Meditation – Praise and Instruction Rev. Sandy Lacey December 29, 2024
Okay, friends, repeat after me . . . me, me, me, la, la, la, o-e-o, o-e-o . . . Some of you are looking at me a little funny. We’re just doing a few warm-up exercises – that’s what choirs do, you know. We gather together, catch up on all the latest happenings in our families, then begin the process of tuning our voices to each other and to the other instruments that accompany us. Why, without the necessary warm-up, we might not be very harmonious. You see, our voices are so different – some of us have strong, solo voices that are made even stronger by others who support and buffet us. Others of us have wonderful supporting voices that make the choir sound so much more rich and full. Without the warm-up exercises, however, we forget about the other voices and we go off singing our own song without any thought to the song we’ve been directed to sing together. If no warm-up exercises, we ae likely to miss the point – to use our particular gifts to contribute to the larger song that we have been directed to sing. And it is not just us. In fact, the Psalm we heard this morning says that not only people are directed to sing, but all of God’s creation has been directed to sing. This is one large choir. Along with birds, water, air, mountains, trees, storms, sun, moon, animals, even sea monsters – we are all directed to praise the Lord. An amazing choir, wouldn’t you say? Fortunately, it is not up to Jim to direct this kind of diverse choir. God alone can do that. We are simply given the instruction to sing – to praise God. Our Westminster Confession of Faith has in its Teaching Catechism a question for us: “What is the chief end of man?” (I don’t want you to be tripped up by the 16th century language, so I’ll paraphrase, “What is humankind’s main purpose – why are we here?”) Do you remember the catechism’s response: “To glorify God (praise God) and enjoy God forever.” That is humankind’s purpose. That is your purpose. That is my purpose. And according to Psalm 148, that is the purpose for all of creation. We are all part of one cosmic choir that sings praise songs to our Creator. Well, like any choir rehearsal, we need to work on some pieces we already know and intersperse them with some new music. Perhaps we need to start with something familiar, “Jesus Loves Me” – Jesus Loves Me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. For the Bible tells me so. Great 20th century theologian Karl Barth says that is all we need to know – every real important nugget of wisdom/every big theological point is in that children’s song. And we learn it as children so that we can remember it our whole lives long. What is its message? Grace. God so loves us that God sent a Son, Jesus – to save us, to redeem us, to make us whole, to show us how much God loves us, to show us how to love each other, to forgive us when we fail . . . God so loves us . . . God is the one who initiates. God is not waiting for you to decide before God chooses to love you. You do not have to earn God’s love. God so loves. Grace. I read an interesting article this week from one of my favorite authors, Richard Rohr. One of his daily online meditations this week reminded me that it is awfully easy to focus so much on the sentimentality of the baby being born during the Advent and Christmas season that we miss the larger point. If grace is the point/if love is the point and God so loves the world, then shouldn’t we enlarge what I imagine is a 6 year-old focus of a cute baby being born to something larger, maybe like what God actually intended with the incarnation? God-with-us is not just some sentimental, sweet story; it is a life altering story that cannot and will not leave us the same. According to the Advent texts we heard these last few weeks, it is God’s big plan to right all wrongs, to topple the power structures, to lift up the lost and the low, to invade our personal lives for good, yes, and to bring God’s big plan for the whole world to completion. It is no light thing for us to say that the Word became flesh and lived among us. Mere sentimentality does not even touch what has happened and what is continuing to happen. We have just allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep with stories of the baby while missing the point that God is really up to something. So, what is God up to? I think it is safe to say that it is always something much larger than we can imagine. I mean, just think about it – cosmic praise songs that the entire created order participates in? And Mary singing of the world being turned upside down, where the powerful and wealthy are brought down while those who have nothing are lifted up. There is no sweet little Jesus boy lying in a manger picture here. So, if God is up to really big change, what are we to do? As we begin to sense the enormity of who God is and what God is up to, what will be our response? Shall we wring our hands in fear and anxiety, or the opposite extreme, shall we bury our heads in the sand and ignore what is going on around us? Perhaps, instead, we could listen to the writer of Colossians this morning and let love be our guiding light and principle as we look a little deeper into this story of God living among us and working to make all things new. Perhaps we can don the clothing of compassion and justice for God’s world and the people who inhabit it. It is time for us to wake up and live into our purpose for singing God’s song of change and working together to demonstrate God’s kingdom/God’s big plan right here and right now. After all, the creation needs the help of protection so that it may sing. In addition, not all people know of God’s love and grace. Singing together, we can harmonize our voices to the cosmic praise song God is directing in our midst.
Okay, friends, repeat after me . . . me, me, me, la, la, la, o-e-o, o-e-o . . . Some of you are looking at me a little funny. We’re just doing a few warm-up exercises – that’s what choirs do, you know. We gather together, catch up on all the latest happenings in our families, then begin the process of tuning our voices to each other and to the other instruments that accompany us. Why, without the necessary warm-up, we might not be very harmonious. You see, our voices are so different – some of us have strong, solo voices that are made even stronger by others who support and buffet us. Others of us have wonderful supporting voices that make the choir sound so much more rich and full. Without the warm-up exercises, however, we forget about the other voices and we go off singing our own song without any thought to the song we’ve been directed to sing together. If no warm-up exercises, we ae likely to miss the point – to use our particular gifts to contribute to the larger song that we have been directed to sing. And it is not just us. In fact, the Psalm we heard this morning says that not only people are directed to sing, but all of God’s creation has been directed to sing. This is one large choir. Along with birds, water, air, mountains, trees, storms, sun, moon, animals, even sea monsters – we are all directed to praise the Lord. An amazing choir, wouldn’t you say? Fortunately, it is not up to Jim to direct this kind of diverse choir. God alone can do that. We are simply given the instruction to sing – to praise God. Our Westminster Confession of Faith has in its Teaching Catechism a question for us: “What is the chief end of man?” (I don’t want you to be tripped up by the 16th century language, so I’ll paraphrase, “What is humankind’s main purpose – why are we here?”) Do you remember the catechism’s response: “To glorify God (praise God) and enjoy God forever.” That is humankind’s purpose. That is your purpose. That is my purpose. And according to Psalm 148, that is the purpose for all of creation. We are all part of one cosmic choir that sings praise songs to our Creator. Well, like any choir rehearsal, we need to work on some pieces we already know and intersperse them with some new music. Perhaps we need to start with something familiar, “Jesus Loves Me” – Jesus Loves Me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. For the Bible tells me so. Great 20th century theologian Karl Barth says that is all we need to know – every real important nugget of wisdom/every big theological point is in that children’s song. And we learn it as children so that we can remember it our whole lives long. What is its message? Grace. God so loves us that God sent a Son, Jesus – to save us, to redeem us, to make us whole, to show us how much God loves us, to show us how to love each other, to forgive us when we fail . . . God so loves us . . . God is the one who initiates. God is not waiting for you to decide before God chooses to love you. You do not have to earn God’s love. God so loves. Grace. I read an interesting article this week from one of my favorite authors, Richard Rohr. One of his daily online meditations this week reminded me that it is awfully easy to focus so much on the sentimentality of the baby being born during the Advent and Christmas season that we miss the larger point. If grace is the point/if love is the point and God so loves the world, then shouldn’t we enlarge what I imagine is a 6 year-old focus of a cute baby being born to something larger, maybe like what God actually intended with the incarnation? God-with-us is not just some sentimental, sweet story; it is a life altering story that cannot and will not leave us the same. According to the Advent texts we heard these last few weeks, it is God’s big plan to right all wrongs, to topple the power structures, to lift up the lost and the low, to invade our personal lives for good, yes, and to bring God’s big plan for the whole world to completion. It is no light thing for us to say that the Word became flesh and lived among us. Mere sentimentality does not even touch what has happened and what is continuing to happen. We have just allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep with stories of the baby while missing the point that God is really up to something. So, what is God up to? I think it is safe to say that it is always something much larger than we can imagine. I mean, just think about it – cosmic praise songs that the entire created order participates in? And Mary singing of the world being turned upside down, where the powerful and wealthy are brought down while those who have nothing are lifted up. There is no sweet little Jesus boy lying in a manger picture here. So, if God is up to really big change, what are we to do? As we begin to sense the enormity of who God is and what God is up to, what will be our response? Shall we wring our hands in fear and anxiety, or the opposite extreme, shall we bury our heads in the sand and ignore what is going on around us? Perhaps, instead, we could listen to the writer of Colossians this morning and let love be our guiding light and principle as we look a little deeper into this story of God living among us and working to make all things new. Perhaps we can don the clothing of compassion and justice for God’s world and the people who inhabit it. It is time for us to wake up and live into our purpose for singing God’s song of change and working together to demonstrate God’s kingdom/God’s big plan right here and right now. After all, the creation needs the help of protection so that it may sing. In addition, not all people know of God’s love and grace. Singing together, we can harmonize our voices to the cosmic praise song God is directing in our midst.