Worship February 12, 2021

A Call to worship from the 97 Psalm

God loves all who hate evil,
And those who love him he keeps safe,
Snatches them from the grip of the wicked.

 Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people,
Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.

 So, God’s people, shout praise to God,
Give thanks to our Holy God!

A prayer to center you

God of all creation,

You continually reach out to your people.

You speak to us in whispers and in the moving Spirit.

Often we are hard of heart, blind to your ways, deaf to your calling.

Open us to your voice.

Help us to see and hear you. 

Move our hearts to your ways and guide us in your path.

Let light shine through us

That the darkness may begin to wane

And your light to shine, even into the darkest corners

Of fear, worry, doubt, and hurt.

Move us toward you, O gracious God.

Amen

Scripture for the week from

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

3And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 

Reflection:

We live in a confusing time.  Truth has become subjective.  Reality has become idiosyncratic.  Everything is moving and flowing based on one’s own perspective.   We create our own world, our own understanding.  There seems to be no reality of truth to grasp on to—only perception— which can be manipulated all to easily in today’s media driven world.  You can enter a conversation with someone and the basic knowledge that undergirds the conversation can be completely different.  Each person comes into the conversation with their own understandings of reality, created and curated by our own desired viewpoint. 

In a world where media is so influential and personalized, we can too easily create our own reality without even realizing it.  By human nature, we tend to surround ourselves with the information that validates our own thoughts and the people that support our own preexisting point of view.  We create a world within the larger world-our own reality within the larger reality.  We can easily shut out everything that does not agree with our own point of view-- eliminate anything that questions our own desired reality.  We too easily turn a blind eye to that which we do not want to see and too easily fixate on small details with which we might disagree.  We can easily surround ourselves with only the people who see the world through our own lens after all it is easy to like those who think and believe as you do.  And in so doing, we build up our own reality, construct by us, that aligns with a world view that is merely what we desire it to be, not what it really is. Thus the world is a reflection of our own beliefs and desired wants not necessarily the realities that truly surround us.

Christians can do this with their beliefs as well.  We can turn the Bible into a weapon.  We can cherry pick the Scriptures that meld with our own desires while ignoring the Scriptures that we find difficult, challenging or contradictory to what we want to believe.  We can quickly use our favorite Scriptures to justify our own point of view while discounting or ignoring those that would make us stretch our faith or push us to step outside of our comfort zone.  Sometimes we use the Scriptures not to push us forward, but to allow us to build up our own egos and pride, to justify our own “holiness”.  We can easily discount the beliefs of others and surround ourselves with only those who think and interpret as we do.

I wonder sometimes if we have we allowed ego to supersede the realities of a larger world—turning our backs on that which we do not want to see?  Have we allowed partisanship to veil our own moral compass—too caught up in party to stand for that in which Christ calls us to?  Have we allowed denomination to override the Holy Spirit's nudging? Has doctrine superseded Scripture? Have we allowed the other gods that weigh us down (pride, self-interest, greed, control) to dim God’s light within us and in the world?

“For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Are we really living to let the light of God shine through us or have we given into proclaiming ourselves over Jesus Christ?  Have we started to shape shift the Gospel into a tool to create a world that we desire—to justify our own actions that we desire instead of using the Gospel to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord.   Have we made the Bible our slave that justifies our action instead of making ourselves slaves for Jesus’ sake?

These are strange times, where the reality we shape is the reality in which we live.  How will you step outside the reality you have created to see where you can let your light shine?

Prayer of Sending

God of all

As we go forth into the world,

May your light shine through us.

Open our eyes to the ways that we mask your truths.

Show us the places where we turn a blind eye.

Open our hearts that we may be slaves to and not to our own desires.

Let us shine for your glory

Now and always.

Amen.

Going out.

Go out into the world, letting the light of Christ Jesus shine through you with love, compassion, joy, generosity, and hope in the Kingdom of God.

and in all that you do, may the love of Christ Jesus uphold you, the peace of God sustain you and the Holy Spirit guide you each step of the way

Let all God’s people say: AMEN