Not just once, but twice, Psalm 42 asks the question, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” It also says, “My tears have been my food day and night. Why have you forgotten me?”

These emotions and questions are real, part of the human experience. Most of us have been there: feeling depressed, abandoned, heartsick. But I wonder how many of us have felt free to speak this pain to God. The beauty of the Psalms is that they hold nothing back. They invite us to be honest before God.

The Psalm ends, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God.”

The praise is not there yet, but there is light at the end. There is hope that God will act, that things will change and that we will get through this. One of the things that strike me is that the pain has to be acknowledged before there is hope.

When your soul is downcast, may you be honest before God. In your honesty, in voicing your own pain, may you begin to get a glimpse of redeeming love. And, may you come to know on an even deeper level, your Rock and your Savior.

Our prayer today is taken from Psalm 13. Notice again the shift from complaint to praise. Let us pray: How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God! But, I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to you because you have dealt bountifully with me. Amen.

The much-beloved hymn Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee was written in 1907 by Henry van Dyke. He had been speaking at Williams College in Massachusetts and was inspired by the beauty of the Berkshire Mountains. He later said of the hymn, “These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings… hymns of today may be sung by people who know the thought of the age and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven.”

I love the majestic verses of the hymn, and I also appreciate van Dyke’s thoughts. I agree that the more we understand the complexities of the world through science or observation, the deeper our love and respect of our Creator should be.

Today, our prayer will be the first verse of this beautiful hymn. Let us pray: Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness. Drive the dark of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day! Amen.

The word Grace comes from the Greek word Charis. In one of his Wednesday night classes on the Parables, our Parish Associate Pastor Bob Smith defined grace as God’s unmerited, un-discourageable love. I like that.

Other scholars tell us the word can be translated: joy, gift, pleasure, acceptance, favor, or favor done without any expectation of return.

Wow!

One of the most astonishing things about grace is that not only is it given to us completely unmerited, but also that God has taken the initiative to offer it to us.

Pastor Mark Trotter brought this home for me when he wrote:

“Have you ever notice that in the service professions, those professions that are supposed to serve society, like medicine, law, religion, counseling, social work, that the professionals in all of those professions sit in offices, and people make appointments to come and see them.

“But not God. God so loved the world he came to us, took the initiative to come to us in Jesus Christ. Which means, he is like the shepherd who seeks out the one who is lost and leaves the ninety-nine behind. Or, like the woman who sweeps out her house to find the lost coin. Or, like the father who goes down the road to embrace the child who was lost, but now is found.

In his book, What’s so Amazing About Grace, Phillip Yancey wrote that he has found in Mozart’s Requiem a prayer which he now uses daily. It goes like this: “Remember, merciful Jesus, that I am the cause of your journey.”

May you know in the very deepest part of your being that you are the cause of Jesus’ journey. He comes with grace to you even now – offering acceptance, favor, unmerited and un-discourageable love.

Let us pray: Merciful and Loving God, we thank you for coming to us in Jesus and for your love that knows no bounds. As we receive this grace, may we ever be looking for ways to share it with a world desperately in need. Amen.

Author Hans-Ruedi Weber tells a popular East African story about a simple woman who always walked around with her big bulky Bible. No matter where she went, she toted it around with her. It got to the point where the other villagers began to tease her about, “Why always the Bible? There are so many other good books you could read.” The teasing did not seem to bother the woman as she went right on carrying it around. Finally, one day, as a crowd was laughing at her, she held up the Bible high above her head and said with a great smile: “Yes, of course there are many books which I could read. Yet there is only one book which reads me.”

It is amazing to me how our scripture has the power to read us. And, over the course of time, even familiar passages can speak to us in new and insightful ways. Today, I invite you to hear the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6 once again – or maybe for the first time. Listen to what God may be saying to you even now.

Jesus said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life…

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things, and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Let us pray: Open our hearts to your Word again this day; that as we read and as we pray, our lives would be tuned to yours. Amen.

One of the greatest truths of the Bible is … We – you and I – are made in the image of God. Talk about a miracle! God made cats and dogs, hummingbirds, red cardinals, squirrels, elephants, giraffes, pelicans, dolphins, and the duck-billed platypus. God made the trees, flowers, and skies. God made all of it and said, “That’s good! Now, that’s good!” And to cap it all off, God said, “Now, for the masterpiece: I am going to create something like myself!” And God made you! You see, it is a sin for us to say, “Well, I’m only human.” If you want to see one of God’s miracles, don’t gather pine cones, don’t look at the Milky Way, don’t capture a squirrel, don’t find a picture of a trout stream, just look at the person next to you. There is God’s miracle! There is the crown of God’s creation!

Let us pray: Creator God, we marvel at your small wonders and your overarching grandeur. We crouch down to examine a centipede and we stand on a mountaintop to try to take in the Milky Way. We listen to the tiny cry of a newborn kitten and we cringe in the face of the roar of the thunderstorm. We are small indeed in the scheme of the universe, but we are grateful that you have made us in your image. When we are weary, give us energy. When we are sad, give us comfort. For all those who are suffering loss, who wonder what will happen next, we pray that you will walk before them and enable us to be companions along the way. Now “raise us up on eagle’s wings, bear us on the breath of dawn, make us to shine like the sun, and hold us in the palm of your hand.” (On Eagles Wings, based on Psalm 91). We ask this in Jesus’ name, the friend of all. Amen.