Your Word sheds light upon our way,
Brings healing into our souls,
And gives purpose to our lives.
Open our hearts and minds to hear
What your spirit is saying to us. Amen.
Psalm Reading: Psalm 139 (NRSV)
The Inescapable God
1 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.
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
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.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Hear what the Spirit is saying to all of us! Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “Search My Heart” Lorrie Lowes, DM
God is everywhere!
God reaches the ends of the universe and yet, is as close to me as the air.
God is all around me God is present always!
God is in me and knows me through and through!
This concept of an ever-present, all-knowing, all powerful God, who has created the universe, continues to create and knows every intimate detail of that creation, is one of the most wonderful things about our faith and, at the same time, one the most difficult to express in a way that the human mind can comprehend. The psalmist, whose writing we are looking at today, has tried to capture this feeling. “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.”
It’s a comforting thought, isn’t it, that this God who made me and who knows me better even than I know myself, is always with me. This God created me with great care and purpose. At first read – or even many reads – this is the message that Psalm 139 gives us. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made!” This God created me with perfection in mind…
I have to admit though, that when I was a child this whole idea scared me a little bit. What about the times when I’m not as perfect as God would like me to be? And I hear that in the words of the psalmist too. “You hem me in” he writes. “Where can I flee from your presence?” he asks. It’s a little overwhelming to think that there is no place – not even in our innermost thoughts – where we are not under the scrutiny of God’s presence. As a child, it reminded me a bit of those “eyes in the back of her head” that my mother seemed to possess, that uncanny ability to sense when we were up to no good!
But, as Erin expressed in the Children’s Time today, there is no need to fear because God loves us with all of our quirks and imperfections. That is, after all, what grace is all about. We may not always be on the right path but this ever-present God is close at hand to guide us back to where we need to be.
I think the writer would have done well to add that piece to this psalm. Without it, we might be tempted to fear God rather than feel nurtured and protected. Just like I could depend on my mother to love me even if I made mistakes, I know I can depend on God to accept me in my brokenness. Neither my mother nor God just accept my mistakes and let me go, however. There may not be punishment or banishment – but there is an expectation that I will see where I have gone wrong and be willing to do the work of getting back on track to being the person I was created to be, the person my mother and my God know that I can become. There’s an aspect of humility there on my part and a desire to keep learning and growing.
Without this missing piece, it’s tempting to read this passage with a very different attitude – one that feels to me like arrogance. I don’t think I noticed this before and it made me wonder why… Well, it seems I’ve never read this psalm in its entirety before. When I look at the Lectionary, when this Psalm rolls around, we are asked to read verses 1-12 and 23-24. Well, that makes me curious! I wonder why verses 13-22 were left out? Let’s take a look…
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.
Nothing to worry me so far. In fact, it sounds pretty familiar. I know I have heard those phrases before… “You knit me in my mother’s womb” and “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I love those lines. I really don’t know why they would be left out of the lectionary, perhaps just to keep it short? Let’s read on…
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Well, this is where the tone changes for sure! Up to this point, I looked at the psalmist’s words as words that would apply to all of God’s people – but now I am hearing a division between “us” and “them”. In fact, the language itself is hard for me to reconcile with the rest of the verses. Words like “wicked” and “bloodthirsty”, “hate” and “loathe” grate on my senses. They don’t seem to fit with everything I read up to now. They don’t certainly don’t fit with Jesus’ message to love your enemies and to love your neighbour as yourself. And now, I look back on those beautiful words that came before, and I see them in a very different light. Suddenly it seems that the psalmist is saying – I am your perfect creation. I am in the right and you should just destroy anyone who thinks differently…
That’s a challenging thought, isn’t it? Even if someone felt that to be the truth, it probably isn’t what most people want to hear on a Sunday morning in church. I can imagine the committee who was tasked with the job of choosing what should go into the lectionary, the ones who wanted to be sure that we got to hear all of the “important” parts of the Bible on a rotating basis, might just decide that this bit is just too hard to deal with so we will simply leave that bit out.
It is hard to deal with on several levels. The language takes a sudden turn from the rest of the psalm. The sentiment pits people against each other and creates division rather than community. It labels one group of people as “better than” another group… I can see where it could be used to justify violence against someone who is different from me – and therefore no good… very problematic indeed and even dangerous.
I look at this passage and I wonder who the enemy was that sparked this “perfect hatred” in the writer. As it was written after the exile, we can assume it was the Babylonian empire. We can understand, I suppose, why the emotions are so strong. But I wonder how differently this passage would be understood if it was a Babylonian reading it… who would be the god that formed him? Who would be the ones to loathe?
Well, we don’t even have to go so far back in history to ask those questions and we don’t have to look at such differing theology…
How would this Psalm be read by a Nazi in World War II…
How would it be read by a black person demonstrating in Alabama …
How would it be read by a member of the KKK…
When you read this psalm, who do you identify with – the psalmist or his enemy?
It’s tricky, isn’t it?
I guess it’s understandable that this part was left out of the lectionary.
But I decided to put it back in for us today, and here’s why…
This section points out the blatant arrogance we humans have when we decide that we know who is right, who is worthy and who is God’s enemy.
Without this section, the last few lines lose their powerful challenge.
“Search me, O God and know my heart;
Test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
These lines can be read in two ways, I think.
If I read it with that problematic section intact, it can seem like a challenge to God. “I am your perfect creation! You can search my heart and you will see that! I challenge you to find any wickedness in there!” I have already decided that I have the right interpretation of what God considers good or evil and have taken matters into my own hands. “I loathe those who rise up against you… I hate them with a perfect hatred.” So, the challenge is there for God to search my heart, in full confidence – or arrogance - that God will be pleased with what is found.
Or,
If I read it with that problematic section intact and my gut says, “Wait a minute! This hatred and wish for bloodshed go against everything I think God stands for, everything Jesus said about how to create God’s kin-dom here on earth,” then the challenge is made in humility. Search my heart and root out those places where wickedness hides and set me back on the right path.
I look around the world today, and especially here in North America, and I am disturbed by the violence and hatred that surrounds the Black Lives Matter movement. I wonder how differently this Psalm would be read by a black activist and a white supremacist. Would either of them see themselves as anything but justified? As anything but right in the eyes of God?
We might have a really difficult time convincing either one of them to ask God to search their hearts in humility.
But I think it’s a really good place for us to start. Not to ask God to search those hearts but to ask God to search our own.
These days there is a lot of rhetoric in the news and on television that gets people’s defenses up. “Racism is systemic,” we’re told. “It is built into the way our society has been designed to run.” Most people can accept that without too much emotion getting in the way. After all, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t own slaves…or closer to home… I didn’t take children away from their families and put them into Residential Schools. I didn’t abuse anybody… Where it gets harder to take is when we hear this statement: “We are all racist.” That gets people really upset. It is heard as an insult, an accusation. It makes us feel that we are being labelled as evil people. We get defensive. We get angry. We “unfriend” people on Facebook. We have heated arguments with family and friends. We stop listening to each other and we shut down the dialogue. It not only slows the healing process, it stops it dead in its tracks.
Here is my challenge to you. Instead of hearing this statement as an accusation, approach it instead as a call to awareness. I think we can all agree that the experience of being indigenous or black, or even an immigrant in North America, is different from the experience of being white. It’s not something that just started this year, this reality has developed over many decades in ways that are as difficult to see as the movement of a glacier. The ways it manifests itself, even in those of us with the best intentions, is subtle. It is for instance, in the difference between the questions we ask each other when we first meet. “Where are you from?” seems like a reasonable question to ask someone who looks or sounds different, but do you ask it of a white person with a Canadian accent?
It is in the way we react to an indigenous person who has achieved great success: “She is a credit to her people!”
Of course, we mean no harm or disrespect. We are not bad people! We are being curious and friendly. We are sincere in our congratulations… But we are also pointing out the “other-ness” of them at the same time. We are placing a dividing line between us and them.
This is a hugely complex issue and I don’t mean to simplify it here. One sermon is nowhere near enough time to dig deep and this one-way communication doesn’t allow dialogue at all. My point in raising it at all goes back to Psalm 139…
It’s human nature to believe that what you are doing and how you choose to behave is justified and good. Very few people start their day with the intention of being a “bad person”. But the psalmist gives God this challenge:
“Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Are we brave enough to ask God to do the same for us? Are we confident enough in God’s love and grace to let our hearts be searched? Are we humble enough to accept that God might find something lurking there that we weren’t even aware of? Are we open to listening to the suggestion that we might need some guidance to get back on the way everlasting?
May it be so.
Amen
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer Lorrie Lowes, DM
Inescapable God,
You know us through and through,
Our every thought, our every joy, our every fear and worry.
And yet, we come to you in prayer to put words to all those things,
Perhaps more for ourselves than for you,
To know our own hearts as you know them.
We praise you and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives:
For the joy of summer sun and the kiss of rain,
For the love of family and friends,
For the beauty of creation that surrounds us with colour and birdsong,
Mountain peaks and rolling plains,
Sparkling lakes and vast oceans.
For the bustle of the city and the peaceful quiet of the forest,
For the wonder of technology that keeps us connected,
For the many hands that work to keep us safe and comfortable in this, sometimes frightening, world.
We hold up to you all the things that are troubling our hearts:
The pandemic that has affected every part of our lives and that makes life even more difficult for those on the margins – the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, those without employment…
The fragile state of this planet and all the ecosystems so intricately created by you…
The social upheaval that seems to be rocking the world, where hate and prejudice, racism and violence seem to be trying to drown out the message of love and community…
Help us find the courage and the strength to do the work and spread the messages that the world so desperately needs.
We bring to you our concerns for the people in our family and our community who are struggling:
Those who are ill…
Those feeling isolated and lonely…
Those who are feeling helpless when they can’t reach out to support family and friends in their time of need…
Those whose struggle with mental and emotional illnesses made even worse by the current stresses in the world…
Those who have lost loved ones… and today we especially lift up the family and friends of Reta Stinson as they mourn her passing.
Be with them.
Give them the strength and courage to make it through,
And give them the peace that comes from knowing they are loved and held by you.
Help all of us, guiding God, to find ways to continue to be the church in these unusual times. As you search our hearts, help us see the places where we are strong and the places where we need to make changes.
All these things we ask in the name of Jesus and in the words he gave his disciples so long ago…
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kin-dom come, thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kin-dom, the power and the glory,
Forever and ever,
Amen.
Invitation to Offer
I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of our gratitude to God’s blessings. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.
“We are not alone; we live in God’s world.”
And because we do, we are greatly blessed and able to be a blessing to others.
The offering will now be received.
Offertory Prayer
Generous God, bless our gifts of time, talent, and resources. May they be used to bring hope, joy, and healing to this community and to the wider world. Amen.
Sending Forth
And now receive God’s blessing:
May the love that brought you into being fill you with hope.
May the peace that passes understanding be upon you.
May the joy that lives where justice is be alive in you.[4]
Amen.
Hymn: Voices United #384 The Lone, Wild Bird
