This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on October 13, 2019. It’s based on Psalm 111. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
***Special thanks to all those who organized and helped to lead the 20th Annual Lutheran Student Center Middle School Lock-In! This Northeastern Iowa Synod youth event is always a terrific experience for the young people who attend. And this year, it provided some sermon inspiration as well! Thank you!***
Psalm 111
1Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.
2Great are your works, O Lord, pondered by all who delight in them.
3Majesty and splendor mark your deeds,
and your righteousness endures forever.
4You cause your wonders to be remembered;
you are gracious and full of compassion.
5You give food to those who fear you,
remembering forever your covenant.
6You have shown your people the power of your works
in giving them the lands of the nations.
7The works of your hands are faithfulness and justice;
all of your precepts are sure.
8They stand fast forever and ever,
because they are done in truth and equity.
9You sent redemption to your people and commanded your covenant forever; holy and awesome is your name.
10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all who practice this have a good understanding. God’s praise endures forever.
How great is your God?
This was the question that framed our worship at the middle school lock-in on Friday night. Over 400 teens and tweens spent time together pondering the greatness of their God. And after we had closed our time together by singing, How great is our God, sing with me how great is our God…one young girl turned to me and told me that that song made her cry. It touched her heart in ways that words couldn’t express.
How great is your God?
The psalmist sings, how great are your works, O Lord, pondered by all who delight in them. The word translated here as delight can also mean desire.2 How great are your works, O Lord, pondered by all who desire them. Whether we’re delighting in what has already been shown to us or desiring for God’s works to be made manifest in our lives, our call is to ponder, to study, to think on these things.
How great is your God?
At the lock-in, in response to this question, there were three blank boxes on our piece of paper where we could note three things. What would you put in those boxes? What has God done for you? What do you see God doing for the world? When was God powerfully present for you? Where do you see God today?
The psalmist would have needed more than three boxes to fill in; as the psalm continues there is a lengthy list of God’s great works. There are three, though, that stand out for me.
First, the psalmist says of God, you cause your wonders to be remembered. Not only does God do these great things for us, but God helps us to remember them! Memory is so powerful, isn’t it? When you’re in the midst of a difficult time, the memory of God’s goodness can sustain you, can offer you hope and courage to continue on.
At the table, Jesus gives us a meal of bread and wine to remember him. We gather, we sing, we pray, we eat…and we remember God’s love for us and for the world. God makes this possible, causing God’s wonders to be remembered.
Second, the psalmist says of God, you are gracious and full of compassion. Not, as some would have us believe, full of judgment and anger. Not punitive and cruel, but gracious and full of compassion. It’s God’s loving kindness that causes the psalmist—and us—to thank and praise God.
I’ll never understand the billboards or the books or the films that seem to think people can be scared into a relationship with God, that the threat of hell is effective evangelism. Fear of eternal punishment may manufacture submission, but it will never foster love. The one who gives thanks to God with her whole heart is the one who has experienced the love of God’s whole heart.
And third, in such a short psalm, the psalmist uses the word forever five times! Your righteousness endures forever! You remember forever your covenant! Your precepts stand fast forever! You commanded your covenant forever! And as a result of God’s forever faithfulness, God’s praise endures forever!
There’s a portion of the baptismal rite that I can never speak without tears in my eyes. It’s the word forever that gets me every time. You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever!
There was a moment—in those awful days after my brother’s suicide—that I was made to doubt his salvation. I walked into Pastor Kay’s office at Luther College in tears. To this day, I’ve never heard anyone speak with such clarify and conviction…belief and trust strong enough to believe and trust for me in the midst of searing loss and terrible doubt. The Holy Spirit spoke through her with power: Mike was claimed by God on the day he was baptized—sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Forever!
Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.
Today, would you be able to easily fill in those boxes about the greatness of your God? Or are you struggling to consider God great?
One of the speakers at the lock-in, Deb Bachman, talked about a time when she didn’t think God was so great. Her middle school years, she said, were the worst years of her life. What sustained her, in the midst of intolerable bullying, was the unconditional love and support of her faith community. She experienced God’s greatness through the gathering of God’s beloved.
The psalmist, by sharing his intention to thank and praise God in the congregation, invites us to do the same.
Together, in this place, we believe and trust for one another. We remind one another that God’s faithfulness is forever.
Together, in this place, we love one another because God first loved us. We celebrate grace and aspire to compassion.
Together, in this place, we eat at our Savior’s invitation, bread and wine to spark our memory ; the depth of God’s love for this wounded world is experienced in a simple meal together.
We sing, sometimes with tears, sometimes with tapping toes. With our whole hearts, we praise God together.
How great is our God!
Amen.
1 Listen to How Great Is Our God at https://www.youtube.com.
2 https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2656.htm