Beside Rivers of Grace: Psalm 1 - 5th Sunday after Pentecost
I spent part of last weekend at the 2024 Southwestern Pennsylvania Lutheran Synod Assembly.
I always look forward to catching up with colleagues and seminary classmates during the 2-3 days we spend together. I also look forward to hearing the stories about life-changing ministries and God doing what once was thought to be impossible. It is inspirational worshiping with over 200 people, singing hymns, and celebrating Holy Communion.
But the joy and celebration turn to fear and frustration whenever it is time to discuss finances and congregational statistics.
Offerings and worship attendance have been on a sharp, steady decline for the last five decades. Seven congregations in our synod closed their doors since June of last year. More and more congregations cannot afford full-time pastors, even when they partner with other congregations.
Some blame the decline on the rise of non-denominational megachurches. Others blame society for turning its back on God. Some even blame their pastors and the bishop and the denomination for not doing enough to help them survive.
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This anxiety isn’t unique to the Church. We are living in a time of mass shootings, pandemics, inflation, and global wars. When there is anxiety, hatred and violence are soon to follow. We are divided because we are afraid. We are afraid because we are divided.
This week’s heat wave brought back vivid memories of the summer of 1988. I was only seven years old at the time, but I still remember the water conservation orders, the fields of failed crops, and weather that “hazy, hot, and humid.”
I pray that we’re not on the cusp of another drought. But I fear our hope is about to dry up. Hope, like water, is something you cannot live without. But there is a way of weathering the drought.
Today, we begin a series of sermons on the Psalms, and we begin, appropriately, with Psalm 1. The psalm speaks of “trees planted by streams of water which yield fruit in due season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.”
Trees are among the earth’s oldest living organisms. Some can be hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Droughts come and go like the earth’s seasons, but the trees still flourish because their roots reach the waters.
So who, then, will endure this season of drought? Those who “delight in the law of the Lord” and “meditate upon it day and night.” They are a “congregation of the righteous” that thrives and flourishes in all seasons.
Some would say that the best days for our congregations are long behind us. But I didn’t see a church in decline this past week at Vacation Bible School. If you were there, you saw faith flourishing in our children. Joyfully, they sang the songs. They listened attentively to the bible stories. Faithfully, they prayed. Coming to church was exciting for them, and not just for the games, the snacks, but for the friendships they made and the lessons they learned, that God is a friend who will love them forever. Jesus taught our children well. What might our children be teaching us?
It didn’t matter that worship attendance is down and money is tight. The differences between Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists didn’t matter. The controversies over church teachings didn’t matter. The culture wars didn’t matter. The November election didn’t matter.
Vacation Bible School brought out the best in our churches. It brought out the best in us, and it certainly brought out the best in our youth. Why? Because we planted our lives beside the still waters of God’s ever-flowing grace.
This week, we saw that we can feel better, that we can do better, and that we can be better when we turn off the 24-hour cable news, shut off our phones and disconnect from social media.
It saddens me how we have such powerful experiences living together in intentional Christian community during Vacation Bible School and at church camp, only to revert to our worldly habits and routines. God gave us peace and joy and community, but we return to the gods of this world to make us happy. Our anxiety returns the instant we turn on our phones and our televisions. When Sunday morning rolls around, we flock to sports stadiums. We return to our ideological divides. We forget who we are and where we belong. We have time for all the things the world says are important, but no time for church, no time for serving the neighbor, and no time for Jesus.
In all the stress, fear, and turmoil, Jesus is calling us to keep our lives rooted in the soil of his promises, beside the rivers of his grace. We are family and families belong together with Christ. Even though it’s hot and there’s no rain in sight, even though the winds of change blow hard against our branches and try to knock us down, we will stand tall and firm as a testimony to the steadfast love of God.
And we need to be careful. The planet cannot survive without trees, and people cannot flourish without Jesus and his Church. God has shown us what is good, and our children have shown is that we can make it happen. Loving God and each other, feasting on the Word, persevering in prayer, never giving up hope. We are church together for a time such as this, and there has never been a better time to be church together than right now.
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