PSALM 84 “Better is One Day in Your Courts…”

Readings: Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18, Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69, Psalm 84  
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 22 2021

Psalm 84 contains many lines that are familiar to us and which we may have first come across as liturgy or prayers in our worship services. It was thought to have originally been composed as a song, or liturgy, to be used as folks processed towards the Temple for a time of worship. You can feel the anticipation in verse 2 “My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”

The Psalm talks about how God walks with us through the different experiences of our lives. It mentions the dry times, symbolized by the valley of Baca, literally the “Valley of Weeping” and of how God provides for the lowliest of God’s creatures “Even the sparrow finds a home.”

The Psalm pictures God as being the source of the good things that come to our lives. I wanted to briefly today to focus on just three of them.

•    God as the source of our strength
•    God as the source of our security
•    God as the source of our salvation.

God as the source of our strength

I have had an interesting couple of weeks. Although having been vaccinated against Covid, that Delta virus managed to break through, and I had to be quarantined for a while.

I’m so thankful for those here at church who took care of things that needed to be done, for Val for leading worship and everybody who stepped up. Thankful for all the prayers and messages of concern. Thankful most of all to wife Yvonne, who has had to live in the same house, taking care of everything, while we isolated from each other as much as possible. Thankful, she has not succumbed to the virus, and I remain prayerful she continues to be healthy.

I can tell you this. Covid does not respect the rules. It has no morality. It doesn’t play nice. It does not care about our political beliefs, our religious beliefs, our status, our nationality, or a host of other things. If it can find a way in, it will find a way in. It is on a mission to shut us down. A bit like a computer virus. That’s why we have all those antivirus programs on our computers. Because we know a virus just wants to do one thing. Shut us down.

I had a few days where I really felt unwell. A few others after that where I was just incredibly tired. I can only imagine what those who are unprotected must go through. Don’t panic! I’m not going to use this sermon as an opportunity to say, “You should do this” or “You should do that.” I understand this whole thing is something we are all struggling to deal with.  

But I do want to say this. We’re still walking through the Valley of Baca. We are still in a place of uncertainty. As this thing mutates and regroups, and we react and try and understand, we are not always going to get it right! So, this psalm has wonderful advice for those who walk in the valley. Verse 6 “As they go through the valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength.”

And the source of our strength is the love of God. From other folk’s care towards me I have received the love of God. Their concern made it a place of springs. Their prayers were the early rain that brought refreshment. That’s what being a Christian community is meant to be about. That’s where our focus always needs to be. Caring for each other.

And if by the fact, that Covid managed to get itself into the life of your pastor, who has been wearing masks, and washing hands, and keeping distance, getting vaccinated and all the rest of it, well… take note. This Covid thing isn’t done with us yet. Stay strong.

Keep on caring for each other. Keep on believing that God can and will get us through, even if some days we are travelling through a valley. God remains the source of our strength, a strength that is expressed in our love for one another. Which brings us to the second thing here.

God as the source of our security

Verse 3 “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at Your altars, O LORD of hosts.”
 
The Psalmist pictures God’s care and concern as being one that enfolds all of creation, the youngest and the parents, the cared for and the carer. All find a welcome and a home in God’s sanctuary.  

Have you noticed how we use that term, “Sanctuary” to describe the physical place where we gather to open our lives to God? As a kid in church I remember that there were things we could do in the church hall, but not in the sanctuary. Sanctuary was different. Set apart. Holy. “Don’t be running in the sanctuary… slow down. Think about where you are.”

Sanctuary. At church camp we have often sung the song “Lord prepare me, To be a sanctuary, Pure and Holy, Tried and True.” And it is one of those songs that draws you to a place of worship and thankfulness and appreciation that there is a God and it isn’t you!

Sanctuary is not just a physical place, but an experience. A place where we feel at home and enabled to pour out our hearts and lives in worship to God. A place where we find the strength to carry on. A place where we feel safe and secure.

This was the Psalmists experience. Verse 11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield.” God is the Psalmists light and warmth and security. A Sheild. Part of the armor of God.  In Ephesians 6:16 we are encouraged to “take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Psalm 84, as they walked to the Temple, the people remind themselves of their longing to be in a place where they could once more experience God’s refreshment and security. This psalm acknowledges our need for spiritual nurture and our need to share together in our quest to become all the things God desires for God’s people to be.

God is the source of our strength. God is the source of our security. All of this is leading us to acknowledge the thought that underlays this whole psalm.

God as the source of our salvation.

Verse 10 “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.”

This verse gives me the impression that the author has lived a little. That he has had personal experience of what went on in the tents of the wicked. That he had spent a thousand days places elsewhere than the love of God could be found. That he had hit rock bottom and discovered that, even there, God still called his name and invited him home.

There is something so humble about his statement, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper.” A sense of, “Y’know I really don’t deserve the privilege of even being allowed in the sanctuary, let alone finding a welcome there.”

Reminds me of the story of the prodigal son, where after wasting his inheritance, he returns to the Father and says, I am not willing to be considered your Son, just let me be as one of Your servants.” And in that story, we know what happens. The Father looks at him, and says, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate." (Luke 15:24)

In our New Testament reading today, there are some people finding the actions and teaching of Jesus a little too much for them. Many are rejecting what He has to say and what He has to offer. So, Jesus tuns and asks Peter, “So… are you with them or are you with me?” We read “Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."    (John 6:68-69)

When we experience for ourselves the amazing love, grace and mercy of God, that can be found in Jesus Christ, it gives us a sense of, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” It gives us a desire for worship and service and reveals how empty and inauthentic so many of life’s experiences can turn out to be. It reminds us that God alone is the source of our salvation.

Such a revelation causes our Psalmist to declare in his closing verse “O LORD of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in You.” The word “Happy” used there is the Hebrew word “Esher” often translated as “Blessed.”  

Folks, life can sometimes lead us into valleys. We all sometimes get sick, or have accidents, or are victims to things totally out of our control. This Psalm calls for us to bring all our concerns into the sphere of God’s concern, the place of God’s presence, the Sanctuary, because it is there that God inhabits the praises of God’s people.

We may feel only qualified to be the doorkeeper, we may feel like the outsider, we may wonder what place there truly is for us in the plans and purposes of God, but the further down that road we go, we often reach the place where like Peter we can only say, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

We continue as individuals and as a Church community to travel through days of uncertainty caused partly by a worldwide pandemic that has a nasty habit of interrupting our lives in the most unwelcome of ways.

Let us commit to continuing to travel together, knowing that God is the source of our strength, God is the source of our security and God is the source of our salvation.

And to God’s name be all praise and glory. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

The Bread Man

Readings: Psalm 51:1-12 , Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15, Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:35, 41-51
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 8, 2021

There were all sorts of people used to call at the house where I grew up in England. The milkman would bring the milk.  The paperboy would bring the Daily News.  The Postman would bring the mail.  The little grocery store around the corner would deliver fresh foods.  And there was also the Bread man.

The Bread man came in a big bread van, with a drop-down step at the back.  He usually only carried four products.  White Bread sliced, White bread un-sliced, Brown Bread sliced, and Brown bread un-sliced. But on Saturdays, something special. Long French loaves. Fresh baked rolls. Cakes and Apple Pies.  And, occasionally, if I'd been really good, mum would let me climb the steps, go in the van look around and choose something nice for supper. I can still smell the aroma of that fresh newly baked bread in the back of the van.  Delicious.

These days things are different.  You go to the supermarket and you are faced with a whole aisle of choices. Sliced, unsliced, white, brown, white bread that's really brown bread, bread for those on a diet, bread designed to enhance your energy. The list is endless!

Jesus tells the people in our reading that He is the 'Bread of Life'. He talks of the manna that the Hebrew people ate in the wilderness and compares Himself to that manna. He is bread that came down from heaven to nurture the people of God.

Bread sustains us. In the Lord's Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray that we may receive our daily bread. God knows we need material things for our physical well being.  Jesus also tells us that we cannot live by bread alone, but need every “Word” that comes from the mouth of God. That life is not just a matter of seeing that our physical needs are met, but that there is a spiritual side of us that also needs nurturing.

There are more than enough folk around to advise us on our eating habits. Here in the United States obtaining our daily bread is not a problem for most people. Maybe a culture like this should amend the Lords prayer to read, "Give us our daily bread .... and not a crumb more!"

Though materially wealthy, we can be spiritually bankrupt.  The abundance of things that we fill our days with tends to obscure the need to nurture the spiritual side of our lives. We have many, many distractions that save us from even having to think about the health of our souls.

In those moments when we do contemplate life’s deeper meaning, there is a bewildering spectrum of choices that we can pursue in order to become spiritually healthy. Jesus is not the only 'Bread of life' on offer to us in today’s world.

Maybe in days gone past things were less complex. Generally speaking many people in the United States were, to use the term in a broad sense, "Judeo/Christian."  Admittedly there was a choice of denominational brand names that you could identify with, but in general terms, if a person wanted to nurture their spiritual life, the Church (or synagogue) was the place where they would expect to turn.

That is no longer the case. These days there are more spiritual roads on offer that there are brands of bread on the shelves of King Kullen. There are differing forms of Christianity and Islam as well as Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu religions.  There are New Age philosophies, Wellness and Self-Awareness programs, there are secular philosophies that rule out the possibility of there even being a God; a thousand ways to satisfy the needs of your soul.

But was it that much different when Jesus spoke of Himself as being the bread of life? The Greeks and the Romans embraced many different philosophies.  Within Judaism there were different groups such as the Pharisees and Sadducee's.  

And for many folks the simple business of keeping bread on the table was one that occupied much of a person’s time.  Maybe things were not as different as we sometimes imagine! The "Way" that Jesus spoke of, the Kingdom He preached, was even then just one option among many.

The message of the church, from its birth in Jerusalem until the present, has been that Jesus Christ stands apart from all the others. That there is about Jesus a “uniqueness” that demands our attention.  That truly He is the “bread of life come down from heaven.” That commitment to Him fulfills our spiritual hunger in a way that nothing else can.

1. Jesus promises to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.

I heard a lady on the radio describe her experience of becoming a Christian. "It felt like coming home!" she said.  There was an old blues song that contained the line, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." Back in the sixties the Rolling Stones sang, "I can't get no satisfaction. And I tried, and I tried and I tried and I tried. But I can't get no.. satisfaction. No,no,no!"

Dissatisfaction, feelings of somehow being alienated, dispossessed or far from home are common features of many people’s lives. People try to deal with those feelings in all sorts of ways. Some just get by and presume that is the way things are meant to be.  Some try and party it out of their system.  Some just evolve ways of dealing with it. But the feeling is still there that maybe, there is more to life than this!

"Come to me" invited Jesus, "And I will give you rest." "I am the bread of life, He who comes to me will not hunger, He who believes in me will never thirst."  When we come to Jesus, we come home. We come to see how only He can satisfy the deepest needs of our souls. He encourages us to call on God in childlike faith, "Abba, Father."  No longer do we need to feel like parentless children.

2. Jesus is the Bread that nourishes.

In our bible reading we heard the people murmuring against the idea that Jesus might be the One who could meet their needs – “The bread of life indeed!” “We know who He is. Mary and Joseph's boy, that's all!”

As the people murmur away, Jesus reminds them that their forefathers had eaten the manna in the wilderness. Where were they now? Dead and gone. What He was offering was something more than physical sustenance.  He intended to nourish them, body, soul and spirit.  What He could offer was not temporary refreshment, but eternal life. He was the bread they could eat and not die!

Of course, He was not implying that they would never grow old or offering them some secret elixir of eternal youthfulness. Elsewhere Jesus proclaims, "I have come that you may have life, life in all its abundance."  But, predictably, the people looked on things at the surface level only. They were far too preoccupied with life to consider what really living might entail!

Today, when the challenge to become a disciple is issued, often the first question that forms in people’s minds is, "Well all this sounds very good, but what do I have to give up in order to get it!"  How pervasive is this idea that somehow we can do anything to earn the love of God. As though by our good behavior we can somehow slip into heaven.  That if only we give up this and do not do that then God will see us all right at the end of the day.

Wrong! There is nothing we can do to increase God's estimation of our worth. He loves us unconditionally.  It is a matter of Grace.  The Grace of God that is greater than our sin.  Asking, "What do we need to give up?" only reveals the emptiness of our souls.  That we still believe love is something we can earn, rather than a gift to be accepted and embraced.

Whatever God may ask us to give up is for a reason.  God has something better in store.  We entangle our lives in stupid, unfulfilled, empty, trivial things.  Jesus wants to nourish our soul that we become people who are richer, fuller, and more alive to God. God never asks us to give up something unless there is a better alternative. We do not always see it that way!

3. Jesus is the living Bread.

Jesus tells the crowd, "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

The people do not understand that He is here talking of His crucifixion and resurrection. At first hearing it almost seems like some morbid invitation to cannibalism! Later many would understand that He came and gave His life on the cross of Calvary that His love would become the bread on which they could feed.

As Christians gather around communion tables and ponder those words about eating flesh and drinking blood, far from being some morbid remembrance, the actions and symbols of bread and wine, take on a deep significance. Under the touch and inspiration of the Holy Spirit every act of worship can be a renewing and enlightening influence that draws us closer to God.

I started out talking about the bread man that used to come to my mum’s house in his big bread van, and how I loved on a Saturday to be allowed to choose something special. The wonderful odor of newly baked bread!

There was only one way to really know if the bread was anything special. You had to eat it. You had to taste it.

Among the many religious and spiritual diets on offer in today’s world, there is only one way to discover if Jesus truly is the bread of life He claimed to be.  Follow Him for yourself.  

Take Him up on the terms He offers. Give your life over to His care because you have the faith that God's desire is for your life to enjoy God's richness.  Nourish your life on His Word, through Worship, through working for God's glory, through acts of service towards others, as the Holy Spirit enables you to do. through making the most of mission opportunities that God places in your path.

Hear God's invitation. To "Taste and See that the Lord is good!" Trust in the Bread Man who gave His life on a Cross that you may be free and forgiven, the One who was raised to life, that through the daily influence of the Holy Spirit, you may really live!

Hear again His unique claim, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger, he who believes in me shall never thirst!"

May the Holy Spirit lead us all to a deeper appreciation of God's love towards us!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

EveryDay Miracles - Communion Service

 

 

 Readings: Psalm 51:1-12, Exodus 16:1-15; Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, MD, August 1, 2021

Our readings focused on 2 incidents, "Manna from Heaven" and Jesus teaching that He was "Bread of Life."  I'd like to offer some thoughts on what I'm calling "Everyday Miracles."

Let's start with the Hebrew people. You probably know the story of how Moses led them out of Egypt into the Wilderness and how once they were there they started to complain, "At least in Egypt we had something to eat! We're starving out here." Moses promises them that sustenance will come, meat for the evening and bread for the morning. And so it was, quail for supper and manna for breakfast.

"Give us meat" they said. The quail came and everybody said it was a miracle.

Yet sometimes maybe the miracle we observe, is not the miracle we expect. Let me explain. Without wanting to diminish the sense of wonder or the ability of God to do amazing things, we know that nature herself can be a source of amazing provision.

Quails are found in countless numbers on the shores of the Mediterranean and their annual migration is still an event that causes great excitement as they move in vast flocks towards Africa.  It's an exhausting flight, done in stages. When the birds stop to take a rest, they are so exhausted that they can easily be picked up and captured.

So maybe the miracle wasn't so much that the quail came, it seems they had an annual migration pattern, but rather that, as the people of Israel responded to the call of God, they were in that place, at that time, when the quails arrived and were easily picked up.

And then there is the manna. In the wilderness where the Israelites camped lives an insect known as Najacoecus Serpentinus. I'm not making this stuff up. Look it up on the internet. If it's on the internet, it has to be true. Right?

Now... the sap from the Tamarisk bush on which these insects feed is rich in carbohydrates but low in nitrogen.  In order to aquire enough nitrogen for their metabolism to operate properly, the Najacoecus Serpentinus consume an enormous amount of sap.  

The excess from this process passes from the insect in the form of honeydew excretions which the desert air changes into clumps of sticky solids, which turn a whitish yellow color.

These solid lumps are thought, by a number of bible commentators, to be the “manna” that the people of Israel collected and ate in the wilderness. The Hebrews called it a miracle. As with the quails, maybe the miracle wasn't so much that the manna was there, but that they were in that place, at that time, to receive it.  

Our lives continue to be surrounded by everyday miracles, many of which, if we work hard at it, can be found to have a rational explanation.  What we cannot explain though is how we happen to be in a certain place at a certain time when a certain thing, which has a certain outcome, takes place.

I cannot tell you, how many times, over many years of ministry, that as I've opened up to God in prayer and asked, “Lord, what's on Your agenda today?” I just happened to have been positioned in a situation where I could offer something.

This is something I learned early in my discipleship journey, not in seminary, but from ordinary people of faith. Long before I was a minster, as a young person, I was working on a job scheme, helping old folks tidy up their gardens. I recall visiting one particular lady, and she said, 'C'mon in when you have finished, I'll have your favorite cake ready.” (Which at that time just happened to be Ginger flavored.)

“That's strange,” I thought. “Firstly, you didn't know I was  coming today. Secondly, we have never met, so how would you know what my favorite cakes was?” But sure enough, when I went in, there was a piece of ginger cake! When I looked puzzled, the lady said, “Last night in my prayers, I asked God what to be ready for...and God put the idea in my head to provide ginger cake. As it's not my favorite, I figured it must be yours.”

A saintly lady of God, confined to her home, needing assistance to get through every single day... yet experiencing the faithfulness of and reality of God's presence and being a blessing to others!

For me that is that is the real miracle... the timing and provision of the Holy Spirit. Nothing less than the Grace of God. One of the essentials of discipleship is cultivating within ourselves the kind of spiritual sensitivity that discovers the sacred within the common occurrences of everyday life.

If we don't do that we will find ourselves in the same boat as the people in our New Testament reading, who came to Jesus and said to Him, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe in You? You know, our ancestors had manna in the desert!"

There they were, talking with Jesus, who was a flesh and blood sign of God's grace and presence in their midst, and they could not see it.  Instead they are saying, "Let God knock us off our feet, astound us... and then we will believe."

Wasn't it enough that Jesus had healed broken hearts, made outcasts acceptable and drowned fear with a flood of love?  Had they not already had overwhelming evidence of His capabilities?  Even if Jesus had done some Divine magic trick, would it have made any difference? They saw nothing and they felt nothing because they lacked the capacity to discover the sacred within the common-place.

Jesus tells them, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the One He has sent." What God desired for them was not that they seek for some blinding light or dramatic experience but that they wake up to the fact that in the flesh and blood of human existence and in the everyday miracles of grace and life, they could discover the miracle of God's presence.

That is something that I believe we have to do as well. For most of us, most of the time, life goes on in a very ordinary fashion. We are not looking for, or expecting miracles.  We are not expecting God to show up, because we are not always showing up for God! We allow our self sufficiency and pride to direct us, rather than recognizing our dependence on God's grace for every breath we take.

Before I left for some vacation time, last month the United States celebrated Independence Day. Somebody asked me if we have July 4th in my homelands of the United Kingdom. I told them of course we have it. July 4th is the day before July 5th. But do we celebrate an Independence Day holiday? Of course not. Losing that rebellion in the colonies wasn't exactly a high point in British history!

As people and nations we celebrate the good things, not the times we have lost out. That's why coming together as the people of God once a week for worship is so important for nurturing our Christian faith. We gather together to open our hearts and lives, to remind ourselves that without God, we are nothing, we have nothing and we need God's love, and God's Spirit and the message of Jesus Christ to experience the everyday miracles of grace.

 "What God wants you to do" says Jesus, "Is believe in the One He sent." When we fail to practice disciplines of daily prayer, and fail to take the time to make worship an important part of our routine, friends, we forget. We forget.

From time to time I like to do this. Repeat after me.
“There is a God”  “There is a God”  
“And it isn't me.” “And it isn't me”  

We don't need independence from God. We need to have a deeper dependence upon God. For our sake. For our families sake. For our communities sake. We cannot serve without being equipped for service, and it is in God's church that we are trained for service, called to practice loving each other, so we can love the world that Christ died for. Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

The Hebrew people cried out to God "Help us out here in the Wilderness." God already had it all figured out.  The quails and the manna were there but it took an act of faith to realize it.  The people cried out to Jesus, "Show us a miracle and then we'll believe."  But the miracle had already taken place.  He was there, in flesh and blood, standing with them.  But they lacked the faith to believe it.

So what of us as we go about our ordinary lives?  Will we trust God to meet us in our needs?  Will we recognize Him in the everyday miracles that surround our daily lives?

We are here surrounded by the Grace of God in the presence of His people, past, present and to come. Every weekend God lays before us an opportunity to worship, to seek Him to share our lives with Him. Christ died for our sins and was raised to bring us new life.

This is no little thing.  Unless our hearts make it so.  We need to recognize that it is through the ordinary that God seeks to do the extraordinary. "What God wants you to do is believe in the One He sent".

Believe in the capability of God's Holy Spirit,
to take the common things of life and make them miraculous.
Believe that the Christian message is the message for your everyday life.
Believe that being a community of faith, in age of unbelief,
is a challenge to be embraced, and a goal to work towards.

As we share together in bread and wine
and worship and service
may God renew us
that we may help others
discover everyday miracles
within them and around their lives.
AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.