We ask God to make the Scripture fresh, encouraging, and convicting to us as we sit under its ministry.
From Psalm 117
Gracious God, there is nothing more solid and dependable than your faithfulness. Down through the generations you have revealed yourself in acts and in your Word, and we have come to find your character consistent and reliable. Grow us into more and more trustworthy servants of our Savior Jesus Christ as we sit under the ministry of his Word and experience your very Breath breathed out on the written page. May our encounter with your Word and Spirit result in unfailing praise for your unfailing love among all nations. We ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.
Lamentations 3:19-33
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
We humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand and ask the Spirit to search us and lead us by the kindness of Jesus to genuine repentance.
Psalm 117 is short. It celebrates the international character of the people of God even at at a time when the covenant of God had been focused almost exclusively on God’s relationship with one particular nation: Israel. Still, there was a great hope and vision that Israel, as God’s chosen people, would become such a kingdom of priests, and such a holy nation, that the nations of the world would come to know and worship Israel’s God, the one true God, and to thrive under his blessing, through Israel’s communal life and witness.
Our church worships and witnesses on the other side of Pentecost, that day when the covenant people of God “went international.” We who are Gentiles join those who are Jews to become an international assembly of God’s chosen, covenant people, bearing witness in word and deeds, to the rest of the world. Together we sing Psalm 117 and call upon the nations to praise and extol the Lord.
If Israel, the single-nation covenant people of God, was called to hope and long for and to work for a time when all the nations would praise Yahweh, how much more should we, the international covenant people of God in Christ, hope and long for and work toward the ingathering of the nations, that Jesus, Israel’s Messiah and our Lord and Savior, might enjoy full covenant communion with every person his Father has given to him, from every tribe and tongue and nation?
To what extent do our lives–our words and deeds; our witness and welcome–sing “praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples!” If we as a church, and we as individuals, do not delight in the privilege of bearing witness to people of every nation, then perhaps we have not grasped the reason ancient Israel bore witness. Perhaps we have not deeply experienced the greatness of his love for us, or the endurance of his faithfulness toward us. Have we? Does it show in our life and witness as a people?
Let us confess our sins together.
Gracious God and Father, thank you for the privilege of bearing witness in word and deed to all the nations. Thank you for counting us worthy of being part of your gift to your dear Son and our triumphant Savior. We confess our lack of astonishment at your grace, and our slowness to embrace the hope of ancient Israel. With these failures, we also fail to call the nations to praise and extol Jesus as we have been commissioned to do. Receive our genuine repentance and in your kindness, forgive our sins and renew our vision, that we might experience your faithfulness and your lovingkindness afresh and be deeply motivated to show and tell the world who you are by what we say and do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
People of God, the Psalmist gives us the reason that we should praise the Lord among all the nations: “Great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.” The Lord is infinitely more faithful to us than we are to him. Our Heavenly Father loves us with a far greater love than we could ever dream of loving one another. There is nothing quite like the love of our Father toward us. There is nothing so unwavering as the faithfulness of God toward us. Know this: because of his great love, he sent Jesus to save us from our sins and restore us to newness of life. He is faithful and just to forgive us for all our sins as we humbly repent. Rejoice, church: your God, who loves you, is faithful. And his faithfulness is most evident of all in the person of Jesus, our Savior and Lord, in whose name we find forgiveness for sin. Amen!
Ruth Pfister, organ
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be:
World without end! Amen! Amen!