We ask God to make the Scripture fresh, encouraging, and convicting to us as we sit under its ministry.
From Psalm 145
Gracious God and loving Father, we were made to tell of you and your kingdom, your love and your grace. As we gather under the ministry of your Word, speak to our hearts–individually and as a congregation–so that our minds are filled with truth, our hearts are bathed in love, and our wills are fortified with purpose. As you do so, prepare us for a week of discipleship in which we extend our hands with your grace and our words with your truth. Tell us again of your abundant goodness, and we will repeat the story of your salvation with joy among the nations. For Christ’s sake. Amen.
We reflect on the Psalm of the Day and use it to examine our hearts and minds, leading us to confession of our sin. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 145 as we reflect on it together.
Psalm 145 is a “speaking” Psalm. It is all about the testimony that God’s creatures give: about God’s worthiness (3); his majesty (5); his awesome works; and on and on.
Verses 9-12 say that creation bears witness to all of this grace and glory of our God. Finally, the Psalm concludes (21) with the psalmist deciding to take the witness stand and give testimony along with creation: “My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD!” And then the psalmist calls on creation to join with human testimony in ongoing witness to God’s great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
You and I are surrounded by creatures that spontaneously and joyfully bear witness to the truth about God’s majesty and mercy. If we stop giving testimony, the rocks will keep on testifying.
Often we do stop giving testimony. We bear false witness about who God is by our words and attitudes and actions. We fail to tell the whole truth when we stop short of declaring the marvels of his salvation in Christ. And we leave the rest of creation without its worship leaders.
Let us confess our sin.
Take a moment to reflect and to confess your sins silently before the Lord.
Gracious God, we confess that our lips have been much too quick to speak ill of our neighbor, and much too slow to testify to your unfailing love. You are righteous in all your ways, and you are right to call us to repentance. We do humbly repent, and we bow down and fall on our knees to ask your forgiveness. We lift up our eyes to you, seeking your pardon and your mercy. Forgive and renew us that we might embrace once again our calling to lead creation in truth-telling about you, for your name’s sake, and for the delight and comfort of our neighbor, who also needs you as we do. We make our confession and ask for cleansing in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dear Friends in Christ, the psalmist proclaims (14) that the LORD upholds all who fall, and lifts up those who are bowed down; that he is (18) near to those who call on him in truth; that he (20) hears our cries and saves us.
Instead of condemning us for our poor witness-bearing, the Good Father has sent his Son to testify truly to his Father’s majesty and mercy, and to lead us back to our calling as his witness-bearers. In fact, Jesus bore witness not just with words of grace and truth, but with a life of pure holiness and even with the silence of his lips as he spoke his Father’s loyal love to us at the cross.
In his forgiveness and restoration, it’s time to return to our place as witness-bearers, alongside and ahead of creation, so that the whole world might be filled with the knowledge of God and might resound with his praises.
Go in the confidence of his forgiveness and renewal! 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!
During our current series, our New Testament lessons are selected to complement the study of the Ten Commandments.
Revelation 1:4-16
4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
John’s Vision of Christ
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.