Sunday Service | January 10, 2021
Well, the high hopes of a new year perhaps didn’t last as long as we wanted, eh? What a week.
Brian shares again from Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
This past week, we celebrated Epiphany--the day that the magi visited Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. This feast day is meant for us to remember that Jesus is more than just a baby; he is the Christ, the one who saves us.
On this same day of celebration, we watched as our Capitol was overrun with riots. If we’re honest, the build up to this hasn’t just been happening in the past few months since the election; it’s been happening for our entire history as a nation. In the midst of the crowd were flags and symbols claiming to represent Jesus. Religion, specifically, Christianity, was seen alongside nationalism. This is idolatry, plain and simple.
In all of this, we’re missing Jesus. And not just those at the Capitol, but all of us. How many of us asked Jesus last week, “How should we respond?” Did we seek the good Shepherd, who leads us?
We have an opportunity for mercy, and an opportunity to face what we are truly feeling: lament. We’re all in a battle to find belonging and justice. How do we respond?
The call is to vulnerability and vulnerability. It’s an invitation to call upon the Lord in our journey.
Last week we looked at these questions:
Who is your shepherd? Who or what are you following?
How are you being tended? How does your shepherd refresh you?
What do you serve? Where are you spending your energy? Is there purpose and availability to tend to others in the way God tends to you?
And they are still relevant this week, as a new year has come and the events of this week seemingly show that nothing has changed.
We can be outraged and bring more violence, or we can look to the Lord, our shepherd.
According to Psalm 23, our Shepherd doesn’t wait until it’s over; he comes in the middle and lays a table so that our enemies become our neighbors, and we learn to tell them that they are belong. We learn to affirm them--not their ideologies, but their humanity that we all share.
This is tough, but it is worth it. Our faith costs us everything, but we’re not alone. We have a shepherd who leads us and sustains us.
Our hope is found in the Lord. Are we turning our attention to the Lord? Allowing him to define people’s value?
Jesus loves America simply because people live in America. He did not create America to reveal Christian freedom to the rest of the world. America is led by people (and it’s messy). He’s calling us to be a people of freedom, to have community with one another. He is not leading us to empire building. He wants to refresh our souls with new wine.
So, where are we looking? Let’s look to Jesus.