Sunday Go-To Meeting

The first Church I pastored in Vermont worshiped in a meeting house built in 1830. They called it a meeting house because they believed firmly that significant as it was the building that was where the church met, but was not the Church itself. To underscore, they even talked about their “Sunday go-to meeting clothes”. They never went to church; they were the Church.

Today the Church will gather in meeting houses all over the country. Whether we have our go-to meeting clothes on or just our plain pajamas we’ll be the Church wherever it is that we are gathered, even if it’s just in our living rooms.

And Christ will be with us, wherever just two or three of us are gathered.

Daily Lesson for May 22, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Chronicles chapter 25 verses 1a and 5 through 8:

David and the officers of the army also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals . . . 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him; for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father for the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. 7 They and their kindred, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all of whom were skillful, numbered two hundred eighty-eight. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.

One of the last things King David did before he died was to appoint musicians for "prophesying" in the Temple.  The Temple wasn't even built yet, but apparently the musicians were already practicing.  They were reading themselves to not just play but "prophesy" to the LORD the lyre, and harp, and cymbals, and even singing -- though verse 7 makes it clear that only those who could sing did.  According to the text, you had to be both trained and skillful to lead song in the LORD's House.

One of the challenges to coming back to church will be the absence of congregational singing. Singing is one of the riskiest things we can do to expose our neighbors and ourselves to COVID-19.  It's hard to imagine church without congregational singing, though I know the Anglicans have been doing "said and not sung" services for centuries.

When we do come back -- Broadway is still setting no timeline or date and will move very cautiously in coming back -- there will be more instrumental music.  There will probably be more harp, and lyre, and cymbal, and maybe one or two well-trained voices. They shall sing, and play, and -- I pray -- perhaps even prophesy.

And a joyful noise shall be made unto the LORD . . .

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  Over the weekend we will read Psalms 131, 138-139, 143-145; 1 Chronicles 26-29, Psalm 127; and Psalms 111-118. 

Have a happy Holiday weekend.

Daily Lesson for May 21, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 110 verse 1:

The Lord says to my lord,

    “Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This is a Psalm of David.  And that is something Jesus makes something of when he quotes this Psalm when confronted by the powers that be in Jerusalem -- including the one who then sat on the throne of David.

It is a Psalm of David, in which David says the LORD speaks to David's lord. Jesus makes something of this to say that even King David himself recognized there is one greater than whoever it is who is seated on the throne.  It is to this greater one that true power belong: the throne, the scepter, the support of the people. And so later in verse 5 it is said:

"The LORD is at your right hand,

he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath."

The king is one power; but the King of kings is another.  The one who sits in the Oval Office now rules for a while; but the one who sits on the throne of heaven shall rule for eternity.

And so we might say it is fitting that King George II rose in honor of the "King of kings" and "Lord of lords" when Handel's Messiah premiered in London and the great Hallelujah Chorus sang:

And He shall reign forever and forever . . .

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year.  I'm offering a little commentary along the way.  Tomorrow's Lesson will come from 1 Chronicles chapters 23-25.

Daily Lesson for May 20, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Samuel chapter 24 verses 10 through 14:

10 But afterward, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 11 When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer[e] you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, “Shall three[f] years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.”

15 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16 But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

As we continue to read through the Bible, this morning we are given a story about a pestilence linked to a census.  An interesting story given that we as a country are now in the midst of both census and pestilence.

The LORD sends the plague because David, the leader of the nation, is fearful and anxious and consumed by whatever the numbers of the census will tell him.  He trusts not in the LORD, but in numbers.

So the pestilence is sent and almost a tenth of the nation is left dead before its end.

But the story is not all one of judgement.  It is also one of grace and humility.  The angel of death is kept from striking the city of Jerusalem.  Its people are spared, including David himself.  David is grateful, but chastened.  He does obeisance to the LORD and then decides that the spared City should be the site for a new Temple.  Thus the vision for the first Temple is born and David himself, humbled, comes down from the throne to make the first offering on the threshing floor of the new altar.

As we are in the midst of this pandemic, my prayer is that our leaders, so consumed by economic numbers, might take to heart the number of those lost to this virus -- already greater than the number lost to Israel's census pestilence -- and that they might humbly bow down and ask forgiveness, guidance, and direction.  And, I pray, this pestilence might, like ancient Israel's, be the source of a new Temple, a new center of humble spiritual life and offering for all our people.

Lord, hear our prayers.

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year.   Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Psalms 108-110.

Daily Lesson for May 19, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 97 verses 10 through 12:

10 The Lord loves those who hate evil;

    he guards the lives of his faithful;

    he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

11 Light dawns for the righteous,

    and joy for the upright in heart.

12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,

    and give thanks to his holy name!

and Psalm 98 verses 7 through 9:

7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

    the world and those who live in it.

8 Let the floods clap their hands;

    let the hills sing together for joy

9 at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming

    to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

    and the peoples with equity.

and Psalm 99 verses 8 and 9:

8 O Lord our God, you answered them;

    you were a forgiving God to them,

    but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

9 Extol the Lord our God,

    and worship at his holy mountain;

    for the Lord our God is holy.

"This is a moral universe."

That is what Desmond Tutu used to say during the dark days of Apartheid.

The Psalms today remind us that indeed this is a moral universe, with a moral end, to be judged by a moral God.

God forgives, yet still avenges wrongdoing.  As Bill Coffin used to say, God loves us enough to address our flaws.

The Temple of Heaven shall not be moved. And God is seated on its throne.  From there come the divine judgements -- tender yet severe, exhorting and even penalizing yet also compassionate and full of mercy.

And so the Son of the throne came: "Full of grace and truth."

We need a lot of grace right now.  But first we need the truth.

And the hard truth shall set us free.

Daily Lesson for May 18, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Samuel chapter 23, the last words of King David:

The oracle of David, son of Jesse,

    the oracle of the man whom God exalted,

the anointed of the God of Jacob,

    the favorite of the Strong One of Israel:

2 The spirit of the Lord speaks through me,

    his word is upon my tongue.

3 The God of Israel has spoken,

    the Rock of Israel has said to me:

One who rules over people justly,

    ruling in the fear of God,

4 is like the light of morning,

    like the sun rising on a cloudless morning,

    gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.

We have come to the end of David's life and reign and what we are given at the end is a vision for a leader for which every tribe, and nation, and group of people might aspire and wish for -- not David himself, but the ideal David speaks of:

A sun rising up after a dark night.  A great, singular light shining down on the dew of the field, casting a "1,000 rays of light" upon the earth.  Let begets light and so the field glistens and grows.

This is a prayer for us all.  It is a hope for our world.  We need a light to reveal our light.

We need the Sun of Righteousness!

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson will come from Psalms 95, 97-99.

Daily Lesson for May 15, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 62 verses 1 through 3:

1 Hear my cry, O God;

    listen to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I call to you,

    when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock

    that is higher than I;

3 for you are my refuge,

    a strong tower against the enemy.

If you travel to Israel and venture out into the Valley of the Dead Sea you are taken by the huge rock fortresses that protrude out of the earth and rise high above the below-sea-level floor. These have been the high towers of refuge for  soldiers, and criminals,  and mystics alike for generations.

"Lead me to the rock that is higher than I," is a wonderful prayer.  It is a humble prayer.  

For when we do not know our way forward, and it is too dangerous to remain where we are, we climb into the high tower of God's strength and vision. We go to God in prayer, which lifts us up on eagle's wings, and guides our footsteps to the rock that is higher than we ourselves could ever climb.

And within that rock is buried water for the weary -- rain hidden for two millennia, waiting for us there to strike the rock and drink from its inner treasure.

The way forward is hard, friends.  It is uncertain.  It is dangerous.  And there are plenty of enemies all around -- some confused, some insane, and some downright evil. 

But there is a high fortress up ahead, a rock in which we can hide.  So don't grow weary.  Keep walking. Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  Trust in God to lead us to the rock.  Trust in God to not let our footsteps falter.