Sermon 26th April 2009
Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Psalm 139 verses 1 to 6.
'To be perfectly honest with you', 'at the end of the day', 'like it or lump it', 'life is like a game of football', 'if you know what I mean'. With apologies to 'the fairer sex', for some of whom this might 'fall on deaf ears', it 'is a game of two halves'. 'The lads' just 'have to go out there', and 'wear their hearts on their sleeves' 'for the jersey'. It's 'a ding-dong battle', and they might 'not get what they deserve out of the game', even if they do 'play with passion' and 'give it their all'. But 'there's no use crying over spilled milk'. 'Life is tough', so 'we just have to get on with it', and 'give it our best shot'. Surely 'nobody can ask for any more than that', can they?
Life is full of clichés is it not? Those might not be the ones that you use most often yourself; but try to go a whole day without using any at all! They're actually quite useful too: it's like having a shared shorthand, that saves us the time and effort it takes to communicate properly. But it's also very easy to hide behind clichés – like saying, “I'm fine” when someone asks how you are. And the reality is that any life that's lived at that superficial level of relationship ultimately isn't going to be at all satisfying, for anyone.
That's not how we have been designed to be, though. The fundamental truth of the Bible is that we have been made to be in relationship with others. More than that, these are relationships in which we are meant to know – and to be known – fully. And, as we all know just from being human, that takes work, risk, and above all, real, deep, meaningful communication. Again as we all know, that's hard enough to achieve with those we can see and touch. But the Bible also teaches that we have been made to be in that kind of relationship with God! So, how is that possible to achieve?
Not surprisingly, most of us feel deeply inadequate when it comes to communicating with God. Maybe that's only an appropriate reflection of the very real differences that there are between Him and us. But perhaps it's a cop-out! The Bible is full of stories and examples of people just like us communicating with this same God, who has made himself known to us.
That is nowhere more true than in the Psalms. So our new series from Psalms starting today is called 'Conversations with God'. As we're keeping everything short because of the AGM after the service, this can only be a very brief introduction to one of the best-known and best-loved books of the Bible. It's not a surprise that we often turn to the Psalms, though. What we can find in them is just about the whole range of human experience and emotion – from the depths of despair to wild joy. Even more so in the original Hebrew, the Psalms are earthy, rough and, above all, honest outpourings, from the heart, to the God who cares. They are very definitely not genteel, cultured prayers whispered by 'nice' people in the 'right' language. We can't miss the point of any Psalm!
There are 150 Psalms in all. They were written, collected, edited, and/or set to music by a whole range of people – most notably by the famous Old Testament King, David. That process happened over period spanning almost 1 000 years, from the time of Moses onwards. The final result is a collection of 5 books that roughly parallel the themes of the first five books of the Bible. But it's far from dead literature! The Psalms have continued to be used ever since, not just in Christian worship, but also as the basis for new songs, poetry, literature, or 'just' to express emotions that we can't find our own words for in our circumstances.
Our series begins with parts of one of my favourite Psalms, 139. It's one of the 75 that are attributed to King David, and it perfectly sets the context not just for this whole series but also for the AGM: “God knows!” I realise that there are different ways of saying that phrase which make it mean different things. But for David – and so, for us – this was deeply reassuring and comforting. To be known in such detail, including his very thoughts, by the God who spoke the world into being, told David how much God cared for him, and for his circumstances.
As is often the case in the Psalms, David's circumstances were less than ideal. We wouldn't know that from our reading today, because that wasn't his starting point when he wrote it. David may have written this at the time, or after reflection later. Whenever he wrote, David chose to begin by reminding himself about who God is, and what He has done. Only then did he cry out – or pray – to this God about his difficulties. Then he ended this Psalm where he had begun, with the goodness of God.
We will see this pattern repeated constantly in this series, not least because the Psalms are meant to teach us how to communicate with and relate to God. So, we'll learn how to: start, and finish, with God; how to know Him as he knows us; how to be like Him in how we think and act; how to trust Him, no matter what situations we face; how to confess our shortcomings and sins to Him; how to remember constantly what He has done; how to praise and thank Him when He acts; how to communicate with Him, in good times and in bad; how to make our relationship with God be as He wants it to be – dynamic, powerful, life-giving, and life-changing.
All those, and more, were the experiences of the Psalmists themselves. Indeed, that's why they wrote their Psalms! They were people just like us, who knew that there is nothing better than to know, and be known by, this God, who made us. Yes, it may, as David wrote here, be too deep, too far beyond our understanding; but, praise God, it is possible! And so let's pray ...
'To be perfectly honest with you', 'at the end of the day', 'like it or lump it', 'life is like a game of football', 'if you know what I mean'. With apologies to 'the fairer sex', for some of whom this might 'fall on deaf ears', it 'is a game of two halves'. 'The lads' just 'have to go out there', and 'wear their hearts on their sleeves' 'for the jersey'. It's 'a ding-dong battle', and they might 'not get what they deserve out of the game', even if they do 'play with passion' and 'give it their all'. But 'there's no use crying over spilled milk'. 'Life is tough', so 'we just have to get on with it', and 'give it our best shot'. Surely 'nobody can ask for any more than that', can they?
Life is full of clichés is it not? Those might not be the ones that you use most often yourself; but try to go a whole day without using any at all! They're actually quite useful too: it's like having a shared shorthand, that saves us the time and effort it takes to communicate properly. But it's also very easy to hide behind clichés – like saying, “I'm fine” when someone asks how you are. And the reality is that any life that's lived at that superficial level of relationship ultimately isn't going to be at all satisfying, for anyone.
That's not how we have been designed to be, though. The fundamental truth of the Bible is that we have been made to be in relationship with others. More than that, these are relationships in which we are meant to know – and to be known – fully. And, as we all know just from being human, that takes work, risk, and above all, real, deep, meaningful communication. Again as we all know, that's hard enough to achieve with those we can see and touch. But the Bible also teaches that we have been made to be in that kind of relationship with God! So, how is that possible to achieve?
Not surprisingly, most of us feel deeply inadequate when it comes to communicating with God. Maybe that's only an appropriate reflection of the very real differences that there are between Him and us. But perhaps it's a cop-out! The Bible is full of stories and examples of people just like us communicating with this same God, who has made himself known to us.
That is nowhere more true than in the Psalms. So our new series from Psalms starting today is called 'Conversations with God'. As we're keeping everything short because of the AGM after the service, this can only be a very brief introduction to one of the best-known and best-loved books of the Bible. It's not a surprise that we often turn to the Psalms, though. What we can find in them is just about the whole range of human experience and emotion – from the depths of despair to wild joy. Even more so in the original Hebrew, the Psalms are earthy, rough and, above all, honest outpourings, from the heart, to the God who cares. They are very definitely not genteel, cultured prayers whispered by 'nice' people in the 'right' language. We can't miss the point of any Psalm!
There are 150 Psalms in all. They were written, collected, edited, and/or set to music by a whole range of people – most notably by the famous Old Testament King, David. That process happened over period spanning almost 1 000 years, from the time of Moses onwards. The final result is a collection of 5 books that roughly parallel the themes of the first five books of the Bible. But it's far from dead literature! The Psalms have continued to be used ever since, not just in Christian worship, but also as the basis for new songs, poetry, literature, or 'just' to express emotions that we can't find our own words for in our circumstances.
Our series begins with parts of one of my favourite Psalms, 139. It's one of the 75 that are attributed to King David, and it perfectly sets the context not just for this whole series but also for the AGM: “God knows!” I realise that there are different ways of saying that phrase which make it mean different things. But for David – and so, for us – this was deeply reassuring and comforting. To be known in such detail, including his very thoughts, by the God who spoke the world into being, told David how much God cared for him, and for his circumstances.
As is often the case in the Psalms, David's circumstances were less than ideal. We wouldn't know that from our reading today, because that wasn't his starting point when he wrote it. David may have written this at the time, or after reflection later. Whenever he wrote, David chose to begin by reminding himself about who God is, and what He has done. Only then did he cry out – or pray – to this God about his difficulties. Then he ended this Psalm where he had begun, with the goodness of God.
We will see this pattern repeated constantly in this series, not least because the Psalms are meant to teach us how to communicate with and relate to God. So, we'll learn how to: start, and finish, with God; how to know Him as he knows us; how to be like Him in how we think and act; how to trust Him, no matter what situations we face; how to confess our shortcomings and sins to Him; how to remember constantly what He has done; how to praise and thank Him when He acts; how to communicate with Him, in good times and in bad; how to make our relationship with God be as He wants it to be – dynamic, powerful, life-giving, and life-changing.
All those, and more, were the experiences of the Psalmists themselves. Indeed, that's why they wrote their Psalms! They were people just like us, who knew that there is nothing better than to know, and be known by, this God, who made us. Yes, it may, as David wrote here, be too deep, too far beyond our understanding; but, praise God, it is possible! And so let's pray ...
posted by Parish Administrator at 10:58 am
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