Dick Howser was a much-loved manager of the Kansas City Royals baseball team in the 1980s. When he resigned due to brain cancer, his wife Nancy said, “As a child, I was brought up to believe that it is not whether or not you won or lost, but how you played the game that mattered. Then in the real world, I learned you had to win to get anywhere and it didn’t matter how you did it. But now after what has happened to Dick, I realize the old way is the right way. It really and truly is how you play the game.”

It is indeed the vulnerable moments of life that cause us to rethink what is really important, and the way in which we are living. 

We have only one shot at this life, and we will not always get it right. But let’s not make the mistake of waiting until the end to be in touch with deeper meaning and purpose. Let’s not wait until the end, to make adjustments to the way we are playing the game. Today, may you reflect on the people and values you deeply cherish. Give thanks to God for them, and think again about their place and priority in your life. 

Let us pray: Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of this day and indeed for the gift of life itself. Some of us today may feel as though our lives have lost meaning and hope. Others of us may feel lonely and others still may feel very far from you. Meet us this day right where we are. Work healing into our lives, and reconnect us to what is truly important, truly good, truly life-giving. Empower us again to order our lives in such a way that we both find hope and offer hope to others. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 133 reads: How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 

Anyone living with multiple teenagers in their house can attest to just how true that is! And many times over the years when my girls have started to pick at one another or fight between themselves, I’ve quoted the first part of this Psalm – changed just slightly: How very good and pleasant it is when sisters live together in unity! (They love it when I do that, by the way!)

But this Psalm is getting at something larger than just the immediate family. In fact, it is part of a collection called the Psalms of Accent, which were chanted or sung by groups of people while making an annual pilgrimage up to the temple in Jerusalem. These psalms make use of family imagery to speak about the larger community of faith.

It is a short Psalm, and if you read it in its entirety, it is beautiful. This theme of unity is tied together with two similes.

First, the Psalmist says, this unity is like precious oil. In biblical days, olive oil was a sign of hospitality and joy. You would anoint a guest with oil when they came to visit. And think about Psalm 23 – Lord, You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows… This same oil was also used to consecrate kings and priests. 

Second, the Psalmist says, that this unity is like the dew descending on the mountains of Zion. In a very dry, dusty Middle Eastern culture, dew was life-giving and life-sustaining.

The message is clear: when God’s people live together in unity, it is a precious, joyful, even sacred – holy thing. It is like oil that consecrates. It is life-sustaining like dew. And it is there – in that unity – that the Lord has promised blessing. 

As I think about this Psalm today, I can’t imagine a more needed time than now to hear its message. As a nation, we are more divided, and more polarized than ever. And these divides even cut across our churches. In response to God’s desire for us, I wonder what you and I might do to help foster unity, and in doing so, experience God’s blessing more fully.

Let us pray:  We remember, O God, your desire for us to love our neighbor and to live as one. Grant us your grace that we might listen deeply to those who see the world differently. Even as we seek to express our views, help us to show humility, build trust, and thereby witness to your love and grace. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 46 is one that is definitely close to my heart. I remember on the evening of September 11, 2001, our church had a prayer vigil, and we read this text. Then, just as Covid was picking up steam, cities were shutting down and hospitals were filling up, this is the text that God placed on my heart – and the one I preached on that Sunday.

If there were ever a text to memorize, to have in your back pocket, or to have in your heart as a life-line, this would be a great one:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea…

This psalm has spoken so powerfully to people across the ages for a reason. It moves us from a place of fear and anxiety to a place of trust and faith; to God’s presence in the midst of what often feels like a crumbling world.

Do you remember what the most frequent command is in the Bible? You would think it would be “Love God” or “Love your neighbor.” According to Jesus, together those are the greatest commandments, but, they are not the most frequent. The most frequent command is, “Fear not!” Far more than any other command, over and over we read the words, “Fear not.”   Fear not.

Why do you suppose that is?

Maybe it is because when we are afraid when we let fear dominate, 
we do stupid things. 

Maybe because our fear will often divide us from other people. 

Maybe it is because fear can paralyze us from taking the next leap of faith 
or doing the right thing. 

Maybe it is because fear keeps us from seeing the beauty of God’s presence 
in others and all around us.

It’s not that there is nothing to be afraid of in life. There is plenty.  But the witness of the community of faith over thousands of years is that even in the face of it, even when the mountains shake, and the earth changes and all we know seems uncertain, God is with us.

Let us pray: Holy God, you are our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…  We will not fear the other… We will not fear change… We will not fear the future…  We remember that in Jesus, you conquered even death. Help us to trust… and grant us your peace…. Amen.

Today’s message was written by Rev. Roger Kunkel, founder of Dial Hope.

The pain of this world is an opportunity for us to be an instrument of God’s redemptive healing. Or said another way, we have the opportunity to be an ambassador for Christ amid someone else’s pain. 

Dr. James Stewart, the brilliant professor of the New Testament of Edinburgh, Scotland once made a hospital call. He went to the cancer ward of the hospital and as he walked in, he noticed the nurses and the doctors were all frazzled. Many of the interns had just had it. People had been dying, there was pain, there was suffering. And Dr. Stewart was invited to go to a meeting of the nurses and doctors. They called him because they wanted to ask for his pastoral wisdom. In this meeting, there were doctors, nurses, and technicians who were groping for answers. And they asked Dr. Stewart – “Why did God allow a 31-year-old woman, mother of three to die of cancer?” “Why did God allow a teenage boy to die of leukemia?” “Why is it, Dr. Stewart? Why does God allow a little child to die at childbirth because a mother could not function because she had cancer?” “Why, why, why Dr. Stewart?” “Why does God do that?” “And Dr. Stewart what is God’s answer?” “What do we tell these people?” “Dr. Stewart, what is the answer?” 

In four words Dr. Stewart gave an answer that thundered down the corridors of the hospital when he whispered to all those doctors and nurses hanging on his every word “YOU ARE GOD’S ANSWER. God has put you in this hospital right now today, for this moment so you might care for one of these children or one of these moms or one of these dads or one of these people waiting in the waiting room. God has given you arms and legs. He has given you mouths, ears, eyes, and touch. And a mind to think creatively in which to care. YOU ARE GOD’S ANSWER.” 

What is the answer to the homeless in Sarasota, in St. Louis, in Chicago? What is the answer to the pain and the suffering and the loss? What is the answer? We are God’s answer. For God has strategically placed us in hospitals, in apartments, in condos, on the street, in retirement centers, in classrooms, in the church, in church meetings, in the store, in the office meeting, to be creative listeners, to bring redemptive healing to the people around us. Don’t ever underestimate the difference your touch, your card, your smile, your note, your call, your fax, your email, your look, your listening ear can mean in the life of someone who is hurting, who is experiencing pain. 

Let us pray: Awesome God, bless us today so that we may be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Over the past several days, we’ve reflected on the story of the feeding of the 5,000, and raised the question: What can Jesus do with just a little bit of faith, and some small action on our part?

So I think about the church I’m currently serving. We’re not a big church. We don’t have unlimited resources. But when our gifts were placed in Jesus’ hands this past summer, 160-something children heard about God’s love for them at our Vacation Bible School. I think about the challenges these children will face over the next several years. They are enormous. In light of this, I am tremendously grateful for even the small seeds of faith that we were able to plant. 

Sometimes we might wonder if our small actions make a difference.  We might look at our schedules and say, “O God, I don’t have time to help that person in need. Or, I don’t have time to go to counseling… Or, I don’t have time to give to that ministry.” And God says, “Spend the time, and I will bless it.”

We might look at our lives and say, “O God, I don’t have any extra to give.” And God says, “Give, and there will be more than enough.”

We might look into our hearts and say, “O God, I don’t have it in my heart to forgive or to love that person. I just can’t do it.” And God says, “Forgive. And grace will abound. Love. And there will be love overflowing.”

It’s amazing what Jesus can do with just a little faith and some small action.

Let us pray: O God, give us eyes to see the world not as the disciples saw it, but as Jesus sees it – as a world with the potential for miracles when our lives and our gifts are placed in his hands. Amen.