Better posted late than never. ;)
January 14, 2018
Second
Sunday after Epiphany
1 Samuel
3:1-10(11-20)
Psalm
139:1-6, 13-18
1
Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
Please pray
with me,
May the
words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and
suitable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Listen to
these words from Psalm 139, it is the assigned Psalm for today, and truth be told,
it’s one of my favorites. As you listen
to these words, think about how the Psalmist is speaking to God about how God
knows this person. I invite you to close
your eyes as you listen…and maybe even hear your own voice speaking to God as I
read.
O Lord, you have
searched me and known me.
You
know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
You
search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even
before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You
hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
For
it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s
womb.
I
praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful
are your works; that I know very well.
My
frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth.
Your
eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that
were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
How
weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
I
try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still
with you.
In
this Psalm, a Psalm of thanksgiving, you can hear how personal this interaction
is with God. The psalmist knows God and
knows how well God knows him. The
psalmist addresses God directly. O Lord, you have searched me and known me…you
know, you search, you hem me in. This is
deeply personal. The depth of this, too,
comes from the intimate relationship which God has with the psalmist.
Seeing
and knowing God, leads to relationship with God and the depth to which God
knows us. Seeing and knowing God invites
us into a deep and intimate relationship with God.
This
is more than “he sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake.”
This
relationship, this knowing is being connected to us, knowing our innermost
feelings, struggles and joys and remaining present with us through it all. All because of God’s great and amazing love
for each of us.
And
because of this amazing love, this intimate relationship, we are able to praise
God.
I
praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your
works are wonderful; that I know that full well.
As
we think about being fearfully and wonderfully made, it is important to know
that fearfully in the Hebrew did not mean the idea of fear in a scary – run
away, run away or let’s retaliate sort of meaning. The word in Hebrew encompasses a larger
meaning of awe, reverent respect and honor.
A better translation might be reverently.
And
wonderfully has the meaning of different, striking, remarkable – outside the
power of human comprehension.
So
hear this, I praise you, because I am reverently and remarkably made.
That
is who each of you are. That is who God
created each of you to be.
You
are reverently and remarkably made…you are each beautiful and unique in your
own way.
This, my
friends, my sisters and brothers, is how God knows us: intimately, deeply and
compassionately as unique beings created in God’s image.
And that impacts
and shapes our relationship with God.
When we are
known intimately and deeply, we are invited into a relationship in an intimate
way. Because God fully knows us, we are
free to be ourselves in the presence of God.
We are free to be our true selves in God’s presence. We are free to shed the worries and concerns
about what others may feel about us. We
are free to let go of others expectations and demands, and to embrace being who
we have been created to be: fearfully and wonderfully created beings.
God’s
relationship with us began with our creation and continues through our
relationship with Jesus. God’s love for
us is so great that God sent Jesus into our world in our own form to live,
love, teach and serve, so that we may see God’s great love for us in the
flesh. And so we may see that God’s
compassionate relationship does not end with death, but continues on in life
everlasting.
But there is
something to be said about how God knows us in this psalm.
The psalmist
recognizes that when the knower is God, the vulnerability is worth it.
Let me say
that again, when the knower is God, the vulnerability is worth it.
The psalmist
resigns to God’s inescapable presence in his life and embraces it by conforming
his own identity in light of how God sees him.
(Hannan)
I
praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful
are your works; that I know very well.
When
we are aware of how God knows us and that God’s presence will never leave us,
we have the opportunity to be our true selves and be open to entering a space
of vulnerability.
My
friends, God is here with us and for us.
God desires our openness, our honesty and our vulnerability to truly be
ourselves not only with God, but with ourselves and with others.
When
we are open and honest with ourselves, we live more fully into the beings God
created us and calls us to be which makes an incredible impact in our
community, our nation and our world.
As
we move into a week that celebrates the life, message and service of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. it is as important as ever for us to be open and honest with
ourselves and others.
In
a nation of rich diversity, we are called to see and recognize our differences
and how our uniqueness is a visible sign of God’s presence in others and
ourselves.
We
are in a time in our country when it seems easier to act out of fear than out
of love.
When
we act out of fear, we find ourselves living into the sin of prejudice, racism
and hatred.
When
we act out of love, we live out of the relationship that God has with us and
the relationship we are called to have with others. We lives filled with compassion and action
for our neighbors near and far.
Living
out of love may mean entering into a place or space of vulnerability, where we
as individuals open ourselves up to others around us, where we share stories
and experiences and listen to one another with open hearts.
It
may mean entering a space where we are truly able to see the presence of God in
places or faces we least likely expect to see God.
This
relationship God has with us is a transformative one….and it will transform how
we impact the world around us.
May
we have the eyes to see God’s presence in ourselves, in our unique beauty.
May
we have the eyes to those around us as fearfully and wonderfully made, just as
we are.
And
may we live in this world relating to and with each other as God relates to us,
in vulnerability, in compassion and in love.
And
may the peace, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.
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