Psalm 25:1-10; December 1, 2024; First Sunday of Advent
—–
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul”
(verse 1)
Sometimes it would be easier to just lay it down, wouldn’t it?
Especially these days.
I mean, the 76ers are 4-14. What in the world.
But at least y’all robbed Saquon from my Giants, so there’s that.
But yeah, sometimes it would be easier to just look around and only see the grime. The ugliness.
And to lay down our souls.
But here, in church, we lift them up, don’t we?
To the Lord, whom we believe can raise us up from the pits of despair.
And it is the Lord to whom we lift up our souls, because everyone else can’t be trusted.
Even if we think we’ve found our soulmate and married them,
ain’t none of them wear a halo, not one of them have the wings of an angel.
So, though we might trust others with our hearts,
it is only the Lord whom we should entrust our souls.
Amen.
—–
“O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me”
(verse 2)
We read in our Gospels that we are to love our enemies.
Which means that we are going to have enemies in the first place.
Unfortunately, God doesn’t promise us a life without them. Shieled from them.
They are going to be with us from beginning to end, and they will try to put us to shame.
And sometimes the greatest enemy we’ll have is the person within.
Who will guilt ourselves into destructive behaviors and terrible thoughts,
and allow for that shame to exult all over us.
But that’s why our trust should not be placed in ourselves either.
Only in Jesus — who takes away our guilt and shame, and who loves us all the same.
Amen.
—–
“Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”
(verse 3)
But wouldn’t it be nice for the wantonly treacherous to feel even just an ounce of shame… sometimes?
Just as we do who seek piety.
But that’s just not how it goes, now, does it?
Too often it seems that those who are most wantonly evil
are also those who are most self-righteous, most self-promoting, and most self-congratulating.
And so, I think we have sympathy with the Psalmist here,
who likewise wishes that these pious narcissists would just get hit with a bit of humility
sometimes…
Not out of revenge, or a misguided desire for retribution.
But because we believe that this world would be better off
if we all were brought to our knees most times.
If we all looked in the mirror and said,
Yeah, I can and need to do better.
Amen.
—–
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.”
(verse 4)
One of the best ways we can improve ourselves and our society,
is not by following our own paths, or another’s, but the Lord’s and the Lord’s alone.
And what does the Lord teach us along that path?
The prophet Micah tells us:
To walk humbly, to act justly; and to love mercy.
That’s it. Those three things. Not four, not ten, not a hundred nor a thousand. Just three.
But you can’t do one or two and not the whole.
You can’t love mercy if you don’t walk humbly,
and you can’t walk humbly if you don’t act justly.
All easier said than done of course.
But then again, the easy things in life are rarely worth the giving of our life.
Amen.
—–
“Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.”
(verse 5)
We spent all last Sunday at Cedar Park talking about The Truth,
But what we didn’t talk about was: Salvation.
And boy, it would be nice to have a little salvation right about now, wouldn’t it?
Some visible aid and assistance. Some delivery from above from this madness below.
But like the Psalmist, we are told that we must wait.
And that we must wait… All. Day. Long.
And some days don’t end at 11:59pm, now do they?
No, they slowly turn into seasons;
and some seasons don’t just last for quarters, but they end up like months that can feel like years.
And yet, all the same, through it all, we are encouraged to wait.
A tough Advent lesson for sure, especially for those of us here stuck in 2024.
Where waiting on things in general seems so silly and unnecessary.
What with Amazon next day delivery and all.
But Salvation’s delivery doesn’t come on a van, nor does it arrive in a neat package on our porch.
But first with a baby born in a manger and then with a man hanging on a cross.
So, even if like Salvation feels delayed in transit, or lost somewhere at the warehouse.
It will one day arrive. Of this we are promised.
For He, Jesus, already did.
Amen.
—–
“Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness sake, O Lord!”
(verses 6 and 7)
Okay, we are cheating here, combing two in one.
But, here, cheating feels right…
which, I grant you, is a strange thing for a pastor to admit to, especially while preaching here in church.
But I admit it. I cheated, and not just here, and not just once.
I remember suffering terribly in Spanish 4 in Senior Year of High School
that I dropped it for Italian 1.
And in Italian 1, I discovered that my failures had nothing to do with Spanish,
but with me and my skill or lack thereof with languages.
I just wasn’t any good at it. At least not back then.
But feeling the pressure to perform and get good marks and grades
I resigned myself to cheating
and combined two in one.
Such that I would write someone else’s name on my test
so that when the teacher collected them all at the end
she would have two Marta’s in her hand, or two Jonah’s.
But never a single exam from Brian.
It would then be up to the teacher to figure out who’s was which,
Who’s was the real McCoy.
And so, I hoped that my handwriting would be close enough to mimic the brighter student’s
so that I would somehow end up with their higher score
if the teacher confused mine with theirs.
Yes, my friends, I was and am a sinner.
And I transgressed a lot in my youth.
I admit it.
But the good news, here, is that I never ended up with that higher score.
For I was quickly found out.
And deservingly received my F.
But mercifully my teacher chose not to remember those sins. Nor my transgressions.
In fact, she smirked and patted me on the head.
And said,
“Brian, for goodness sake, it’s okay to fail, in Italian and at life…
And if you keep up this behavior you surely will at both.
But here’s to new beginnings,
and owning up to your shortcomings
and writing your actual name on the test both this time and next.
Can you do that for me?
Will you do that for yourself?
I hope and pray that you can and will.”
Amen.
—–
“Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.”
(verse 8)
Now before any of you start feeling like you’re better than me,
remember that you are a sinner too!
No, maybe you didn’t cheat in Italian,
substituting your name for another,
but somewhere you sinned.
because just like everybody poops, everybody sins,
and we have all cheated on God our Heavenly Father.
But here’s the good news. Jesus didn’t come just to save the righteous,
but us losers and sinners too.
And just the same, in the Lord’s goodness and uprightness,
the Lord chooses still to come into work every day, into our human classroom, and instruct us.
No, not the best of us, but the whole of us, degenerate students through and through.
Can you imagine applying for a job whose tagline was, “here you’ll work with the worst!”
And can you imagine leaving Heaven of all places for that job?
Well, praise be to Jesus Christ who did just that!
Amen.
—–
“He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.”
(verse 9)
Amen.
That is all.
I mean, what else really needs to be said?
Besides, be humble.
Amen.
—–
“All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees”
(verse 10)
Yes, my friends, we must be humble and keep God’s decrees.
It’s imperative.
In fact, it is an imperative.
And it is a sign of love and respect too for all that God has done for us.
Who out of steadfast love and incredible faithfulness
saw fit to send a Son for us.
to be born for us,
so to walk among us and to breathe with us;
to laugh, eat, and even die with us;
so that, in the end,
we might live again with him.
And this is God’s covenant, my friends.
That no matter how bad things get down here;
no matter how off kilter this world spins,
we will never be left alone.
Never, not once, ever disavowed.
So, can we promise to God the same?
Can we promise that we won’t abandon God?
But that we will keep God’s decrees and keep faithful to Christ’s gospel?
Such that we support the weak-
And give comfort to the afflicted-
And courage to the fainthearted.
Can we do that?
And then can we promise to love?
And to love some more.
And then love again. And again. And again.
Reminding ourselves today and all days that we are all
children of God
who we were created out of love so to be called God’s own.
Praise then be to this God.
Who in the end, as it was in the beginning
is now and will forever be,
love incarnate.
To you, O Lord,
we give thanks.
Amen.
