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What an amazing month it has been! We consecrated the
Great Hall in the Christian Life Center, we have raised over $12,000
for Nothing but Nets, the Aggies won all their football games in the
first 19 days, we opened our Prayer Chapel for Wednesday prayer
services, we have welcomed a guest from west Africa and another from
East Texas, the choir has had a fantastic workshop this weekend, we
have new doors that were installed this week, we are anticipating 100
student members joining before the month is over, and I have learned
how to use Facebook.
I knew so little about Facebook when I started this
series that I expected to talk about “links” that I found on various
Facebook profiles of my friends. Links are those internet addresses
that you can click on and it takes you to that site. I have found
several interesting links, but what has fascinated me more are the
Facebook Groups that are out there. Everyone seems to belong to one
or more of these creative communities. Facebook users create groups
and then invite others to join it. Some are serious like “Save
Darfur!”, protesting genocide in the Sudan; “Free the Jena Six”,
protesting the inequitable punishments rendered on whites and blacks
in Jena, Louisiana; and “Living Water International” dedicated to
distributing clean water worldwide. Others are a bit light-hearted,
such as “Hot and Lutheran since 1517”, “Why Do I Always Want Chic-fil-a
on Sundays?”, “134340 – you will always be Pluto to us”, and my
favorite, “No, I don’t know what’s wrong with your dog because I’m in
Vet School”. That one has 1,158 members. We actually have a few
groups started right here. There is the Wesley Foundation Group, the
A&M United Methodist Church Group, and A&M UMC Youth Group. According
to Newsweek magazine, thousands of these groups form daily.
I could easily see groups forming around the psalms. I
was once visiting with a woman whose husband was under hospice care.
She told me her favorite psalm was Psalm 70, which in the Message
begins, “God! Please hurry to my rescue!
God, come quickly to my
side!” I have always liked Psalm 27, especially the first verse and
verses 4-8. I think I could form a group around this psalm. Hear now
the Word of the Lord:
1The Lord
is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The
Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? …
4One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after: to live in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to inquire in his temple. 5For
he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal
me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. 6Now
my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer
in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody
to the Lord. 7Hear, O
Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and
answer me! 8“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your
face, Lord, do I seek.
The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to
God. In this passage the psalmist put all of his hopes in his
relationship with God. Now with all these Facebook groups springing
up daily and all the other groups that we are prone to join out of a
common interest or cause, the question I have for you today is,
“What groups do you belong to?”
You are invited to Join a group where God guides
you with his light.
This psalm begins with the beautiful expression of
confidence, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” There are
a couple of theories as to what prompted this psalm. Some believe
that David wrote it after nearly being killed by the giant,
Ishbi-Benob in 2 Samuel 21. Abishai came to David’s rescue, slew the
giant, and told the aging king to quit fighting giants. Certainly
there were a number of times in David’s life that confirmed for him
that God’s light and salvation came to his rescue in the nick of
time. The other possibility is that this psalm grew out of the song
of exiles that wanted to go back home. They had been expelled from
Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and looked forward to being back in the Temple
that Ezra and Nehemiah helped to rebuild. Either way, Psalm 27 is an
expression that light never looks better than it does after the dark
night.
This
series on Facebook has been an emotional series of sermons for me. I
have celebrated heroes like Virginia Johnson and Mary Brown. I have
witnessed two little boys who were bold enough to think that their
lemonade stands could change the world. I have been reminded by my
friend Reggie Clemens singing, “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and this
incredible choir singing about Elijah, that God is here. God is
always here. Yet there are times when the dark is so dark that we
can’t see God and everyone is afraid of that dark. Last Sunday as
tears rolled down my cheeks once more my son grew a little concerned.
This week at the supper table he said, “Dad, I have really liked the
Facebook sermons, but you sure are crying a lot. Come on, man, suck
it up.” I promised him that today there would be no need for tears.
This is a happy sermon. This is the opportunity to join a group where
God guides you with his light and when the light of God is shining,
there is no darkness.
So with
all the groups out there in Facebook and other places, I ask you this
question, “What groups do you belong to?” You are
invited to join a group where God guides you with his light.
You are invited to Join a group where God guards
you with his might.
The psalmist was clear in regards to his priority.
More than anything else in life, he wanted to be in the care of the
Lord. It was a safe place. Look at his confidence in God, “He will
hide me in his shelter, he will conceal me under the cover of his
tent.” This shelter is a word that referred to a booth in the middle
of a vineyard, where the owner might visit during the harvest. It
would keep the owner in the shade and out of the oppressive heat of
the sun. One can almost imagine a field hand escaping a fight, or a
sojourner seeking some kind of refuge from the wild. That booth with
its owner would look like base, like a safe place. God would guard
the psalmist from there. He was safe. “He will conceal me under
the cover of his tent” is a similar image – if I can just get
under the care of God, I will be safe.
This past Thursday, Linda Marr, our Invest Ministries
Team Leader, and I went to Houston for a luncheon celebrating Nothing
but Nets. There was a physician who spoke about the spread of malaria
in Africa and how less than 100 years ago, Houston was malaria
infested. He told us that the mosquito that carries malaria covers
very little ground in its lifetime. He gave us hope for eradicating
this deadly disease that claims one life every 30 seconds in Africa.
Bishop Thomas Bickerton, a United Methodist leader in this effort told
us about a six-year old girl named Katherine Commale. This little
girl heard about the fight against malaria and decided to do something
about it. She was only five at the time and enlisted the help of her
little brother, Joseph. They cut out a cardboard box into a diorama.
Then she found a little cot for her Barbie doll and placed them in the
diorama. Next she found a little netting around her house and draped
it over her baby doll. Then she looked through her toy box and found
a little plastic mosquito. She rehearsed her play and took it to the
streets to show her neighbors. “This net saves lives. For $10 you
can save a life. You should do that.” Katherine Commale has raised
over $15,000 for Nothing but Nets.
It is
an extraordinary story, but as I watched the Bishop tell about this
little girl raising money for such an incredible cause, this psalm
came to life, “He will conceal me under the cover of his tent.” God
guards me with his might. There are all sorts of little things that
carry deadly diseases to our souls. Shame over things that weren’t
our fault, guilt over things that were our fault, bitterness toward
another, doubts toward ourselves, aimlessness, hopelessness – there
are all sorts of things as tiny as a mosquito that can infect our
lives. “He will conceal me under the cover of his tent.” What
a beautiful image! With all the groups out there in Facebook and
other places, I ask you this question, “What groups do you
belong to?” You are invited to join a group where God guides
with his light, where God guards you with his might.
You are invited to Join a group where God graces
you with his sight.
The one thing the psalmist desired above everything
else in life was to be around God, to be in God’s presence, to seek
God’s face. Verse eight of this psalm is so extraordinarily
beautiful. Listen to it as if hearing it for the first time,
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face,
Lord, do I seek. Do you seek God’s face?
One
of the Facebook groups that I am tempted to join is, “Do you hear the
people sing? – Les Mis lovers unite.” It is a group organized around
the appreciation for the musical Les Miserables based on Victor Hugo’s
classic novel. The closing moments are unforgettable in that
musical. When the hero Jean Val Jean, whose life was transformed by
love, was at his point of death, he heard those who had gone before
him singing:
“Come with me where chains will never bind you, all your grief at last, at
last behind you. Lord in Heaven, Look down on him in mercy.
He responded, “Forgive me all my trespasses and take me to your glory. Take my hand and
lead me to salvation. Take my love, for love is everlasting. And
remember the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to
see the face of God!”
Are we still looking for the face of God? I spent
yesterday morning at a workshop designed to help churches better
become what God intended for us to be – local outposts of the kingdom
of God. The facilitator said that a survey went out not long ago
asking people who attend worship services in the United Methodist
Church, “When you come to church on Sunday morning do you expect to
experience a life changing encounter with God?” An overwhelming
majority of responders said, “No.” Another question was asked, “Have
you ever experienced a life changing encounter with God in worship?”
Again the responders answered at an alarming rate, “No.” Could it be
that we have lost the craving of the soul expressed by this psalmist?
Have we stopped hearing our hearts whisper, “Come, seek God’s face.”
I’m sure that you will belong to a lot of groups in
your lifetime. Not all of them will be on Facebook. “What
groups do you belong to?” You are invited to join a group
where God guides you with his light, where God guards you with his
might, and where God graces you with his sight. Amen.
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