Order, Words, & Voices

Order, Words, & Voices
11.13.22  (I Samuel 25:1-31)

Order

Pre Worship Music

Leave Screen Share On from Opening Songs through Lord’s Prayer

Opening Songs:                                 Lynn
Raise a Hallelujah
The Joy of the Lord

Call to Worship Response and Lord’s Prayer                in person – Ijahi
Reading                                    on line – Mitch

Song:                                     Lynn    
Give Thanks

Message    I Samuel 25:1-31                        Rick

Song:                                        Lynn
Ancient Words

Community/Closing Peace                        Rick

Benediction                                    Rick

Post Worship Music

Music
I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah Heaven comes to fight for me
ChorusI’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes hope will arise
Death is defeated the King is alive
Verse 2I raise a hallelujah with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah fear you lost your hold on me
BridgeSing a little louder in the presence of my enemies
Sing a little louder louder than the unbelief
Sing a little louder my weapon is a melody
Sing a little louder Heaven comes to fight for me
ChorusI’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes hope will arise
Death is defeated the King is alive

The joy of the Lord will be my strength
I will not falter I will not faint
He is my Shepherd I am not afraid
The joy of the Lord is my strength
ChorusThe joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
Is my strength
Verse 2The joy of the Lord will be my strength
He will uphold me all of my days
I am surrounded by mercy and grace
And the joy of the Lord is my strength
ChorusThe joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord
Is my strength
Verse 3The joy of the Lord will be my strength
And I will not waver walking by faith
He will be strong to deliver me safe
The joy of the Lord is my strength
ChorusThe joy of the Lord, The joy of the Lord
The joy of the Lord Is my strength

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer (Slides)

Leader: Then Samuel died.
Response: All Israel assembled and mourned.

Leader: Many of the Israelites had never known God’s voice except as spoken from the mouth of Samuel.
Response: As a child Samuel had confronted the High Priest.

Leader: As a young man Samuel had anointed the first King of the Israelites.
Response: Samuel grieved as that King turned away from God.

Leader: While a middle aged man Samuel witnessed that first King, a man named Saul, increase in brutality as he descended into paranoia.
Response: God called Samuel to anoint a new King. 

Leader: But, the first King was still on the throne, anointing a new King was risky and dangerous.
Response: Samuel still obeyed God.

Leader: That second King was an unknown young man named David.
Response: Unknown to man but known to God.

Leader: With Samuel speaking God’s voice to David, a struggle rose up between the two Kings. Saul, the first King, who refused to listen to God’s voice, became increasingly defiant to God’s will.
Response: King David was learning what it meant to trust and obey God.

Leader: Now, while the struggle continued, Samuel died.
Response: All Israel mourned.

Join me in voicing the words of the prayer of Jesus.
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading (No Slides, spotlight Mitch)

A man named Nabal was very prosperous but he was also a brute as well as a fool. His wife Abigail, on the other hand, was wise and intelligent.

David, the anointed King to be, was nearby and heard that Nabal was feasting. David sent ten of his men to tell Nabal: “When your shepherds were camped near us we protected them, they lost nothing. Ask your own men, they will affirm this. Now, be generous to us and share your feast.”

Nabal refused David’s request, the men returned to tell David of Nabal’s response. David was furious and ordered four hundred of his men to accompany him to get revenge.

While all of this was going on, one of Nabal’s shepherds ran to Abigail and told her “Your husband tore into them with insults even though he knew they had treated us well, protecting us and Nabal’s sheep. You need to do something quick!”


Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes from Nabal’s feast tables. Abigail said nothing to her husband who was already drunk by this time.

King David and his men met Abigail on the road. As she saw David, she fell to her knees at his feet with her face to the ground, saying, “My King, listen to what I have to say. Don’t dwell on what Nabal did. Foolishness oozes from him.”

Abigail continued,  “I wasn’t there when your men arrived. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but as God lives and as you live, God is now keeping you from this avenging murder! Take this gift that I, your servant girl, have brought to you my King, and give it to the your men.”

“God is at work in you. You are not fighting God’s battles on your own! As long as you live you must not allow evil such as killing the innocent stick to you. When  God completes all the goodness he has promised and as God sets you up over Israel, you must not carry the burden of guilt from this avenging murder.”

David said, “Thank God for sending you to meet me, and for your blessed good sense! You kept me from murder.” David accepted the gift Abigail brought him saying, “Return home in peace, I will do what you’ve asked.” I Samuel 25:1-31
Music

ChorusGive thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ His Son
VerseAnd now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us
ChorusGive thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ His Son
VerseAnd now let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us EndingGive thanks

Message – Immersive Faith

I Samuel 25:1-31

The story of Abigail, the woman we are meeting today, is one of the most unique stories in the Bible. Honestly, she should probably be remembered as a superhero. She saved her husband, all the men employed by her husband, and possibly hundreds of the men who had battled alongside David. Even more heroic, she saved David from himself. As Abigail and David’s lives intersect, he was preparing to make a huge vengeance motivated mistake, a mistake that would have cursed his family, his coming reign as King, and would have harmed his relationship with God.  

As I have considered this woman, questions about her have flooded my mind. Was she an Enabler to her foolish and brutish husband? Was she a Peacekeeper in countless relationships attempting to keep everyone in harmony? Was she an Interventionist working to squelch conflict and avoid violence? Was she a Long Suffering wife? Was she a Therapist, an Abused wife, or was she an unsung hero choosing to run, not walk, on the path God set before her?

It is really a pretty simple story. Her husband was a fool, his name meant fool – this may actually be the meaning of the name his parents gave him, or it may be that he redefined what Nabal meant. Abigail, on the other hand, carried a name that meant Joy, specifically, ‘Joy of the Father.’ The question about Abigail’s name is the same, did her name define her or did she redefine the name?

The story begins with a feast, it was the annual feast that took place after all the sheep had been sheared. At this same time, David, who had been anointed King by the now deceased Samuel, was still in a struggle with the old, violent, and now paranoid, King Saul. David was camped out with his men when he learned of the feast at Nabal’s house which was not far. David’s men had recently protected Nabal’s men as they were tending to Nabal’s sheep. David’s men needed a feast, times had been a struggle, plus, they were hungry for real food. So, David, assuming that Nabal would be grateful, sent a small contingent of his men to Nabal to respectfully ask for some of the food from the feast.

Nabal’s response was not only to refuse the men, but he also added insult. David’s men returned and told David which caused this future King’s blood to boil, he gathered about two thirds of his army and headed to Nabal’s house for a full revenge that would strategically leave Nabal and his men dead.

While David and his warriors headed to Nabal’s house, one of Nabal’s men ran to tell Abigail what her husband had just done. The man, and Abigail, both knew that David would be upset. Abigail quickly gathered all the elements that would be needed to give David more than enough for a feast for 600 men, and enough to adequately honor this future King.

As soon as Abigail met David on the road she began pleading with David.  Her message to David was two fold

• Don’t kill these men, they are innocent, the only guilty one is my husband who is always a fool and now he is a drunk fool, he is not worthy of your attention and energy. 
• You are going to be the King, you have already been anointed by Samuel, and as soon as Saul is off the throne you will be in that position of power. You don’t need an unwarranted and impulsive slaughter on your shoulders as you seek to unite the Israelites.

King Saul that was not the primary problem, he was a problem but not the foundational problem. The problem was that Samuel had just passed. This was a time of absence, the true leader of the Isrealites had died, no one was yet in place to fill that void. The people were now without Samuel, many of the Israelites had never lived in a time without Samuel’s leadership and now he was gone. Samuel was the one who confronted a High Priest and an insecure King, he was the on who anointed Kings, he was the one who called the powerful back to the path of God.   This was a turning point moment for the Isrealites leaving them with many questions. 

• Would they go back to an existence as they had before in the time of the Judges when everyone did what was right in their own minds, when everyone just did what was best for them? Or were they going to remember God’s voice which had been spoken through Samuel? 
• Would David, their future King and God’s anointed, keep his sights on God rather than allowing his own pride and emotions turn him into a King much worse than Saul, and a fool much more brutish than Nabal?

In the end, a humble David recognized what the lowly Abigail had done, the catastrophe she had averted. Yes, Abigail brought a Joyful gift of Atonement for her husband’s actions, but, more powerful and long lasting, she had saved David from himself. The atonement was as much for David as it was for Nabal. Abigail kept David from doing something that would have been even more foolish than her husband Nabal had ever done. Abigail’s offering of atonement was for Nabal’s foolishness and for David’s heart of revenge.

This brings us to a theological building building block of the old testament, the concept of Atonement. Atonement, or another form of the word, appears 84 times in the old testament. The actions of Abigail were an atonement for the foolishness of her husband. She was intentionally making a repatriation for Nabal’s foolish actions and unintentionally atoning on the part of David. 

Atonement, a noun, is defined as ‘the satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.’

In the movie Coach Carter, we see a beautiful portrait of Atonement. Businessman Ken Carter (played by Samuel Jackson) is recruited to take over the ailing basketball team of Richmond High School in Richmond, California. The movie was based on the true story of the California basketball coach who, in 1999 took over an undisciplined and fractured high school team. Carter’s strict discipline towards basketball, and more so in regard to the players’ studies and grades, immediately alienated a young man named Cruz. Cruz was off the team before drills had even begun. Later, Cruz suffers a traumatic incident which leads him back to Coach Carter begging to be allowed to return to the team. The Coach allows him back on the team on the condition that he makes the appropriate atonement. He is to do all the drills he missed in his time away from the team, 2,500 push ups and 1,000 suicides (sprints up and down the court). At the end of his time alloted to finish the atonement, Cruz is remains 80 suicides and 500 pushups short. As Cruz is leaving the court, defeated and exhausted, his teammates begin doing the remaining acts of atonement for him. Soon he gathers the energy, and willpower, to join the team in their atoning sacrifice for him.

The word, Atonement, is a noun which gives purpose to the action – which is the verb Atoning. In Abigail’s case her action of atonement was to bring to David what he had requested, and deserved, while also sacrificing much more for her husband, Nabal’s, foolishness.  Instead of offering a portion of the feast, she basically brought the feast – much more than David had asked for. This was a revelation to David of Abigail’s heart. Oddly, this was not an atonement for herself, it was for her husband, I would speculate that this was not the first atonement she had made for Nabal. This one, however, seemed to hold an urgency that she had not experienced before.

Nabal never really recognized what his wife had done, nor would he ever agree that he did anything in need of atonement. He was hardened to his sin, and unable to appreciate his own need for repentance and atonement. He had no regrets. This was a revelation of his heart. 

David, however, responded differently. As Abigail pointed out his need for atonement, David humbled himself and accepted this atonement on his own behalf. He turned away from his planned act of vengeance and turned back to God’s path.

One person’s act of atonement can be another person’s rescue.

Abigail’s act of atoning for her husband calmed the agitated David, and opened his eyes to the truth about himself. Her prophetic words warned David that he could not carry the burden of this massacre and also stay on God’s path. 

Nabal continued to live and act like the fool that he was, David, on the other hand, strived to live like the man God led him to be instead of the fool that he was becoming. That was a choice both Nabal and David were given as Abigail atoned for them. 

Abigail’s actions paint a beautiful picture of what Christ did on the cross as he atoned for our sins. A sacrifice that was prompted by God’s love for us. 

Sin is a heart problem, not really an action problem. David already had the heart problem before he ran into Abigail on the road, possibly even before he sought the to share in Nabal’s feast. Our sinful actions come out of a heart problem. Both men share the same sin, both were proudful, both were entitled and arrogance, both were easily angered and quickly vengeful. Nabal, was intentionally unable to recognize this, he had turned from God and his heart was hardened as his mind was closed. David still had a tender humility that allowed him to hear God’s voice, he still had a heart and mind that willingly recognized and accepted truth, even when it was negative and about him.

In 1866, Preacher Charles Spurgeon called the atoning work of God on our behalf  “a union of a most mysterious and intimate kind between those who sinned and the Christ who suffered.”

Nabal chose to remain drunk in his foolishness, David chose to return to the path God laid before him. Nabal never accepted the gift his wife gave him, David recognized the salvation given by Abigail’s atoning act.  Nabal remained on his path of foolishness while David walked away from his own foolish, sinful, and tragic human impulses.

Only Jesus could do this, only Jesus could make the atonement for all the sins of all humanity. Only Jesus inhabited the father’s love for us, moving Christ to accept the cross and offer us a better path. We stand atonement for our sin already made, what we do with that atonement is our choice.

The apostle Paul spoke of this choice of path while speaking to the believers in Philippi, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. So then, my beloved, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2:3-8, 12-13)

Music 

Verse 1Holy words long preserved
For our walk in this world
They resound with God’s own heart
O let the ancient words impart
Verse 2Words of life words of hope
Give us strength help us cope
In this world where’er we roam
Ancient words will guide us home
ChorusAncient words ever true
Changing me changing you
We have come with open hearts
O let the ancient words impart
Verse 3Holy words of our faith
Handed down to this age
Came to us through sacrifice
O heed the faithful words of Christ
ChorusAncient words ever true
Changing me changing you
We have come with open hearts
O let the ancient words impart
We have come with open hearts
O let the ancient words impart
O let the ancient words impart

Community

• [Slide] Next Sunday, ‘Then They Began’, Genesis 4:1-26
• [Slide]  Advent Bible Study begins Wednesday, November 30 at noon, three weeks. We will have an evening study if there is interest expressed (speak with Rick)
• Thanksgiving Dinner, Next Sunday, Sunday, November 20, following worship at Not Your Average Joes
• Christmas Season Dates – 

Advent Begins next Sunday, November 27
Advent Bible Study begins November 30
Brief business gathering December 4
Christmas Eve Worship Gathering at 6pm
No Worship Gathering on Christmas Day or on New Years Day

Closing Peace
May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction
“May God give you the grace not to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but Love.”  
(William Sloane Coffin)

Order, Words, & Voices

11.06.22.22  (I Samuel 2:1-10)

Order

Pre Worship Music

Leave Screen Share On from Opening Songs through Lord’s Prayer

Opening Songs: Lynn

Trading my sorrows

Bless the lord

Call to Worship and Lord’s Prayer Steve

Reading Grace & Lily

Song: Lynn

We Fall Down with Holy holy holy

Message I Samuel 2:1-10 Rick

Song: Lynn

Take Time To Be Holy

Community/Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Music

I’m trading my sorrows

I’m trading my shame

I’m laying them down

For the joy of the Lord

I’m trading my sickness

I’m trading my pain

I’m laying them down

For the joy of the Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord amen

I am pressed but not crushed

Persecuted not abandoned

Struck down but not destroyed

I am blessed beyond the curse

For His promise will endure

That His joy’s gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow 

may last for the night

His joy comes with the morning

I’m trading my sorrows

I’m trading my shame

I’m laying them down

For the joy of the Lord

I’m trading my sickness

I’m trading my pain

I’m laying them down

For the joy of the Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord

Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord amen

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up 

It’s a new day dawning

It’s time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass 

and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing 

when the evening comes

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

You’re rich in love 

and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great 

and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness 

I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons 

for my heart to find

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

And on that day 

when my strength is failing

The end draws near 

and my time has come

Still my soul 

will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years 

and then forevermore

Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before O my soul

I’ll worship Your holy name

Worship Your holy name

Lord I’ll worship Your holy name

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer (Slides)

Leader: An Ephraimite named Elkanah had two wives and two sons.

Response: He was a descendent of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Leader: His wife Peninnah birthed the two sons.

Response: His wife Hannah birthed no children, no sons.

Leader: In their culture, not having children was considered a disgrace on the woman.

Response: To not have any sons was a curse on the woman’s future.

Leader: It was a time when women were consider ‘less than.’

Response: It was a time when women’s voices were not heard.

Leader: Elkanah’s wife Penninah bullied Hannah, taunting her about not having any children, not having any sons.

Response: She was probably jealous, she recognized that Hannah was the favored wife.

Leader: So, Hannah prayed, she prayed loud, showing her heart to God and man.

Response: The priest who heard Hannah’s prayers thought she was drunk.

Leader: All people had, and have, a voice that is heard by God – God heard Hannah’s prayers, God answered Hannah’s prayers.

Response: Hannah did not quit praying.

Join me in voicing the words of the prayer of Jesus.

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.

And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading (No Slides)

Then Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart rejoices in you Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, all because I rejoice in your salvation. There is no one holy like you Lord, indeed, there is no one besides You, nor is there any rock like you God. Mankind must not go on boasting so very proudly, mankind must not let arrogance come out of our mouth; for you Lord are the God of knowledge, and with you God, actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are broken to pieces, but those who have stumbled strap on strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry cease to be hungry. Even the infertile woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many children languishes.

The Lord puts to death and makes alive; God brings down to Sheol and brings up. The Lord makes poor and rich; Go humbles, He also exalts. God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage heap seating them with nobles and giving them a seat of honor as an inheritance;

The pillars of the earth are yours Lord, and you set the world on them. You watch over the feet of your godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; for a person shall not prevail by might. Those who contend with you Lord will be terrified; there will be thunder in the heavens against them, God will judge the ends of the earth; God will give strength to His king, God will exalt the horn of God’s anointed.”

I Samuel 2:1-10

Music

We fall down

We lay our crowns

At the feet of Jesus

The greatness of mercy and love

At the feet of Jesus

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy 

is the Lamb

Holy holy holy

Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning

Our song shall rise to Thee

Holy holy holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy

All the saints adore Thee

Casting down their golden crowns

Around the glassy sea

Cherubim and seraphim

Falling down before Thee

Which wert and art

And evermore shalt be

Holy holy holy

Lord God Almighty

All Thy works shall praise Thy name

In earth and sky and sea

Holy holy holy

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons

Blessed Trinity

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy 

is the Lamb

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy

And we cry holy holy holy is the Lamb

Message – Immersive Faith

I Samuel 2:1-10

[Screen Share slide 1 as Rick approaches podium – leave screen share up until after slide 9]

[Slide 1] 

[Slide 2] This morning we awoke to a miracle, a human-made miracle, nonetheless, this morning, those of us in states that have daylight savings time received an extra hour. We got more time!

Time is the proverbial dilemma that faces humans across the spectrum of different faiths and of those who claim no faith. Time is an element of our human reality that is unique to humans. 

[Slide 4] Time clashes as our faith intersects with our reality.  We ask “Why does God take so long?” or “Why is God absent during my difficult times?” 

[Slide 5] This question is the unspoken prayer of Hannah. Hannah who surely asked  ‘How many more prayers do I have to say, how many more times do I have to endure society and Peninnah’s taunts, how many more times will God be silent?’ 

Hannah, over a long period of time, said a lot of prayers. Finally, she uttered a prayer that she had not yet said yet, a prayer she had not been willing to say yet, a prayer that contained a promise to God, a prayer said at the right time for Hannah and for God 

[Slide 6] “Lord of armies, if You will indeed look on the affliction of me, Your bond-servant, and remember me, and not forget me, Your bond-servant, but will give me, Your bond-servant, a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” (I Samuel 1:11)

[Slide 7] Only one time in this prayer Hannah mentions the injustice inflicted on her, and three times, Hannah reminds God, and probably herself, that she has made a decision to serve God regardless of her suffering. This significantly frames Hannah’s heart even in this moment of misery. – 

[Slide 9] ‘God, regardless of your answer, or your absence, I am your servant. My heart will still follow you, my mind will still belong to you, I will serve you.’

[End Screen share]

For Hannah, God had a divine and an earthly purpose in her time of waiting, the years of prayers that seemed to be unheard, there was the reason God had seemed absent. It was not a cruel test given by God to prove that Hannah was ready for this child, it was an essential moment for Hannah to be ready for this child, a child of great purpose. This child, while still a child, would be called by God to confront the powerful Priest Eli, he would, as a young adult, anoint the first King of the Isrealites, and then, while that first King was growing increasingly paranoid and violent while still in power, Samuel would be called by God to risk anointing the replacement King. Samuel would be a ruler in a time when there was no ruler. He would be a guide in a time when the Isrealites desperately needed a guide, a time when they did not yet realize they needed a guide, a time when everyone did what was best for them alone, they only did ‘what was right in their own eyes’. He arrived on the scene at the end of the times of the Judges and served as the first prophet in the time of the prophets. 

Samuel’s nature would have to be a man with a vulnerable tender heart towards God and Man, yet God’s calling would also require him to stand strong in the face of adversaries and threats. He would need his mother’s continued and consistent prayers even though she would have to pray from a distance. There was a reason God waited to reveal the answer to Hannah’s prayers. There would be alot on his shoulders, and there would need to be an ‘all in’ immersion of both of his parents.  

[Slide 10 Leave screen share up until after slide 11] 

So, after Hannah had come to a place where she was ready to make the promise to God that she would release her son to God’s calling, a time when she was truly ready to make that sacrifice, ‘The Lord remembered Hannah, and it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him of the Lord.” (I Samuel 1:19b-20)

So, when the time came to release her son Samuel, Hannah, spoke to Eli the priest. She revealed her promise to God as well as God’s answer to her prayers, and then she stuck to her promise, she willingly fulfilled her pledge.

[Slide 11] “Pardon me,” she said to the priest on her yearly visit to the temple,  “As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. I prayed for this boy, and God, who I have prayed to for decades has granted me my request. Now I have dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” (I Samuel 1:26-28)

[End Screen Share]

And then Hannah, once again, said a prayer, but this one was not a prayer of need, it was a prayer of praise and rejoicing, a song of praise, but a prayer in grief nonetheless. After this prayer, Hannah, along with “Elkanah, returned to their home at Ramah. But the boy stayed in order to attend to the service of the Lord before Eli the priest.” (I Samuel 1:11). Hannah would return once a year to see Samuel bringing him a new robe.

This praise of God was a prayer of immersion into her memories of who God was and what God had done, as well as his promised presence. In her new grief, as she left her young child, she needed, in order to survive, to remember that she could continue to trust God. It is important to understand, and it is necessary for us to be able to apply Hannah’s reality to our reality, that Hannah returned back to the same basic circumstances that caused her so much grief. There would still be taunts by Peninnah because Hannah would still be childless, she would still be looked down upon by society, because  it would still look like she had no future. The difference now, however, was that her faith had grown over those years of prayer, her faith had been affirmed and secured as she had this personal faith real life experience that God was present.

Dr. Chan Hellman refers to this as our memory muscles. A affirming moment or success which we hold to as a motivator and foundational strength treasure that assures us that we can, and are able to, move forward. We call it faith, faith that grows and with each knowledge of truth moment, with each real life personal moment of holy, with each answer from God we recognize, with each experience of God’s presence. Growing mental and cardio muscle mass that serves to get us through the future moments when we need muscle to survive.

In our lives, there are two layers of humanity, both were present in Hannah, at the same time. For Hannah, one layer was the reality of loss, she was, understandably, grieving that her son would not be returning home with her, the other layer is the reality of who God is, the ‘whats’ about God that she has learned in her struggle. This layer of evidence, arrived at in the midst of  those prayers, supports and upheld the layer of her painful reality that was waiting for her at home. Hannah was able to continue on, and did survive, in her new state of loss and grief, of taunting and injustice, all supported by the other layer that held that memory muscle, a recognition of who God is and and what she personally has witnessed God did and was doing. 

Hannah begins her praise prayer saying, “I’m bursting with God-news! I’m walking on air. I’m laughing at my rivals. I’m dancing my salvation.” (I Samuel 2:1 MSG) 

This is not a prayer of resentment and bitterness as one would expect, it is truly a prayer of sincere and authentic praise. Instead of grieving on the layer of life reality, now Hannah stands on this layer of muscle that reminds her that God can be trusted even when the passing of time tells her otherwise. Hannah’s prayer of rejoicing is not voiced from the layer of grief and loss, that layer will never be able to speak of rejoicing. However, it is possible to rejoice in the layer of her recognition of who God is. Standing on this layer of reality unseen, the layer that reminds her of her proven God, that she jumped fully in, she immersed herself in praise – praise of the God who is and the God who always will be.

She is rejoicing, not because God gave her a son or that her son is chosen by God for mighty acts, she does not actually mention that. Hannah is rejoicing in the God who has heard her prayers, the God who is present and the God who will be present even as things go back to her miserable normal reality. This layer of life has revealed to her that God hears the voices of the downtrodden, the dismissed, the marginalized. She has spent her entire life being looked down upon within and outside her home, considered ‘less than’ by society, she has been an object of pity and rejection to all that know her. She has also faced the reality that in her elderly years she will be dependent on that pity for her own survival. Now, she was free from that, now this voiceless marginalized person was heard and she recognizes that there is a layer of life she has failed to recognize. Those painful, seemingly unanswered prayers, have opened her eyes to the reality most never see.

In her prayer, Hannah is laughing at those who arrogantly think of themselves as better than others. Those that dismiss her, discriminate against her, that talk in hushed and harsh tones about her. She is talking about those in her household, those in her community, those in the religious community, those in the power of politics. Now, however, she is confident that her strength comes from the God of strength not the favor of others. She has also realized that she does not have to accept the lies they say or think about her. She knows better, she now has the muscle of the layer of truth. 

Hannah now as, and if, she chooses to remember, has muscle, the tools, of knowing that God hears her prayers. She no longer lives wondering if God even cares for a societal outcast like her, she no longer questions if God has abandoned her. Her tears and her pain are no longer mandated by others. She knows something they do not know, God is present. Even when her pain appears again, when the feelings of isolation present their ugliness again, Hannah knows a higher truth. Now she can laugh at the ignorance of society, now she can grieve over the fact that they have not seen this faith building layer supporting her life.

When Andrea and I, back in 2006, were looking for a house to fit our growing family, Andrea was looking at the practical elements, enough closet space, plenty of bathrooms, good schools, close to a grocery store – I was looking for trees. I find trees energizing and wonderful, at this point we had five kids so I wrongly assumed that they would rake leaves, so there was nothing not to love about trees. We found the perfect house with a yard full of trees, and once we moved in, I began planting more trees. One of those trees was a Redbud on the side of our house. Then, a couple of years ago, when that tree had grown along with the growth of my kids – I decided I wanted to move that tree.  Even though it had more than doubled in height, the trunk still seemed small so I figured it was doable. 

At the moment I voiced this plan to my very patient sons, they  attempted to educate me on what was going on under the surface that I clearly could not see – how the roots of that tree were at least the depth and width of the height of the tree. In the end, the tree remained on the side of our house.

You see, our lives are lived out above the surface. We can physically see, emotionally feel, and we can only experience one layer, the layer of what is going on in our lives above the surface. Hannah saw, and experienced, only the injustice above the surface, she felt only the pain. As she prayed and saw nothing going on above the surface that revealed the activity of God, she was restricted from seeing hope. It would have been easy to give up, to accept the labels placed on her by others, it would have been easy just to settle into the pain, to live life as a victim in bitterness and pain. However, she kept praying. With each prayer her roots grew a little stronger, she began to see a little better. Just as the roots of my tree grow in a way to support the visible life above, those prayers were growing her roots for what life, above the surface, had ahead for her. Those roots grew her to a place where she would be ready to bear this son, to release this son to God, to be an avenue of God’s will in the world. 

Hannah still went home devastated, she would still be an object of scorn and pity, still the focus of cruel comments by others, still a marginalized person that was forgotten by those who supposedly followed the same God as Hannah. However, in the midst of those prayers, her own roots had grown to support her, now her tears were not of the agony of following a God who was absent, now her tears were living proof that she had moved to the layer of life that reminded her that God was present, that she was strong, that she was not desolate, dismissed, regardless of what society thought they saw in and about her. She now could cry and laugh at the same time, reassured because she now stood on the layer of truth.

The story of Hannah is a story of God not being a God of time, but the God of the right time. It is a story of God’s mostly unheeded call to followers to love justice, kindness, and humility.  It is a story of a call to sacrifice God’s gift just after the gift has been received. It is a story of a society that sees and labels others in ways that are deceitful, hateful, and very unGodlike. It is a call for all believers to see what is unseen, to live, in the midst of reality, remembering truth, while, at the same time, to constantly seek to better know the God of truth.

OCC Banquet

Music 

Take time to be holy

Speak oft with thy Lord

Abide in Him always

And feed on His Word

Make friends with God’s children

Help those who are weak

Forgetting in nothing

His blessing to seek

Take time to be holy

The world rushes on

Spend much time in secret

With Jesus alone

By looking to Jesus

Like Him thou shalt be

Thy friends in thy conduct

His likeness shall see

Take time to be holy

Be calm in thy soul

Each tho’t and each motive

Beneath His control

Thus led by His Spirit

To fountains of love

Thou soon shall be fitted

For service above

Community

• [Slide] Next Sunday, Atoning Joy, I Samuel 25:2-31
• [Slide]  Advent Bible Study begins Wednesday, November 30 at noon Wednesday for three weeks. We will have an evening study if there is interest expressed (speak with Rick)
• Thanksgiving Dinner, Sunday, November 20, details to come this week

Closing Peace

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction

“May God give you the grace not to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but Love.”  

(William Sloane Coffin)

10.30.22  (Ruth 1:1-22)

Order

Pre Worship Music

Leave Screen Share On from Opening Songs through Lord’s Prayer

Opening Songs: Christian

To God Be The Glory

Jesus Messiah

Call to Worship and Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading On Line – Kelly

Song: Christian

Holy, Holy, Holy

Message Ruth 1:1-22 Rick

Song: Christian

Oceans

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Music

To God Be the Glory

To God be the glory 

Great things He has done

So loved He the world 

That He gave us His Son

Who yielded His life 

An atonement for sin

And opened the life gate 

That all may go in

Praise the Lord  Praise the Lord

Let the earth hear His voice

Praise the Lord  Praise the Lord

Let the people rejoice

O come to the Father 

Through Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory 

Great things He has done

O perfect redemption 

The purchase of blood

To every believer 

The promise of God

The vilest offender 

Who truly believes

That moment from Jesus 

A pardon receives

Praise the Lord praise the Lord

Let the earth hear His voice

Praise the Lord praise the Lord

Let the people rejoice

O come to the Father 

Through Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory 

Great things He has done

Great things He has taught us

Great things He has done

And great our rejoicing 

Through Jesus the Son

But purer and higher 

And greater will be

Our wonder our transport 

When Jesus we see

Praise the Lord praise the Lord

Let the earth hear His voice

Praise the Lord praise the Lord

Let the people rejoice

O come to the Father 

Through Jesus the Son

And give Him the glory 

Great things He has done.

Jesus Messiah

He became sin 

who knew no sin

That we might become 

His righteousness

He humbled Himself 

and carried the cross

Love so amazing 

love so amazing

Jesus Messiah 

Name above all names

Blessed Redeemer Emmanuel

The Rescue for sinners 

The Ransom from heaven

Jesus Messiah Lord of all

His body the bread 

His blood the wine

Broken and poured 

Out all for love

The whole earth trembled 

And the veil was torn

Love so amazing 

Love so amazing

All our hope is in You

All our hope is in You

All the glory to You God

The Light of the world

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer (Slides)

Leader: Today, we see the story of two women

Response: Two women who shared nothing 

Leader: Actually, before their stories merged, they shared less than nothing. 

Response: Their Nationality, Faith, and even their God, all conflicted 

Leader: Their peoples were enemies, their peoples despised each other. 

Response: But the God of love brought them together 

Leader: That is what the God of love seeks to do

Leader: And then, they became family. 

Response: In crisis, in grief, and in sacrifice, their souls were connected. 

Leader: They shared those things that were most important in their lives, the things they held most dear. 

Response: They walked with each other bearing the burden of the other. 

Leader: Their lives exhibited the love of God

Response: The motivating force that led them through pain and loss, 

Leader: Through suffering, desperation, and hopelessness 

Leader: Their lives are a witness to us of a life of selflessness

Response: Their sacrifice gives us a picture of Jesus relentless selfless love

Join me in voicing the words of the prayer of Jesus.

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.

And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading (On Line – Kelly – Spotlight – No Slides)

It was after Joshua led the Isrealites into the promised land and before David was named the first King of Israel – it was the time of the Judges. It was the time when there was not yet a king in Israel; and a time when ‘all the people did what was right in their own eyes.’ It was a brutal time made worse by a famine in the land of Israel. 

Because of an ongoing famine, a man from Bethlehem named Elimelech went to live outside of the promised land in the country of Moab with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion. They entered the land of Moab and remained there. 

After Elimelech died, the two sons married Moabite women, one was named Orpah and the other was Ruth. Ten years later, the sons, Mahlon and Chilion, also died – Naomi was left without her husband and without her sons while Ruth and Orpah were left without their husbands.

Naomi heard that there was food back home so she departed with her two daughters-in-law to return to her homeland. 

But, after a bit, Naomi said to her daughters-in-law, “Go, return to your mother. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. May the Lord grant you both a place of rest, and a life in the house of your future husbands.” Then she kissed them both, and all three women wept. 

However, they said to her, “No, we are going to go with you to your people.” Naomi replied, “Go back to your parents. What hope will you have if you go with me? It is ridiculous to think that I could have two more sons and that you would wait for them to grow up! No, my dear daughters; life now is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”

The three raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and returned to her land and her people, but Ruth clung to Naomi.

Naomi said to Ruth, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; go with her.” Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.” Naomi quit pressuring Ruth to go home when she saw that Ruth was determined to go with Naomi.

So Naomi and Ruth traveled on to Bethlehem. 

Ruth 1:1-19

Music

Holy Holy Holy

Holy holy holy 

Lord God Almighty

Early in the morning 

Our song shall rise to Thee

Holy holy holy 

Merciful and mighty

God in three persons 

Blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy 

all the saints adore Thee

Casting down their golden crowns 

around the glassy sea

Cherubim and seraphim 

falling down before Thee

Which wert and art 

and evermore shalt be

Holy holy holy 

though the darkness hide Thee

Though the eye of sinful man 

thy glory may not see

Only Thou art holy 

there is none beside Thee

Perfect in power in love and purity

Holy holy holy 

Lord God Almighty

All Thy works shall praise 

Thy name in earth and sky and sea

Holy holy holy 

merciful and mighty

God in three persons 

Blessed Trinity

Message – Relentless Selflessness

Ruth 1:1-22

Screen share left up through slide 11

[Slide 1] ‘Now it came about in the days when the judges governed…’ (Ruth 1:1)

[Slide 2]It is called an opening crawl, the first details of the story that give you the raw details you need to be ready for the action to begin. Probably the most memorable opening crawl was read by audiences on May 25, 1977, which said…

[Slide 3] “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away… It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, ….”

This, minus the John Williams’ soundtrack, works to do the same as this first words of the story of Ruth…

[Slide 4] ‘Now it came about in the days when the judges governed…’ (Ruth 1:1)

You may remember that the time of the Judges was a time summed up in the repeat line ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes.’

[Slide 5] It is much like the opening crawl of the story of Noah, ‘the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.’ (Genesis 6:5). In Ruth, as in Genesis, our opening description tells us that it was a difficult time to live. Those that governed were largely a selfish and brutal bunch who did evil, and with the exception of Judge Deborah, the judges did not end well. This was also true of the people, they too had become distant from God, seeking to only do what would be best for them – they only did what was right for them without concern for others. 

[Slide 6] It is an odd introduction for a story of two women who were relentlessly selfless in their lives. A story that hinges on two women who probably aren’t meant to be nice to each other let alone sacrifice their lives to lift each other up. It is a story of two individuals who in a time of very not niceless, these two were nice, they were kind, they were good.

[Slide 7] In the television show The Good Place, which takes place in the afterlife, the character Chidi, who was an moral ethics philosophy professor on earth, is once again tasked to train others in ethical living. He is basically given the job of challenging the others in the afterlife to consider the question, “What do we owe to each other?”

[Slide 8] He eventually answers his own question by saying, “So why do it, then, why choose to be good everyday if there is no guaranteed reward we can count on now? I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people and our innate desire to treat them with dignity. Simply put, we are not in this alone.” (Chidi, The Good Place)

[Slide 9] British economist, Minouche Shafik refers to our answer to this question of  “What do we owe to each other?’ as the social contracts that exist in all societies of the world. 

[Slide 10] “Everyone participates in the social contract every day, and we rarely stop to think about it. Yet social contracts shape every aspect of our lives, including how we raise our children and engage in education, what we expect from our employers, and how we experience sickness and old age. All of these activities require us to cooperate with others for mutual benefit, and the terms of that cooperation define the social contract in our society and the shape of our lives. 

[Slide 11] Laws and norms underpin these daily interactions. In some societies, the social contract relies more on families and communities for mutual support; in others, the market and the state play a greater role. But in all societies, people are expected to contribute to the common good when they are adults in exchange for being looked after when they are young, old, or unable to care for themselves.” (Minouche Shafik, 2021)

We often look at the story of Ruth as being a simple story of love, first between a woman and her daughter-in-law, then between the daughter-in-law and the man who rescues her. But this interpretation fails to see the many nuanced layers in this very heavy story. It is not a safe story, it is a story of a violent time and two women who have not only suffered great loss but choose to risk losing what little they have left. It is not really a love story as much as it is a story of risks, survival, and ultimately survival. 

To understand this story we must also understand the story of the story, we must understand the writing story of the story. While the story of Ruth took place during the time of the Judges, it was probably not written during the time of the Judges. It was also probably not written during the time of the Kings, rather, it was probably written after the exile, after the Persians conquered the Babylonians and where therefore the oppressors of the Israelites as they returned to Jerusalem and the promised land. 

A time when the Isrealites were concerned about how much control they would have over their own lives and how much of their own boundaries would be respected. Most notably though, was a concern about if they would still be a people. This concern of many Israelites was leading to a nationalism which sought to exclude those that were not ‘true Jews’, that were not of Jewish blood. It was a time when old romanticized tradition was coming into conflict with all the advances in their relationship with God during their time in exile, divisions were rising up. In this time enters the story of a women who passed many years before, a woman who was not only not a Jew but is a Moabite, an enemy of the Isrealites. A women would be one of only five women listed in the lineage of Jesus. A woman who reminded them of their call to a relentless selflessness.

So, during this time in history, four centuries before the birth of Jesus, as the Isrealites were turning inward, this story is written, a story that needed at this time to be written and heard. A story is told of another time when everyone was living selfishly, nevertheless, a time when two women chose another path. A time not unlike our own time.

“Ruth explores questions of life and faith highlighting themes- the untimely

death of people we love, food shortages, financial & political instability,

unemployment, community responses to those in need, as well as

immigration and racial differences. There are other layers of themes

such as empty and full; finding home and hope; of bread and belonging;

as well as repair, resilience, resistance and redemption!” 

(Mark Greene from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity)

Geographically, Ruth’s homeland was right next to the homeland of Naomi. Israel and Moab shared a border. Both nations may have seen similar in many ways including culture and language but otherwise they were a world apart. The two nations and their citizens were in frequent conflict that went back before the Isrealites had fully occupied, or even arrived at, the promised land. The story of Ruth, in many ways, is an Old Testament version of Jesus’ story of the good Samaritan – a story that is told to define who is our neighbor we are called to love.

The story of Ruth, however, is not just a story of Ruth. It is also a story of Ruth’s mother-in-law was an Isrealite, an Isrealite who was a foreigner in a foreign land.  A family of foreigners who had lived out the call to love the foreigner. Although they themselves were foreigners in Ruth’s homeland, Naomi’s family had fully and unconditionally embraced Ruth and Orpha, giving both women an up close view of what it meant to follow the God of the Isrealites and the call of love lived out for them to see. They taught Naomi about God not through their voiced words but through the message of their lives. Their message was concrete, it was living proof.

Ruth is a message of evangelism, but an evangelism that is totally foreign to our own thoughts of sharing our faith. Our mode of evangelism uses the tools of judgment and condemnation, we focus on sin and hell – Ruth and Orpha had heard the message of God through the love, acceptance, and embrace of this Naomi and her family. 

Ruth selflessly gives up living with her own people, having a husband to

provide for her, and a family of her own, in order to provide for Naomi’s needs to of companionship and care. On Naomi’s part, we also see a reflection of her own selflessness as she relentlessly attempts to persuade Ruth to return to her home. Naomi tried to reinforce the futility of staying expressing the fact that she could in no way meet the needs of Ruth. Both women show us how to love the one who had been a stranger.

Ruth stops the loving argument with the words, “Do not plead with me to leave you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.” In the original text these words were not said with the future tense of the word ‘will’ but instead they were words of present tense. ‘Your people are my people, your God is my God.’

We usually look at the story of Ruth and Naomi and focus on the Kinsman Redeemer, Boaz. The one that rescues these two women, who brings them hope, who gives them back a future. We usually come away from this story focusing on our redeemer – Jesus Christ. However, there is another equally powerful and relevant story. A story that we would get even if we only had chapter one of the book of Ruth. A story that would start with hopeless and, in an earthly say, end with hopelessness. A story that would present us the harsh reality of being human and leave us there. However, limited with just this one chapter we are given a story of the hope that is present even when we see no hope. The story, even when we just have chapter one, shows us that there is still love in the worst of life.  

Chapter one alone teaches us God’s desire for us as humans, struggling to live in the realities of our human existence. A reality that is often hard and painful, a reality where there is not always enough and the struggles are often endless, a reality that brings pain, misery, and confusion. It is in this reality, and in the reality of Naomi and Ruth, that we see God’s desire for us to be his hands in the midst of this mess we call our reality. To be and do good, to let our lives be a conduit of God’s love, to be the essence of hope when our reality has no hope to share. 

This is why Jesus prayed, ‘Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Not a prayer about dominion or victory but a prayer of being and doing – being the reflection of God and doing the work of God. Ruth and Naomi, in this one chapter, which does not give us a happy earthly ending, in this chapter we see the how of being the good on this earth that God created for good.

Music 

Oceans

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown 

Where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in 

deepest waters

Your sovereign hand  

will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You’ve never failed and 

You won’t start now

Spirit lead me where 

my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper 

than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour

I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

Community

• [Slide] Next Sunday, Immersive Thanks, I Samuel 2:1-10
• [Slide]  Fall Bible Study – Concludes this Wed, November 2 (I Peter 5)
• [Slide] Norman Cultural Connection invites you to an event today. COMING HOME: Re-membering, Reconnecting, Repatriate, Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 3:00 PM  1950 Beaumont Drive

Closing Peace

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction

“May God give you the grace not to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but Love.”  

(William Sloane Coffin)

Order, Words, & Voices
10.23.22 Guest Speaker Steven Reeves (Luke 18:9-14)

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs:                                 Christian
Great is thy Faithfulness
In Christ Alone

Call to Worship and Lord’s Prayer                    Segun & Linda

Reading                                    On Line – Isaiah

Song:                                     Christian    
Be Thou My Vision

Speaker Introduction                            Rick

Message            Luke 18:9-14                       Steven Reeves

Song:                                        Christian
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

Closing Peace                                Rick

Benediction                                    Rick

Post Worship Music

Music
Great is thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, 
O God my Father
There is no shadow 
of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, 
Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, 
Thou forever will be

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning 
new mercies I see
All I have needed 
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, 
Lord, unto me

Summer and winter 
and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars 
in their courses above
Join with all nature 
in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, 
mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning 
new mercies I see
All I have needed 
Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, 
Lord, unto me

Pardon for sin 
and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence 
to cheer and to guide
Strength for today 
and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine 
with 10, 000 beside

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning 
new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, 
Lord, unto me

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest 
drought and storm

What heights of love 
what depths of peace
When fears are stilled 
when strivings cease
My Comforter my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones 
He came to save

Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious 
blood of Christ

No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer (Slides)

(Linda) Please join in response as Segun leads us in our call to worship responsive reading.

Leader (Segun): Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good; God’s love endures forever.
Response: Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.

Leader: Those God redeemed from the hand of the foe, those God gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Response: Some wandered in desert wastelands,

Leader: They found no way to a city, to a place where they could settle.
Response: They were hungry and thirsty.

Leader: Their lives seemed to fade away as they cried out to the Lord.
Response:  God delivered them from their distress.

Leader: God led them to a place where they could settle. 

(Segun) Please Join us in praying the prayer of Jesus.

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And God, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading (On Line – Isaiah/No Slides)

Jesus told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other one; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14

Music

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only first in my heart

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art
High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s sun

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all

Speaker Introduction (No Slides)

Stephen Reeves serves as executive director of the independent Fellowship Southwest and directs advocacy for the Cooprerative Baptist Fellowship. Reeves had also served as director of public policy for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission and as staff attorney for the Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Reeves is a national leader in the effort to reform predatory lending practices, and has led CBF to be more active in advocacy for immigrants and refugees. Stephen is co-author of The Mission of Advocacy: A toolkit for congregations.

Message – Stephen Reeves (No Slides)

Luke 18:9-14
No Manuscript Available

Music 

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar 
the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory
 Behold the Man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
 I will not boast in anything
No gifts no pow’r no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Community

• [Slide] Next Sunday, Relentless Selflessness, Ruth 1:1-22
• [Slide]  Fall Bible Study – Continues this Wed, October 26 (Luke 18:9-14)

​Closing Peace
May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction
“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed even as you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”

Order, Words, & Voices

10.16.22 A Messy Faith (Judges 11:29-40)

Order

Pre Worship Music

Opening Songs: Lynn

Blessed Be The Name of the Lord 

Standing on the Promises v 1, 3

Call to Worship and Lord’s Prayer Pettys

Reading Pettys

Song: Lynn

One thing remains

I Need Thee Every Hour vs 1, 3

Message Messy Faith Rick

(Leave the Messy Faith Slide on screen share for entirety of message)

Song: Lynn

I Surrender All vs 1,4

Closing Peace Rick

Benediction Rick

Post Worship Music

Words and Voice

Music

Blessed be Your name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Verse 2

Blessed be Your name

When I’m found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name

Pre-Chorus

Ev’ry blessing You pour out I’ll

Turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in Lord

Still I will say

Chorus

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Verse 3

Blessed be Your name

When the sun’s shining down on me

When the world’s all as it should be

Blessed be Your name

Verse 4

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there’s pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Bridge

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Verse 1

Standing on the promises 

of Christ my King

Through eternal ages 

let His praises ring

Glory in the highest I will shout and sing

Standing on the promises of God

Chorus

Standing standing

Standing on the promises of God my Savior

Standing standing

I’m standing on the promises of God

Verse 2

Standing on the promises I now can see

Perfect present cleansing in the blood for me

Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free 

Standing on the promises of God

Chorus

Standing standing

Standing on the promises of God my Savior

Standing standing

I’m standing on the promises of God

Call to Worship/Lord’s Prayer

Welcome to those online and those in person with us this Sunday. God’s word reminds us continually of God’s character, the life of Jesus shows us, in real time, the love of the Father, God’s Spirit consistently challenges us to trust God’s power, might, love, and grace.  God uses flawed humans, humans such as us. God’s call promises us God’s presence even when we do not see the evidence. God calls us to lay down pride and arrogance and exchange them both for humility and holiness. Join me as we pray to God, the God of truth.

(Slides) Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.

And God, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading [No Slides]

Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed through the promised land on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, whatever comes out of the doors of my house shall be the Lord’s, and will be offer it to God as a burnt offering.” 

So Jephthah crossed over to fight against the Ammonites and the Lord gave them into his hand. Jephthah inflicted a massive defeat against the Ammonites. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.

After the battle, as Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah, his daughter, his only child, was the first to come out to meet her father with timbrels and dancing. When Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Oh no! My precious daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.” 

The daughter said to him, “My father, now that the Lord has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to the vow you made. Before you do fulfill the vow, first grant me two months, so that I may go and wander on the mountains while grieving my virginity with my companions.” 

Jephthah said, “Go,” and he sent her away for two months. So she departed with her companions. At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who sacrificed her according to the vow he had made. So there arose an Israelite custom that 40 for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Judges 11:29-40

Music [Slides]

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

(REPEAT)

Your love

Higher than the mountains that I face

Stronger than the power of the grave

Constant in the trial and the change

One thing remains

One thing remains

Chorus

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

(REPEAT)

Your love

Verse 2

On and on and on and on it goes

It overwhelms and satisfies my soul

And I never ever have to be afraid

One thing remains

One thing remains

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

(REPEAT)

Your love

In death in life I’m confident and

Cover’d by the power of Your great love

My debt is paid there’s nothing that

Can separate my heart from Your great love

Your love never fails

It never gives up

Never runs out on me

(REPEAT)

Your love

I need Thee every hour

Most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine

Can peace afford

I need Thee O I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee

O bless me now my Savior

I come to Thee

I need Thee every hour

In joy or pain

Come quickly and abide

Or life is vain

I need Thee O I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee

O bless me now my Savior

I come to Thee

Message – Messy Faith [Leave Messy Faith Slide on screen share for message]

A third grade Sunday School teacher asked her students to write a letter to God, a young student named Raphel asked God this.

Dear God, If you give me a Genie lamp like Aladdin, I will give you anything you want except for my money or my chess set.

Raphael, 3rd Grade

A response that is probably an assumed in many of our prayers.

In 312 AD, military leader Flavius Constantine I looked up and saw a cross in the sky emblazoned with the command, “By this sign, conquer!” He went on to become Caesar Constantine the Great leading armies into war under the banner of the cross of Christ. Once it became known that he now favored Chrisitanity those wanting to please and impress the emperor quickly made an expedient conversion to Christianity. Constantine outlawed crucifixion to honor the death of Jesus and made hanging the new official mode of execution. The empire could still dominate, victimize and terrorize, but it would do so in a way that “honored” Jesus. For many of the new converts influenced by Constantine, their faith became very messy, the mixing of their understanding of Christianity that came primarily  from Constantine’s action with the practices of their former pagan practices of faith. (Josh Way)

Faith can get messy fast. Take a bit of this and a full measure of that and soon you have unknowingly created your own unique faith. Albeit, all the elements are borrowed and mixed together, still it can easily become a faith that is not really dependent on a true God. Sometimes these self created faiths lead us to some great disappointments, frustrations, and moments of devastating defeat – while in the darkness, blinding us to our own messy faith.

Whether it be a third grader or a world leader, faith requires a constant openness and curiosity to the full truth of and about God.

A native American pastor friend speaks to his own broken heartedness due to the high suicide rates and drug and meth addictions and deaths in his tribal communities. He tells of the messiness he encounters in the faith of his people. A messiness that is less about their tribal religious customs and more about the impact of the hand of the white christians that have touched and harmed his people for centuries. Revelations upon revelations of actions, such as the Boarding School graves recently found, that do not match up with the God of Love he tells them about. It is messy and it is confusing, and the impact is devastating.

We all have this messiness in our faith. Truths that are missed because of wrong teachings mixed with our own life lessons learned by the lives of those we allow to influence us. 

Our story today is a story of a messy faith on the part of a father and his daughter. A messy faith that leads both into suffering and pain.

The father was named Jephthah, a man who would be a judge in the time between Joshua and the Kings. A descendant of Joseph, Jephthah’s father was a member of the tribe of Manasseh, yet Jephthah belonged nowhere. 

• Jephthah was a product of childhood trauma, abused by his own siblings who banished and disinherited him because his mother was a prostitute. His faith was shaped by the stories of the victorious faith of his ancestors, stories of a God who rescued and led, stories that collided with his reality of rejection from his own family. His faith was blurry.
• Jephthah, as a young teen, possibly even as an adolescent, he was left to life on his own. He gathered a group of men like himself, misfits and rejects. Together they shaped a life, a family, for themselves – they became self made warriors taking what they needed while becoming a military force to be reckoned with. His faith was in survival.
• As Jephthah’s reputation began to rise, his own brothers and their tribe began to sink. The armies of the Ammorites were preparing for a strike on the Israelites, an attack that would bring calamity on the tribe of Manasseh. The brothers too had learned of Jephthah’s growing skill of fighting and for leading a group of warriors so they went to Jephthah begging for his help. Their heads hung low recognizing the shame of their past abuse in light of their current desperation. Jephthah’s faith was now vindication.
• Jephthah does not bitterly reject them leaving them to defeat, instead he seeks revenge, not just against the enemies of his people but also against the arrogance of his own family. He agrees to lead their armies but only on the condition that he will be their leader even after his victory on the battle field. A condition that is accepted. Jephthah faith is now in earthly power.
• Jephthah shows an amazing understanding of the facts of God’s working among his own people. He remembers the battles that God led the Isrealites to fight, he remembers the history of past battles for the promised land, and the full details of the new inhabitants along the way – who took the land from who long before the Isrealites even arrived. He knows of God’s might but he has failed to understand the heart of God. He does not know the compassionate God who despised the evil religious practices of abuse, human sacrifice, and brutality in the acts of worship of the former inhabitants of the promised land. Jephthah’s faith is one of dominion.
• God’s Spirit moves Jephthah to war, filling him with the power to fight and the power to lead. God is present with Jephthah, a call from God to battle is an assurance of victory – yet Jephthah foolishly needs more. In his exuberance for the battle and a reliance still on his own strength, he make an ‘if/then’ vow, a promise to God. He promises God, the God who is leading him into a battle and a victory, Jephthah promises to sacrifice whatever, or whoever, comes from his house to greet him after the battle is complete. His faith is now messy.
• After the war, as Jephthah can see his home, the first to run from the house is his daughter, his only child running to him rejoicing in his victory and return. Jephthah’s faith was flattened, lost.

Later, in the time of the prophets, the prophet Hosea would sum up Jephthah’s problem in one sentence from God, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)

This was a time of celebration, instead it became a moment of regret. It was an opportunity for humility and repentance, instead it became an unholy call for pride and arrogance. Instead of recognizing his own failings, his own lack of understanding of God and God’s leading, Jephthah responded to this devastating moment by casting blame onto his beloved daughter. 

“Why were you the first one out of the door?!” he screamed.

Jephthah’s daughter’s response is equally troubling, she seemingly accepts her unvoiced fate without questions. This may have been that she was accustomed to her dad’s impulsive statements always knowing that they eventually would harm her. It may be that she had fully accepted the messy faith of her father and therefore this made sense. It could have been that she now considered her own sacrifice made victory possible by her faith. Her response was not to investigate options, to search for truth and see if this was really expected by God – instead she chose to grieve for herself and the life she would not be permitted to live.

It is a horrendous event which surprisingly met with no resistance or doubt. It would make sense for the daughter to submissively accept her fate knowing the lack of personhood that women held. However, Jephthah could have known and done better instead of repeating his own heritage of being the victim of abuse. He could have gone to God instead of pridefully hanging onto his messy faith.

It is a tragic story but not an irrelevant story to us today. We too are still vulnerable to the risk of a messy faith. While we focus on other beliefs, other traditions, even other Christians and their practices, we fail to see and recognize the most powerful influence that mess up our faith. Social Scientists are now saying that credible research is showing that for the first time in our country politics and politicians have an inordinate influence on our faith. While, at past times faith influenced our politics, now we are in an unprecedented time when our politics hold greater influence over our faith. Pastors, and religious leaders, now report individuals seeking to know more about their church or ministry, the questions are now primarily political and only marginally theological. 

Politicians and their supportive pundits, slanted cable and internet news services, political agenda groups using religious language with limited credible scripture, false prophets dressed as religious leaders, and lazy believers that listen only to what they have been told to hear and to believe only that which they have been told to believe, all are allowed, by us, to keep us in the dark – to make an evil mess of our faith.

While a large portion of believers fall into this trap, an increasingly large number of believers are, instead, choosing to walk away from their faith. Walking away because they recognize the answers they receive offer no relief in their reality.  They are finding that efforts to answer their questions offer little condolence or hope.

Sometimes we have to realize that there is not always an answer but, instead, our question provides an avenue. In the story of Jephthah’s daughter we are left hanging, the question of ‘Why did God not stop this?” remains unanswered. Maybe it is not meant to be answered, maybe it is a call to look seriously at our faith, to critique our own investment, or lack thereof, in our knowledge of God, to weed out the false teachings that have been ingrained in our thinking – maybe an unanswered question is a platform pushing us to seek God with a greater veracity. To eliminate the wrong that we are believing and to replace it with the truth of our graceful, compassionate, merciful, grieving God.

Practicing Jews still lament the death of Jephthah’s daughter yearly. In one traditional means of lament they listen to and voice the following words –

‘She has no name, has neither face nor eyes for they were burnt by fire. She sought her beloved but found him not, no kisses, no child, she is the song of nothingness. She loved her father, a great mighty warrior. She ran after his love, she praised, she danced, but he responded with anger. He said she hurt him, she caused him grief. He raised the knife, she lay on stone.  Her father will die at a good old age – where was the angel to stop his hand. Where was the sacred messenger? Who is this God. why does he hide, can he hear her cries, does he see her tears?’

We face the same questions, we are uncomfortable with the unanswering voice – the daughter was a victim of her earthly father’s messy faith. The same messiness that still is allowed to exist in our faith today, permitted to enter in, to mix with the God of truth, and to hide the God of presence. The story of Jephthah is a story of believer’s failure to seek and know God beyond the pages of a man made tract, or an human created theory of end times, it is a failure to understand the God of correction and instead replace him with acts of earthly dominion and human strategized victory. It is a confrontation of the unholiness that exists and influences our own faith. And the question for us, as we recount this story, falls in the ending of the lament of the women’s death.

‘From the forest of our lives into the clearing, rain falls on the mountaintop

soaking the wordless stone on which she died, year after year, like the truth of her tears. Will the pain be acknowledge, will the cries be heard?’

We are confronted with the challenge to our faith see, will we see and hear as God sees and listens?’

Thousands of years later the question still hangs in this moment. Will we see the rain falling, seeking to wash away the unholy messiness, allowing us to see the painful impacts of our own messy faith. Will their moments, will those moments hidden from our sight, lead us to address our messy faith?

Music  [No Slides]

Verse 1

All to Jesus I surrender

All to Him I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

Chorus

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee my blessed Savior

I surrender all

Verse 4

All to Jesus I surrender

Lord I give myself to Thee

Fill me with Thy love and power

Let Thy blessing fall on me

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee my blessed Savior

I surrender all

Community [Slides]

• [Slide] Next Sunday,Guest Speaker Stephen Reeves, Executive Director Fellowship Southwest
• [Slide]  Fall Bible Study – Continues this Wed, October 19 (I Peter 3)
• [Slide] Cleveland County Crop Walk, Today, Sunday October 16 @ 1:30pm, locally and globally , register at Crop walk at Andrews Park
• CBF Celebrating Excellence Dinner next Sunday evening (Sam Noble Museum), We have table with 6 (free) seats available, speak with Rick if interested in attending. Speaker Paul Baxley Executive Coordinator for CBF

Closing Peace [Slide]

May the Peace of the Lord go with you. And also with you.

Benediction [Slide]

“Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father and as you go, remember: By the goodness of God you were born into this world. And by the grace of God you have been kept even until this very hour. And by the love of God, fully revealed in the face of Jesus, you have been redeemed even as you are being redeemed. So go in peace.”