I am preaching this morning on the following Scripture passage:
Psalm 139:1-6 (NRSV)
The Inescapable God
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
God knows us, what we do, our thoughts, in fact all our ways. God even knows what I am about to do! It is all together too wonderful. Why? To be not seen, unheard, not known, this leads to excruciating pain of alienation and isolation. But to be known, to be seen for who we are, to be heard, and to be known not only for what we have done, but for what we are about to do is to be truly recognized for who we are, as we are! As creation of God, what can we do?
As Samuel answers God when he was called in the middle of the night, I believe our answer should be “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).
In order that light might shine out of darkness, for God who created us and wrote our lives in the book of life, we are persecuted but not forsaken: “8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
To each of us, Jesus calls us to observe the Sabbath. But this means that on the other days, we are working! Doesn’t make much sense to rest unless you were doing something in the first place. However, “The sabbath was made for human kind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).
For me this week, to shine the light means to speak about the need for caring for the planet we live on. To bring awareness to all of us about the need to bring peace to the earth, to people living in it, but also to the environment.
My hope this morning is that you would take seriously the calling of God for you, in your life, in this time and place, to do what God calls you to do. May each of us answer God, when God calls us, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).
revalicekim 