Baker City Presbyterian Church - Ginger Rembold, Guest Preacher
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE: Psalm 34: 1-22
A Modern Translation of the Acrostic Format into English
(Source: The Message, Good News Translation, The Voice)
ALWAYS
I will bless God, every chance I get;
BREATHE
in and live God, even if things don't go well.
CHANT
a chorus of praise and get the word out!
DELIVERED
from my fears, God rescued me.
EYES
on God and never hidden are our thoughts
FRIGHTENED,
we call to God and he responds.
GUARDED
by God's angels we are in a circle of protection.
HAPPY
are those who taste the goodness of God.
IF
you want the best, worship God.
JACKALS
and lions go hungry, but God-seekers are satisfied.
LISTEN
to me, children, I'll teach you to worship God.
MIGHT
you wish to enjoy life and find beauty in each day?
NO
more lying or profanity, nor gossip from your lips.
OVERTHROW
sin and seek peace, pursue it.
PRAYERS
of the righteous reach God's ears easily.
REBELS
God will not endure; he'll cull them from the pack.
SAVE
me, God, the righteous call and God listens.
THOUGH
your heart is broken, you'll find God right there.
UNDERSTANDING
of our troubles and errant ways.
VANQUISHED
are our enemies, for God is our bodyguard.
WICKED
men are brought down by sin but
YAHWEH protects us all when we run to him.
An EXPLANATION of TODAY’S SERVICE….. A year ago last summer I spent an extended
time on the coast caring for my mother.
Often my quiet time, my meditative time, came during beach walks. The ever-changing daily tides bring new bits
of sea weed, shells, starfish, etc. to the shore. I began asking God to send me
a message in the form of letters found naturally occurring along the
shore. I called these messages TEXTS
from God – a new way to hear God’s voice in the everyday of life. This led to seeing letters and words from
God everywhere – walking to around town, hiking in the woods. At the same time, my cousin, a writing
instructor, began an ABC Quick-Write project where we collected words
associated with a certain letter and then wrote for 3 minutes on one of the
words. Always up for a challenge, I
sometimes stretched that activity to try and use as many other words that began
with that letter as well. You’ll be able
to recognize those passages by the excessive alliteration! Somewhere in the middle, all these letters
began to merge into my daily devotions and prayer drawings. I completed a whole
series of Alphabet Prayers. So
basically, I have been singing my ABC’s with God for over a year now. Today’s message will be based on some of
these reflections. (Ginger Rembold)
Burning Bushes. Vision and
dreams. Alleyways and shower
stalls. Angels and street folk. God has spoken to His people throughout the
ages in a multitude of ways and a myriad of people. Why not letters on the beach? Why not with an email or text? I think God spoke to me in the past two days
to affirm my message this morning….how?
The Habitat friends we stayed with on Thursday almost quoted directly a
couple lines from my sermon. On their
fridge was the worth FAITH spelled out with letters found in nature, similar to
mine. And finally, at the Presbytery
meeting Psalm 34 was one of the chosen scriptures. All short tweets from God letting me know I
was headed in the right direction. This
morning I am going to share 10 short reflections, (dare I call them God-mail?)
written over the course of the past year as part of my morning devotions. I will use for a framework the phrase, GOD
SPEAKING.
GLIMPSES OF GOD GRACE
John
1:18 MSG
No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
No
one has seen God, but we have GLIMPSES of GOD-GRACE every day. These letters became part of my quest to
recognize and acknowledge the many ways in which God appears to us, to the many
ways that we see God at work in situations, people, experiences, and absolutely
in the beauty and wonder of nature.
Grace is a gift from God, a gift that is bestowed generously and
abundantly. Later we will sing the hymn,
Open My Eyes That I May See. And that is
my wish – we open our eyes to catch those glimpses of God-Grace in both the
minute and the magnanimous of our lives.
ORDAINED to ODYSSEY
Deuteronomy
1:33 MSG
God goes
ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a
fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.
Rick and I live a
rather ORDERED life. Our trips are planned for the
most part. We ORIENT
ourselves in ONE direction
and go. When I made my list of O words, ODYSSEY struck me. ODYSSEYS, OBVIOUSLY are not ORDERED….they just happen as one event leads to another. ODYSSEYS OFTEN OCCUR OUTSIDE the day-to-day ORDINARY of our lives. The
definition is a string of adventures on a wandering path. That makes
me OPTIMISTIC about
an ODYSSEY of
service. What would happen if we just took off and discovered OPPORTUNITIES to volunteer in random places, staying as long
as needed and then moving ON to another OPTION.
Have we not all been ORDAINED for
ODYSSEY at some point in our lives? Are
we not all ORDAINED to seek ODYSSEYS in the midst of, and in spite of, the
ORDINARY?
DIVINE DANCING
Psalm 89:15-18 MSG
Blessed
are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the
bright presence of God.
Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are,
what you do—they can’t keep it quiet! Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us—
you’ve been so good to us! We’re walking on air! All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our
King!
Earlier this week on the beach the words that kept coming to mind for this visit were DEATH and DECAY, the beach DEVOID of life. I had seen few starfish and relatively few anenomes. The beach was flush with DEAD birds, bits and pieces of crab parts, clumps of barnacles and mussels. There was little seaweed washed up, few rocks and shells. It was just a little DEPRESSING!
Earlier this week on the beach the words that kept coming to mind for this visit were DEATH and DECAY, the beach DEVOID of life. I had seen few starfish and relatively few anenomes. The beach was flush with DEAD birds, bits and pieces of crab parts, clumps of barnacles and mussels. There was little seaweed washed up, few rocks and shells. It was just a little DEPRESSING!
But yesterday morning, as I walked and pondered
those D words, I DISCOVERED a
D, etched in the sand by a small critter. I think it was a DIVINE moment, for then I
realized the incredible beauty of the new DAY’S DAWNING.
While earlier skies were DAMP and DARK, yesterday God-light was
streaming from the east, illuminating every crack and crevice of rock. The
world was lit up! Creatures appeared everywhere (ok, so perhaps the low
tide had something to do with this!) – enough starfish I didn’t bother to
count, anenomes of gargantuan size. Birds were everywhere, singing the
melody of sea life. People were everywhere, DISCOVERING the DELIGHTFUL beauty
of the ocean. I realized there was a DIVINITY in all I was experiencing this DAWN.
Halfway through my walk, the sun DISAPPEARED momentarily
behind the clouds, DAPPLED bursts
of light DANCING on
the reflective waters of the sand. I felt like I was suddenly walking on
the clouds, especially when I focused DEEPER below my feet on the cloud patterns. Is this
what heaven is like? To walk on the clouds above all, apart yet
one? I was almost giddy with DELIGHT as
I tiptoed, then DANCED,
then twirled in joy. I nearly called Pastor Katy, because this was a
moment she would appreciate, a touch of DIVINE DANCING!
Thank you,
God, for the DIVINE D’s of
our life. Thank you, God, for helping us DECIPHER what we experience and
find the DIVINE in it.
SERVICE,
SHARING, AND SACRIFICE
Hebrews 13:16 MSG
Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.
At present I am reading through a book on spiritual disciplines and the current chapter is on Servanthood. I found last Sunday’s sermon in Bandon was on the same topic, and here I find I used it for my S Quick Write. It is when this happens, that I think God is REALLY trying to get some message across! When we SHARE, when we SERVE, when we SACRIFICE our personal desires for that of others, we often will find the SERENDIPITY that arises from SUCH a SPONTANEOUS action. We find we are the usually the blessed receivers. Service of others is a form of worship to God. But ultimately? We SHARE, we SERVE, we SACRIFICE because that is what God did and continues to do for us. It is one way to SAY 'Thank You, God!'
Hebrews 13:16 MSG
Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.
At present I am reading through a book on spiritual disciplines and the current chapter is on Servanthood. I found last Sunday’s sermon in Bandon was on the same topic, and here I find I used it for my S Quick Write. It is when this happens, that I think God is REALLY trying to get some message across! When we SHARE, when we SERVE, when we SACRIFICE our personal desires for that of others, we often will find the SERENDIPITY that arises from SUCH a SPONTANEOUS action. We find we are the usually the blessed receivers. Service of others is a form of worship to God. But ultimately? We SHARE, we SERVE, we SACRIFICE because that is what God did and continues to do for us. It is one way to SAY 'Thank You, God!'
PERSPECTIVE
Colossians 3:1-2
Don’t
shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of
you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the
action is. See things from his perspective.
Quite POSSIBLY you are still PONDERING why I asked everyone to
PLOP down in a different PEW, and enter into worship, PRAYER and PRAISE,
PERHAPS next to a different PERSON. It’s
all a matter of PERSPECTIVE. When I was
seeking a certain letter on the beach last summer, at times I would search and
search, but it wasn’t until I turned around and walked back the other way and
sought from a new perspective, that the
letters just POPPED up in front of me.
Last
Sunday, I took another beach walk, somewhat playing a game with God. If God Speaking is what I am to use, I said, may
I find all those letters today. Well, I
found them all except the A. At that point I came to a large rock
seastack. I went to walk around on the ocean
side as I usually do, but found the tide was too high. I had to change direction and go in to the
shore side, which I never have done before.
I discovered a whole new perspective of that rock with passages and hidden
channels, and yes, an A tucked within!
As I just mentioned, my God-moments sometimes tumble one on top of
another in alignment. Last Sunday I
attended my Mom’s Sunday school class in Bandon. We discussed Peter and Cornelius’ meeting and
the change in Peter’s perspective on the Gentiles after both had an encounter
with God. The study book wrote, “It was
not always obvious to Jesus’ new followers which traditions to maintain and
which new expressions of faith to embrace.”
Can this not describe our current age as well, our current church? Sometimes
we are stuck in a rut, caught into an unchanging PATTERN of behavior and
‘rules’, that we miss seeing the PLETHORA of POSSIBILITIES that God is PUTTING
before us. To change our PERSPECTIVE, or
to sit in a new PEW, helps awaken us to
see those POSSIBILITIES.
EFFULGENT EXALTATION
Ephesians 5:13-14
VOICE
When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing,
Awake, you sleeper! Rise from your grace,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing,
Awake, you sleeper! Rise from your grace,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
I
have to confess here. When writing some
of the ABC Quick-Writes, I would consult an online source of SAT words
beginning with –fill in the letter. It
was EDUCATIONAL to say the least. There
I found the word EFFULGENT. I hesitated
with it at first because I thought it was the same as EFFLUENCE, which is a
EUPHEMISM for sewage. Not good. But I got EXCITED about EFFULGENT for it
means to radiate light. An EFFULGENT
person radiates goodness and joy, shines the light of Christ. To EXALT God with EFFULGENCE somewhat puts an
image of the Tran-Siberian Orchestra into my mind. Their Christmas production is an ELECTRIFYING
EXCLAMATION of the Christmas story, EXALTING our Creator in sometimes hidden
words and narrative. But the lights, ah
the lights truly proclaim the glory of the nativity! Last week as I walked the beach the afternoon
sun reflected on the ocean waters was radiant in its glory. I again thought of the word Effulgent! We
sang “Shine Jesus Shine” as an opening hymn today just for the letter E! But I would challenge us to change the last
line from ‘Shine on me’ to ‘Shine through me’.
May we be EFFULGENT Christians, lit from within with the light of
Christ.
AMELIORATE
Proverbs 10:22 MSG
God’s
blessings makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God.
AMELIORATE. Yes, another word I got from the
SAT list. I originally thought it was
more of a destructive word, but learned the definition is to improve, to make
better. How can we AMELIORATE the living conditions
of others? How can we improve our relationship with God? How can
we ADORN our days with
an ATTITUDE of
gratitude and thanksgiving? How can our ACTIONS ARDENTLY ADVOCATE for others? Such ACTIONS need not be great in magnitude,
simply deliberate daily ATTEMPTS to
AMELIORATE a hardship
for ANOTHER.
KINETIC
James 2:18 GNT
But someone will say, “One person has faith,
another has actions.” My answer is, “Show me how anyone can have faith without
actions. I will show you my faith by my actions.”
I love the word KINETIC! A word of movement and
motion! I love KINETIC art:
sculptures and mobiles that twist and turn with the slightest breeze. I
studied KINESIOLOGY in
college, the movement of the human body. How can we be KINETIC
Christians, Is that Christian spelled with a K!? How can our actions reflect our faith? Can we keep moving toward greater KINDNESS? Can we move toward
justice and equality, both socially and economically, for all? Is there a
time to stop moving, to cease overt action and quiet our souls to listen to the
Spirit moving within us? KINETIC
KRISTIANS! KINETIC CHRISTIANITY! I like
the sound of that!
IMAGINATION
Ordination Vows:
Will
you pray for and seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?
Originally, I had intended to use just the phrase God
Speaks, but then I realized I really wanted to include the letter I! So we got God Speaking instead!
I is for Imagination! I is what allows me to see words and
letters in everything! In the ordination
vows pastors and ruling elders take is the phrase read just now: Will you serve with energy, intelligence,
imagination, and love!? We know what intelligence, energy, and love look like. But faith is an act
of imagination. Not the imagination of
delusion or make-believe, but the imagination that dares to dream as big as our
Creator God can imagine. Perhaps this
is the Imagination that goes along with new perspectives or new ideas. I read a couple weeks ago in a prominent
religious magazine that in another 30 years the church as we NOW KNOW IT will
not exist.
Now,
before you start squirming in your seat, hear me out. I’m not talking church as a faith community,
supporting one another in relationship as the Family of God, the
where-two-or-three-are-gathered church. I’m talking church as we know it in terms of
structure, buildings, by-laws and budgets, committees and councils.
Our
world is in a period of transition and change.
While we are in many ways in the same state of chaotic turmoil as
existed in Jesus’ time, the world is now moving at a much faster pace due to
advances in technology and communication.
Such changes are affecting the church as well.
Is
it time for creative thinking? Time for
imagination to dream of new ways to be the people of God? Where is God calling us to think with new
imagination? What are new journeys or
Odysseys we can explore? What are new
adventures in service and sacrifice and servanthood we might visit? Can we look at church from a changed
perspective? Are there new ways to radiate the effulgent light of Christ? New actions to take? Let us begin to IMAGINE together!
NURTURE
Psalm 8:6 VOICE
You ordained him to govern the works of Your hands, to nurture the offspring of Your divine
imagination; You placed
everything on earth beneath his feet.
I have to admit I selected
this final scripture because it included four of the words I have already
used! ORDAINED, NURTURE, DIVINE, and
IMAGINATION! But truly the N is only
here because I couldn’t end with an I! GOD SPEAKI didn’t work. However, we are called to Love God and Love
One Another. To love is to nurture, to
support, and encourage. To nurture is to
pray for and with, to provide for and assist. To nurture is to water one another and help one another grow.
As a family of God, we nurture one another as God is nurturing us.
Alpha and Omega. We begin and we end with the letter G. We begin with a glimpse of God-Grace and we end
with God-Grace. Amen!
