Pentecost +8 2026
Rev. Doug Floyd
Psalm 86

“Bow down your ear, O Lord, and hear me; for I am poor and in misery.”

Our Psalm begins by crying out to God. “Bow down and hear me!” There are times when the soul is so grieved that these words take shape in a groan, a cry. God does hear. He hears the cries of the broken heart. As we read in Exodus,

“And the sons of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help, and their cry under bondage came up to God. And God heard their groaning….” (Exodus 2:23–24, RSV2CE)

Our Psalm today is a groan of King David. This groan, this psalm was sung by choirs in Ancient Israel. I can hear Hezekiah crying out this psalm centuries later when the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, calls over the gates of Jerusalem, threatening starvation and destruction. We hear echoes of Psalm 86 in his prayer recorded in Isaiah:

“Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.” (Isaiah 37:17, ESV)

The prayers of Ancient Israel have been a gift to the peoples of the earth for thousands of years. Today’s psalm is a gift to the fearful, the anxious, the depressed, the one swallowed by darkness and danger. The psalm is filled with cries for God to act. Oh God,

Bow down and hear me
Preserve my life
Save me
Be merciful to me
Comfort me
Give me your ear
Teach me your way
Knit my heart to you
Turn to me
Have mercy upon me
Give me strength
Show me a sign of your favor

The psalmist is in a quandary. There are threats on all sides. Enemies stand ready to invade.

“O God, the proud have risen up against me; and the company of violent men have sought after my life…” (86:14, New Coverdale)

When I worked with the inner-city community, many of these people faced the threats of physical enemies. They would hear gunshots in the neighborhood. Many had family members who had been murdered.

Many of us don’t know these exact threats. Our dangers are not specifically violent people but less tangible but no less painful like sickness, finances, and especially emotional distress (fear anxiety, depression, loneliness). When I was growing up, I often experienced fear. When I was real young, my sister and I were taking a bath upstairs. My dad was at the front door and made some crazy noise joking. I heard it and screamed. Fear paralyzed me. I’m sure my sister joined in the terror as well. In seconds my dad and mom came into the bathroom, comforted us, and calmed us. Isn’t that what we sometimes long for? The psalmist wants God to bow down, hear his cry, comfort him, and protect him. We all desire this.

As I grew older, I often thought I had whatever disease was discussed in health class. Oddly enough, when I faced a serious kidney disease, I was not afraid. I was not afraid. I guess I rehearsed all the sicknesses so many times that it didn’t seem that major.

For me personally, I came to see that the terrors around us are deeply bound up with our minds and emotions. Suddenly financial problems can keep us from sleeping. Times of anxiety can be paralyzing. Depression can smother us like a black cloud. I have said before that the terrors of my mind are far more terrifying than anything I’ve experienced in the outer world.

Many of you already know the great comfort in prayers shaped and inspired by the psalms. Psalm 86 is a gift to us as we face struggle, grief, anguish, loneliness, and depression. In verse 17, the psalmist cries out for some sign, some token that God has heard him. This makes me think of a poem by Czeslaw Milosz. Choked by a world that has lost its faith, he needs a sign that God is still there. In his poem, Veni Creator he prays,

Come, Holy Spirit,   
bending or not bending the grasses,   
appearing or not above our heads in a tongue of flame,   
at hay harvest or when they plough in the orchards or when snow   
covers crippled firs in the Sierra Nevada.   
I am only a man: I need visible signs.   
I tire easily, building the stairway of abstraction.   
Many a time I asked, you know it well, that the statue in church   
lifts its hand, only once, just once, for me.   
But I understand that signs must be human,   
therefore call one man, anywhere on earth,   
not me—after all I have some decency—   
and allow me, when I look at him, to marvel at you.  

He gets it. God sends people. He sent the 12 disciples. He sent Paul. He sends us friends and sometimes strangers who bring a word of comfort, a word of wisdom, and maybe even a word of challenge.

As we take up the words of Psalm 86, we ask God to hear us, preserve us, be merciful to us, comfort us, attend to us, answer us, teach us, lead us, turn to us, remember us, help us. As we pray, we might become aware of something else.

We are joining in the prayers of Jesus.

The church has often considered the psalms as the prayers of the prophets and of Jesus.

Already in the New Testament we see references to Jesus in the psalms. In Acts 2, we see Peter referencing Jesus in Psalm 16. He says,

“For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” (Acts 2:25–31, ESV)

St. Augustine explicitly makes connections with Jesus in his sermons on the Psalms. For Augustine, the Psalms and all Scripture for that matter points to Christ, he says that in the Psalms we hear, the “voice of the whole Christ, head and members…”^[1] Augustine likes to consider this idea of the “whole Christ” by this he means “Christ as the Head” and we as “the body of Christ.” We pray the Psalms as part of the whole Christ.

In his commentary on Psalm 85, Augustine writes, “The one sole savior of his body is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who prays for us, prays in us, and is prayed to by us. He prays for us as our priest, he prays in us as our head, and he is prayed to by us as our God. Accordingly, we must recognize our voices in him, and his accents in ourselves.”^[2]

When we pray, cry, groan Psalm 86, we are joining Christ. Jesus Christ entered the total agony of human sin and death. In our distress, we are bowing down into Christ. Like a faithful parent who runs to the cry of their dear child, Christ is comforting us by His Spirit. Our anguish may not seem to leave right away, but He has not, will not forsake us in our distress.

Now I might add one last thing. As we come to see that we always pray these psalms in and through Christ, we might sense Him leading beyond our pain to the pain of the world. There are people today surrounded by their enemies, and they are crying, groaning for rescue. We need only look around the world and even our own country.

Sometimes the news can be gut-wrenching and maybe we should avoid, but it may also lead us into pray. We take Psalm 86 upon our lips and cry out with and for the abused child, the family in the war zone, the desperate refugee, the captive, the dying patient. Without Christ, we simply cannot bear the grief of this world. It would kill us.

But we can face a world suffering and dying in and through our dear Savior who will not forsake His people and hears the cry of the lonely, the desperate, the oppressed. In and through Christ alone, we can look forward knowing that the Lord God is “full of compassion and mercy; [He is] long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth.” (Psalm 86:15)

^[1] Laurence Kriegshauser, Praying the Psalms in Christ, ed. Gary A. Anderson, Matthew Levering, and Robert Louis Wilken, Reading the Scriptures (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009), 4.

^[2] Laurence Kriegshauser, Praying the Psalms in Christ, ed. Gary A. Anderson, Matthew Levering, and Robert Louis Wilken, Reading the Scriptures (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2009), 4.

Sea Sunday 2026
Dr. Christopher Graham
Psalm 107

1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious, and his mercy endures for ever. Let those whom the Lord has redeemed give thanks . . . 43 Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.
Last week, in Psalm 145, we heard David’s invitation to look, to reflect, to meditate upon the works of God, and then to give him praise. What are the works of God? As Fr. Doug pointed out, “This would refer to both God’s creation and to God’s redemption.” He then helped us follow the psalmist’s lead, specifically regarding creation. As we will see, this week’s psalm is devoted to praise resulting from God’s redemption.
This week’s psalm is framed by the Psalmist’s opening and closing; v. 2: “Let those whom the Lord has redeemed give thanks.” At the end, in v. 43 Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

As we look at the body of the psalm this morning, then, we need to keep these purposes in mind. To move both those who have experienced God’s redemptive work AND those who need to hear and experience that work themselves.
With regard to the former, the clear assumption of the psalmist is that those who have experienced God’s redemption are far and wide. He immediately employs a merism in verse 3 to signal this, “east, west, north, south,” which presages the sections that follow in which different groups who have experienced redemption are highlighted:
• vv. 4–9: Those wandering in the wilderness, the desert experiencing hunger and thirst.
• vv. 10–16: Those enslaved in darkness, in the shadow of death, in misery and iron,
• vv. 17–22: The whose foolish and wickedness brought them to death’s door.
• vv. 23–32: Those who go down to the sea in ships, who carry out their business in great waters

Each of these sections serves as a sort of stanza with a repeating pattern, though they expand in substance and detail as we move from the first to the last. Given that it is Sea Sunday and that the last stanza is the fullest of the four, we will look at this last group in verses 23-32 as a sort of template for the others.
In each case, the psalmist first explains the life-threatening plight:
Vv. 25–27: “For at his word the stormy wind arises, which lifts up the waves. They are carried up to heaven and down again to the deep; their soul melts away because of the trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.”

If you will allow me this morning, one sea story. I was a 19-year old engine cadet on the M/V American Condor, a car carrier running between the East Coast of the United States and Europe in 1990. Winter in the North Atlantic is particularly brutal and sure enough we were taking 25 degree rolls as get got closer to Europe. When you walked down the passageway, you truly walked like the psalmist said reeling back and forth. You learned how to wedge yourself in your bunk at night. Years later I realized that I had developed a particular habit from that cruise. I had come home from the grocery store and placed my groceries in my sink and thought, why did I do that? Because on ship, that was where you could place things without them falling off onto the deck. So one particularly rough morning, I came down for our morning briefing in the machine shop of the engine room and when I opened the doors, I saw all of these old salts sitting there in their life jackets. Now no alarm had sounded and the machine shop was not one of the stations if the alarm had sounded. So I assumed this was just another one of their tricks that they liked to play on young cadets. But no, they were genuinely worried. And about that time, we took a heavy roll and heard a loud bang right outside the door. We rushed up to get out and take care of it but couldn’t get out. On the next roll we heard a grinding sound and opened the door to find that a spare one-ton cylinder head broke loose, had slid vacross the deck in front of the door on the first roll, and was not sliding back across to the other side.

Times like these make for great sea stories after the fact, but at the time, they are frightening because they life-threatening. In our psalm, each stanza briefly describes the life-threatening situation. Each stanza also describes the resolution of the situation:
2G-30 For he makes the storm to cease, so that the waves are still. Then they are glad, because they are at rest, and so he brings them into the haven where they desire to be.
For those wandering in the desert facing thirst and hunger, they are given a straight way to a place with provision (5, 7). Those who suffer crushing, dark heaviness that imprisons them find light and release from bondage (12, 14), those whose afflictions lead to loss of appetite up to the point of death find a life-giving word that saves them from destruction (18,20).

I would simply draw from these sections that the crises and the redemption/salvation spoken of here are clear and present dangers to their very life in the present. These are things that could truly kill them, and the resolution is a restoration of their present life. This psalm (and many other psalms) assume that our lives here and now really matter to God. That God intends for us to have a life in the here and now that can be full and fulfilling. In his lecture on Psalm 90, Martin Luther says “It is the most terrible of disasters and the one most deserving of tears—when people who are about to die still imagine they will go on living; when, overwhelmed by miseries, they still dream of happiness; and when, in the most critical perils that surround them, they are deliriously self-assured” (Luther Works 13, Concordia: St. Louis, 1956, p. 129). Gracia Grendal has said, “People who are unable to see the truth of what is going on about them: death, suffering, disasters make poor believers.”

In each stanza, two lines are repeated. The first between the descriptions of the crises and resolutions. First, (vv6, 13, 1G, 28): So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he delivers them out of their distress.
The second after the resolution.: (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31) Oh, that they would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he does for the children of men

These lines marry the two purposes of the psalm found at the beginning and end of the psalm. Remember the closing exhortation of v. 43 “Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.”
Why should those who are in tough times, life-threatening times, yield themselves to the Lord? Because the God who responds does so from hesed, from a faithful lovingkindness. Even before the first exhortation, the Psalmist sets the tone of the psalm: 1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious, and his mercy endures for ever.
All of God’s work is rooted in his loving faithfulness and his faithful love. And this we see displayed most clearly in the work of Christ. As Bernard of Clairvaux said in our prefatory reading this morning
“Creation was not so vast a work as redemption; for it is written of man and of all things that were made, ‘He spake the word, and they were made’ (Ps. 148.5). But to redeem that creation which sprang into being at His word, how much He spake, what wonders He wrought, what hardships He endured, what shames He suffered! Therefore what reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits which He hath done unto me? In the first creation He gave me myself; but in His new creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift restored to me the self that I had lost.
Bernard of Clarivaux, On Loving God 5 https://www.ccel.org/ccel/bernard/loving_god.all.html

People all around us face tough times, and the one who gave them breath now has his ear inclined to help them in their distress when that breath is threatened. What the psalmist is saying and displaying here is that the way to get that message across is through sharing your testimony. Which is why the second purpose is repeated even more than the first.

v. 2 Let those whom the Lord has redeemed give thanks . . .
It is echoed in the words repeated in each of the stanzas: (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31) Oh, that they would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he does for the children of men.
And again at the end: v. 42 The righteous will consider this and rejoice, and the mouth of all wickedness shall be stopped.
There is efficacious power in our thanksgiving shared through the rehearsing of God’s redeeming work in my life and our life. To speak of God’s faithfulness in my life and our life is to speak of his presence in our world. It reminds those who need to hear it that the Almighty, the Creator of all that is seen and all that is unseen does not sit far off but is here. That today we have communion with and have a place in the very Christ who ascended to the right of the Father. That this king still acts on our behalf.

Sharing our story says, “Trust him, because of how He has treated me.” And of the ways to rehearse it, song may be the most powerful.
The third and fourth stanzas actually elaborate on how “the groups should praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he does for the children of men.”
v. 22 That they would offer unto him the sacrifice of thanksgiving * and tell of his works with gladness! Should actually be “with joyful singing”
v. 32 That they would exalt him also in the congregation of the people * and praise him in the seat of the elders!

The prose of Romans 8:15–16 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Should break into “Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eyes diffused a quickning ray, I woke; the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee.”
The exhortation of Isaiah: 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
Break into the testimony:

My heart was distressed ’neath Jehovah’s dread frown, And low in the pit where my sins dragged me down;
I cried to the Lord from the deep miry clay, Who tenderly brought me out to golden day. He brought me out of the miry clay,
He set my feet on the Rock to stay; He puts a song in my soul today,
A song of praise, hallelujah!

This morning we share together as objects of God’s loving kindness. We share together in singing of God’s redemptive love in our lives. We sing of our Redeemer.
1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious, and his mercy endures for ever. Let those whom the Lord has redeemed give thanks . . . 43 Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

Pentecost +6 – The Works of God
Rev. Doug Floyd
Psalm 145

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

When preaching on 2 Corinthians 3, JB Lightfoot proclaimed, “Already the New Jerusalem, is seen by the eye of faith coming down from heaven ablaze with the glory of the Almighty; already the tabernacle of God has descended and is pitched among men; already we are permitted to gaze on the jewelled walls and the gates of pearl, and the pavement of pure gold; to bathe in the brightness of that Eternal City, which knows not either sunlight or moonlight, ‘for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”^[1] He continues, “The true Shekinah, the Person of Christ, shines forth in all the glory of its unapproachable beauty and brightness. And we—we feeble, unworthy, sin-stained, death-stricken men—are suffered, are invited, are entreated, nay, are compelled to come in, and to gaze on the peerless sight, till our own nature is changed by the absorption of its rays, and we are ‘transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”’^[2]

We live in a world radiating with God’s glory. But so often we fail to see. As GK Chesterton wrote, “The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”[3] Step outside in the evening and gaze upon the sunset. One moment, you behold the end of the day. Look again, and suddenly you behold a world ablaze with the glory of God.

Today our psalmist wants us to look, to reflect, to mediate upon the works of God and to give praise. Psalm 145 is an acrostic poem of praise to God, meaning that each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Like many ancient Hebrew acrostic poems, this poem is missing a couple letters, and yet it still gives us a sense of comprehensive praise to God.

The theologian Douglas Webster said that this psalmist is calling us into his fervor of praise to God. Webster writes, “The forceful and declarative “I will” statements from the psalmist overshadow whatever lingering malaise we might bring to the psalm. His enthusiasm shakes us out of our lethargy and apathy.”[4] These “I will” statements echo through the Psalm: I will extol you, I will bless you, one generation shall commend your works to another, I will meditate, they shall speak, they shall pour forth, all your works shall/saints shall, my mouth will speak.

This is not simply praise to God because we feel warm and content. This is a choice to shout God’s praises up into the heavens no matter what we face. We choose to praise God, to meditate upon God, to shout His praises.

The psalmist invites us to consider the works of God and then suggests that those works teach us about the character of God.

What are the works of God? This would refer to both God’s creation and to God’s redemption. Ancient Israel would rehearse the story of God redeeming their ancestors from slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land. Even as we remember the story of Moses, we see it brought to fulfillment in the story of Jesus.

God comes and rescues us from slavery to sin and death and is leading us to the fullness of Himself. As we heard earlier, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

Even as we remember God’s saving grace in our world and our own lives, we are invited to consider the works of creation. The psalmist declares, “On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.” (Psalm 145:5, ESV) And again, “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” (Psalm 145:15–16, ESV)

It is a good thing to enjoy this glorious creation. The novelist Marilynne Robinson writes, “We live in a time when many religious people feel fiercely threatened by science. “O ye of little faith. Let them subscribe to Scientific American for a year and then tell me if their sense of the grandeur of God is not greatly enlarged by what they have learned from it.”[5] She acknowledges that many scientists have materialist presuppositions and make no room for God, and yet even as they explore the world and describe their discoveries, we are treated to glories and wonder within our creation.

Recently, we watched a NOVA episode on “Secrets of the Forest.”[6] We discovered that, “There are more trees in Earth’s forests than stars in our galaxy.” The episode explored how the complex biodiverse forests of trees, fungi, and more play a key role in creating and maintaining a healthy climate around the world.

John Calvin saw creation filled with colors and wonder that give us joy while also pointing us to God. He writes, “For our salvation was a matter of concern to God in such a way that, not forgetful of himself, he kept his glory primarily in view, and therefore created the whole world for this end, that it may be a theater of his glory.”[7]

Everywhere we look, we might find occasion for joy and praise. GK Chesterton looks down at his feet and declares,

Once I looked at my bootlaces
Who gave me my bootlaces?
The bookmaker? Bah!
Who gave the bootmaker himself?
What did I ever do that I should be given bootlaces?[8]

Meditating upon creation might be as simple as taking a walk outside, sitting on the porch, smelling the flowers, and listening to the birds. We are attuning our senses to this glorious world that God has created. When Kelly and I traveled to Glacier National Park several years ago, we were amazed at all the colors of rocks in the water. We saw blue, red, and purple, green, and gray rocks.

I tell my students that it takes time to behold the world around us. Sometimes you must sit and wait and watch, listen, touch and smell. Gradually, we adjust to what we are observing and soon we begin to see more color, more texture, hear more variation in the sounds, smell more distinct scents. This is an important aspect of science: slow and careful observation. It is amazing what we discover when we slow down.

We might respond to creation by writing a reflection or a poem, drawing a sketch, painting a watercolor or even composing a song (even if it is just a song for our ears). We are honoring the works of God even as we are learning to praise Him in all things.

There is another aspect of creation that we may tend to overlook: humans and the things humans create. James Houston told the story of a young man heading into the city, and he said, “Well I’m off to discover God’s creation.” Ted Wright who came to St. Brendan’s when he lived here, often posts pictures online of all the amazing architecture he observes. It is a thing of glory.

The Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine says that when she was in college, she would step out of the show, look at herself in the mirror, and proclaim, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” At 70 years old, she continues to step out of the shower, look at herself in the mirror and declare, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” We give praise to God for our bodies, our hands, our feet, our eyes, our ears. Instead of putting down what we don’t like about our bodies, we give praise to God for how He has made us.

God has created us and given us a world to enjoy. We give praise to Him in all things. If I am watching a good movie, I may give thanks to God for the film and the filmmaker. Raymond Ortland tells the story of Theodore L. Cuyler, an American minister from Brooklyn, visiting Charles Spurgeon. After a long day, the two men were walking through the fields and enjoying the outdoors. Dr. Cuyler told a story that made Spurgeon laugh uproariously. Suddenly Spurgeon turned to Cuyler and said, “Theodore, let’s kneel down and thank God for laughter!”[9]

I think in seeking to be faithful disciples of Christ, some believers have become too serious for God. They fail to see His gracious love all around them and to enjoy His goodness and grace.

Our psalmist today suggests that as we pause over the great works of God, we begin to learn of His character. He declares, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3, ESV)

His greatness is unsearchable. We can never plumb the depths of His greatness, and yet we can have fun exploring! In verses 8-20, the psalmist declares the following characteristics of God: He is righteous, gracious, merciful, good to all, mercy over all that he has made, He has dominion over all, is faithful, upholds all who are falling down, raises up those who are bowed down, the eyes of all look to Him, He is near to all who call on him, and all flesh shall bless his name.

Let us behold God’s wondrous works and give our lives to bless His holy name.

^[1] Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Cambridge Sermons (London; New York: MacMillan and Co., 1890), 101–102.

^[2] Ibid,.

[3] Chesterton, G.K.. Tremendous Trifles (p. 7). (Function). Kindle Edition..”

[4] Douglas D. Webster, The Psalms: Jesus’s Prayer Book, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2023), 277.

[5] Robinson, Marilynne. When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays (pp. 8-9). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[6] See NOVA on PBS <https://www.pbs.org/video/secrets-of-the-forest-preview-pc9ryn/>

[7] John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, I.v.8.

[8] G.K. Chesterton, GK Chesterton Collected Works, Volume X, Collected Poetry Volume 1, Ignatius Press: 1994, p. 197.

[9] Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Preaching the Word: Proverbs—Wisdom That Works, ed. R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 119–120.

Pentecost +5
Rev. Doug Floyd
Psalm 89

King David wants to build a house for the Lord. The Lord says, “No but I will build you a house; the house of David is established by God forever. This means the kingship will never pass from David’s family through all time and time again.

Now we come to our Psalm for today. Psalm 89 is a celebration of God’s faithfulness to the house of David and therefore faithfulness to Israel. In verses 3 and 4, we read, “You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ ” (Psalm 89:3–4, ESV)

The Psalm is celebrating and emphasizing God’s pledge to Israel. The Psalm moves back and forth between the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of David’s house. At times it might seem unclear who is being referenced. For instance, “For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.” (Psalm 89:17–18, ESV)

The Lord is a shield of protection to Israel. The house of David is a shield of protection to Israel. The name David is associated with all future kings in the line of David. The horn of Israel is the king.

In a beautiful and poetic picture, the Psalm connects God’s faithfulness to His creation with His faithfulness to David. It speaks of the three-fold creation we see in Genesis: the heavens above, the earth below, and the waters under the earth. The Psalmist sings, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”” (Psalm 89:2, ESV)

We look up to the heavens, the sky, the clouds, the sun, moon, and stars, and we see the absolute surety of God’s promise. The unseen spiritual powers in the heavens have joined in the chorus: “Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?” (Psalm 89:5–7, ESV)

Now the Psalm moves down the waters below the earth: “O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.” (Psalm 89:8–10, ESV)

Finally, the earth, “The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.” (Psalm 89:11–16, ESV)

All creation moves in a festal shout and a dance of joy before the Creator. At the center of His creation, the Lord has raised up David and he will be like a god among the nations. “I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.” (Psalm 89:25–29, ESV)

As the Psalm continues, the Lord promises that the house of David will stand even if the people are unfaithful.

“If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” (Psalm 89:30–37, ESV)

After David dies, Solomon his son and many other kings of Judah introduce idolatry in the land. The idolatry leads to a series of sinful behaviors such as false worship, sexual slavery, oppression, the rich taking advantage of the poor. God shows mercy to the kingdom year after year after year. Eventually, the prophets declare enough: the Day of the Lord is at hand. Babylon invades the land, takes the people captive, kills the king’s sons, blinds the king, and drags him to Babylon.

Then they destroy the Temple and salt the land. The once thriving city of Jerusalem lays in ruins. The house of David has fallen. And there will never be another king on the throne…until Messiah comes.

In verse 38, today’s Psalm takes a sharp turn.

“But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle. You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame.” (Psalm 89:38–45, ESV)

The kingdom has fallen like a tree chopped down. The house of David is no more. The people are cast off and cast out. Abandoned, Captured.

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137:1, ESV)

After spending most of the Psalm extolling God’s faithfulness, the psalmist now offers a sort but earnest plea to God:

“Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.” (Psalm 89:49–51, ESV)

Where are you Lord?!? The kingdom is shattered. The world has come to an end. A pagan country that follows pagan gods now rules God’s chosen people. Where is our king? We know you are faithful, why have you forsaken us?

A small percentage of Jews will eventually return home and even rebuild the Temple. But life will be difficult. There is still no king on the throne. The glory seems to have faded in spite of the prophets assuring the people that the latter glory is greater than the former glory. Hundreds of years will pass as the people continue to cry out for the king. Different empires will rule over Israel and eventually Rome will take charge, and the false king Herod will rule Jerusalem.

Jesus comes as the true king. He will restore the House of David. And he will rule forevermore. He does not look like the king they’ve been expecting. He has no army. He is gentle. And like a lamb led to the slaughter, he is handed over to be killed. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, He is lifted up as the true and final King of the Jews. Pilate puts an inscription on the cross reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” It is written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. This is the King.

Many Jews and Gentiles still cannot see Jesus as the true King, the Messiah. Yet Scripture promises that all humans will kneel and acknowledge Jesus Christ as the last King of the Jews (Philippians 2:9-11).

We don’t know exactly when Psalm 89 was written, but it is at least 2,400 years old and possibly longer. We are not Jews. We do not have an earthly king. How do read this Psalm about God’s faithfulness to the House of David?

1. The psalm praises God for His faithfulness to His people and looks to God’s faithfulness in all creation. Just the regularity of sun and moon speaks to us of God’s sustaining care of His creation. While we see repetition in nature and call these laws like the laws of motion, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism. G.K. Chesterton reminds us that behind the law is a will. God wills His creation, and He is never absent from His creation. So might we take more time to meditate upon the heavens above, the sea below, and the earth abroad. We might take time to praise God’s faithfulness to is creation.
2. The psalm celebrates the House of David. We acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Sovereign Ruler, but we do not live under human kings like ancient Israel. We do have leaders who make decisions that impact our lives: leaders in government, in business, in healthcare, and all across our society. We should pray for all our leaders and for wisdom as they serve.
3. Finally, this Psalm explores the great disappointment when it seems God has abandoned David, sent Jerusalem into exile, and allowed foreign nations to rule over Israel. If we look at history, we realize Israel is not the only nation to fall. Every great and glorious work falls and fades. It doesn’t mean the end of the world is at hand. But it can mean that the world as we know may dramatically change. This may happen in government, business, healthcare, and other places. And this can be difficult and even painful. This may really hit home in business when a new leader comes and reorients the whole workplace. I’ve experienced this many times and I know many of you have. During times of great change, we may not like what is happening all around us, so we pray. We look to our Lord, King Jesus, knowing that He rules and sustains all things. We may never go back to where we were, but we can learn a new path forward. He can lead us and teach us how to live in this new era. Disappointment can lead to bitterness, but I would hope it might lead us to trust, to pray, and ultimately to thanksgiving to our faithful God. So that even after we have cried out for God to remember us and even if our situation does not change, we might join with today’s final verse in Psalm 89,

“Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 89:52, ESV)

Pentecost +4 – Lament
Dr. Christopher Graham
Psalm 69

Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows unto the Most High // And call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear you, and you shall praise me.” Yes, these are the words that I opened our homily with two weeks ago. And no I did not grab the wrong notes. You may remember that in Psalm the antidote to a wrong perspective and lack of integrity when it comes to our actions before God is praise and thanksgiving. Last week Fr. Doug led us through Psalm 100, an example of pure praise and thanksgiving. And if you were here last week, get ready for a little whiplash. After Fr. Doug’s homily last week, I couldn’t get Kool and the Gang out of my head

“There’s a party goin’ on right here. A celebration to last throughout the years. So bring your good times and your laughter too. We gonna celebrate your party with you. Come on now. Let’s all celebrate and have a good time”

And now we are in the key of “I am a man of constant Sorrow, I’ve seen trouble all my day” or Ralph Stanely “O Death. Whoa, Death. Won’t you spare me over ’til another year?”

The order of our homilies aligns with what we read two weeks ago. Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows unto the Most High; And call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear you, and you shall praise me.”

Last week’s Psalm 100 is sung from the proper perspective—”He’s the Great Shepherd, the Rock of All Ages, Almighty God is He.” From that perspective, according to Psalm 50, we now “Call upon me in the time of trouble.” And so that is where we are this morning in Psalm 69. A time of trouble. But not like I couldn’t find my car keys and was running late this morning. But in a tight spot, so tight, in fact that we are at the end of our rope. We can’t get oriented. We feel like everything is spinning. “Hello, hello. In a place called vertigo.” How does the psalmist describe it here?

v. 1 For the waters have come up to my neck
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

Not only is it a tight spot, but apparently God is not answering! What are we supposed to do in this situation? You may not like the answer this morning, but if done rightly, it may be the only proper response . . . lament. Lament is both hard for us and therefore underused, and yet it is essential for us in these tight spots.

Lament makes us uncomfortable because it refuses to speak in euphemism. And because of this, challenges our tendency to candy-coat the situation. “This too shall pass,” “No pain, No gain.” “Embrace the Suck.” Sometimes we even retreat to the prose of Scripture as a way to mentally avoid the fact that life right now sucks in a way that threatens to undo us! “All things work together for good. . .” We do this even with the lament psalms themselves.

I grew up singing a song with lyrics drawn from a lament: “I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. . .” Singing about sin in a major chord. Hear the psalmist: “I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.” Verse

3. Lament happens when we realize “Life sucks!” and, in fact, is sucking the life out of me—my breath, my bones, my very being. Lament happens when we come face-to-face with and find ourselves under the burden of the brokenness of the world. In some psalms, it is our own brokenness. In other songs of lament, it is nature itself. This is the lament of the people in Joel, for example. In this psalm and in the lament of Jeremiah, the brokenness is unjust treatment by others.

v. 4: More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.
v. 12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
v. 21They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink

Again, this challenges our tendency to euphemize. “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” Or “I’m not called to please men.” Or when we use retreat to other verses in the Bible to avoid the reality of the tight spot that we are in because of the real injustice being carried out against us.

Matt 10:28-31: And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

And this a second reason why lament is so hard. Not only does it refuse to euphemize our situation, it refuses to compromise our proper perspective on God. Lament happens when we refuse to accept the fact that the God we confess in prose— the God who values us more than the sparrows, the God who works all things together for good—that this God is, in fact, not acting on our behalf. Notice again that the plea for God is based on what the psalmist knows is true, which makes it so much harder to accept what is happening.

13 “Answer me answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

One of the psalms that we tend to euphemize is Psalm 42. I can’t tell you how many times I sang the chorus drawin from the first verse: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” Listen, I am no hunter, biologist, zoologist, or master naturalist. But if I saw a deer panting, I would know “something isn’t right here!” And the psalm itself doesn’t allow us to romanticize the situation or the fact that God is not acting: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”

Lament is hard because it feels like a lack of faith. We sound like the scoffers in this psalm, we may sound like Job’s friends. But there is a key difference—lament is God-directed. Lament happens when we to God in the middle of this life-sucking situation. Calling things for what they are is an essential element of lament, but to stay there is merely whining. Maybe singing the blues. Crying in our beer. We whine about God, or maybe we theorize to defend God. “Well, it only appears he is not working to save us.” What makes it lament is that in this state, we turn to God. Lament is Godward because of its purpose. BTW, that purpose is not to make you feel better. Not to be cathartic. The purpose of lament? Again, the psalm from two weeks ago: “And call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear you, and you shall praise me.”

And indeed today, the Psalmist starts:

“Save me, O God!” (v.1)
V. 13 “Answer me answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!

And this leads to the last element of lament that makes it so hard. Lament remains unresolved until God acts. It puts the ball in God’s court. In doing so, lament resists our desire for closure. There is no harmonic “Amen.” We lament in order to hear from God and to see how God is answering us. It is not uncommon for OT prophets to use lament to stir God to the injustice that his people are bearing. We heard it in Jeremiah this morning:

O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause. Jeremiah 20

At times, God responds and saves. This is why many lament psalms actually end with a thanksgiving psalm. At times, God pulls back the veil to reveal his purposes and the response is not what they want to hear.

Habakkuk cries out O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,// and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!”// and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,// and why do you idly look at wrong? 1:1-3.

and God responds:

Look among the nations, and see; //wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days //that you would not believe if told. // For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth,//to seize dwellings not their own. 1:5-6

And sometimes, friends, God does not respond. In his final moments on the cross, Jesus cites the opening of Psalm 22: “My God, My God Why have you forsaken me?” In response a soldier gives him the drink of our lament this morning:

“I looked for pity, but there was none, //and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

And then Jesus died. He lamented and he died. So where is the good news this morning? Not found in this psalm. Laments are unresolved.

Some good news is that you find yourself this morning in a community where people care for you when you find yourself in tight spots. You are among people who have been in spots tighter than you yourself have imagined. I can testify to this myself. Probably in the first 2 weeks of being here, having just been let go from my position and still without a job, Derrick and Alan were voices who said, “Been there, brother.” And I could tell by the way they approached me each week that they were very concerned for me even when I wasn’t concerned about myself. And after Ishared my experiences two weeks ago, Marc came up to me and said in a way that was so caring “Has God ever shown you why that happened.” So it is good news that you are in a caring community this morning. But that, friends, is not THE good news. Because I can take you to innumerable caring communities in our area. Places where people will truly commiserate with you, empathize with you, sympathize with you, listen to your story, share wisdom. Group counseling groups, recovery groups, bars, coffee shops, lodges. These are all caring communities, and I am not disparaging their value.

But what sets this congregation apart, what makes us the Church, is that we are who we are because of the presence of the God who inclines his ear to us, the Spirit of Life, and the one who Himself can sympathize with us in our weakness. The Good News is that this God has ordained a people who can be with you in these tight spots. Who, on a Sunday morning when you cannot bring yourself to sing the words “How Great Thou Art,” will sing them for you, and with you, and around you. You are in a place that, even if we are all going through a tight spot, we have committed ourselves to l hear the Word of God spoken. That when you find yourself in a state of paralysis by analysis, these people will find a way to open the roof and lower you into the presence of Jesus.

The Jesus who cried out to his Father that the cup should pass from him. The Jesus who lamented: My God, My God why have you forsaken me?
And in those same hours prayed “Forgive them.”

Hear me, though. We do not merely have Christ’s example. We have the Jesus who is today seated at the right hand of God. And that He responds at all is a testimony to the fact that God does work on behalf of his people.

The Jesus who is the Son of God who is able to empathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Who offers receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16)

And call upon me in the time of trouble; so will I hear you, and you shall praise me.”

Pentecost +3 2026
Rev. Doug Floyd
Psalm 100

As the Israelites walk up the steps toward the Temple, they sing out:

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:1–5, ESV)

Psalm 100 is the culmination of Psalms 96, 97, 98, and 99. These are sometimes called enthronement psalms, because they are praising the Lord who is Creator of the Universe. Just listen to the opening lines:

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.” (Psalm 96:1–2, ESV)

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Psalm 97:1, ESV)

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” (Psalm 98:1, ESV)

“The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!” (Psalm 99:1, ESV)

And finally Psalm100,

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!” (Psalm 100:1, ESV)

This line explodes with joy! Listen to some of the various translations:

Shout happily to the Lord, all the earth. (God’s Word Translation)

Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! (Christian Standard Bible)

Or what about the Message:

On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.

This is a celebration. A party. Everyone is invited. The whole world. Lots of joyful noises. Laughter, shouting, clapping, dancing, tambourines and much more. What a delight!

I once heard an English comedian say that you could step into a poor African church in London and people will be shouting and dancing and filling the room with joy. But then if you walk down the street to an Anglican church, you would see some of the wealthiest people in society singing so somberly that you would think they were in dire straits.

Psalm 100 challenges us to be a people of joy. In the first part of the psalm the people are celebrating the Lord as Creator. The references to Lord in this Psalm are from the Hebrew word, YHWH, which is the Covenant name for God. The Lord has bound Himself to Israel, and this same Lord is Creator of all things. There is no other god. All powers must ultimately submit to Him.

As a side note, let’s look at Exodus 19. In verses 4-6 we read,

“‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”” (Exodus 19:4–6, ESV)

 The Creator has chosen Israel as His treasured possession and made them to be a kingdom of priests. They are called to reveal God to the nations. We see a similar idea in Romans 5 today. In verse two we read,

“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2, ESV)

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The glory of God has drawn near to us in Christ. And in Christ, we bear that glory. God’s people reveal the glory of God to the nations. Our joy and laughter and delight in the goodness of God, overflows through us to the world around us. Thus, Psalm 100 opens by proclaiming,

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!” (Psalm 100:1, ESV)

The covenant people of God are called to make a joyful noise. But the. We read “all the earth.” Our song echoes into all creation: sun, moon, seas, plants, trees, birds of the air, fish of the sea and all living creatures on the earth. Including all humanity. As a royal priesthood, we are called to lead the nations in praise to our God. The glory of God covers the earth. We “serve the Lord with gladness.” Following Christ is not a dour, joyless life. Just the opposite. As Demos Shakarian used to say, We are “the happiest people on the earth.” May we truly this into this God-given hilarity.

The Psalm reminds us that we are part of creation.

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3, ESV)

YHWH created us even as He created the whole universe. He made us, we are His. The psalmist adds, “we are the sheep of His pasture.” Here we see the parental image of a shepherd caring for the sheep. We are created. We are loved.

In one sense, our whole life is a response to that unfathomable love. Everywhere we turn, we behold the love of God. As Amy Grant sings,

Everywhere I go
I see your face through the crowd
(Everywhere I go)
I hear your voice clear and loud
(Everywhere I go)
You are the light that I see
(Everywhere I go)
You have found me[1]

This is one of the things I love about the Ancient Christian Celts, they are praising God in all creation. In the Prefatory Reading this morning, we read,

The world cannot comprehend in song bright and melodious,
Even though the grass and trees should sing,
All your wonders, O true Lord![2]

The following is from a 9^th century praise song from the Culdee movement, a reform movement among Irish and Welsh monasteries.

Let the birds and the honeybees praise you,
Let the shorn stems and the shoots praise you.
Both Aaron and Moses praised you:
Let the male and the female praise you,
Let the seven days and the stars praise you,
Let the air and the ether praise you,
Let the books and the letters praise you,
Let the fish in the swift streams praise you,
Let the thoughts and the action praise you,
Let the sand-grains and the earth-clods praise you,
Let all the good that’s performed praise you.
And I shall praise you, Lord of glory:
Glorious Lord, I give you greeting!

When you step outside this week, pause and look. Behold the glory all around you. Breathe it in. Rejoice. Give our good Creator praise. A 20^th century Welsh poet Bobi Jones joins his voice to the praise of Celts across the ages. He praises people and places and even a truck. He offers a poem of praise from a trucker driving home for Christmas. Jones writes,

The machine has become a beautiful hill-breast home,

A sanctuary, since here he thought of God best,

God on the axle, and God in the crunching,

And gloried in them as his forebears did in a horse

Till he felt the newly-washed coal a petal in his nostrils,

And the iron cogs played at fondling his hard hands,

His happiness under his armpits.

(Yesterday my love came to buy a machine-made frock

And wore it and made it part of her own enchantment.)

Christmas today, the warmth of home on his cheek,

His children’s sweat in place of the piston’s laughter,

But at the same God’s strong feet he’ll cradle himself

Like a comely village in a mountain niche.

Everything, everywhere, Praise the Lord!

The second half of the Psalm exhorts us to praise and thanksgiving again, but this time it shifts from Creator to Redeemer. Sometimes in the Evangelical world we grow up focusing so deeply on the work of the cross that we love sight of the glory of creation. We serve the King of the universe who has declared all of His creation as good and very good.

As we praise the Lord for His creation, we might learn to become better stewards of creation, including humans.

In the first part of the Psalm, we are exhorted to make a joyful noise and then we are given a reason,

“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3, ESV)

Now in the second part of the Psalm, we are given a reason for entering the Temple courts with praise,

“For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 100:5, ESV)

Now pause over this phrase a moment. “The Lord is good.” Our covenant God is good. This makes me think of Philippians 2:10,

“at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10–11, ESV)

All creation bows before the Lord Jesus, confessing Him as Lord. In Jesus, we come to see the Creator God is good, just, loving, and trustworthy. We can rest in His absolute goodness.

We can trust in Him. He is a good God, a good judge. This next phrase, “his steadfast love endures forever” speaks of Hesed. Many of you may already be familiar with Hesed. It can speak of a kindness that happens in loving relations. It is one of the most often used words to describe God in the Old Testament. When used of the Lord, hesed indicates a kindness, a love, a mercy, a grace that flows from God to us. In other words, it is not the same idea of exchange in a loving human relation. Rather, God pours out His lovingkindness on people who are undeserving. His hesed is leading us to Him. As Paul writes in Romans 2,

God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Now get this. The Psalm declares that “his steadfast love endures forever.” Endures forever. There is a sense of horizon in this world, forever. It conveys the sense of a temporal and spatial horizon. God’s hesed is on the other side of every boundary. We cannot outrun the love of God.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, ESV)

Our Redeemer is faithful to all generations. His lovingkindness leads us to repentance. And we are becoming the very praise of God. We are becoming prayer and praise to our God. Let me end by revisiting Psalm 100 through the words of The Message”

On your feet now—applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into his presence.
3  Know this: God is God, and God, God.
He made us; we didn’t make him.
We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.
4  Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
Thank him. Worship him.
5  For God is sheer beauty,
all-generous in love,
loyal always and ever. (Psalm 100:1–5, MSG)

[1] Amy Grant, “Everywhere I Go,” on Unguarded (1985)

[2] From notes on Juvenecus. Written in Welsh, Irish, and Latin from the 10th century. Found in the margins of an illuminated manuscript of a 4th 
metrical Gospel by Juvencus.

Pentecost +3 2026
Dr. Christopher Graham
Psalm 50

Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows unto the Most High;
Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me,

Over the summer, our preaching will draw attention to our readings from the Psalms. From a historical perspective, this needs little defense. The inclusion of the psalms in Christian worship has transcended the differences throughout the ages. Even in the Reformation, all sides kept the Psalms as an integral part of their worship. So that we keep the Psalms as a central part of our worship has a deep history.

And even the use of Psalms in preaching has been central to the life of the Church from its very earliest days. Having celebrated Ascension and Pentecost just two weeks ago, you may remember that OT poetry is central to Peter’s Pentecost sermon. But since most of our preaching does not focus on the psalms, it may be helpful to offer some comments as we move through our time this summer. Before we dive into Psalm 50 this morning, let me make just two observations.

First, there is a danger in preaching or teaching on the psalms. Because we are more comfortable with prose than poetry, I can preach, and you can expect that I preach, in a way that achieves the clarity and precision of prose. To approach the psalms as prose, though, robs the psalms of their inherent power as song. It’s like explaining a joke. It’s like condensing a beautifully complex novel into an outline. It’s taking Louis Armstrong’s:

Gimme a kiss to build a dream on
And my imagination
Will thrive upon that kiss
Sweetheart, I ask no more than this
A Kiss to build a dream on

It’s taking the power of that and putting it in the service of this dictionary entry for “kiss.” “Two people pressing their moist, creased facial orifices together, cinch tight the sphincter muscles to draw the flesh around the orifice into a bulbous mound, and exchange saliva and breathe.” Precise? Yes. Technically, that is, anatomically, correct? Yes. And yet. . . And yet we know that Louis Armstrong comes far nearer to capturing the essence of a

kiss than a Webster’s editor. And so, over the course of our sermons this summer, we need to be aware that our homilies should be in service to the psalms.

The second comment is to recognize our tendency to accept and acknowledge the power of song in our worship and in our daily lives, and yet dismiss the Psalms as an essential source for our knowledge of and life in God. It is a uniquely modern problem, in that we have placed our sources of knowledge in mutually exclusive categories and then exalted those that lead to rationalistic certainty. We prefer, then, the prose of the NT letters and the teaching of Jesus because they appear as straightforward conduits of knowledge. And yet, only 24% of the Bible is prose discourse, in the form of laws, sermons, letters. Roughly 33% of the Bible is poetry, including songs, reflective poetry, prophetic poetry, and proverbial poetry. If we confess that this is God’s own revelation of himself to us, it is a powerful thought that he chose to use the form of poetry to reveal himself through this medium as often as he does. And this should compel us to pay attention to it. (BTW: ~43% of the Bible is made up of narrative, from historical narrative to parables.)

Over the course of our series, I imagine that we will explore the power of poetry, of song, but it is enough for us to say today that as people committed to the Bible as God’s revelation of himself, we should be (or become) comfortable with approaching God through the Psalms, even with the imprecision, because God has ordained it as a primary means of moving our interaction with him. And this is a great transition to our psalm this morning because, it seems to me, this is precisely the point of that psalm. In fact, in our psalm today, praise is not merely primary it is central. The psalm crescendos not once but twice to the point of praise:

vv. 14-15 Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and pay your vows unto the Most High;

V. 23 Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me

But remember, these are not merely didactic teachings, exhortations, commissions to praise. These are refrains set in a three-part, or three stanza, song.

Part 1, vv. 1-7, and sets the stage, like songs sometimes do.

• It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd stumbles in
• This is the day, This is the day that the Lord has made
• The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas

But what is the context of Psalm 50? A context oriented dominated by the awesome reality of the God. The Lord, even the most mighty God:

• Whose word has cosmic scope: called the world, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth beneath merism
• Whose is brilliantly splendid, dazzling. “Great Father of glory, pure Father of light, thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight; all praise we would render, O help us to see ’tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.”
• Whose word has local consequence: there shall go before him a consuming fire, and a mighty tempest shall be stirred up round about him.

And this God does what? He summons his people to his courtroom:

v. 5-6: “Gather my faithful together unto me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” “And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is Judge.

Nothing like being in the gallery. Watching the judge rule with wisdom and power! Alright, bring in the guilty, let’s get this party started

v. 7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; I myself will testify against you, O Israel, for I am God, even your God.”

Uh-oh. As my kids would say “This got dark fast.” What did we do? Us? Why are we here in this place? Good songs like Psalm 50 evoke memories, and I can feel the pit in my own stomach. Reading verses 1-7 reminded me of the day just a few years ago when I was invited first thing in the morning to meet with the Chairman of the Board and with another Executive at the University I was at. I was less than a month into a deeply rewarding position and was rocking it! Oooh, I thought, what do they have for me next? A promotion would be odd, a raise even odder. And so when I sat down and they slid across a termination letter that told me to be out of my office by the end of the day, I was. . . wait, what? What did I do? What are you talking about?

Me? I had no idea? And so it is as we read Psalm 50 as God’s people. Why are we here? I’m glad you asked, because God answers:

He starts with what it is not: v. 8 I will not rebuke you because of your sacrifices, or for your burnt offerings, because they are always before me.

And yet, he called them to offer a sacrifice in v14. So what is the issue? Their perspective on God and their actions before God have gotten out of whack. In what sense? Well, this is the beautiful power of songs: I’m not sure it’s spelled out here. It is popular to read Psalm 50 in line with other passages in which they have fallen into a perfunctory action, so that their heart is not in it. But, I’m not sure that this is the issue given how the Psalm advances in vv.9-13. In these verses, God does not hold up a mirror to their lack of connection between action and heart. He reminds them of who He is in relation to their actions. There is no reason to believe that they were not sincerely and devoutly obeying God’s law in presenting the major offerings that He has called for. IT seems that they have lost perspective on the fact their service, their sacrifice are not done to prop up and sustain God. And, in turn, they have forgotten that everything they have—even the gifts they offer are from him—are his. Perhaps this is why he reminds them of his character and his ownership and then calls for them to offer that most unique of sacrifices. The sacrifice of thanksgiving. “Offer unto God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, // and pay your vows unto the Most High.” It is, then, with this perspective that when they run into trouble, they seek relief in other means other than.

Praise reorients perspective. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. . . give us this day our daily bread.”

When we acknowledge the God of verses 1-6—the God who owns everything—then we offer praise and we will call out for his provision.

 It is what U2 sings at the end of the prefatory reading this morning:

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will.
What no man can own, no man can take.”

But these are not the only ones that God addresses. So also are those whom he calls, “ungodly.” Whew! Someone else is getting called on! Except, remember that everyone who has been summoned are the covenant people of God. So who are they? If the first group is very aware of God and are even suppliants to him in their sacrificial offering, those now addressed have forgotten God (v. 32). Those who hate to be disciplined, and have cast my words behind you? (v. 17-18) This, clearly, leads to a lack of integrity:

• They “recite God’s laws, and take his covenant in their mouths yet speak wickedness, and with your tongue you have set forth deceit (v. 16/19)
• They speak of covenants, but have taken part with adulterers (v.16/19).
• They have even used God’s laws to defend their wickedness (v. 20/21)

This lack of integrity is addressed throughout Scripture. It is this issue, the lack of integrity, that Jesus addressed frequently with his opponents. Their lack of perspective was tied to their lack of integrity.

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’;and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7

 So what is the antidote: Whoever offers me a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me, and to him who orders his way aright will I show the salvation of God.”

The author of Hebrew also sees the connection between praise and doing good: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13.

This reorienting and repairing happens several times through our liturgy. For example, we respond to

Alleluia Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed, once for all upon the Cross
Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia.

And then immediately we offer a prayer of humble access: We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.” And our hymn “Jesus, Lamb of God: have mercy on us. Jesus, Bearer of our sins: have mercy on us Jesus, Redeemer, Redeemer of the world: grant us your peace, grant us your peace.” To which Fr. Doug will say: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”

Praise/thanksgiving – – recognition of who we are in proper perspective and with integrity – praise and thankgiving. Reorienting and repairing.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

Trinity Sunday 2026
Rev. Doug Floyd
Genesis 1:1-2:3, Psalm 150, 2 Corinthians 13:5-14, Matthew 28:16-20

In 431, St. Patrick went to Ireland as a missionary bishop. Years after being enslaved by an Irish noble, he returns with the Good News of Jesus Christ. St. Patrick and other servants of the Lord brought a message of the Triune God as revealed in Jesus Christ. Ireland appears to be one of the few cultures that readily embraced the Gospel message. There is no record of any martyrs in the conversion of the people. Why the Celts converted to readily deserves more discussion for another time. The teaching of the Triune God resonated with the Celts because they already had a fondness for the number 3 and even viewed one of their gods as three.

Today, I want to pause for a few moments over Patrick’s Breastplate. While we call it Patrick’s Breastplate, it is not likely that he wrote it. The first known appearance is not until the 11^th century and the text appears to date from the 8^th century or at least 300 years after Patrick. By naming it after Patrick, it may be a way of honoring his teaching or increasing the value of this prayer in the Celtic memory.

The prayer can help us think through how the Irish began to think about and apply the church’s teaching on the Trinity. This prayer is in the form of a Caim, an ancient Celtic ritual of protection. The Celts and many other ancient tribal cultures felt the world around them was inhabited by active spiritual powers. We even see this way of thinking in early American stories such as Young Goodman Brown.

People would learn rituals to protect themselves from the power at hand be it a spirit of the water, a god of the forest, or even a power of the heavens. Consider Grimm’s Fairy Tales or The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. In these stories, the forest can be a refuge, but it can also be a dangerous place with forces that might bring destruction.

The teaching that One God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit was the Creator and supreme power over creation gave the people hope. In Christ, they realized that all powers and principalities must submit to the Lord. Even though our late modern world mostly rejects the ideas of spiritual powers all around us, people still fear powers. The power of the economy, of certain leaders, of an ecological crisis and more.

This prayer or breastplate is a prayer of protection. The Celtic monk setting out on a journey, might take a stick and draw a circle around him in the dirt. He might also trace a circle above him and recite these words:

Today I gird myself with a mighty power,
Invocation of the Trinity.
Belief in the threeness, affirmation of the oneness.
In the Creator’s presence.

He is invoking God. Encircle me. And yet, He is recognizing that the Lord of creation is Three persons, One God. Jesus reveals the Father, and in so doing, reveals there is not another angry God behind him. The King of the Universe loves His creation and has acted for our redemption.

The next part of the prayer focuses upon the story of Jesus Christ:

Today I gird myself
With the power of Christ’s birth together with his baptism,
With the power of his crucifixion together with his burial,
With the power of his resurrection together with his ascension,
With the power of his descent to pronounce judgment of Doomsday.

The monk is covering himself in a garment of protection. Look at the pairings in each verse. He has traveled through the entire liturgical year in one prayer.

With the power of Christ’s birth together with his baptism,

He begins with Christmas Day, Christ’s birth. Christ’s baptism is Epiphany, the revealing of Jesus as God’s Son by witness of the Father and the Spirit.

Next he moves to Holy Week. Christ’s death and burial:

With the power of his crucifixion together with his burial,

The prayer moves through Easter to Ascension:

With the power of his resurrection together with his ascension,

And finally, he comes to Advent. The watch for the second coming of the Lord.

With the power of his resurrection together with his ascension,

This stanza leads us through the entire year of adoration of Christ.

Time and space are enveloped by the story of Jesus Christ. He is present. Do not fear. The powers may appear great and mighty but they cannot stop the love of Christ.

Now he turns to the great communion saints and angels that encircle him and all creation:

Today I gird myself
With the power of the order of the Cherubim,
With the Obedience of angels,
With the ministry of archangels.
With the hope of resurrection,
For the sake of reward,
With the prayers of the patriarchs.
With the predictions of the prophets,
With the precepts of the apostles,
With the faith of confessors,
With the innocence of holy virgins,
With the deeds of righteous people.

He moves through the orders of angels, which would have been of great interest to many generations before us. Consider our own Eucharistic prayer leading to the Sanctus:

Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to 
proclaim the glory of your Name

Just as he names saints across the ages, we name saints in our prayers of the people and in our prayer of sanctification:

Sanctify us also, that we may worthily receive this holy sacrament, and be made one body with him, so that he may dwell in us and we in him. And bring us with the Virgin Mary, St Brendan, Joan of Arc, Justin Martyr, Blandina and Her Companions, and all your saints into the fullness of your heavenly kingdom, where we shall see our Lord face to face.

Now the Celtic Monk does something unusual, he includes the forces of nature in his prayer:

Today I gird myself
With the strength of heaven,
Light of the sun.
Brightness of the moon,
Brilliance of fire.
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind.
Depth of sea,
Firmness of earth,
Stability of rock.

He appears to call upon the properties within creation for protection. At first, this might seem like a bit of left-over paganism, and that may be possible. But I just finished reading through Job again. What stood out to me in this reading, were the references to the created order and how it reveals God. The Psalmist and the Prophets also incorporate the created order to discuss God’s sovereign rule. Even today, we opened with an extended reading from Genesis on the creation story. By introducing this reading today, we are being invited to consider how the Triune God creates the world and sustains it by His presence.

In a language that supersedes human words, all creation is engaged a chorus of worship. The Psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)

Now back to the monk. He lives in a pre-industrialized world. No great building or factories. He and his people are directly subject to the forces of nature: good and bad. If he lives on the coast, he beholds the roaring ocean. In fact, some monks chose to live in caves above the waves. While we live separated from creation in our air conditioned homes and grocery stores, the monk is a part of the creation and all the glories and terrors of the world.

The stories of Scripture help him to focus on God’s continuing role in sustaining His creation. Even in the world that surrounds him, he can see God’s hand of protection. We live in world more separated from creation, and yet, we enjoy the glory of trees, grass, flowers, and more. But we also live in houses that humans have built. We drive cars, ride on roads, fly in planes and use all sorts of objects that humans have made. Could we not see all these human-made creations as part of God’s vast creation? He creates and sustains us. Like their Creator, humans make things. It is wrong to worship the natural world, and it is also wrong to worship the work of human hands. But we might give God praise for these gifts and seek to use them for His glory.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17, ESV)

Today I gird myself
With the strength of God to direct me,
The might of God to exalt me,
The mind of God to lead me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to hear me,
The word of God to speak to me,
The hand of God to defend me,
The path of God to go before me,
The shield of God to guard me,
The help of God to protect me
Against the snares of demons,
Against the temptation of vices,
Against the tendencies of nature,
Against everyone who will wish me ill,
Far and near, Among few and among many.

In this stanza and the next, the monk mentions a series of threat to his spiritual life, his health, and every person or power that might seek him harm. In beautiful recitation of God loving kindness toward us, he names and reflects on all these images associated with God’s protection: strength, might, mind, eye, ear, word, hand, path, shield, and help. The Psalmist will use similar images to reflect on God’s protection. Lists like this and those found in the Psalms, give us opportunity to pause and meditate upon God and all His attributes.

For the sake of time, I am going to jump over the next stanza which continues to name threats and consider one of the most beloved aspects of this prayer.

May Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ to my right, Christ to my left, Christ where I lie down, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me, Christ in every eye which looks on me, Christ in every ear which hears me.

Wow. This is so beautiful. I’ve typed this on a card before and recited it wherever I went. Kelly and I often pray this over one another as we step out into the new day. This stanza drives home the truth that our confession of the Triune God is not simply abstraction doctrine. It reminds us the we are not alone. Christ is present by His Holy Spirt. He is present in every aspect of our lives. As we begin to get a sense of the magnitude of this prayer, we may come to see that our doctrine of the Trinity is a gift of assurance. We are not and never will be alone. God is present. Even if we face danger or sickness or pain or even death, Christ is present by the Spirit.

Our breastplate ends with a reaffirmation of God’s presence and our hope:

Today I gird myself
With a mighty power, Invocation of the Trinity,
Belief in the Threeness,
Proclamation of the Oneness,
In the Creator’s presence.
Salvation is of the Lord,
Salvation is of the Lord,
Salvation is of Christ,
May your salvation Lord, be always with us.

We rejoice in the faithfulness of our God. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD; O praise the LORD.”

Pentecost 2026 – Witnesses
Rev. Doug Floyd
Genesis 11:1-9, Psalm 104:24–35, Acts 2:1-11, John 14:8-17

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

The disciples are waiting and praying and seeking the Lord. They gather with the women, with Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. As Christopher pointed out last week, the miracle is that they have not scattered. At His crucifixion and death, the disciples scattered, but now they wait. Christ called them to wait, and they obey.

Jesus told them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”” (Luke 24:46–49, ESV)

They are staying, waiting, watching, praying. The day of Pentecost arrives and suddenly a mighty rushing wind fills the house. Tongues of fire come down upon them. They are all filled with the Holy Spirit.

This morning, let’s briefly pause over this verse from last week: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

The Spirit will make them (and us) witnesses, and they (and we) will eventually bear witness to the ends of the earth.

In Acts 1, we hear Jesus say, “You will be my witnesses.” You will bear witness what you have seen and heard of Jesus Christ. You have seen and heard and even touched. Now you must speak. Thus, the Spirit comes upon them in tongues of fire. Tongues set on fire by the Spirit of the Living God.

The disciples and the people of God often struggle to bear witness. Think about life in general. Humans love to speak what they barely know. I have often been guilty of saying more than I know and even being ready to argue about it. Usually days later, I tell Kelly well it looks like you were right after all.

Whether online or in person, we can communicate with such confidence though in reality we speak in fragments. It is difficult to admit we are always learning up until the day we die.

In 1970, Bob Dylan sang “My Back Pages.” He sings,

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now[1]

The prophet must face his limitations. In this song, Dylan confesses that he realizes life is more complex than he understood. I love this last line,

Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now

My own life has often been the journey of humility. Of recognizing, I know less than I once thought I knew. If we follow the lives of these Apostles, we come to see that even as they are empowered to be witness, the Spirit is making the true witnesses over time.

Zeal for the Lord consumed Paul even as he sought to consume the early church in a fire of judgment. Then the Lord confronts him. He is broken. That same driven Pharisee comes face to face with his own lack. In Philippians 3, Paul confesses his ongoing pursuit to know the truth, that is to know Christ.

“though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:4–11, ESV)

Even as Paul writes, he is still in pursuit of Christ. He has not mastered a set of ideas, a series of doctrinal formulations, a confession of faith. He is pursuing the person of Jesus Christ. In this pursuit, he recognizes his own weakness. This fiery preacher of the Gospel who has set the empire ablaze with the truth of Jesus Christ, confesses, “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:9, ESV)

He has grown weaker over time. It’s not that he doubts the message and person of Jesus Christ, it that he acknowledges he is a weak vessel. He needs God’s Spirit to keep leading him to Jesus, to keep speaking through him to reveal Jesus. He needs the grace of God to bear witness to the risen Lord.

While we seek to learn of Jesus and study our faith and even the history of our church, we also recognize our absolute dependence on the Spirit of God to make us true witnesses of Jesus Christ. In that sense, life is a continual turning to Christ, a continual cry for mercy, a continual pattern of humbling myself under the mighty hand of God and before the people of God.

We learn from each other. My heart must always be open to criticism or correction or wisdom for I used to be so much older then but I’m younger than that now. I realize I need you. We all need each other as we all pursue Christ together.

It might help to consider a single human life to understand how we are becoming true witnesses. A baby is born. It cannot speak. The babe can breathe, cry. The Greek word for breath or wind is Pnuema, spirit. The Spirit of God is likened to wind or breath. A babe cannot articulate words, but it can breathe. In that simple state she is still bearing witness to the miracle of life, the gift of God. As the child grows, she learns to repeat words and even speak sentences. She is gradually become an articulation of God’s grace in word and deed.

As she grows up in a faith community, she sings song of faith, to physically acts out faith in bowing, in communion, in embracing, in praying, in blessing others. The witness of God is taking shape in and through her over time. By the Spirit of God, she is becoming a witness of Jesus Christ.

By God’s grace her words and deeds are uniting in the love of Christ. Eventually, she will grow old and frail. I sat with a dear friend this week who ended up dying yesterday. He spent his life speaking about Christ to people all over the world. On Thursday, he could barely speak. He had quit eating. Like a babe, he would wake, breathe, sleep.

In these last moments of life, he was bearing witness to Christ. The Spirit of God is work in and through Him to reveal God’s grace and truth. On Saturday he fell asleep one last time and his breath left, expired. He followed the Spirit of God into the bosom of Christ and rests in God’s love where one day, he will rise in Christ as a true and perfect witness.

We are all following in His steps. The Spirit is bearing witness in and through us now and will one day take us into the fullness of love.

Back to the disciples. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

Listen to the second half of the verse: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The disciples will bear witness to Jesus in Jerusalem, but it doesn’t stop there. They continue to all Judea and then Samaria and finally to the ends of the earth. Philip is on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza when he meets an Ethiopian eunuch. He answers the eunuch’s questions and baptizes him. Then suddenly he is passing through Azotus on the way to Caesarea. These are Hellenist cities that contain Jews and other populations. Paul and Barnabas eventually travel throughout the empire preaching to Jews and Gentiles. We see the Spirit calling His saints beyond Jerusalem toward the ends of the earth.

As we think about this witness of Christ going to the ends of the earth, let’s return to the day of Pentecost. Peter is preaching the Gospel. We read in Acts 2:6, “And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.” (Acts 2:6, ESV) Then we read a list of the various people visiting from different regions. They are not hearing the word in Hebrew but in their own language: “Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—..hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”” (Acts 2:9–11, ESV)

The Spirit is working through Peter to address people in their own languages. This fits with our first reading where we encounter the story of the tower of Babel. People are speaking one language. They’re building a tower. But the Lord frustrates their plans by separating their languages, then they disperse all over the face of the earth. This week I read a reflection on Pentecost by Christine Sine.[2] She references Welsh theologian Dewi Hughes. He suggests that the confusing of languages in the Babel story reinforces God’s intent to spread people across the ends of the earth, speaking different languages.

The Pentecost story reinforces this idea of keeping distinct cultures and languages. There is a beauty in the particularity of different cultures and people groups. At the same time, there is a beauty in the particularity of each person. We are united in Christ not in external factors of language and dress.

As we worship together and share life while remaining particular people with unique perspectives on the world. We learn from one another. Over the years, I’ve had a series of experiences that reflected my own misunderstanding of how the Spirit moves. When I was young, I dreamed of people falling and crying out to God when I preached like the Great Awakening. That never happened.

One night I dreamed I was trying to share with a guy, but he kept arguing with me. In the dream, I shrunk down small enough to enter his brain and change his thoughts so he would agree with me. Instantly, I woke up realizing I wanted power to control him, and that’s not the way of the Spirit. His lovingkindness leads us to repentance not power, not control.

The difficulty is that people will not always agree with us. The goal is not to associate only with people who agree with us. Nor is it to find a rock-solid argument that no one can deny. We humbly speak and humbly listen.

We simply live out our witness in word and deed, recognizing that we are frail and sometimes mistaken. We trust that the Spirit will translate our fumbling attempts to share Christ into a true word that another person can hear. Then we entrust them to God. Sometimes the most angry people are at the very edge of faith. We simply don’t know. We love. We bear witness, and we trust God’s goodness.

On this glorious day of Pentecost, I am thankful that the Spirit of God has been poured out upon each of us. He is opening our eyes and ears to Christ. He is strengthening us to worship. And he is raising us up as witness to our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

[1] “My Back Pages” on < https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/my-back-pages/>

[2] Christine Sine, “Meditation Monday – Pentecost Has Come.” < https://godspacelight.com/meditation-monday-pentecost-has-come/>

Ascension Sunday 2026
Dr. Christopher Graham
Acts 1:1-14, Psalm 47, 1 Peter 5, John 17:1-11

“At Easter, beloved brethren, it was the Lord’s resurrection which was the cause of our joy; our present rejoicing is on account of his ascension into heaven. With all due solemnity, we are commemorating that day on which our poor human nature was carried up, in Christ, above all the hosts of heaven, above all the ranks of angels, beyond the highest heavenly powers to the very throne of God the Father. It is upon this ordered structure of divine acts that we have been firmly established, so that the grace of God may show itself still more marvellous when, in spite of the withdrawal from men’s sight of everything that is rightly felt to command their reverence, faith does not fail, hope is not shaken, charity does not grow cold.
Even the blessed apostles, though they had been strengthened by so many miracles and instructed by so much teaching, took fright at the cruel suffering of the Lord’s passion and could not accept his resurrection without hesitation. Yet they made such progress through his ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before. They were able to fix their minds on Christ’s divinity as he sat at the right hand of his Father, since what was presented to their bodily eyes no longer hindered them from turning all their attention to the realisation that he had not left his Father when he came down to earth, nor had he abandoned his disciples when he ascended into heaven.

St. Leo the Great, Sermon 74, “On the Ascension II.” 

——–

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”

A few weeks ago, we considered the fact that by God’s electing and calling Word, we are composed and re-composed in spite of the voices that seek to distort us and de-compose us. Even some of our own voices. And you may remember that Peter himself heard and struggled with that when he heard Jesus say, “Follow Me,” but Peter’s own voices caused him to doubt as he looked over and saw the beloved disciple.

Of course, that interaction follows the interaction in which three times, Jesus asks “Simon, of John, do you love Me?” with Peter saying “Yes,” to which Jesus commands: Feed my Sheep. It is, of course, a rhetorically poignant interaction because it is juxtaposed to Peter’s three denials and ultimate abandonment of Jesus. We would assume that Peter had this in mind at some point in the interaction or perhaps in reflection. I have also assumed that Peter has another episode in his time with Jesus in mind during or reflecting on this thrice-repeated command “Feed my Sheep.”

Those words are found earlier in John when Jesus says: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me (John 10:11–14)

Do you feel the gravity of Jesus’s call on Peter? Jesus, the one who said “I AM the Good Shepherd,” then calls Peter, the one who said three times when asked if he was associated with Jesus “I am NOT.” Jesus asked that Peter to be the Shepherd of his sheep! 

But something clicks with Peter. He and the other disciples must get it.  How do we know? Because as we read in Acts, he does something he didn’t do in the face of Jesus first departure. He and the other disciples don’t scatter like sheep when the shepherd is struck. For as spectacular as the actual ascension is in our reading from Acts, it is also remarkable that after that event, “they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.”

And these disciples, Peter among them, who were scattered and distraught over three days, now wait for ten days. And so, the sheep become a Shepherd. What a remarkable turn!

As we read in our preparatory reading from Leo the Great: “Even the blessed apostles, though they had been strengthened by so many miracles and instructed by so much teaching, took fright at the cruel suffering of the Lord’s passion and could not accept his resurrection without hesitation. Yet they made such progress through his ascension that they now found joy in what had terrified them before.”

And as if that is not enough, Peter then reminds us throughout his letter that the ones called by God and set apart by God then do the work of the Shepherd themselves. Though they are scattered, as he describes the recipients in the opening of the letter, they are called and set apart as the singular people of God. In the next chapter he says it more directly:

For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.  (2:25)

 And the readers—the original ones and those ever since—haven’t even seen Jesus. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us, Jesus in his prayer recorded in John, of which we heard some this morning, prays:

Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰ “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one.  (John 17:18–22)

We heard many of these points echoed in our reading from 1 Peter 5 this morning:

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them . . . ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

And so, we are reminded again that we have been called into communion with God in the protection of the Chief Shepherd.  This Chief Shepherd, who is, today, exalted at the right hand of the Father. The earliest and most common images in Christianity are of the shepherd carrying a sheep. The good news is not only that Christ, the Shepherd was slain as a lamb for us as his sheep. That Christ is once again alive and serves as our shepherd even now. The one who Peter says in our passage we can cast our cares upon. So we can pray as we did this morning:

“send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.”

And because this Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and poured out his Spirit, as we will celebrate next week, we  can now serve as his  under-shepherd. As those who are , as Peter calls is, a royal priesthood who represents him to the world.