Undesrtanding the Old Testament: King David

This morning I would like to begin out discussion with an informal poll. Here is the question:  How active is God in making all good things happen in our world? …………..How active is God in making all good things happen?

• Now for our poll, 5 is highest—that means that God is responsible for every single good thing that happens everywhere—
• And one is the lowest. God is totally remote, not at all involved in making good things happen.  All god things happen because of human efforts, or by chance.
• So 5 is the highest, and one is the lowest.

 How active is God in making all good things happen

• One—no activity?____________
• Two—low activity?___________
• Three—medium activity or you are not sure?__________
• 4—high activity in providing good things?___________
• 5—God is the sources of all good things?____________

Analysis:

Total of ones and twos_____Total of 3s_______  Total of 4s & 5s______

Well, today we are going to reflect on a man, who in terms of the world, was widely successful----and He would have voted number 5.  King David of ancient Israel ruled from for 39 years, and his descendants ruled for another 50. Considering the savage warfare and the surrounding evil empires, like the Egyptian and the Babylonians, that was remarkable !!!!  J      Beginning as a teenager, he became a famous military hero.  As he continued to win small skirmishes, then battles, and miraculous victories, his fame spread throughout the 12 tribes of Israel; indeed, his popularity was so high, that Saul, the first king of Israel, became furiously jealous; and he put a reward on David’s head.

David fled from Saul, and soon his own army of volunteers gathered around him.  At that time, the land that we know as modern day Israel was filled with warring Canaanite tribes, who made war on the 12 tribes of Israel.  After all, through God’s covenant with their ancestor Abraham, they had been awarded this was their “Promised Land.’  Not infrequently, David and his army, when they were not running away from the King, defended the 12 tribes.  Once the King was slain in battle, David was made the king.  As King, David unified he kingdom of Israel, which grew into a small, but prosperous empire, governed by God’s law.  And David, on his part, gave all the glory to God.

Two things I want you to remember about King David of Israel.

First, while upon David’s death bed, God spoke to David and made a new Covenant, or promise to David.   As some of you have heard, our God is a god who has historically chosen to relate to people by promises and agreements, which the Bible calls a covenant.   Please look at your insert under the first reading, where God describes His new covenant with David and his descendants.  Looking at the end of the 11^th verse, I am going to some of what is written where God says, “‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house (or a dynasty) for you: ¹² When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He is the one who will build a house (or everlasting temple) for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son…¹⁵ but my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house/dynasty and your kingdom will endure forever before me^[b]; your throne will be established forever.’”

Tell me, of whom is God speaking when He speaks about a descendent of David, who will rule forever?        Yes, Jesus Christ…first prophesized here.  So, in today’s Gospel, Jesus was called the Son of David.  God, in His love for his people, promises us a leader who will be even better than David—

One who will rule both heaven and earth!!!  One who would teach us, comfort us, lead us, heal us, forgive us, and bless us one and all.  So, it seems to me that God is modeling the Messiah on the person of King David.  Why was David so great?  He was horrible father, and adulterer, and an ambitious politician. PAUSE  J I could say that that wounds like a lot of guys in Washington, but the bishop might not like that. J PAUSE

What made David great?  In my opinion, David was great because he was the first, in Holy Scripture, to model a personal relationship with God.

• Up until that time in the scriptures, we hear of God primarily relating to the leaders of his people—like Abraham & Sarah, Moses, the priesthood that Moses ordained, and   Deborah and the other judges.
• To me, it looks like regular people related to God only through a mediator---so that people were at a distance & God was remote.

As many of you know, David wrote, collected, and commissioned the Book of Psalms in the Bible.  There are 150 psalms, which are actually songs—sung and chanted in the ancient Hebrew temple, accompanied by strings, horns, drums, and instruments that historians cannot even describe. 

But these psalms are the first prayers of the people.  You see, David had this rich relationship with God, and wrote down his own personal prayers, so that we might learn to pray to God.

Now, if you have a personal relationship with someone, one thing you might do is to thank her when she does o you a favor. Likewise, in the psalms, David acknowledges that all good things come from God, and he thanks God.  Please open your prayer books to Psalm 95 found on page 82 of your Red Prayer Books.  [Ps. 95 is an example of Thanksgiving]

Next,  if you have a personal relationship with someone, you might ask  him to help you.  Please look at today’s Psalm on your insert:    Verse 6: The poor man called, and the Lord heard him.  He saved him from his troubles. PAUSE We CAN turn to God with our own personal needs. This type of prayer is called supplication.  Some people erroneously believe that it would be selfish to pray for their own needs.  But that opinion is unbiblical. Look at verse 17, and let us read that together, saying, “THE RIGHEOUS CRY OUT, AND THE LORD HEARS THEM; HE DELIVERS THEM FROM ALL THEIR TROUBLES.”

So, we give thanks and make requests of God, just as we do to the people we love.

Thirdly, when you have a personal relationship with someone, you tell her that you love her, and you praise her on a regular basis. That’s what David does in the psalms, and that type of prayer is called ADORATION.   Let’s hear from Psalm 31:23, please repeat after me,” O love the Lord your God, because he hears your voice and punishes the wicked.”  We can love the Lord because He promise to bring justice to evil doers, of which there is an oversupply.

Finally, when you have a personal relationship with someone, you tell him that you are sorry when you have done something wrong.  When you do that to God, it is called confession--. Pls open your red prayer books to Psalm 32, verses 5 & 6.  Let us read those together.

Now for those of you who have not heard this before, we have just described the way that Christians, who want a personal relationship with God, pray:

A>C>T>S—“ ACTS”  

• A is for adoration.   C is for Confession    T is for thanksgiving
• And S is for supplication, or for seeking God’s help.

To learn more about this prayer method, I now ask the Ushers to please pass out a description of this Prayer method from the Billy Graham Association. PAUSE

But here is the power point of the Day.  David modeled how to have a personal relationship with God; and Jesus invites us to have a personal relationship with God through Him.

  Begin, or grow that relationship—and see how more good things will begin to happen in your life and in the lives of those for whom you pray.  

From the Billy Graham Association w/ edits by J. Donnelly

Q: How does one pray? I’ve never been taught how to say a personal prayer or really talk to God.

A: There is no formula to prayer—it is simply conversing with God. It is essentially talking with God as you would talk with an earthly parent who loves you and wants the best for you. God is your heavenly Father who loves you perfectly.

The ACTS model will be helpful to you as you learn how to pray. ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.

• ADORATION means worship. We encourage you to begin your time of prayer by adoring and praising God. Praise Him for who He is and for all that He has done for you.  Tell Him why you love him. God delights in your praises!

• CONFESSION, the next component, means agreeing with God about the things that you have done wrong. It’s a time to express sorrow about what you have said, thought, or done that is not pleasing to Him. Ask God to forgive you for these things, and then believe that He does so freely. When you confess your sins, you receive God’s cleansing and this helps to remove any barrier in your communication with Him (read 1 John 1:9).

• THANKSGIVING basically means being thankful to God. Thank Him for His love, protection, and provision just to name a few things.

• SUPPLICATION is the final component, and this means praying for your needs and for the needs of others, such as friends, family, your pastor, missionaries, government leaders, and persecuted Christians around the world. You may want to pray for such things as God’s guidance, wisdom, and opportunities to serve.

Keep in mind that the ACTS model serves as a guide to help you, not a rigid formula to follow. There is no “canned” approach that you need to take; just talk from your heart. There are additional steps that will help. Set aside a specific time to pray each day.

Pick a quiet place where you can be alone with God. You will also find a special blessing if you begin your time by reading the Bible. Select a passage to read (download a Bible reading plan) and spend some time thinking about it deeply. Reflect on what God is impressing on your heart to you through the passage.

Ask God to help you apply what you are learning. God wants you to share your heart with Him, and He wants to share His heart with you—this can take place anytime, day or night!

Understanding the Old Testament: Book of Judges

It is a very touching love story….a story of a passionate Lover… seeking his beloved….His beloved initially falls in love the with the Lover; but after a time the beloved betrays Him.   Instead, she seeks out other lovers and lies with them.  In turn, the passionate Lover is broken hearted, and grieves his loss.  But the passionate Lover is ever faithful, and awaits her return.

After the adulterous beloved falls into ruin, she returns to the Lover she betrayed.  They reconcile, and the passionate Lover binds up the wounds of his believed; and nurses her back to health; and His love heals her.

But once she is on her feet, she has a wandering eye.  And before long, she succumbs to her lust; and the story is repeats over and over again.

What kind of man the passionate Lover?  To the unknowing, he might appear to be one of the greatest patsies of all times.

HOWEVER, this story is not a soap opera. Rather, I have just summarized the drama of the scriptures of the Old Testament, also called the Old Covenant. 3500 years ago, God made an agreement with his beloved people, who were our spiritual forebears, the ancient Israeli people.  The heart of this covenant is the 10 commandments, given to God’s people that they might live infused with shalom, which means peace, happiness, wellbeing, harmony,  health, and prosperity.

But like adulterous beloved in our story, they continually turned away from God, which led to disaster.

Today we are going to see how this love story gets played out by looking at the Old Covenant Book of Judges, which covers the history of God’s people in Israel time between 3400 to 3000 years ago.

• The background is this:  under General Joshua, who was Moses appointed successor, God’s people left the Sinai wilderness and invaded what we know as modern day Israel. This, they called, the Promised Land, because God had promised this land to the descendants of Abraham, one of the great spiritual heroes of their faith.
• Under Joshua, the invasion was successful and   God’s people obeyed the convent and lived together in relative Shalom.   But once Joshua died, everything fell apart.  God’s people began to turn away from God.  Anarchy descended as the many Canaanite people fought against God’s people, and divided them, and defeated them. Soon, God’s people rejected their religion in favor of the Canaanite religions and cults.

So, to best explain the theological and historical dynamics of this time period, I am going turn to my greatest invention, the Shalom machine.  The Shalom machine is a model, which helps us understand the workings of God’s covenant during the times of the Old Testament, and today.  EXPLAIN…..

1. God had blessed His people with His love and His laws, which was truly the framework of God’s love for them, because He was passionately in love with them. This frame works similar to the covenant of Christian marriage, when woman and man promise to love each other exclusively as long as they both shall live.  (TOSS)
2. Now, God’s Law demands a response—the response of obedience, to keep everything in harmony. (TOSS)
3. But time and time again, God’s people turned away from God and worshipped foreign gods and idols.  Now an idol is similar to our giraffe statutes, whom the Canaanites beloved to be actual gods.  So they would pray to blocks of wood. Idol worship was prevalent throughout the Middle East; and God’s people liked the idea of worshipping a God that they could see.
4. But that got them into trouble(TOSS) in two ways:

• First God commanded that they should worship no other Gods but him; and should not worship idols. 
• Secondly, when they began to worship other Gods, they began to forget and to disobey the 10 commandments, and the other laws of God.
  
  

1. So, what happened?  God withdrew his presence, protection, & provision from his people; and then turned them over to the oppressive Canaanite peoples, who defeated and enslaved them.  PAUSE
2. However, when God’s people repented of their sins and cried out for help, God raised up leaders called Judges, who delivered them from their oppressors. (TOSS)

So, here is the cycle than ran for the 400 years of the Judges, and throughout all the Old Testament. Please repeat after me:

Number 1: God’s people rebelled

Number 2: God disciplines His people

Number 3: God’s people repent

Number 4: God delivers his people//from their enemies.

There were 12 different judges, whom God raised up during this time.  Now these judges not only settled legal disputes between people, but they were magistrates, rulers, and even military leaders.  These judges were faithful to God and his covenant, so God used them as his instruments to liberate his people.

• Perhaps the most widely known Judge was Samson, who delivered his people from the tyranny of the Philistines.

Another Judge was a woman named Deborah, who led Israel 3235 year ago.  Deborah and her general made plans to defeat General Sisera of the Cainites.  Deborah received message from God, telling her that He alone would receive glory for this victory, and would demonstrate that by handing over General Sisera not over to a soldier, but into the hands of a woman.  Sure enough, their armies clashed, and the army  of General Sisera lost.  However, Sisera deserted his men & fled and sought refuge at an isolated mountain camp, where he met Jael, the mistress of the camp.  As we heard in today’s responsive reading, she waited until he was asleep; PAUSE and drove a spike through his head.  God’s word of prophecy came true.

Another famous Judge was named Gideon, who was a small man, and a quiet farmer.  However, he had been faithful to god’s covenant, so God called upon to Gideon to raise an army to defeat Israel’s enemies. At first Gideon refused, but God assured him that He would bring victory to Gideon.  The hostile Canaanite army numbered in the tens of thousands.  However, God wanted to glory for this victory. So, he had Gideon choose a select army of only 300 men.  One night Gideon’s army snuck up on the enemy camp, and they attacked in a manner that God had prescribed.  Instead of going in with swords and spears, God had all 300 men blow trumpets.  As the enemy was aroused, God inspired fear in the enemy; and the soldiers turn against one another, killing each other. The remnant of the enemy army soon ran in retreat, terrified by the Lord God almighty.  So God’s people were victorious, and they enjoyed peace in the land for the next 40 years.

Now, you might well ask what does this have to do with me.  Good questions.  We live in a day and a time which is similar to that of the time of the Book of Judges.

The Canaanite idols of wood and gold have been replaced by the idols of materialism. Christianity is the most materialistic of all the world religions.  God gave us our wealth from the earth so that we could enjoy it in a state of Shalom with Him.

  But too many people have forgotten about God.  They worship celebrities with more devotion than God.  They have made idols of fashion, technology, cars, sexual promiscuity, vanity, gluttony, narcotics, success, money, and much much more.  As such, too many people have chosen their own ways instead of God’s way; and they and our culture are all headed for trouble.

Faithful Christians are called to pray for those people who have turned away from God.   He is still seeking them, for He is a passionate lover.  May we, by the example of our faithfulness, by sharing the Good News, by opening our hearts, churches, and homes, together we  can point the way to the one who will deliver us like the Judges of old—the mighty general of the angel armies, Jesus Christ, our lover, redeemer, friend and Lord.  Amen.

--The Rev. John Donnelly

CCQF Vision:Shining the Light of Christ's Love through our church and into the world.

Letter from Rector. Bless you, Ralene

CHRIST CHURCH QUAKER FARMS   OXFORD, CT.

The Rev. John Donnelly, Rector

August 4, 2015

Dear Family & Friends of CCQF,

It is with deep regret that I announce that our beloved Minister of Music, Ralene Goff, is resigning her position with us at CCQF.  Her last Sunday with us will be Sunday, August 23.  She has accepted a similar position at Zion Episcopal Church, North Branford, CT.  

 All of us will truly miss Ralene, and her husband Fred.   Ralene joined us two years ago, first as Director of Contemporary Music, and then as our Minister of Music in November of 2014.   Her professional skills, her loving heart, gracious smile, and joyful faith will be missed by us all.  Under her direction, our choir and music ministry has expanded in many ways.

In her letter of resignation to me, she said the following (shared with permission):

This has been a very difficult decision because I truly love serving CCQF and working with you. This new position will allow me to continue to use my gifts in music as I have a CCQF,  and it pays more than double what I am making now. …This whole process has happened very quickly… I appreciate your support, friendship, prayers, and laughter over the past two years. You have been such a blessing in our life, and we will miss you and CCQF as we move on to serve another part of the body. In Christ, Ralene

One of the challenges of our CCQF music ministry is that we all want excellent professional musicians,  but locally they are  in high demand,  mostly  receiving higher compensation than what we are able to pay at current budget levels.  It is our hope and prayer that as  our stewardship, numbers, and faithfulness grows, that we will continue to attract strong music professionals as we go forward.

CCQF will honor Ralene on her last Sunday, August 23, with a Festive Reception.  Although we will miss her, we give thanks to God for her life, ministry, and all the gifts that she has shared with us for the past two years. (If you would care to bring some finger food  for the reception that day, please call the Church Office at 203-888-4936).    Thankfully, Ralene and Fred will continue to be our  good friends and neighbors in the  Episcopal Church in CT.

Ralene was attracted to CCQF because she, like we, are committed to JOYFUL WORSHIP.  Over the past  4 years as your Rector, the Lord has provided us with wonderful  & faithful musicians.  I know that Jesus will continue to provide for our needs for strong music leadership as we continue to “Shine the Light of Christ’s  Love through our church, and into the world.”   Our Music Committee (Michael Bawlick, Chair) will meet later this month to begin the process for  securing new music leadership.

Meanwhile, I am very pleased to announce that during this time of transition, I have appointed Polina Mann as our Interim Minister of Music.  Polina joined us our music ministry this spring as our new Organist.  As you may know, Polina  will bring  excellent skills and training to her new ministry.  She has earned : a BA in Music:  a Masters of Music in Performance Practice & Music History;  and a Certificate in Music Education.  During the week , she is a music teacher & director at the St. Thomas Episcopal Day School, New Haven, CT.   Please welcome and encourage her when she comes back to be with us on Sunday, August 23.

So let us join together in thanking Ralene, and trusting and praying that the Lord will provide for our music leadership needs.

Faithfully yours in Christ Jesus,  Father John+

Do you know about the Shalom Machine???

THE SHALOM MACHINE

Understanding the Old Testament 2:  COVENANT

Did you know that the name of the scriptures of the Old Testament could be better translated as the scriptures of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant?   Testament is simply an old word for covenant.  Last Sunday we began our exploration of the Old Testament by looking at Abraham & Sarah, the couple God chose to start His spiritual family on earth.  God made a covenant or a promise with Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and that all people would be blessed by him.

God has chosen a very ancient & specific legal contract as the basis of his relationship with humanity; and that legal and binding contract is called a covenant.    Let’s look at what a definition here.  Please open your bulletins to page 2, looking at point one in the sermon notes.     A covenant is a mutual agreement between 2 parties. Unlike many legal contracts of today, God’s covenant is quite simple: God promised to rescue, forgive, and bless his people, and in return, we promise to worship, obey, & serve Him as our only God.

·       The oldest covenant in the Bible is the Covenant of marriage, as created by God in the beginning.   God consecrates the union of husband and wife, who agree to love and serve each other as long as they both shall live.  Note—that the purpose of this covenant, like all godly covenants, is to provide a framework and guidelines for LOVE.

So last Sunday we said that God made a covenant or a promise with Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and that all people would be blessed by him as they lived in the Promised Land, which we know as Israel.  This covenant brought together Abraham’s descendants to love God for generations and generations to come.   However, about 100 years later, due to an extreme draught and famine, God’s family left the Promised Land of Israel temporarily, to migrate to Egypt, to find some relief. Egypt agreed to help them out. That worked well until the Egyptians imprisoned God’s people and made them into their slaves. During the 400 years of their slavery, God’s people undertook forced labor to build colossal buildings to glorify the Pharaohs; buildings and cities which became wonders & marvels of the ancient world. God’s family was given minimal food, and many of them died.  During that 400 years, they cried to God for deliverance.  Finally, God sent them the Patriarch Moses, who led God’s people to freedom through the Miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea in 1500 BC.

 Now, if you do not know this now, you need to keep this in mind:  The Exodus, God’s miracle of liberation, is the pivotal event for all Jewish believers, back then, and now.

·       This event is comparable to the Resurrection of Christ for Christians, and as the Declaration of Independence is to our nation.  All of these 3 events, in my opinion, were all initiated by God; and they have had the power to shape and mold people for generations and generations to come.   Likewise, all the scriptures of the Old Covenant all revolves around the Red Sea crossing and the covenant that God granted to Moses and our spiritual forebears.

·       All of God’s people were astounded and so grateful for their deliverance from Pharaoh.    In response, God’s people committed their lives to a 2^nd Covenant.  God initiated this “Mosaic Covenant” with His people and their descendants (including us here today), in order to establish a deeper and closer relationship because he loved them and us so dearly. One night, God spoke alone on Mt Sinai to Moses.  Let’s go back tour sermon notes, and read together point # 2: MOSAIC COVENANT: God called upon his people to worship God, alone, and to obey his laws; and in return, God promised to forgive and bless them. So, the stars in the sky IS the symbol of God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants; and the symbol of the Mosaic covenant is the 10 commandments.

When many modern people think of the 10 commandments ought to be called the 10 suggestions. You know, they are optional.  For the past 50 years of so, our popular culture has had an anti-authority mindset, whereby people think they can pick and choose the civil and religious laws of their choice.  These folks think that they know better than the who formulated the laws; indeed, acting like they know more than God Himself. To some people, some laws just seem outdated and silly in the 21^st century.  

·       But that is not the way our Jewish forebears saw God’s law.   They saw God’s law as a gift which could guide them to live a life of Shalom…a life of shalom.

Well, our Jewish forebears and current Jews see God’s Law differently.  They loved God’s law because it marked the way for them to live a life of Shalom. Shalom is the Jewish word for peace, but it means much more than the absence of warfare.  It means well-being, living in inner harmony, prosperity, contentment, communion with God, wholeness, & fulfillment. In short, shalom is the way that you would want to live your life.   King David, who wrote the Psalms of the Old Testament, put it this way. Please repeat after me: “Great shalom have people// who follow your law. // I can hope for salvation //because I have fulfilled your law. // I have kept your decrees //and I love them deeply.”

Now to best understand God’s law, we need to look at Newtown’s 3^rd Law of physical motions, and it goes like this:  For every action, there is a reaction of equal force to the original action.  This is not only true in the laws of physics, but it is also true in the spiritual laws of the universe.   So, I am now going to demonstrate this with something I call my Shalom machine.

·       Here we have Shalom, which is the fullness of life.

·       Here we have this bucket, representing God’s law.

·       And here we have the expected response, obedience.

So—how do you achieve Shalom?  God commands that you do not steal.  If you do not obey that command (TOSS), then God’s presence will depart from you and you will not have shalom.  But if your response is to obey (TOSS), then you have peace or shalom with God.

God’s word says to honor your parents (TOSS).   If you do so (TOSS), God promises that you will live along life.

God’s word says to love God above any other thing, and to worship him on the Sabbath day (TOSS).  If you don’t, your life will be out of balance, and that will lead to other problems because you have abandoned God.  But when to you choose to love God and to worship him, ( TOSS), you then receive His love—which balances your life and enables you to receive the shalom or peace of God.

All of us know people who do not obey God’s laws (TOSS); and those decisions have bad consequences.   God wants us to have a balanced life in relationship with Him. (TOSS).

I know of a man who one time took his young child for a walk around his property.  That loving father pointed out the areas which posed some danger, like down by the river.  The father slipped on purpose and fell into the river, not to scare the boy but the help him to remember the proper boundaries, so that when he got older, he would not unnecessarily get hurt.  God is that Father, and we are the children.  This is the way God showed his love for us.

He made covenants—in days of old, which we have inherited as the spiritual descendants of Abraham and Moses.  However, as Christians, God has given us an even more precious gift----the New Covenant of reconciliation and love.  In this new covenant, we are still to love God, but we are also commanded to love one another as Jesus loved us, who died on the cross and rose from the dead to forgive us our sins when we break God’s laws.  The symbols of the New covenant of love are the 2 great sacraments of the church: Holy Baptism and Communion , through which God’s love flows through us and through our descendants in our time and into the future.

Now as s sign of gratitude to the God of covenants, let us stand and reaffirm our faith, using the words of the baptismal covenant, found on page 292.              ---The Rev. John Donnelly                                                                                                                                  

Understanding the Old Testament: Abraham

Jesus was and is God’s greatest miracle.  All of history turns around the Jesus event, which is why we spend so much time learning about Him.  However, the miracle of Jesus can be better understood if we explore some of what God was up to in the 2000 years before Jesus was born.   The drama of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, is glorious.   The Old Testament is not one book, but a library of 39 books or writings, containing legends, myths, history, sacred laws and rituals, songs and poetry, and much much more. Originally, most of these Books were orally transmitted from generation to generation, until the invention of human writing.   So, these scriptures were copied and handed down until the 3rd century before Christ, when two things happened:

1.    The 39 books were collected together to form the Hebrew Scriptures. The religious and political leadership chose the books which they determine be the Word of God.  No more would be added.

2.    After speaking to leaders and prophets for hundreds of years, God was silent for 400 years up until the birth of Christ.  There is no record of God directly speaking to his people.

Many of us have some familiarity with stories from the Bible----like that of Adam & Eve, Moses, & King David.  But since the Old Testament is a library, it can be hard to swallow.  I know people who decided to read the Old Testament beginning with the first book, the book of Genesis.  Most people who do that, often get lost in some of the liturgical and law books of Leviticus, and then stop because they become discouraged.

Within the 39 books of the Old Testament, there is a wonderful and heart breaking Love story, which is so beautiful.  It is this drama which inspired Jesus, and which can inspire us.  It’s a drama about God and humanity; of a God, inviting people into a relationship with Him; of people being both attracted and repelled by God.  This is a drama where God becomes broken hearted, because His beloved people reject Him; and a story of God pursuing His beloved children.  We will explore some of this drama; and I think you will find that God has been a consistent lover.  You may not agree and/or understand some of his actions.  But that we can discuss too.

So, there are two foundational truths which underlie these scriptures:

1.    There is one true God. Many pagan religions worshipped multiple Gods. These “gods” were either totally fabricated by people, or were evil spirits masquerading as gods.  Thus when God gave the 10 Commandments to Moses, God declared: ” I am the Lord your God. You shall not have no other gods but me. You shall not make for idols fir yourselves; you shall not bow down before them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20: 2,4,5)

2.    So, there is one god. Secondly,   please repeat after me:

“God acts in history to save His people.”  This was best said in the Book of Job, where we hear, “After all, God is famous for great and unexpected acts; there’s no end to his surprises.  (Job 5:9)

Now we come to one great divide here, where we need to be open to something much of western culture world calls foolishness.  And that is this:  Is our physical world all there is, or is there a spiritual world which can influence and act in our physical world? 

·       If your mind is closed to the possibility of a supernatural influences and intervention in our world, then the Bible is simply a bunch of primitive writings by ignorant people, reflecting on their own experience.

·       If you believe that there is a spiritual realm, which influences and acts in our spiritual world, then the bible will have meaning for you.  So, do you believe in miracles?”   Can anyone guess what percentage of Americans believe in miracles?   PAUSE      National Public Radio reports that 80% of Americans believe in miracles.

·       The Gallup polling organization says that 9 out of ten Americans believe in God.  According to Gallup, quote, “This number is reduced among younger Americans, easterners, and intellectual liberals.”   J   Now, in addition to this, 72% of Americans do believe that God acts in history.  Isn’t that something?  More people believe that what one might imagine. So, believers are not in the minority at all.  But you would not know it from our pop culture.

God’s first great act in history was the creation of time. There was a point when there was the beginning of chronological time, and there will come a point in time in the future when chronological time will end.   Time is the playing field for God’s activity.

Next,  God continued by creating the natural order, as described in our Prayer Book:” the universe, planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.”  The Psalms describe it this way.  Pls repea.t after me   In his hand are the depths of the earth,// and the mountain peaks belong to him. // The sea is his, for he made it,// and his hands formed the dry land.

Once earth was made, then God came to his crowning achievement: He created humanity. PAUSE Perhaps no one other than William Shakespere could have described God’s feelings about humanity: quote 'What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel!  Unquote. 

So, what was God’s purpose in creating humanity?  One line from our Eucharistic prayer sums this up by saying,” Holy and gracious father, in your infinite love, you made us from yourself.” (Prayer Book, p. 362)  So, what was the purpose in creating humanity?   To love us.

Why would God almighty need to love humanity?  Couldn’t God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit just go throughout eternity loving themselves?

Well, the bible tells us that “Love is not love unless is shared.”  Love is reciprocal-it is mutual, and if you don’t give it away, it will eventually grow stale and die.  So, God wanted children to love, because He is a God of Love.

Although God loved humanity from the beginning, God began to form his earthly family about 4000 years ago.  He started with a young couple named Abraham and Sarah.  Prior to Abraham being called by God, he and his wife were living with Abraham’s father in a city in modern day Iraq, God spoke to Abraham and said, “Go from your country and kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.”   So, Abraham did as God asked, and God led him to what would later be called the Promised Land, because this land was promised to Abraham and his descendants forever.  That land, as most of you know, is modern day Israel.

Abraham and Sarah were good, faithful, hardworking people.  For many years, Abraham and Sarah were childless, which deeply distressed them both.  One night as Abraham was praying about this, God promised that they would have a child.  Then God took Abraham to look at the stars in the sky, and God said to him, “Look to the heavens, and count the stars. So shall your descendants be.”  And the Bible goes on to say that Abraham believed the Lord’s promise, and god credited him with righteousness.”

Now the term “righteousness” is not just about moral conduct.   Rather righteousness is about having an intimate relationship with God, with no walls, no distance, no impediments.   This, my friends, was radical.  You see, going back then, God was understood to be pure—of such a purity that no sinful man or woman, which was everybody, could ever come close to God because all people are sinners.

Do you realize how fortunate we are? Up until the time of Abraham, and then in many years following, humanity was totally alienated from God by virtue of being infected with original sin.  Back at the beginning of time, the first people, called Adam and Eve, had turned away from God, thereby releasing this spiritual disease of sin into the world.

Consequently, for eons and eons, God and humanity were enemies, so to speak.  But here Abraham, called the pioneer of our faith, believed God’s promise, and He was made a friend of God. This promise, or covenant, was without conditions---it was not based on human behavior; it was just based on God’s unconditional love for all people.

This is why Abraham is the spiritual forefather of all who believe.  God started with him, and now the descendants of Abraham are as numerous as the stars in the heavens.   And this was the foundation upon which Jesus Christ came to reconcile all of humanity, by his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin. Now, all of us can have a right relationship, crossing the barrier between God and humanity.

 I believe that God has known each of us since before the beginning of time; and God looked forward to this time when we could truly be one family under the Headship of Jesus.    For whatever reason, it has taken 4000 years to get us this place.   So now, here, today,  at Christ Church Quaker Farms, through God’s Word & Sacrament, heaven comes to earth…comes to us, as we seek to live as members of God’s awesome family. 

The Rev. John Donnelly            7  26  15