September 1, 2024 "The Servant King" (Communion)

Readings: Psalm 45:1-9, Song of Solomon. 2: 8-13, James 1:19-27, Mark 1:4–13
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, September 1 2024

We sit around a table prepared with bread and wine. The communion table is a place to give ourselves to Christ's service. At Jesus' baptism a voice from heaven declared Him to be the Servant King; "Thou art my beloved son, in thee I am well pleased"

That voice from heaven marked out the peculiar nature that His ministry would possess. The first words, "Thou art my beloved Son", are a direct quote from Psalm 2:7, the coronation formula for a King. The second phrase, "With thee I am well pleased" comes from Isaiah 42:1 and is the ordaining formula of the Servant who is sent forth to establish justice in the earth, even at the cost of suffering.

Right from the start, Jesus' ministry embodied both the authority and power of a world ruler and the atoning power of a word servant, fusing the regal authority of a King with the gentle humility of a slave.

This fusion of the dual roles of ruler and slave is well pictured in one of my favorite modern hymns, Graham Kendrick's hymn, "The Servant King". He speaks of God entering our world as a vulnerable child with His glory veiled and coming not to be served but to serve. He vividly pictures the King of Creation as the Christ who died for us,

"Come see His hands and His feet,
The scars that speak of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars into space,
To cruel nails surrendered"

This is our God! This is the Savior who calls us to follow His example. As we come to the table, I wish to share two things He calls us to.

1. He calls us to recognize our inheritance.

As well as growing up with the sound of the Beatles, I also grew up with the humor of Monty Python's Flying Circus. There is a sketch in their film "The Holy Grail" where Sir Launcelot is standing with his son and heir, Prince Herbert, looking out of the castle window and surveying the hills and valleys of the land that stretches before them. Sir Launcelot bids the child look out of the window and says, "One day, lad, all this will be yours!" Prince Herbert glances at the drapes and replies, "What, the curtains?"

Such small mindedness and narrowness of vision is not limited to the Herbert's of this world. Myopic vision is a malaise of many Christians as they fail to discern their inheritance as children of God. Our God is the King of Creation. He has made this world a place full of beauty, extravagant beyond our wildest imaginings. Even St Paul struggled to describe the richness of His blessings.

In Ephesians 1:18 Paul writes; "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe."

The cartoon character Mr. Magoo is famous for his blundering escapades as he makes his short-sighted journey through life. He can't see any more than what is right in front of him. So shortsighted Christianity defines religion in terms of the church and the church in terms of what happens for an hour or two on a Sunday.

For Jesus to be enthroned in our lives means something far greater. It means that His rule must be the one that affects our thinking when we are in our place of work, guides our decisions as to how we relate to our families and friends, determines the choices we make in regard to our lifestyle. Until our religion encompasses every area of our lives it is nothing more than a lifeless echo of something that could be.

Baptism symbolizes God claims upon us as God’s own. None of us are born daughters and sons of God. Through the blood of Christ, God adopts us. Some are baptized as infants, and some are baptized as adults. Some are dunked in the water, and some are sprinkled on the head. It doesn't matter how, or even exactly when it is done. 

What matters is that baptism represents God's action of accepting us as daughters and sons of the Living God, the inheritors of His promises. God calls us to recognize our inheritance.

2. Called to Service

When Jesus was baptized it was an action of commissioning for service. For thirty years He had stayed in Nazareth and worked as a carpenter. We are never given a glimpse as to what His inner thoughts were during that time, except that we know He had an awareness as early as the age of twelve that His true destiny lay elsewhere.

Maybe the emergence of John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness was the sign He had been looking for. In response to John, Jesus knew it was time to launch out on His own unique mission. Because the bible tells us that Jesus was fully human, I like to think that he wandered down to the Jordan's banks with a few doubts in His mind. Was this really the time and the place? Has my Father really called me to this task?

In every life there comes moments of decision which can be accepted or rejected. The bread and wine present us with a choice. To receive them is to say to God, "Yes I hear your call and yes, I will follow". But there may be a few doubts in our mind. "Lord, what if I let you down?" ''Lord what if I can't see this through to the end?"; "Lord I will go, but will you provide me with what I need?"

It was at His moment of decision that Jesus had affirmation from God that He had made the right choice. "You are my beloved Son". (Matthew 3:17). It was also the place where He was equipped by God for the days that lay ahead. At that moment the Holy Spirit descended upon Him.God at our baptism calls us His beloved daughters and sons. He expects us to respond. If that is what we are, then we should live like children of the most High God.

Through the equipping of His Holy Spirit God tells us; "Go into the world as my representatives, my ambassadors. Go in the name of Jesus, bearing His love and be a model for others as to what being His disciple is all about. Remember as you take bread and wine how He gave His life for yours and so give your life for others. For in doing so you will discover the love that was in His heart will also burn in your own.”

The concluding verse of the hymn "The Servant King" takes the form of a prayer. As we come to the table the words form a fitting prayer of approach.

"So let us learn how to serve,
And in our lives enthrone Him;
Each others needs to prefer,
For it is Christ we are serving"

To be a follower of Jesus Christ is both an awesome privilege and an awesome responsibility. The community of the baptized are called to be servant people, committed to doing the will of the servant king.

May the love of God inspire us for such a joyful task, as we share together in bread and wine!

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.

August 25th, 2024 "Do It Now"

Readings: Psalm 84, Genesis 12:19-22, Romans 1:16-28, Matthew 6:24-24
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church , August 25, 2024

TEXT: "Be not anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow can be anxious for itself. Let the days own trouble be sufficient for the day” (Matthew 6:34)

It has been said that one of the greatest phrases for self-motivation are the three little words “Do It Now.” Never mind what lies ahead, there is enough to do today. Never mind ‘ What could be!” just get on with the task in hand. As Christian people we need to pay attention to the way we use our time. Time is a gift of God, to be used in God’s service.

We do well to recognize how precious time is. We cannot kill time without injuring eternity. The way we use our time impacts the time we have tomorrow and for the rest of our lives. We should snatch it, seize it, use it, and enjoy every minute we can.

Time is short, Every moment we waste, the shorter time becomes. We don’t know how long we’ve got. We don’t know what tomorrow brings. All of our prayers, once time has passed, cannot make a single second return.

One Christian commentator has described the disciples view of time in this way. “Time is that for which we must give an account to our Savior.” When faced with the words of Jesus, that we should indeed live our lives “One day at a time”, there should be with us a realization of just how precious time is.

Life functions within time, it is governed by the boundaries of time. What you make of your life, in this life, is all that it will ever be. God is concerned about us. Not so much with what we have done. We can’t change that … though God can forgive us and renew us if it has not been worthy of God’s call.

God’s concern, at the present moment, is not with what we will do or could do. I believe God has a plan for each of us. But for that plan to be realized, we must do the next thing. God’s concern for us is supremely in the present.  God wants us to know God’s love , in Jesus, in the power of God’s Spirit, here and now, today.

The multi-millionaire, Aristotle Onasis once said, “Don’t sleep to much or you will wake up a failure. If you sleep three hours less a night for a year, you will have an extra month and a half to succeed in.”

If people are willing to deprive themselves of sleep, in order to get on in this world, how much more should those who claim to be ‘children of God’ be concerned to make the most of their time? We are responsible for the way we make use of the gift of time given to us. I’d like to offer a few suggestions as to how to make the most of it!

1.    Begin the Day in an attitude of Thanksgiving

Psalm 118:24 tells us “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Try and make it so that he first thing you do in  your day is a prayer that says “Thank You Lord for this new day!” If you wake up as badly as I do , that is quire an assignment! I do not wake up cheerfully. Of all the things humankind has invented, I think one of the objects I would least like to be is alarm clock. Think about it.

You sit there all day and night going “Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock,”. 24 hours “Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock.” It is getting to morning, and you think, “Oh great, now is my moment, now I can ring my little bell.” Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock, I’m going to ring, I’m going to ring.’ The hands of the clock slip around, and “DRING-DRING” away you go with a smile on your face. Next moment… ‘Boomp’ on your head. ‘Shut up!’ says your master’ Leave me alone, let me get back to sleep.’ What a life it would be to be an alarm clock!

But I discovered when a young parent (and rediscovered as a grandparent) that there’s was a better system for waking up. It was called children. It’s difficult to stay asleep when a happy little bundle of pure energy enters your space. My wife recalls a morning when one of our offspring, in order to wake her, decided that opening her eyelid by hand would do it. It certainly did! It is hard to stay rested if a young one decides to use your head as a trampoline. I guess that’s how the alarm clock feels.

It is interesting to see how children often wake up, smiling. Relishing the fact that it is a new day. Filled with a joy of simply being alive. Did not Jesus say something about faith being discovered when we embrace the attitude of a child?

To begin the day with an attitude of gratitude can set the tone for the whole day. Get up in a foul mood and it may end up a very bad day. Start off with the realization that “This is the day that the Lord has made” and it can make all the difference. A second observation…

2.    Accept every day as an opportunity to help others

After preaching on this text many years ago in my home church of Moreton Presbyterian, a gracious lady, Mrs Bradley, directed me to this poem she had published in their monthly newsletter. It is called ‘Do it Now.”

“If with pleasure you are viewing, any work a man is doing,
If you like him or you love him, tell him now;
Don’t withhold you appellation, till the parson makes oration,
And he lies with lilies on his brow.
No matter then how you shout it, he really won’t care about it!
He won’t know how many teardrops you have shed!
If you think some praise is due him, now is the time to slip it to him,
For he cannot read his tombstone when he’s dead.”

St Paul wrote in his New Testament letters that as Christians, we should encourage one another. That is a great way to help each other through the day, which will, as Jesus reminds us, have enough troubles of its own. We can be cheerful in our conversations, complimentary of those who are doing a good job, and encourage those who are struggling. We can say a whole lot simply with a smile,

Of course, we can only help others to the degree that we help ourselves into a harmonious relationship with God. That’s the next item on my list.

3.    Take time for contemplation

Strengthening our relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, and with the resources of God’s Holy Spirit is vital. Prayer and reading scripture are important disciplines for every Christian believer. Some people find it helpful to spend time alone with God at a particular point in the day. It’s all about time management. If we believe something is important, we’ll find that time and that place.

Make time for meeting with others for worship and fellowship. Attending a weekly worship service is for our benefit! When God commanded “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy” God was offering that as a tool to stay spiritually alive, not trying to burden us. As Jesus said, “The sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath!” We need to make time for ourselves and for each other!

If we are a list person, then draw up the list. Number things in order of importance, then get to them one at a time. We can be amazed at what we have accomplished, with God’s help, by the end of the day!

“Be not anxious about tomorrow” invites Jesus, "For tomorrow can be anxious for itself. Let the days own trouble be sufficient for the day” Time is that for which we will one day give an account unto Jesus.

I found the following words, of  an anonymous poem, in a book of sermons on Matthew chapter 6, added the bible text and a tune, and they eventually appeared on my only ever vinyl recording back in 1984. Seemed like a convenient moment to revisit them!

If you would rather watch and listen, follow the link below.

https://youtu.be/kPJVAo7lKDk?si=tD6yCS9JpccIC4nb

“NOW" (Anon/Pratt)

If you have something to do, do it now, Today the skies are clear and blue,
Tomorrow clouds may come into view, And yesterday is not for you, do it now.

If you have a song to sing, sing it now. Let the notes of gladness ring,
Clear as the song of a bird in spring, Let every day some music bring, sing it now.

Be not anxious about tomorrow, Tomorrow can be anxious for itself,
Let the days own trouble, Be sufficient for the day,
Just live one day at a time,  Just live one day at a time

If you have kind words to say, say them now, Tomorrow may not come your way
So give kindness while you may, And loved ones will not always stay,
Tell them of your love now…

Be not anxious about tomorrow, Tomorrow can be anxious for itself,
Let the days own trouble, Be sufficient for the day,
Just live one day at a time,  Just live one day at a time

This is the day that the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad today.

And if you have a smile to show, smile it now, Make hearts happy, let love grow
Let the friends around you know,  The love you have before you go, smile it now

Be not anxious about tomorrow, Tomorrow can be anxious for itself,
Let the days own trouble, Be sufficient for the day,
Just live one day at a time,  Just live one day at a time.”

That is the life Jesus calls us to embrace. Live one day at a time. That’s not to say we are being called to out everything off until tomorrow! No! Do it now! Jesus is Lord of now! God is God of the present. God desires that we open our lives to God’s love, today. God wants to take away our anxiety of the future, to blot out the memories of our sin and wants to do it now.

That’s the simple message we need to hear, today. That God’s love is a present reality which calls us to give our lives into God’s hands. If we have a decision to make about allowing Jesus to be our Lord and savior, now is the time to settle that matter. If we feel spiritually washed out, now is the time to set things right. Now is the hour of salvation. Tomorrow never comes, Today is here. We can allow God’s love to flood our lives today.

"Be not anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow can be anxious for itself. Let the days own trouble be sufficient for the day” (Matthew 6:34)

Prayer: “Lord, help us to live one day at a time. Help us to learn the secret of making the most of the present and open our lives to Your light. This we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

August 18, 2024 "Patience"

Readings: Psalm 111, Proverbs 9:1-6, John 6:51-58, Romans 8:18-27
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, August 18, 2024

I was in a shop that was selling T-Shirts with Christian messages upon them. One of them, which I had seen before, caught my eye. It said simply, “Be Patient. God hasn’t finished with me yet”.  Romans 8:25 in the Good News Version of the Bible reads, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience”.

The context of the verse is a section in Romans that deals with freedom. Whilst the gospel promises to set those who embrace its message free, that freedom does not come in an instant. Deliverance can be a lifetime process that involves many struggles along the way. Paul urges us to persevere in the knowledge that God’s Holy Spirit is with us and working in our best interests.

Patience is therefore something essential to Christian life. We need patience with ourselves, with the Church and with God.  This text relates patience to faith. It is not putting up with situations that never change, but believing that with God all things are possible, even when they take time!

Allow me then to ask you some rhetorical questions regarding patience. Firstly, let me ask you;

Are you patient with yourself?

The hardest battle on our hands for many of us is the battle with ourselves. Much of our lack of patience with others is a projection of our own feelings about ourselves. We tend to give ourselves a lift by dragging someone else down. Attempting to be Christian people can make this worse! For part of turning to Christ is being ruthlessly honest about ourselves. And what that can reveal is the slowness of our growth in character.

We find that the same old problems and sins continue to haunt us. We find that attitudes we thought were dead and buried start to show their ugly head again. We discover things about ourselves that we hadn’t realized were there.

All this is part of Christian growth. That’s why the Christian life demands patience. Patience with ourselves. There is no instant-Christianity. We can go to the store and get instant everything from potatoes to thousand dollar loans, but there is nowhere that sells “instant disciple” programs.

You can buy books that say, “Learn to drive in 3 Weeks”, but I guarantee that if all a person does is the read the book and never gets behind the wheel then you are not going to be wanting to go any rides with them.

There are no short cuts to being a disciple. Yet, with a persistent and patient faith, there are also no limits to the heights of character that we could reach. There are no limits on the victories we could achieve if we could only learn to wait patiently and walk humbly before our God.

Patience is a strong and active virtue. It means perseverance when the times get rough, plodding on when we feel the situation is hopeless, pressing forward when others around us are throwing in the towel. It requires fixing our eyes on what is not yet seen, walking by faith that God knows best.

Are you patient with yourself? If not then remember that God hasn’t finished with you yet. A second question.

Are you patient with the Church?

I was going to ask, “Are you patient with others?” in a general way, but I think a more pertinent question in our day, and seeming as the church is the body of Christ, a place where we have a particular calling from God to get along with each other, it seems more focused to ask “Are you patient with the Church?”

It is fashionable today to be impatient with anything institutional. The church is no exception. Impatience with the church is as old as the church itself. Radicals and Reformers have been in evidence in every age. And rightly so.

But unless protest is subjected to the discipline of patient love then it is on shaky foundations. It is easy to pick fault with the church. So easy.  But picking fault is neither radical nor reforming. What is difficult is rolling up your sleeves, throwing yourself wholeheartedly into service of others and working hard to put things right. Such is the demand of love that Christ lays upon us. Love never stands aside and criticizes.

We must be patient with the church’s hypocrisies. I’m not saying we must approve of them, I’m saying we must be patient with them. No church is what it should be, by a long shot. There is a yawning gulf between the actual and the ideal. There is no church in all creation that perfectly embodies the life and teaching of Jesus Christ in all its purity and splendor.

And even if such a church existed, I don’t think I know anybody who would qualify for membership. Fact is that the church is hewn from the rough material of human nature; nature that is being transformed by the touch of God’s Spirit. Jesus welcomes sinful, struggling, weak, slow, ungracious people! As He put it, “It’s not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick”.

We also need to be patient with the church’s traditions. I’m not just speaking about the things that denominations enshrine into their way of doing things, but also the local churches ‘ways of doing things’. That can be hard because often we have come into those traditions as an outsider and carry our own thoughts and ideas about how things should be done. 

However, we should recognize that the positive side of traditions, particularly those of the different denominations, are often things that were formed in the heat of dispute and conflict, which provided a way through difficult times that has been passed on from generation to generation. Such accumulated wisdom should not be dismissed.

Yet, a new and changing day demands new methods and new ways of doing things. The change from one to the other can be a difficult and painful process and is certainly one that demands patience.

That also means being patient with the church’s decisions. They are not always our personal decisions. They are not always God’s decisions. It is far more difficult for a community to decide what is right in any given situation than for an individual. And the church community, made up as it is of fallible and sinful humanity, has made and will make many more mistakes.

As a pastor I am well aware that I’m as prone to failure as much as any other member of this congregation. Thankfully the church is a whole lot more than a pastor or a session or any group within the church. It’s people. People who are being redeemed by the love of Jesus Christ, but have a way to go before truly being the folk God wants them to be. So be patient with the Church. God hasn’t finished with her yet! Let me ask you, thirdly;

Are you patient with God?

Many of us wrestle with God, baffled by God’s reticence, impatient with God’s slowness. We are in a hurry and God does not seem to share our concern. We bombard heaven with our prayers and complain about God’s absence when instant answers are not what we ordered we ask,.. “Lord, don’t You know what life is like down here?”

We wrestle with God. But we had better hope to lose. The very greatness of God is in God’s long-suffering. The majesty of God is God’s mercy. The power of God is in God’s patience. Where would any of us be were it not for the divine patience that works lovingly and gracefully for our salvation?

Christian patience is rooted in the conviction that God’s time is always the best time, the right time and the only time. You cannot force the hand of a God who chooses to make His approach to us through a Cross on a hillside, who could break us with Divine power, yet rather stoops to win us over by love.

Here is the heart of the matter. Christ died for us whilst we were yet sinners and prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. There is the divine patience. Oh, how we need that patient love to combat our impatient striving! How we need to grasp a vision of what God can do for our lives and the Church and for this world!

Be patient! God hasn’t finished with us yet! When they nailed the Son of God to that cruel cross , the words came from His lips, “It is finished”.  That was not a cry of defeat, but of victory. For in that moment, God provided all that we need to be the people God wants us to be.

Living a faithful and patient Christian life depends not on which Church we go to, or who our pastor is, or where we live, or how much we earn. It’s so much more. It’s about the reality of the empty tomb. ‘Christ is Risen”. Through His Holy Spirit He is transforming the most God forsaken lives, the only requirement being preparedness to go forward with Him, listening for His voice and patiently traveling on.

I was preaching one time when I noticed a spider crawling along the pulpit and to the end of the lectern. What was it going to do? Jump off, spin a web, turn back, go in a different direction? That little spider had no idea that it was in a pulpit of a Presbyterian Church. What did it know of elections and wars and debates on ethics and trying to balance the checkbook? How did it perceive its place in time and space?

I sometimes feel that our mental grasp of the love of God is as fractional as a spider’s grasp of the daily world in which we live and move and have our being. If the majesty and love of God is infinite, is it any wonder that from time to time we wonder what on earth is going on?

What is amazing is that Jesus, with all His divine authority, could say, ‘You do not now know, but one day you will understand all things” Paul speaks of how we presently see only ‘thru a glass darkly’, but one day all will be clear.

In the between time, let us exercise patience. Be patient with our self, with our church, with our God. Patience is nurtured through faith. Through having an inner conviction, that no matter what, God will work things out in the end, in God’s time and in God’s way. Patience comes through focusing, not on others, not on ourselves, but on God, on the way God has worked in this world through Jesus Christ and can work in us and through us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience”. Be patient. God hasn’t finished with us yet. All around us may change. People come and go all around our lives. Everything changes. That’s life. Yet with our focus on the love of God, and the possibilities that the ways of God’s love open up to us, we can set our sights high and rejoice that a life lived in the knowledge and love of God is a life well lived.

May God, through the action of the Holy Spirit,
build into our lives a gentle and patient spirit,
that reflects the nature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D

August 4, 2024 "Trusting and Telling" (Communion)

Readings; Psalm 51:1-12, John 6:24-35,Romans 10:5-13, Psalm 62:1-8
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, August 4, 2024

This morning as we come to the communion table I want to talk about two simple themes. 'Trusting' and 'Telling'. I would like us to focus on verse 8 of Psalm 62 which reads “Trust in God at all times , my people, tell God all your troubles, for God is our refuge”.

The Psalm speaks of three things;
•    Trusting in God
•    Telling God what troubles us, and then gives us the reason why we should do that,
•    God is our refuge.

Why talk about this verse? Well please keep in mind as I minister this morning, I'm not trying to sell you anything, I'm not trying to entertain you, all that I desire this morning is that by looking at this Psalm we can open up our lives a little bit more to the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He can come today, in the power of His Spirit's love and can do something special for us. Of course, if that is to happen, then we must trust in God. As this verse says;

1. Trust in God at all times, my people.

All times, includes the present moment. It is what is happening here and now in our heart relationship with God that is the vital thing. We can say to ourselves, 'Lord, I'll trust You for tomorrow, but, well, today things are not as they should be”. We can think back on past experiences and say, 'Lord, I placed my trust in You, last week, or last month or last year or in that service or 'the hour when I first believed”. But those moments are either yet to come or have already passed into history.

We are here because God has invited us. We are here because God has made it possible for us to be here. We are here, at this place, at this hour, for a purpose and a reason. Our purposes and reasons may not be all the same, but we are, nevertheless, all here. In a similar way, God is here. This is God's meeting place, God's touching place, with our lives and the question the Psalmist has placed on God's lips is 'Do you trust me?' 'Trust in God at all times, my people.'

Notice God is not asking us if we are hoping that God can help us out. God is inviting us to place our trust in Him.  Trust and hope are not the same thing. Maybe I’ve told before the story of the tightrope walker and Niagara Falls It’s a favorite illustration of mine, so I don’t mind using it again.

A particular entertainer had a show, which featured a tightrope stretched across the Niagara Falls, across which he walked, pushing a wheelbarrow. Before he set off, he said to an onlooker, 'Do you believe I can do it?'. 'Yes, of course I do'! said the spectator. 'Right' said the entertainer, 'Then jump in the wheelbarrow and I'll push you across!'

Now not one of us would jump into the wheelbarrow of a tightrope walker if we only 'hoped' they would make it across. We would have to genuinely 'trust' they could do what they said they could do.

God does not want us just to 'hope' in Him. It doesn't seem to work when we come to God with an attitude of 'Well; I sure hope You can do something about my life, and this world that we live in and it's problems and all that stuff'. That is not a commitment. That's an evasion. That's not faith. That's just expressing an interest.

Jesus was quite clear. Simply being interested in the things He was up to was not a qualification for discipleship. The commitment he asked for was plain. 'Follow Me!' Only a fool would leave everything to follow somebody they 'hoped' might turn out to be a decent sort of chap. The foolishness of the gospel is the power of God for those who are being saved. Paul writes in Romans 10:11 'The Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Trust in the things that this world offers, and we easily reach a barrier of disappointment. Money can buy a lot of things, but life is more than things. We can surround ourselves with earthly security, financial plans, people to care for us and all of that, but at the end of all things it is just going to be us and God, and then where will our security be?

How would the Psalmist answer that question? Verse 7 'My salvation and honor depend on God; He is my strong Protector, He is my Shelter.' Let us search our hearts this morning. Who are we trusting? Who are we depending on? The psalmist encourages us to take this message on board. ‘Trust in God at all times'. Then we are invited;

2. 'Tell God all your troubles'

What a gem of a verse to focus on as we come to a table laid with bread and wine! Here is God saying “What's on your mind? What's bothering you this morning? C'mon, tell me about it!' What a great statement 'Tell God all your troubles'.

So let us use our God given imaginations for a moment. Instead of being here in church, imagine that we are sitting alone, on a bench, on a beautiful summers morning, right by the banks of a clear, cool, flowing stream. It's a perfect day. There is nobody else around. You are alone with your thoughts.

You start to think things through. Some worries and concerns start to surface. Some regrets. Some doubts. Some deep-down hurts that you thought you were over. It all starts to build up. You are a little tensed up right now.

Then along comes Jesus and He sits down on the bench right next to you. It doesn't feel strange. It just feels right. He smiles, looks you in the eye and says, “Hey, What's wrong? What's troubling you? How can I help?”

What would we say? We couldn't hide the truth from Him. He knows us better than we know ourselves. We know He wants only the absolute best for us. I think some of us would have tears. We'd have things to share we are afraid to share with anybody else. Experiences for the past that we have bottled up and sometimes been ashamed of.

We'd share things we are going through right now. For one it might be a money problem. For another it might be anger. For another it might be a relationship. For some it might be a habit we can't let go of, or a sickness that won't let go of us. Maybe we'd just tell Him how tired we are or lonely we are or frustrated we are by life right now. For sure each one of us would have something different to say. Yet He would deal with each one of us.

That picture, in our minds, it is not just an image. It's a way of thinking our way into the Bibles teaching. Whenever we gather in His name, Jesus is among us. The Risen Christ is in our midst and by His Holy Spirit, as we lay our lives before Him, He longs to help, He comes alongside us and says, 'Tell me all your troubles.'

He invites us to come to His table so that we remember Him, not as a dead prophet, but as our Living Lord, whose love went to the depth of the Cross. That we remember He wants to be involved with the whole of our lives. That He is the healer, the restorer, the bringer of peace, the joy bearer, the One who offers truth and justice and dignity and light.

Trust in God. Tell God all your troubles. Then thirdly think on that last part of the verse;

3. God is our refuge.

A refuge is a place of shelter from pursuit or danger or trouble. Many times, in his life, David, the person who receives the credit for collecting together all of these Psalms, had to escape from King Saul, who wanted him dead. Though David had to find a literal hiding place, the source of his strength was not in the depths of some dark cave, but in the light of trust in God. He expresses his complete confidence on God to protect him and save him. In the words of one of our hymns 'Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee'.

Here at the table of the Lord are emblems and symbols of our faith. Here  is our shelter, our refuge. We can know the security of Christ's love, if only we allow His Holy Spirit to break through to our hardened hearts.

I recall some years ago, when I served a church in inner city Liverpool, I went on study leave to a place called Waverley Abbey, in Southern England.  As the course went on, I regretted my choice. I was serving a struggling congregation. We were plagued by local crime.  The drug abusers in the area used to shoot up on our church steps. We had put barbed wire around the roof because vandals would steal the slates and the lead that held the slates in place.

It seemed everybody else on the course was serving thriving congregations, with budgets that overflowed and growth like that of the day of Pentecost. The more the week went along, the more discouraged I became. I almost left early as it was a long drive back to the north. But I decided to stay for the final communion service.

I couldn't tell you what the preacher said. I couldn't tell you what the hymns we sang were. I couldn't tell you if we had communion by intinction or in little cups or how it was served.

What I remember from that service was a lady Baptist minister who sat down and sang a solo at the piano. I can't tell you her name, I can't even tell you what the song was, but as she sang, suddenly and unexpectedly, a warmth started to flow from the top of my head, to the tips of my toes. It was as though Jesus had come and sat on that bench next to  me and said, “Tell me all your troubles.”

And I left that course with a goofy smile on my face, a burden lifted from my shoulders and went back into ministry in the city with a renewed hope and trust in God. What happened? God did what only God can do. Overflowed with grace that gave me a new perspective on my situation and changed my heart from within.

Before that time and since that time there have been other occasions when God has broken through. Always unexpected. Always memorable. Always with grace and truth and peace. God is our refuge.

So come to this place of refuge, this table, this day. Remember Jesus Christ in such a way that you know... He remembers you!  He died for you. He was raised for you. His Holy Spirit can guide you and lead you and heal you and feed you!

As the Psalmist says; “Trust in God at all times , my people, tell God all your troubles, for God is our refuge.” 

To God's name be all glory. Amen!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.