NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 127 Kids: 13 Offering: $2,902

Monday October 1 – 5:30pm at Goofy’s Bar & Grill MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL gathering.

Sunday October 7: Baptism of Sophia Hudson and Celebration Brunch at Romio’s.

Wanna be in a small group? Contact mark.mohrlang@gmail.com

Women’s Bible Study? Contact Hayden Smith hsmith@sanctuarycrc.org.

PRAYERS-

We pray Lord, for John Fason, that you would gather him to  yourself in your great mercy as he lies riddled with cancer.

Jesus, we praise you for the news the Jeremy and Reba are now engaged.

Holy Spirit, guide us as we seek to order our church life in ways that serve our community. We pray for your guidance in our work and business plan for the Green Bean Coffee House.

Lord, thank you for the ministry of Taproot Theatre Company. We pray your blessing on the run of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and we ask your blessing on our friend, Bethany Hudson, as she participates in the cast of the show.

God, we pray for peace in our world and peace in our cities.

And, Christ, we pray your blessing upon our new superintendent of Seattle Schools in hopes that they district will flourish in its calling to educate our children.

REFLECTIONS on “The Center” Colossians 1:15-20

Since the earliest records of human communication, we can observe various attempts to understand and categorize the world we live in. Some of the earliest stories are heroic myths. The myths gave way to more realistic histories and stories of real people making their way through a very difficult and real world. Then, there were incidences of tribal dominance where one culture defined and ruled the known world.

Along came the enlightenment…and human knowledge and achievement defined the world. On the tails of the enlightenment came the scientific revolution wherein all that could and would be known about the world was achieved by the application of formulas and theorems. In this empirical world only that which was repeatable and provable was received as fact or truth. We lived with the “science-only” cosmology for a good number of years…but alas, that has been proven tested and wanting.

SO…if there is a such a thing as truth…….where do we find it?

If there is a CENTER from which we can understand our world, what is that center and where is it located?

While I am not one to reject science and the scientific method…and all the many advances of science, I do believe that the world of empirical evidence falls short of defining absolute reality. I am inclined to believe that there is a deeper truth in some of our most primal stories than in all the formulas and theorems, laboratories and observatories combined. Some pretty important scientists also feel this way. Listen to this surprising quote:

“Up to the age of 30, or beyond it, poetry gave me great pleasure. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. My mind seems to have become a machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, and if I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music several times every week. the loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.”

Who said it? Charles Darwin, very near the end of his life.

Well today, I want to take us one step deeper into our study of Paul’s letter to the Colossians and share a piece of Scripture that is written in something very close to poetic form. I have a hunch it tells us more truth than all of science, intellect, institutions and powerful regimes and cultures throughout time could ever hope to tell us..

Colossians 1:15-20

  He is the image of the invisible God,

 the firstborn over all creation.

For by him all things were created:

 things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;

all things were created by him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church;

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,

so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

 and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

Whether things on earth or things in heaven,

by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

I want to break this text down like lines of poetry..

This passage says so much about Jesus, and what we call “Christology” – an understanding of who Christ is, that we hear it echoed in all the early creeds of the church.

He is the visible image of the invisible God, firstborn over all Creation.

Think of this: The historical person of Jesus is the EMBODIMENT of WHO GOD IS. He is all we can possibly understand and know about a God so big that he created all that is. I remember someone coming up to me at my mother’s memorial service where I had opened with a cute little wise-crack that made me and everyone else laugh and be more at ease. This old friend of my parents said, “I have known you since you were a baby and that was RANDY as RANDY is…and I saw your mom and her great English wit  in how you expressed yourself…it was like seeing all I know about both of you up there in just that one quip…”

Paul’s poetic phrase moves to the expression of Jesus as the firstborn over all Creation. What this means is that as God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit…in an overflow of love, joy and creativity made all that is – Jesus, “God destined to take human form” was the PROTOTYPE for humanity.  In fact the Greek word for first born is “prototokos”, from which we get prototype.

So, Paul uses this first line of our text today to establish the absolute, unique and supreme nature and position of Jesus Christ as the COMPLETE REVELATION OF GOD. Not an example, but rather THE EMBODIMENT of GOD in space and time.

The Unique and Supreme role of Jesus is further clarified by Paul in the following several lines…and I will just point to these briefly..

“by him all things were created”

Jesus is not a created being. He is begotten of the father through Mary by the Holy Spirit as we confess in our creeds. But, when it comes to the Created order, he is not a part of it, HE MADE IT. The Jesus who lived among us is also our Creator.

“in him all things hold together”

This is not a creator who makes something and walks away. Jesus, who lived, died and rose from the dead, IS ALIVE AND IS EVEN NOW HOLDING EVERY ATOM OF THE UNIVERSE IN PLACE. You and I only think that we are falling apart. We are not. He is holding us together.

And, there is no place in the universe where this should be evidenced most than among his Redeemed people because Paul tells us “he is the  head of the body, the church”. Head does mean authority. But, the Greek word for head, “kephala” , also means SOURCE…such as the headwaters of a river, or source of wisdom, power, guidance. It is more than just authority. It is an image of absoluteness. This passage tells me that the church needs to spend a lot less time playing church and a lot more time embodying Jesus as we see him in the Gospels and as we see him now as the LIVING LORD OF THE CHURCH.

Listen to these words from 20^th Century theologian and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“the Church is not a religious community of worshippers of Christ”; rather, the church is a space within a community of humanity where “Christ has really taken form.”

You can see that as Paul’s words, inspired of the Holy Spirit, are formed  in today’s text that JESUS is GOD…and JESUS is the source and sustenance of ALL BEING…and that JESUS is the HEAD OF THE CHURCH. These are awesome POWER images. They send chills down your spine. They inspire.

In the church at Colossae where people were attracted to various mystery religions ruled by imagining other-worldly powers and lofty states of knowledge that make one especially enlightened…Paul’s description of Jesus up to this point probably would have sold like Madison Avenue advertising copy.

But, there is a turn that takes place that is sure to offend many of the high-minded Colossians who practiced what we know as Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a religion/philosophy of “knowledge”. Gnostics believed that all matter was evil…and that only the mind could save and evolve to levels of knowledge that made one perfect and eternal. While they might have gotten past Paul’s statement that Jesus was creator of all things and that we was GOOD NESS embodied in this world they would really get tripped up the some scandalous words that conclude this text..

“He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, Whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

God’s fullness dwells in Jesus even though he was made of molecules of matter that were fully mixed with his Divine nature. God’s knowledge that brings reconciliation is not an IDEA…it is a PERSON – JESUS…and God’s reconciliation of all things isn’t some thought system … IT IS AN ACT … Jesus crucified on the cross for the sins of the human race. This is a total affront to Gnostics – that matter could be redeemed and that God could be evidenced in any kind of blood, death, weakness or perceived failure..

Listen again to the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“If we speak of Jesus Christ as God…we must speak of his weakness, his manger, his cross. This man is no abstract God.”

My personal take-aways which you may or may not care to share with me based on this text:

#1 – I don’t need to ponder the existence of God in mystery, wonder and lostness all the time. I CAN ACTIVELY STUDY JESUS IN THE GOSPELS AND KNOW ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GOD.

#2- Being part of a Christian community isn’t about talking about Jesus and remembering his life on earth…it is about EMBODYING JESUS RIGHT NOW AND LIVING OUT HIS KINGDOM IN THE HERE AND NOW.

#3 – Matter matters. My Life. Your life. My Body. Your Body. My time. Your time. My gifts. Your gifts. My weakness and yours. My pains and yours. My successes and yours – ALL COUNT. The matter of which this world is made BELONGS TO GOD. IT COMES FROM GOD and GOD is glorified when I ALLOW HIM TO BE EMBODIED IN JESUS CHRIST IN ALL THE STUFF OF MY LIFE.

#4- My calendar, my needs, my wants, the weather, science, politics, wars, peace…while they maybe CENTRAL to my thoughts and actions NONE OF THESE are THE CENTER. THE CENTER is and can only be JESUS CHRIST, the visible image of the invisible God.

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 92  Kids: 6 Offering: $2,232

This Week: Monday Night Football @ Goofy’s Bar and Grill. Kickoff 5:30 PM

We are forming new small groups. Sign up to join one now. Contact: mark.mohrlang@gmail.com

Thanks to Ben Katt for a super sermon on Colossians 1:3-14 today! Download it on our podcast www.sanctuarycrc.org

PRAYERS –

Lord Jesus, we thank you for wonderful protection of Morgan Knighton during trying days of duty in Baghdad. And, we praise you that he is now home safely and reunited with Elizabeth.

God, we ask you provide comfort and tender care to John Fason as he finishes his days here on earth.

Lord, we thank you that John professed faith in Christ from his bed this week!

Christ, have mercy on John Murray as he remains in the nursing home.

Spirit, we pray for your great bonding to take place between Seth and Meghan now that they are man and wife. We rejoice in their wedding.

God, we do pray for peace in our world….and for wholeness where things are broken.

God bless you and go out and make it a GREAT WEEK.

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 125 Kids: 6 Offering: $4,084

Congregational meeting results:

1.       Voted unanimously to become an organized Christian Reformed Church congregation as of the October 11, 2007 meeting of Classis Pacific Northwest.

2.       Voted unanimously to call Ben Katt as a Minister of the Word to serve as a Resident in Church Planting. Installation as minister scheduled for Sunday 10/14 in morning worship.

3.       Voted unanimously to call the following as elders: Steve Geelhood, Matt Watrous, Steve Cairns, Torrey Edwards, Kate Reynolds. Steve Geelhood is President of Council. Elders will be installed during morning worship on 10/14.

4.       A quorum of 44 was in attendance meeting was called to order at 11:18 and adjourned in prayer at 11:35.

Monday Night Football – Goofy’s Bar and Grill just north of 85^th on 15^th NW tomorrow night as the Eagles square off with the Redskins.

PRAYERS –

Lord, be with John Murray as he recovers from surgery for a broken hip and be a strength to John Fason as he battles cancer. We pray that both of these men will accept God’s love and salvation in Jesus Christ while there is still time.

Holy Spirit, heal the hearts of the broken hearted who have suffered losses, particularly in broken relationships.

Jesus be near to and give guidance to Thomas and Lorrie as they now await trail in San Diego.

God of Grace we pray  for peace in our world.

Lord, prepare our hearts this Fall to live beyond ourselves and truly connect deeply with our community.

REFLECTIONS ON – Col. 1:1-2 “A God So Big; A God So Small”

I don’t know about you, but I seem to make plans for my life…even for my days. I am sure I know what I want, what I am doing, and sure of where I am going…and somehow…in the heat of living in real time, I forget some of the details…and get seriously derailed..it’s like I’ve got an act but I can’t keep it together.

I recently watched a video clip called “half time”. It’s hysterical and horrifying. It depicts cheer squads at athletic events botching well rehearsed routines. Some are cute, others result in a cheerleader being dropped to the floor or being run over by a football team running on to the field at the start of a game. Such is my life..

Alas…all choreography is tested in the minute details of execution: timing, positioning, attention, balance…and it doesn’t take much to cause a crash that ranges anywhere from amusing to horrifying.

This Fall, we embark on a series in the book of Colossians that we have entitled A GOD SO BIG – A GOD SO SMALL. In this series we will be reconnected to the foundational choreography of life and reminded of the details of executing life. I’m very excited for this adventure.

A little about the letter we call Colossians:

Written way back in about 60AD by the Apostle Paul from prison in Rome.

Colossae was a minor city in a major area known as Phrygia that included cities such as Ephesus, Hierapolis and Laodicea. There’s nothing left of Colossae but a big mound of dirt. It was racked by numerous huge earthquakes.

It was a significant city because it was home to many Christians, a large number of whom were distracted by influences that dulled their vibrant faith in Jesus Christ, or at least, redirected that faith in unproductive ways. We will talk about that more later. But for now, just known that there half time shows was full of crashes.

Because there were social and theological issues at stake in Colossae, Paul is very careful in his writing to be CLEAR, FORTHRIGHT and SENSITIVE. We are going to learn a lot from this document this Fall.

The very opening of this letter is significant. You have your own private copy in front of you and we’ll take a look at how Paul approaches his friends in this ancient city….

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the holy and faithful in Christ at Colossae. Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Paul identifies himself as an apostle. Apostle is a Greek word that means “one who is sent”. In other words, Paul is sent by God to the people he serves to love them, care for them, correct them and lead them. And, he is not  afraid to live into this role given him by God.

And, he is not sent alone. He is working from prison, with the help of a gifted and called young friend, named Timothy. Paul is not the only one who thinks he is sent. He is the voice and leading edge of a community of leaders that is sent by God to bring Jesus Christ – all of his love and grace and mercy and truth and justice to SPECIFIC places.

Not unlike Paul, we here at Sanctuary are an apostolic community “sent” into Greenwood and Seattle by JESUS CHRIST to represent HIM and further his KINGDOM and KINGDOM values of love, joy, peace, justice, mercy and truth.

Paul may have some serious theological and social adjustments he wants to achieve in the lives of the believers in Colassae, but he loves them and approaches them with respect  and dignity as refers to them as THE HOLY AND FAITHFUL IN CHRIST.

To be HOLY means to be “set apart”. The Greek word ‘hagios’ carried with it the idea that something or someone quite normal and ordinary could be dedicated to a HIGHER purpose. Right from the get go, Paul reminds his friends that they BELONG TO GOD – that they are his workmanship, set apart for the purpose of glorifying him and advancing the KINGDOM OF GOD “earth as it is in heaven”.

And, even though the Colossian Christians may be thrashing about in theological error, they are still regarded as FAITHFUL by Paul. His faith leads him to embrace others even when they disappoint him. His view of the Character of God in Jesus Christ compels him to claim the very best and bring out the very best in everyone at all times. I love this about Paul.

And, Paul reminds all of his readers that they are IN CHRIST. Not that ‘Christ is in them’ and they get to shape that how they want, but that they are IN CHRIST, who is shaping them according to His will and his way.

I love this phrase “in Christ” that is used over 160 times in the New Testament, mostly by Paul. It carries deep meaning. To be in Christ is the ultimate metaphor for all Christian believers.

I have made many visits to Young Life’s Malibu Club camp since 1971 when I became a Christian. One of my favorite features of this camp set on a volcanic rock peninsula that creates the opening to the Princess Louisa Inlet is the swimming pool.

A man named Hamilton, who built the camp for movie stars in the 1940’s, felt there had to be a swimming pool for the stars…but there was no ground to dig into. SO…he simply had a pool blasted out of the ancient, basaltic rockbed on the tip of the point of the Malibu Rapids Peninsula.

It’s spectacular! And, it ain’t going NOWHERE. It is cut “in” the very bedrock of the earth. The camp will perish. All the trees around will perish, the mountains will erode. But, the pool is IN MALIBU.

So it is to be IN CHRIST – when you and I understand this correctly, we understand that we are PART OF GOD’S DESIGN AND PLAN FROM THE BEGINNING OF CREATION AND WE  ARE ESTABLISHED AND KEPT IN GOD’S LOVE IN JESUS CHRIST. WE ARE IN CHRIST AND THAT IS INVIOLABLE.

Do you see what a HUGE, MAJESTIC picture of JESUS this creates? This is the entire intention of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. As Ben and I walk through this letter with you from now until Thanksgiving, you will see JESUS LOOMING LARGE again and again. YET, this same JESUS will be presented to as one who knows and cares for us deeply and is RELEVANT AND AVAILABLE TO US even in the small stuff of our lives.

One Bible commentator, named C.F.D. Moule, said of Colossians, “One thing is certain as to the Colossian heresy, it was a doctrine of God and of salvation that cast a cloud over the glory of Jesus Christ.”

You see, the forces of this world that want us to believe in a “squishy” or “ill-defined” spiritual force as the “diversity God or choice” – or the psycho-social forces that want us to elect a world view that calls for “self-determination” invite you and me DAILY to MINIMIZE JESUS … and make him a nice little part of the pie WHEN IN FACT HE IS THE WHOLE PIE. NOT A SLICE…THE WHOLE PIE…THE WHOLE ENCHILADA…however you want to say it.

In his very introduction to this letter, our brother Paul, calls us BACK to the plan, back to the original CHOREAGRAPHY… He opens and frame his entire message to the Colossians with these several words:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

However we define grace and peace…as Christians, we must be sure to remind ourselves that they don’t originate with us. We don’t manufacture our lives and our communities out of our WILLFULNESS, OUR GIFTS, OUR CHARM. Nope. We are products of gifts given us by GOD OUR FATHER. The primary gifts are GRACE and PEACE

Grace comes from the Greek word “charis” which means to be given favor by someone you are beholden to. In other words, Paul invokes the GOOD FAVOR of God upon you and. He is literally praying in his greeting that the recipients of his letter EXPERIENCE THEIR GOOD STANDING WITH GOD.

While grace comes from God, and is God’s GIGANTIC “YES” to us, we creatures of His have the privilege of saying YES back and in living in the power of that grace through prayers, worship, study, fellowship with believers and acts of love in our community that put us at risk and stretch us beyond ourselves.

And, Paul also invokes the PEACE of God. Paul’s concept of peace comes from the Hebrew word, “shalom” which means “wholeness”, “rightness”, “everything in its place and in order”.

Peace is not a static word. While GRACE is the active ingredient in our personal experience of being IN CHRIST, PEACE is the active ingredient in our EXTERNAL, SOCIAL life IN CHRIST.

Peace indicates that we are agents of WHOLENESS and helping establish everything in it’s place. My image of peace is not CALM, but more like a sail properly deployed in 25 knot wind out in the San Juan’s: The strain at every grommet and rope is ENORMOUS…but the SAIL HOLDS and it causes the boat to heel over and cut purposefully and powerfully and swiftly through the deep waters … on toward a sure destination. THIS IS PEACE … not a peace of tranquility…but of meaningful action of real fabric tested by the winds and waves of the day!

This week, as you think of your own life … as you amuse and horrify yourself with your own missteps and crashes…and the craziness you see around you…DRINK deep from even this sparse introduction to Colossians.

DWELL richly on what it means for you to be IN CHRIST. Fill yourself with God’s Good Favor…GRACE…and imagine your life SET to the WIND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT brining the PEACE OF GOD IN CHRIST to all the daily journeys you sail.

Think. Drink. Be … IN CHRIST.

Go out and Make it a GREAT WEEK !!!

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

Weekly Words From Randoon ….

                For the week of 9/9/07

Welcome one and all!

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Sunday 9/16 – Brief congregational meeting immediately following service for the purposes of electing to become an organized CRC congregation and to vote to have Ben Katt ordained as a minister of the word in the CRC.

Don’t miss a true cultural phenomenon on Friday the 14^th @ 7pm at the Green Bean Coffee House when we feature the fabulous B MOVIE – CREATURE FROM THE BLUE LAGOON – no production value, no plot, no acting….and a diabolical creature that looks like COOKIE MONSTER.

9/9 Attendance: 85 Kids: 6 Offering: $2,855

PRAYERS –

God, we continue to pray for peace in our world.

Christ have mercy on all those who suffer depression and anxiety.

Lord, be with John and other cancer sufferers who are nearing the end of their battle.

Holy Spirit, give wisdom and strength to the educators of our children.

REFLECTIONS –

Hey, it was a fun summer. All of us at Sanctuary took swings at preaching from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.

Ben Katt finished up summer today with a message from Ecclesiastes 12 about remembering God in your youth. It clearly didn’t relate to me at all!

Next week, Ben and I open our Autumn Series: A GOD SO BIG…A GOD SO SMALL. We will be mining our way through book of Colossians wherein Paul tells us the story of a Cosmic Christ of great enormity…but, that Cosmic Christ is also our Lord Jesus, who comes to us face to face in the day to day realities of human life. Wow! Hang on for a wonderful series of meditations and challenges from Paul, the Apostle of the Heart Set Free. We think God’s word from Colossians will set our Sanctuary community free as well. Starts next Sunday and runs weekly through the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Now, dear friends, go out and make it a GREAT WEEK.

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org

Welcome one and all! Happy labor Day Weekend….marking the end of the 40^th anniversary of “the summer of love”. Oh, well. I guess we’ll just have to go back to normal……….

REFLECTIONS – on “The Design” Psalm 19

One winter, I was out in my boat with my small group docked at Port Ludlow in late January. It was 28 degrees and crystal clear as the sun rose on Saturday morning with the boat moored facing north by northwest at the Olympic Mountains, which are a scant 20 miles away. I Looked out front window and was paralyzed by the sight of the low angle winter sun falling on the Olympics. They looked otherworldly ‘metallic’.  All I could do is stand there in stunned silence and whisper, “I believe.....praise God..” The essence of God’s style and character is scarcely veiled when we soak up God’s handiwork in the likes of Nature.

God’s power and unpredictability struck me this Tuesday afternoon as a flew home from Los Angeles next to a man from Dallas…and he asked me to show him sights out the West-facing window. We looked out at the mouth of the Columbia River … the second or third most treacherous, boat-eating spot on earth…and it was beautiful … totally irenic…And…I thought “God you are amazing … your glory and your power displayed so often in this one place…” And then, there was this thing inside me as my fellow traveler reveled in what he was seeing…and this part of me said, “GOD YOU HAVE  A DESIGN…AND I WANT TO BE PART OF IT…I WANT IN…!!”

So, today we are going to ponder THE DESIGN as we celebrate communion Sunday on this Labor Day weekend. The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible -- they teach us how to pray. Today we look at a psalm that uses line after line of parallelism to direct our attention to the created order .... and teach us about the purpose of Creation….and about OUR ROLE AS CREATURES. The great English author, C. S. Lewis, said of the Psalm we are about to read, “I take this as the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world.”

Psalm 19:1-14

    The heavens declare the glory of God;

        the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

    [2] Day after day they pour forth speech;

        night after night they display knowledge. 

    [3] There is no speech or language

        where their voice is not heard. 

    [4] Their voice goes out into all the earth,

        their words to the ends of the world.

    In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, 

        [5] which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,

        like a champion rejoicing to run his course. 

    [6] It rises at one end of the heavens

        and makes its circuit to the other;

        nothing is hidden from its heat.

    [7] The law of the LORD is perfect,

        reviving the soul.

    The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

        making wise the simple. 

    [8] The precepts of the LORD are right,

        giving joy to the heart.

    The commands of the LORD are radiant,

        giving light to the eyes. 

    [9] The fear of the LORD is pure,

        enduring forever.

    The ordinances of the LORD are sure

        and altogether righteous. 

    [10] They are more precious than gold,

        than much pure gold;

    they are sweeter than honey,

        than honey from the comb. 

    [11] By them is your servant warned;

        in keeping them there is great reward.

    [12] Who can discern his errors?

        Forgive my hidden faults. 

    [13] Keep your servant also from willful sins;

        may they not rule over me.

    Then will I be blameless,

        innocent of great transgression.

    [14] May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

        be pleasing in your sight,

        O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

A few reflections on Psalm 19.

The Creation itself is a master piece of praise to God. In a sense, nature is our worship leader. John Calvin, is a great thinker who lived in the middle 1500’s and wrote theology from Geneva Switzerland, talks about nature this way...

“When a person, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, they will learn also to reflect upon and to admire God’s wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest plant.”

Nature’s symmetry, its systems, its raw power and size draw our thoughts to higher powers. The awe that is inspired is not just pure aesthetics…but rather an invitation to affirm “THIS GRANDEUR AND POWER IS AT WORK IN ME”

Observing and experiencing nature brings us back to a spirituality centered in God’s creativity and care. Peter Himmelman, a songwriter who happens to be Bob Dylan’s son-in-law said,

“Your time on earth is limited.  You have a mission here.  so don’t go crazy with the day to day things.  And I DO go crazy with the day to day things!  I’m a nervous wreck, and I always forget that trees are made by God.”

Sometimes, we have to go look at a tree and be reminded of God’s creation of this world and you and me.  We need to look at a tree that grows one ring thicker per year and remind ourselves that we are like trees and that we grow little at a time no matter how frantic our vain pursuits may be.

We can see that Nature exudes spirituality.  Staring at a mountain or a tree for a while....looking a rocky harbor carved in the Canadian gulf by a glacier....all these things put you in touch with a higher power…NOT A GENERAL POWER…BUT A PERSONAL GOD. Throughout time, many groups of people have confused the created order with God.  Ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun-god Ra. b.  Notice this Psalm mentions the sun like an Egyptian or Mayan might have but then says that the sun points to the preciseness, the energy and the glory of the God who made the sun…and won’t let the sun be confused as God. There is a continuing trend of worshipping the earth under the assumption that this planet is actually a living and evolving being....that the earth itself is God. 

Called Gaia worship...it is a form of pantheism that views god and the creation as one.  Pan means “one or all” and “theism” means God.  So, pantheism is the belief that God is everything and everything is God. This is not the Christian view of God and Creation. This psalm would direct our prayers in awe of nature away from the planet itself and toward the Creator-God whose glory and goodness it both reveals and praises. The fact that God is separate from the creation is called “transcendence”.  It is important in our spirituality to realize that God, though presence with us and the creation, is separate. .  We are not a part of some cosmic consciousness. We are not part of a pantheistic system....where every atom in the created order is part of God.

Claus Westermann, one of my favorite theologians, has this to say about the value of a Psalm, like Psalm 19 in helping us understand the true nature of our universe.

In our time the creation psalms again receive important significance, because in the light of science and its results, as well as in our present stance toward nature, the deification of nature has no future....there remain only two alternatives:  Materialism or faith in the Creator.  Either the stars, the atoms, and the earth are only matter -- then we human beings must be understood as coming from matter and consisting of matter -- or else the stars, sun and earth are related to God just as we are; they are creatures.  In that case the ultimate meaning of their existence is the same as that of humans:  existing to the praise and glory of God.

And………..let me build on Westermann for a moment here – and also move us forward in this Psalm. This Psalm moves from nature generally declaring the glory of God in a way that is beautiful to God’s REVEALED WORD IN SCRIPTURE THAT IS SUPERIOR TO NATURE>>>>IT IS PERFECT…

    [7] The law of the LORD is perfect,

        reviving the soul.

   The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

        making wise the simple. 

    [8] The precepts of the LORD are right,

       giving joy to the heart.

    The commands of the LORD are radiant,

        giving light to the eyes. 

    [9] The fear of the LORD is pure,

        enduring forever.

   The ordinances of the LORD are sure

        and altogether righteous. 

    [10] They are more precious than gold,

        than much pure gold;

    they are sweeter than honey,

        than honey from the comb. 

The PERFECTION OF THE WORD calls us to PERFECT ADHERENCE AND CONFORMITY TO THE WORD…

    [11] By them is your servant warned;

        in keeping them there is great reward.

   [12] Who can discern his errors?

        Forgive my hidden faults. 

    [13] Keep your servant also from willful sins;

        may they not rule over me.

    Then will I be blameless,

       innocent of great transgression.

The heavens and the earth are ordered and set by God and they are sustained by GOD … and SO ARE THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO APPLY THE WORD TO THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR PERSON AND THEIR LIVES.

Psalm 19 moves us to a specific response.

Our heart’s desire and prayer becomes a plea to be like the Creation...to be harmonious with God’s plan and design. But this very prayer of wanting to be harmonious with Creation in being a praise to god is a reminder that we are not perfect. So the psalmist helps us to pray for God’s forgiveness and redirection of our lives so that we might offer God perfect praise with our very existence....verse 12...

        Forgive my hidden faults. 

    [13] Keep your servant also from willful sins;

        may they not rule over me.

    Then will I be blameless,

        innocent of great transgression.

    [14] May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

        be pleasing in your sight,

        O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

That’s how Psalm 19 works. ... it leads us into intimacy with God. That’s how you can start out by staring at Mount Rainier on a Sunny morning....your heart full of troubles and fears....then wind up consumed in praise of God.  We go outside for a breath of fresh air and some peace of mind.  We wind up contemplating the wave pattern on Puget Sound from the heights of Sunset Hill park ... and instead of just peace of mind...we wind up making  peace with God.

AND HERE’S THE KICKER…

WE STARTED OUT BEHOLDING SOMETHING IN NATURE AND IT CAUSED US TO CONTEMPLATE THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE PERFECTION AND AUTHORITY OF GOD’S WORD IN OUR LIVES.

THEN…WE APPLY THAT WORD … TO OUR STRENGTHS … TO OUR HIDDEN FLAWS AND OUR FLAGRANT WANDERINGS…WE APPLY THAT PERFECT WORD PERFECTLY TO ALL OF WHO WE ARE …

AND OUR PRAYER BECOMES VERSE 14 OF TODAY’S PSALM…

‘MAY THE WORS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATIONS OF MY HEART BE ACCEPTABLE IN YOUR SIGHT, OH GOD.’

THIS PSALM GOES FULL CIRCLE…FROM PRAISING GOD FOR CREATION AND THE GLORY IT EXTENDS TO GOD…TO SAYING

‘GOD, I AM LIVING AND APPLYING YOUR WORD…I AM TINY. I AM TEMPORARY IN THIS WORLD, ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO A MOUNTAIN OR THE COLUMBIA RIVER…BUT I AM LIVING INTO YOUR WORD…AND I HOPE WE YOU SEE IN ME DECLARES THE GLORY OF GOD TO YOU AND THIS WORLD JUST LIKE YOUR CREATION DOES.”

NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

9/2 – Attendance: 90  Offering: $4,586  Kids: 5

 Looking to find a small group? Contact Mark Mohrlang … mark.mohrlang@gmail.com

PRAYERS –

Lord, we pray for safety at the restaurant/karaoke bar in Greenwood where many persons have been harmed in assaults. We especially ask for healing for the man that was beaten nearly to death on Saturday night.

Jesus, be with those who are embarking on significant travel, particularly Hayden Smith as she heads to South Africa this week.

Christ, have mercy on us all as we seek you power and purity in our lives.

Holy Spirit, comfort Kerri and others who have suffered the loss of family members in recent weeks.

Now…do go out and make it a great first week of Fall.

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org