Worship
Worship:
God is big enough
Come, let us worship!
Come and see what God has done:
God is awesome in God’s deeds among mortals.
God turned the sea into dry land;
They passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in God,
Who rules by might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
let the rebellious not exalt themselves.
—Psalm 66:5-7
A prayer to center you
Holy God,
we come this day from different place and different spaces.
Some come with joy
Some come with sorrow
Some come broken and bruised
But we have come to worship you
We know that you meet us wherever we are
You celebrate with our joy
You comfort our sorrow
You work to heal our broken and bruised spirits
As we enter this time, as we step towards you
May we do so in honesty
That you may embrace us and love us as we are
You are always ready,
Help us to be brave enough to trust in you.
Amen
HOLY SCRIPTURE
Psalm 66
verses 8 through 20
Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.
I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.
Reflection:
This weekend was Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day (as well as Father’s Day) is always hard. Everyone comes at these days differently. For some Mother’s Day is a great day of celebration, marked with breakfast in bed, hugs and kisses all around, and sweet cards with tiny handprints.
For others it is marked with sorrow; a reminder of what could have been. The child they never held, the relationship that never felt right, or the one that did, but is no longer.
There is so much emotional baggage on these days that mark the role of parent. Each and every emotion is true and deep and large. Each persons emotional space should be honored. History, memories, hopes and dreams all run deep, giving those days a complexity too deep for words.
The Psalmist words today reflect some of the same complexities. We begin today’s scripture with words of praise, praise for the one who does not let our feet slip, who has kept us alive and well. But then the Psalmist calls out and lays blame on God’s testing our nature, God trying us as silver is tried, laying burdens on our back.
And yet the Psalmist praises God.
I have to admit, that seems hard to me.
The trails of our day seem great. There is pain and suffering, war and famine, hurt and loss, that seem to be mounting each day, each moment, each breath we take. In the midst of a hurt world, it seems hard to sing praises to God.
But the good news is that God is big enough to hold my sorrow in the midst of this space. God is big enough to take my whinng. God is big enough to handle may pain and hurt.
In fact, God wants us to turn to God in the midst of the broken world. God wants us to come to God. God is big enough.
As the Psalmist states, “I cried aloud to God, and God was extolled with my tongue…But truly God has listened” and not removed God’s steadfast love from me.
God is big enough to absorb our cries of hurt and pain, to handle our yelling and crying out. And when in openness and earnestness we turn to God, God hears our cries and stands by us with steadfast love and compassion now and always.
Amen
The Word in Action…
What burdens or hurts do you carry this day?
Write your hurts down for God to carry.
What have you been carrying that holds you back in your relationship with? What injustice do hold against God?
Write it down and give it to God.
God is big enough!
Want to discuss it more?
I would love to hear your reflections. Drop me a line and let me know your responses.
If you would like to share your thoughts, questions, or answers, shoot us a message. If you would like to schedule a time to talk about this weeks lesson, you can do that too. We would love to hear from you. Just fill out the form over there and get in touch.
Prayer of sending
God,
you are big enough
Big enough to carry our hurt
big enough to carry our pain
big enough to carry out doubt, worry, and uncertainty
Help us to turn to you wherever we are
help us to trust in your biggness
help us to know that your steadfast love is true and deep and wide, big enough now and always for whatever we hold!
Amen
Going out.
May the God who call us by name
Lead you out into green pastures
And lead you into the safety of Christ’s fold
Let all God’s people say: AMEN
