7th Sunday of Easter
– Psalm 1 and John 17:6-20
Rev. Michael Fry preaching
at East Bethany PC
The Psalms
For thousands of years the Psalms
have offered strength and guidance to God’s People. Often times we think of Psalms as a book of prayers, remembering
that Jesus would have read, recited,
and prayed the Psalms just as we do.
Psalm One introduces us to what
will follow in the rest of the book – instructions for living, that lead to a life of prayer.
As we hear this psalm we are
challenged to make a choice between two ways of living, the way of the
righteous or the way of the wicked.
These two ways are sharply contrasted as they point to habit, intention, and outcome.
The psalm begins in a similar
manner to the beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Happy are those who… or blessed are those
who…
It is obvious by the Psalmist’s
images that they would like us to choose the way of the righteous that leads to
life. Studying and spending time with
scripture provides a rootedness like a tree planted beside a stream that will
still bear fruit withstanding both drought and strong wind – while the wicked
are like chaff or straw, the byproduct of what is gleaned from the field that
gets carried away by the wind.
Happiness
Living a God-centered life is not
a formula for being perpetually happy or for becoming rich and getting what we
want when we want it. Happiness and
success meant different things to the psalmist than they do to us today.
Happiness here is not the emotion
we associate with laughter and smiling, a better translation of happy here
might be fortunate or blessed– as in ‘fortunate are those who do not follow the
advice of evil men and ‘blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord’
because God is the source of true happiness and true peace.
The happy, are those who are focused on God who trust in him –
their lives center around God. Their
identity as Christian informs not just their decisions but also their actions
and their thoughts. They have a foundation
upon which their lives are based that gives them strength during times that are
hard. They are happy and righteous
because they rely on God.
Happiness comes from personal and
communal identity gained by being open and allowing ourselves to be instructed
by God’s teaching. True happiness comes
from being God-centered instead of self-centered.
The Wicked
Throughout the psalms the
righteous and the happy are contrasted with the wicked, scoffers, and sinners.
These people may not be involved
in illegal behavior, they may not steal or murder, in fact some may be
upstanding citizens. But their lives
are not centered on the word or the instruction of God. They rely on themselves or the things of
this world instead of God. They set
their own moral compass and because they are not rooted they have no
foundation, so when adversity or trouble strike, they are like straw that is
blown away in the wind.
Others scoff saying that God is
not relevant in our world today, preferring to decide for themselves what is
right and what is wrong. Self-directed
and self-ruled the wicked have little consideration for others.
The Way of the Righteous
The faithful person on the other
hand seeks the will of God in all they do.
They are humble and compassionate.
They realize that this is the way that God wants them to live because
they have spent time studying the word of God and discerned how God wants them
to live.
Some think that in order to study
scripture or to mediate on the word of God day and night as the psalm suggest,
we have to be a pastor or like monks who observe strict prayer time, but few
are called to that lifestyle.
What this really means is having
quiet time in our day with God – time set aside to study scripture, pray, and
maybe even sing. Time to sit and ponder
what it means to be child of God. And
because we do not live by bread alone, time to inwardly digest what the
scriptures say to us – as we would let our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner
settle before moving on to dessert.
To be certain this is a challenge
when deadlines and other obligations compete with time set aside for us. And while it is a challenge we are called to
spend time with God simply because we are Christian.
After all, how can we claim to be
God’s people if we do not spend time trying to communicate with God? Especially when it opens us to receive God’s
instructions for our lives, giving us the rootedness that helps us face
adversity.
One way that I try to orient
myself to God during my day is through using prayer cards. When I come across a verse of scripture that
stands out to me because it gives me strength,
or contains a promise from God,
or a prayer that is meaningful I write it out on an index card and place it in
a stack of cards that sit on the windowsill above our kitchen sink. This way when I wash my hands or the dishes
I have a gentle reminder right at eye level to pray.
Your way of spending time with God
in prayer might be as you drive in your car, walk, ride a bicycle, or sitting
enjoying a cup of coffee.
One of the things that focusing
our lives on God does is that it takes the focus off of ourselves – instead of
worrying about pleasing ourselves we are working on pleasing God. Anglican Priest Fr. Gilbert Shaw writes
that, “the purpose of living is not to learn to make prayer, but to become
prayer; to live in and for God.’[1]
When we live for God and follow
the Lord’s instruction we are blessed and lead blessed lives, but they may not have the
measure of success or happiness that we see around us. This is because of the tension between ‘the
world’ in which we live opposing the reign of God. This is the opposition that we face as the people of God as we
seek to live faithful lives.
And again this is not easy, Jesus
realized that it would not be easy and so he prays to God asking God to
sustain, strengthen, and protect his disciples so that they can remain faithful
after he is gone. Jesus offered this
prayer after he had celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples and right
before he was arrested.
It is amazing that he prayed for
them as he himself was preparing to die.
But the really striking thing is that he prays not just for them, but
for us, we are the people who believe in him because of the disciples’
message. Jesus realized that leading
lives that are faithful to God would not get any easier in the future and so he
prays for you and for me that we may be dedicated to God.
So let us be thankful and lead
lives that are faithful, lives that are focused on Christ, and lives that are
based on the love of God for all people.
Amen.
[1] Quote found in a prayer book entitled, Celtic Daily Prayer.
No comments:
Post a Comment