Sermon for Sunday 1/15/12 “You Get Me” Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
The text of the sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore at Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Somonauk, IL on Sunday, January 15, 2012.
This morning’s Bible reading is from Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
A Window to the Soul
The psalms are true. They provide a window to the soul.
I don’t mean that everything in the psalms can be read as accurate as it expresses who God is. Instead, I mean that the psalms are true because they communicate the raw emotions of folks and their life experience. They communicate folk’s relationships with God throughout life’s journey.
The psalms also provide a window to the joy, sorrow, celebration, anguish, happiness, sadness, jubilation, and anger that God’s people have experienced. And even more, they offer a glimpse into the songs and prayers that generations, Jesus included, have sung, and prayed.
Praying and singing the psalms connects a person and a community now with a person and a community that came before. Praying and singing through the joy, sorrow, celebration, anguish, happiness, sadness, jubilation, and anger help give individuals and communities a closer bond with others who have come before. They bring us closer to God.
And today I’m preaching about a psalm. A song. A prayer.
Psalm 139 expresses emotions about the wonder of God’s creation and God’s care for each of us. I think it expresses the writer’s emotions about how vast God’s thoughts are – and yet how in the hugeness that is God, there is room for something deeply personal between the psalmist and God. When a person prays or sings this psalm, they can express the same emotions. When a gathered community sings or prays this psalm, they, too, can express the same emotions.
(Psalm 139:14a NRSV) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Fearfully and wonderfully made
Maybe it would be better put – Awesomely and wonderfully made.
I am awesomely and wonderfully made. We are awesomely and wonderfully made.
Can you imagine if we believed that about everyone? Can you imagine a nation and a world inspired to live as if everyone mattered? Can we dare to dream for the impossible to happen – the end of religious, racial, class, orientation, and gender hatred? Can we dare to really dream God’s dream?
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929– 91 years ago today. It’s been 45 years since he was assassinated.
- I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
- I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
- I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” This is our hope.
God has made each person – precious – awesome – wonderful.
God has made this community of faith – precious – awesome – wonderful
God has made our planet – precious – awesome – wonderful.
What if we believed that — and treated people, animals, all of nature in that way?
What if we believed that – and treated allies and adversaries in that way?
Some say that we are closer now to Dr. King’s dream than we were 45 years ago. Others say that though we’re closer, we’ve taken steps backwards in the last few years. Regardless, Dr. King’s dream inspired great strides and continues to inspire today as we seek to move forward for civil rights. Can you see a parade of people marching, praying, and singing the psalms – being inspired to live lives that celebrate God’s precious, awesome, and wonderful creation? And how about at the front of that parade you see Dr. King – acting as the drum major. In one of his last speeches, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., said this:
“Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”
The witness and inspiration of Dr. King – advocate for justice, peace, and righteousness—did matter. And what we continue to do today matters. Living for justice, peace, righteousness, and love is a way to make our precious, awesome, and wonderful world a better place.
Let’s close by praying the words of today’s psalm together. Pray expecting God to understand your heart. Pray expecting God to understand and love all that you are. May this prayer today be a way to look to God and say, “I’m so glad that you get me.”
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV) O LORD, you have searched me and known me. {2} You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. {3} You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. {4} Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. {5} You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. {6} Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. {13} For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. {14} I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. {15} My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. {16} Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. {17} How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! {18} I try to count them–they are more than the sand; I come to the end–I am still with you.
