Worship October 2, 2021

Let us worship!

Look at the heavens!

They are shouting the glory of God.

The days and the nights declare a magnificence of God’s creative works.

Their voice goes through all the earth and their words reach the ends of the world.

Let our words of praise be acceptable to you,

Our Lord, Our Rock, Our redeemer!

—From Psalm 19

A prayer to center you

Holy God,

we know that you are with us always, even in the midst of the darkest hour.

Stand with us now as we face the challenges that surround us.

Help us in this time of worship to feel your presence,

to listen for your word,

and to be moved to action in this world.

Show us your path and your glory. Amen

Holy Scripture

James, CHAPTER 4, VERSE 13 THROUGH 17

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” 14 Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

Reflection:

It is amazing how much nature can remind us of God. No wonder the Psalmist calls our attention to the heavens and James reminds us of the natural wonders of mist.

On vacation this year, we rented a house on the side of a mountain. When I say side of a mountain I mean side of a mountain. The road we traveled was both LONG and STEEP. We wound our way up slowly and carefully. Now we were raised in the mountains so we know how to manage them, but even for us this mountain was steep! The house was all windows on the western side. We overlooked an amazing mountain view. We had a big valley between us and the next mountains. Each morning we could watch the fog roll in and the beautiful view disappear and reappear as the weather moved through and the sun came out. It was beautiful to watch as I sipped my coffee. A testament to the wonderful works of a creative God.

Fog can be disorienting. If you have ever been out hiking or even driving in a dense fog you know what I am talking about. It can be so thick that you cannot see a foot in front of you. This can make one feel a little lost, a little miss placed, a little out of sorts. This past two years has often felt like I was lost in a fog—a fog of chaos and confusion. At times it has felt like I did not where to go and as though I could not see one step before me. The fog these days seems dense and unending.

But this Scripture reminds us that the fog is just momentary. Mist disappears, as will the troubles we are facing, as will we. This life, these problems that we are stuck in are but fleeting in comparison to God. When the fog burns away, when the struggle disappears, we sill see once again that glorious creation that God has made for us, all the wonders and beauty of this world. And at least when we are called to our eternal home we will see fully what we can only see in shadow now. Glory beyond glory. Peace beyond all understanding and joy in God’s glory.

The fog of these days will melt away at some point. There is a wonderful world to enjoy all around that God has created. Like the mist in the morning, these days will fall away and we will be able to see the wonder and the beauty. For now, we just need to put one foot in front of the other, trust God to guide us through, and know that the beauty is really there if we can see it or not.

This past week my husband and I went away to resort to celebrate our 40th birthdays and 15th wedding anniversary (a trip that had been delayed for over a year due to Covid). Once again we were in the mountains. We are mountain people and not beach people, plus the mountains are close which seems safer right now. The weather the first two days was awful. It rained and rained. We were literally in a cloud of rain and fog for the first 12 hours we were at the resort. When we checked in we were given a tour and the tour guide told us at one point as we were standing on a porch that “out that way is a beautiful view when it is clear”. It was not clear, and we could not see ten yards out. But we believed him. We could imagine that it was pretty. We made the best of the rainy day and enjoyed the fires that were burning and the coziness of the rainy day. The next morning, however, when we went to breakfast we had to walk past that same spot. And the view was more amazing than we could have imagined. The mountains reached for what looked like forever. The sky was clear and beautiful. The sun was rising in the distance. God’s glory shown before us. We had trusted that the view was pretty, but the really thing far exceeded our imaginations.

Friends, we do not know what tomorrow holds, but I trust that God’s timing is perfect and God’s glory is great. Things greater than we can ever imagine are before us, build by God’s own hands. Let us walk in faith and hope towards that glory. Amen

 

Thinking it through…

Think of a time when you felt lost in a fog.

What helped you make it through?

Is there something else, looking back on that time, that would have helped you?

What will help you the next time that you are feeling lost in a fog (especially if that time is right now)?

Word in action

Step outside today.

Take a deep breath and look at God’s glory.

It may be mountains in the distance or the beauty of a diverse faces and people on the street. See the glory of the world that God created and placed in you. Look for the wonder. Look for the majesty.

Look up to the sky. Take a moment to see the heavens shouting the glory of God. Take a moment to enjoy the magnificence that God has created around us.

Whisper a prayer for a clearing of the fog. Pause for a moment and give thanks for the glory around us. Share with God the fog that you would like cleared.

Now step forward into the God’s works.

 Prayer of Hope

God of all creation

your beauty and majesty are all around us

yet the fog of chaos and hurt too often block our view.

Helps us walk through the mist and fog and into your glory.

help us to pause and see your wonderful works that surround us.

Open our eyes to all that you have created

and let us walk in love and hope.

Amen

Going out.

Go out into the world, renewed and revived by the word of God.

and in all that you do, may the love of Christ Jesus uphold you,

the peace of God sustain you and may the Holy Spirit guide you each step of the way

Let all God’s people say: AMEN