God to look on you with favor because of Jesus Christ. You’ve been kicked out, and now you’re begging for God to let you back in.

You’re begging God to let you back in, because it’s just so bad outside, so strange, cold, hurtful, hopeless, lonely, and desperate when you’re away from God. It’s like you’re lost in a pit, you’ve fallen into the stormy ocean depths, sinking fast. Which is where Psalm 130 starts. . .

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand? (NKJV)

Out of the pit we call you, Lord;
please, Lord, hear us
Though our voices are faint let them reach your ears
and touch your heart of mercy.
Lord, if you keep a tally of all our sins
then all of us are done for.

“Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.”

That’s the traditional Confession of Sins, but it’s just like Psalm 130, it’s a cry from the depths, a cry from people who know they are caught in the pit of sin, people who know that they should be struck down for their misdeeds.

“Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.” (Lutheran Service Book)

Out of the pit we call you, Lord;
please, Lord, hear us.

And He does hear us. As certain as Jesus heard the thief on the cross who said, “Lord, remember me in Your kingdom,” as certain as that, Jesus hears you when you ask Him to remember you. As sure as Jesus promising that the thief would be with Him in eternity, as sure as that, Jesus promises that you will be with Him forever.

Just like the lyrics from the Juliana Theory song, Jesus is sending out His Gospel, His lovesong for the loveless, and He says, “You can be certain I’m with you when I sing.” You can be certain that Jesus is with you when He sings, when He speaks, when He shares His Word with us, when He cries out in despair from the cross, when He declares His victory in the Resurrection, when He speaks to the Father in the eternal throne room above, you can be certain that He is with you and has made it possible for you to be with Him forever.

“You could have nothing but you’ll still have me,” the song says. You could lose everything in life, you could see how sin makes you worthless in the grand scheme of things, but you’ll still have Jesus.

That’s the great surprise, the wonderful moment, the tremendous recognition of faith, the thing that we celebrate every worship service, the turning moment, the time when hopelessness turns tail, reverses course, and becomes full-fledged hopefulness. It’s Absolution, it’s forgiveness, it’s the lovesong for the loveless.

“This is a lovesong for the loveless.”
The Gospel is a lovesong for the loveless and the hopeless.

But Lord, you like to forgive;
So we wait on the Lord, we wait in our soul,
his word is our only hope;
We look for the Lord,
eager as any watchman for the morning.

You wait for the Lord, because his love for you will never run out,
and because he has the power to set you free;
Only he will save you from your sins,
Only he has sent his son to die for you and rise again to give you new life.
Your sins are forgiven
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

But [Lord,] there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is mercy,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel
From all his iniquities. (NKJV)

“Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Lutheran Service Book)

Psalm 130 is a song written for the people to use on their way to the Temple, on their climb up the hilly road leading to the Holy City, to Jerusalem, to the Temple, on their way to worship the Lord. It’s a song to sing in preparation, admitting their sins, admitting that it is only through God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness that they should even dare approach God’s presence on that Holy Hill.

Confession works like Psalm 130. It’s the part of the service when we’re preparing to approach the Lord, we’ve come to hear His Word, we’ve come to receive His body and blood, we’ve come to talk to Him in prayer, but as we’re on the way up—so to speak, as we’re entering the sanctuary, as we’re looking towards that altar, we pause to confess, to admit, to come clean with the truth, to cry out to God from the pit of our own sins. We ask God: “Please don’t hold our sin against us; lift us up, bring us close, let us be here in Your presence.”

That’s what Lent is all about, too. We spend these weeks before Easter, pausing to think, to really take stock of our actions, stopping to realize just how much we needed Jesus to go to the cross for us—as ugly as it may sound, that we needed Jesus to be killed so that we can live. We’re walking up the hill, we’re approaching the cross, we’re walking out of the deep pit of sin, and we’re singing Psalm 130 the whole way, confessing our loveless, hopeless, desperate, lonely condition.

And whether in Psalm 130—“But with You there is forgiveness,” or in the traditional absolution—“Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you,” those words of forgiveness come as the lovesong for the loveless. It’s where Jesus promises that He will always be with you; it’s where God invites us to stay here, approach Him, talk to Him, receive His gifts, and go home confident that He will be always with us. Often you’ll see us as pastors not go up to the altar until after the absolution, symbolizing that only through the forgiveness of Jesus are we able to confidently approach the Lord.

(stepping up to the altar) And when we take that step, when we’ve said the words of Absolution, when we’re spoken the forgiveness of Jesus, then you should be able to hear a beautiful song from the Lord, a lovesong for the loveless, a melody that pierces your gloom, lifts you out of the pit, and places you in the arms of God the Father who showers His blessings on you.

I don’t know what may have brought to the depths today; I don’t know what has caused you to realize just how sinful you are; but I do know that Jesus has given you His lovesong called the Gospel.

You don’t know what will be your deep pit in the future; you don’t know what you’ll be thinking about each time you come here to worship; but you know that Jesus will be here offering you His lovesong called forgiveness.

It’s a lovesong for the loveless. Psalm 130 is a lovesong for the loveless and the hopeless. Confession and Absolution in worship is a lovesong for the desperate and the lonely. You can be certain Jesus is with you when He speaks His Word of forgiveness. You could have nothing but you’ll still have Jesus. Easter will come with the celebration of Resurrection, victory, and eternal life, and you’ll know that it is the Lord’s lovesong for you. It’s a lovesong for the loveless.