Unity. That was the theme that came out of the passage for me for this past week. I had been given a carved nut several weeks earlier and that carved nut became part of the shared message. Each week the services come together with the musicians and the technology, though we are not yet together in person. It continues to encourage me as I am reminded that the Holy Spirit guides us in this endeavor.
Below you will find the transcript for the sermon and links to the YouTube service (in its entirety) and the SoundCloud audio.
Maybe there is something for you in this week's message.
On a side note, I felt like I had fumbled fairly badly in my recording this week. I stumbled and fumbled over pronouncing "charism" in the Psalm Prayer. I also got ahead (or behind) in my reading of the Charles Wesley hymn and became silent for almost an entire minute. For anyone else, I can and do offer grace. For me, I can be pretty hard on myself. I am still learning that I, too, am worthy of grace. Yeah, I know, that seems odd. But, any of us can forget that we need to apply what we offer to others to ourselves. I know I'm not the only one in that boat. Don't even try to tell me that there are not folks who also extend grace extensively to others, yet hold back on themselves. I know better. I also know that we are all works in progress. That's why it's called GRACE. :)
May grace be real to you. May unity be a reality too.
Rev. Deb
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“Unity”
Psalm 133 (CEB)
August 16, 2020 (11th Sunday after Pentecost)
St. Elmo UMC (FB Live)
Psalm 133 (CEB)
1 Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as
one!
2 It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his
robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of
Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
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THIS IS THE WORD OF LIFE FOR GOD’S PEOPLE.
THANKS
BE TO GOD.
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Today’s passage is a short one—three verses. Today’s title comes from verse 1—“Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one!”
We aren’t able to live together fully in person right now, but we can still worship together, connect with one another, make visits (socially distanced), write to one another or call… we are still one.
The word “one” here is translated in other verses as “unity” and that’s where the title originates for today’s sermon.
In the NIV, we read: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live
together in unity!”
I could use the phrase “unity in community” since the word “unity” is literally within the word “community”. What does it mean for us to have unity in community?
If we break down the word “community” into the prefix and suffix, then we have “comm.” that means “with” “together” and “unity” meaning “one”. The meaning comes out the same, doesn’t it?!? We can now see how the CEB translated the phrase “together as one”
In one commentary I read this week, it spoke about how living in unity meant having ‘one heart, one soul, one interest’. https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/psalms/133.html
Though we may not always have the exact interests as a faith community, one thing that makes us unique is our inclusiveness of all people. This unity in the faith community not only helps us stay connected to one another, but it also provides hope.
Paul Chilcote and Steve Harper recently published a book on Living Hope: An Inclusive Vision of the Future. They see it as a trilogy, a third book to Chilcote’s Active Faith and Harper’s Holy Love. In the prologue they write: “Our common hope has been for the church to rediscover what faithfulness and unity mean for a time such as this.” (ix-x)
There are two other instances in which
“unity” is mentioned in the context of hope.
What I got out of that is that we are able to share hope with one
another more effectively when we are living as one.
Here are the two quotes so you can reflect on them for yourself: “The Bible offers a vision of living hope rooted in the establishment and maintenance of right relationships—completeness, unity, and harmony between everyone and everything.” (3)
“Scholars have viewed these three words [faith, hope, love] as a unity, with love being supreme, giving faith its fire and light to hope.” (12)
One of the things we have done this past week as a church to help us connect, to help us live together as one, and to help us share hope with one another is to hand out yard signs that say: “Sending Love to You! You are the salt of the earth… Matthew 5:13. In the middle of those two sayings is a heart with the church’s logo and name. I want to thank David Howard for his graphic design. Thanks to our Outreach Team, our Worship Team, and a donation, we were able to get these signs. As the letter that accompanies the signs say, they are a hug. We realize that not all people live in places that can have signs, and we’re still in the process of getting the signs out. In fact, we’re still in the process of cleaning up our database and this has helped. That’s why we have asked for updates in the announcements. If we’ve missed you and you’d like a sign, reach out. We’ll get one to you. This is just one way we can share hope with one another and show that we are a community, working together in mission and ministry to be the love and light of Christ, even in these ongoing different and difficult days.
As we look at the remaining two verses, we see the analogy of what living in unity is like. It is like expensive oil poured out over the head that runs onto the beard. Not just any beard, but Aaron’s beard, a beard long enough to go over the collar of the robe. Aaron was one of Moses’ right hand men, literally. When Moses was too tired to hold up his arms, Aaron was there to hold one side for him.
Imagine oil pouring over the head and onto the beard. Imagine that oil being soft, silky, and smelling good. That is how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one.
The last verse, verse 3 has another analogy. This time the liquid is not oil, but dew. There is so much dew, though, that it is streaming down the mountains. That is quite a bit of dew.
I’ve been hiking lately and there hasn’t been much of anything streaming down the mountains on the trails I’ve been to. Falling Water Falls was barely a trickle going over the rock. Imagine a dew so thick that it is streaming down the mountains. Now, remember that this analogy (like the first one) is to show how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one.
There is abundant and overflowing life when we live in unity in community… in our faith community, in the larger community. I have this carved nut (yes it’s a nut) to remind me to strive for unity.
Unity is my heart’s desire for us here at St. Elmo UMC, as a faith community, for our leadership, for our entire community. Out of that unity will flow abundant life, hope, healing, transformation, love, and light to and for others.
What is your part in us becoming a community that lives into unity? What are you doing to strengthen the community?
What actions will you take to ensure that we are connected, growing, and healing?
If you aren’t sure where to start? Start with yourself. How will you ensure that you are connected, growing, and healing?
Jerry Webber, a leader at a church in Houston, TX, and a faculty member for the Academy for Spiritual Formation wrote a Psalm Prayer for Psalm 133 in Sometimes an Unknown Path, pages 50-51
When Your people journey together, God,
we each travel at our own pace,
yet we somehow travel together
How beautiful it is, how healing,
when we extend love and generosity to one another,
when we acknowledge Your charism in our sisters and brothers,
the young and the old,
pure gift, all grace.
Like when we climb a steep mountain trail,
slowly ascending switchback after switchback,
then reach the summit and look out over the landscape,
pure gift, all grace.
Like when we sit quietly outdoors at the
end of work and traffic,
gazing at the western sky that blazes
in violets and pins and fiery oranges,
pure gift, all grace.
Like the friend who comes to our side when
everyone else has scattered,
content to offer her presence
when we are at the end of ourselves,
pure gift, all grace.
Or like the beauty of Your holiness
worked deeply into the fabric of a life that has hit the bottom,
the beautiful unveiling of a brother
growing to be the person You created him to be,
pure gift, all grace.
So we offer You our deepest thanks.
May our lives together be a sign of Your
love to all the world,
a sign that people who give themselves to You
can live together in harmony and peace.
Amen.
Mother Teresa took Cardinal John Henry Newman’s poem “Radiating Christ” and changed the first person singular to the plural so that it could be prayed in community. I learned about her “Fragrance Prayer” in the book Living Hope by Paul Chilcote and Steve Harper that I read this week.
As a way of our faith community continuing to live in unity and live into the living hope that Christ offers us, would you join me in praying this prayer as I close?
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