GCA Worship 051720

Worship May 17. 2020 German Church of Atlanta Greeting and Announcements Psalm 31 1 I come to you, LORD, for protection; never let me be defeated.

You are a righteous God; save me, I pray!

2Hear me! Save me now!

Be my refuge to protect me; my defense to save me.

3You are my refuge and defense; guide me and lead me as you have promised.

4Keep me safe from the trap that has been set for me; shelter me from danger.

5 I place myself in your care.

You will save me, LORD; you are a faithful God.

6You hate those who worship false gods, but I trust in you.

7I will be glad and rejoice because of your constant love.

You see my suffering; you know my trouble.

8You have not let my enemies capture me; you have given me freedom to go where I wish.

9Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in trouble; my eyes are tired from so much crying; I am completely worn out.

10I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life.

I am weak from all my troubles; even my bones are wasting away.

11All my enemies, and especially my neighbors, treat me with contempt; those who know me are afraid of me; when they see me in the street, they run away.

12Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead; I am like something thrown away.

13I hear many enemies whispering; terror is all round me.

They are making plans against me, plotting to kill me.

Song 1

14But my trust is in you, O LORD; you are my God. 15I am always in your care; save me from my enemies, from those who persecute me.

16Look on your servant with kindness; save me in your constant love.

17I call to you, LORD; don't let me be disgraced.

May the wicked be disgraced; may they go silently down to the world of the dead.

18Silence those liars — all the proud and arrogant who speak with contempt about the righteous!

19How wonderful are the good things you keep for those who honor you!

Everyone knows how good you are, how securely you protect those who trust you.

20You hide them in the safety of your presence from the plots of others; in a safe shelter you hide them from the insults of their enemies.

21Praise the LORD! How wonderfully he showed his love for me when I was surrounded and attacked!

22I was afraid and thought

that he had driven me out of his presence.

But he heard my cry, when I called to him for help.

23Love the LORD, all his faithful people.

The LORD protects the faithful, but punishes the proud as they deserve.

24Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the LORD.

Song 2 Matthew 6: 5-15 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Children Moment Sermon Matthew 6: 5-15 The Lord’s Prayer Jubilate! Kantate! Rogate! In English: Rejoice! Sing! Pray! – These are the names of the three last Sundays. Today we are celebrating the third one of them that calls us to pray: Rogate!

Even just saying this word, it becomes clear that this Sunday is a little different from the last two. Why do we have such a Sunday that carries this invitation in its name? Why do we pray when on Easter everything has happened? Why should we still ask God in our prayer when the victory has already been won and the enemy has been overcome and has left the battle field if you will? Isn’t praise and jubilation enough? Some Christian communities have indeed decided that only praise and jubilation language can be used in their worship services. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?... Why still call upon God as Psalm 31 does: “Hear us! Save us now! Be our refuge to protect us; our defense to save us.”

Yes, the answer is short and clear: We pray, we ask God, because we aren’t deaf and blind!

Because we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Not everything is being covered with jubilation and praise! Our ears do hear the joyful, jubilant sound of Kantate and Jubilate, and yet at the same time we hear the calls of the suffering creation. We see the light of Easter. And we also see the injustice that is still happening everywhere on this earth. We see the suffering that we humans inflict on each other, and also the suffering that happens without any warning or without any reason. And this is happening even for several among us.

And because this is so, because as Christian we do have open eyes and ears, we also know that Easter is the beginning, but it is not the completion yet. Easter is the first, but it is not yet the goal.

II. Our sermon text for today knows about that. It leads us into the center of the Gospel.

Nowhere else we hear the voice of Jesus as clearly speaking to us and teaching us as in this section of the Gospel of Matthew, the sermon on the mountain. Unser Predigtwort für den heutigen Sonntag weiß darum. And in the center of the sermon on the mountain, we find a prayer, the Lord’s prayer.

Yet why does Jesus start the Lord’s prayer with two warnings, saying “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”?

Why does Jesus say this? – I think because Jesus knows the needs of the people who are gathering there around him, and also the temptations that their hopes are always exposed to. Jesus knows how challenging it is for us humans not to know today what we will eat tomorrow. He knows what it means to live from hand to mouth, or to have debt that one does not know to ever pay back. He knows because he participated in those human conditions. And therefore, he also knows that the people’s prayer is always a balancing act between experiencing comfort and despair.

Surely, our human needs for most of us today are different from those that the people around Jesus faced back then. Or are we being reminded in these weeks and months similarly to back then, how vulnerable we as humans are?

We do have in common with the people during the time of Jesus that our hope is being threatened by a certain recognition about this World. And with it comes a hidden and vague fear that the world and also our lives possibly won’t have a good ending. The fear, that despite all Easter jubilation the destructive life forces will gain the upper hand, and that death could keep the last word after all.

Yes, we live in a time of global threats of life here on earth. That does not pass us by nor leave us unimpressed. And we need to take these threats seriously and not deny or diminish them. This Sunday, its name, leads us to take these threats with us into prayer and not close our eyes, but face them.

The Psalm writer in Psalm 31 shouts out in his fear in ways that probably many people all over the world are currently feeling:

„My eyes are tired from so much crying; Have Mercy on me, God, I am completely worn out. I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life. I am weak from all my troubles; even my bones are wasting away.”

We humans, when the dangers and vulnerabilities of living come towards us like this, we are tempted to lose hope and faith. We are tempted also to settle for less than the allencompassing healing and wholeness that Jesus talked about and that the message of Easter is about.

As strange as this might sound: Especially also the realm of religion is not exempt of such temptations. And this is what Jesus knows. His image of „Prayer as Show“ is his example for this temptation. Maybe this is not very applicable to today, as most of us do not necessarily pray in public. But behind what Jesus says is really the religious practice that is enough in itself. And we do have those, just like back then.

In some religious organizations the positive impact of religious practices itself are being put into the center. So many studies are being done today that religious people apparently live longer – healthier and happier anyhow. And that might very well be. But what does this really mean in the big scheme of things?

Jesus is challenging us: „Whoever does not really expect anything from God anymore, but who puts all expectations in one’s own practice of religion, that person indeed has already received his or her reward. A in comparison small reward, and yet some form of reward.

And not differently with the habit if making a lot of words during prayer, with the motto: „A lot might as well have a lot of impact”, as if one tries with excessive words to talk God into fulfilling one’s anxious desire.

Of course, it is not a mistake to come to God with one’s needs and asks. But if fear is at the root of one’s asking, as one is afraid to be overlooked or not heard? What a small image and expectation of God is that? Hearing those warnings from Jesus, we can see what he is really concerned about: „Our prayers are meant to filled with the assurance that God hears us.” Our prayer is meant to be carried by the trust that not only is God the quiet ground of all being, but that God is involved truly in our lives and in this world and wants to lead us and the world towards a good future.

Therefore, Jesus knows, we need prayer that does not silence our need and suffering, but that also does not lose focus in the hope of God’s healing Grace. We need prayer that

indeed brings everything together and that becomes a bridge between that which burdens us and that from which the resurrection gives testimony. The Psalm 31 that Kerstin and Issam have prayed together with us is such a beautiful testimony how the person praying screams in need and anguish, and at the same time expects everything from God. Jesus has grown up with this tradition of the Psalms, and so he teaches his disciples how they should pray. He rolemodels prayer and puts the Lord’s prayer into his disciples heart and mouth: III. „Connecting what belongs together“ could be the title and the big theme of this special prayer. This already starts with the introduction: Our Father, we pray in English. Yet that does not quite capture the Hebrew words that Jesus is using. “Our Daddy” is really the translation. Just like a child says »Papa or Daddy« when he or she turns in a trusting way to the parent. And thus, with these two words, Jesus is opening a space that lead us to grow in trust. He also opens a space for us where we can hide when everything coming at us is just too much. “Our Daddy“. There isn’t a greater intimacy than this.

And yet, this Father is at the same time the Creator of Heaven and Earth, is God in God’s majesty. And therefore the first ask is „hallowed be your name“. Unspeakable is the eternal name of God. This is the holy inheritance of Israel that is showing up also in the Christian prayer, namely that we shall be careful with the use of God’s name.

Doesn’t this take away again the closeness that the first two words have just promised us?

No. In this prayer they are being connected. Both is true, and both is valid at the same time: „Trust and Respect“. With Jesus those two do not fall apart. While we address God with „Father“, we respectfully do not use his holy Hebrew name „Jahwe“ and at the same time entrust ourselves to God. We connect, what belongs together.

And so, it continues: “Your Kingdom come. Your Will be done”. That is the big horizon.

God’s reign is supposed to be realized all throughout the world. All tears are supposed to be wiped from our eyes. Justice is supposed to be established where there is still injustice today. And yet the hope for large and global changes will need to be realized in small, or they are not real. The daily small things often distract and blind our sight. And therefore, our daily worries and needs belong into this prayer.

Our care for our body – the daily bread- and also our care for our souls, that mistakes and sin are being forgiven and don’t remain forever.

During these challenging times of need, where nothing can be taken for granted, many withdraw in these weeks and months from the public into the private sphere, because they believe that there won’t be a reason for hope. Others on the other hand are being engaged to the limit of their capacity. Yet those do not have to be alternatives. The Lord’s Prayer is connecting those two. The tension between praying and active engagement is such a thing.

People who are praying are often accused of “just praying” yet not “doing” anything. Yet Jesus did not see those as alternatives.

This prayer about forgiveness expresses this clearly. We are asking for forgiveness from our wrongs and promise that we ourselves will forgive others who wronged us. Hoping and acting, Praying and doing – they always belong together.

IV. And this is why we celebrate this Sunday. It is an invitation for us to pray. In prayer we carry this big and also our small world before God. We do so, because we hope that God will continue and complete what God has begun on Easter. Our prayer combines our Easter jubilation with our suffering that we cannot nor want to overlook or pretend we do not hear.

When we pray, we are a community that passionately hopes and that painfully yearns for God to complete what God has already begun. Would we not do this, the past two Sundays os singing and praising would just have been „a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” to say it with Paul’s words. It would have just been a triumph boasting without love.

Rogate! Pray! And we pray, because we connect our hope coming from Easter with all those things that are still outstanding and that are still missing for wholeness and healing.

Only through prayer the celebration of Easter will be complete. And the prayer that Jesus taught us is becoming alive within us: namely when we connect in our prayer our hope with our pain, and our trusting with our grief, and our assurance of the love of God with our feelings of insecurity about the future in awareness of our vulnerability as humans and as a planet.

And therefore, the Psalm 31 is also such an example of „connecting prayer“, and it comes especially close to us during these times of social isolation, in this time when we feel threatened by a virus and by human inadequate and dangerous behaviors: I am reading one more time the connecting prayer thoughts from Psalm 31:

“We come to you, Daddy, God, who are in Heaven, for protection; never let us be defeated.

You are a righteous God; save us, we pray!

2 Hear us! Save us now! Be our refuge to protect us; our defense to save us. 3You are our refuge and defense; guide us and lead us as you have promised. 4Keep us safe from the trap that has been set for us; shelter us from danger. 5 We place ourselves in your care.

You will save us, God; you are a faithful God. 6You despise those who worship false gods, but we trust in you. Our eyes are tired from so much crying; We are completely worn out.

10 We are exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened our lives. We are weak from all our troubles; even our bones are wasting away. 14But our trust is in you, God; you are our God.15 We are always in your care; save us from our enemies, from those who persecute us. 16Look on your servants with kindness; save us in your constant love. 17 We call to you, Daddy, God; don't let us be disgraced. 22 We were afraid and thought that you had driven us out of your presence. But you heard our cry, when we called to You for help.

24 Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the LORD. Amen

Song 3 Intercessory Prayer: Our Father, we pray to you. Who should we ask, if not you?

You are in Heaven – and not only there, you are present here and there, in our midst, with our friends, with our enemies, with those who are neighbors to us, and with those who are strangers to us, in Heaven and on Earth.

Our Father, you are our Creator and we are grateful for our life to you. We are telling you what we are hoping for, what we are longing for and what we are afraid of.

Your name be kept holy while the names of the powerful in this world may be forgotten.

Their use of power shall no longer torture the poor, no longer oppress the weak, and no longer threaten the righteous.

Your name be kept holy, and we hope that your love will change this world and change us, so that your love becomes visible in us.

Your Kingdom come, and until then, break down the walls at the edges of the Kingdoms of this world. Break the weapons that inflict harm on the unarmed, that hinder the refugees to find safety and that increase the blood money of the weapon industry.

Your Kingdom come. We long for the time when justice and peace will kiss each other. Let your Peace take over the space on this Earth so that the Gentle in Heart will be in charge of this World.

Your Will be done, in Heaven as it is on Earth. We are afraid that suffering and illness will have not end. Heal the sick and protect the suffering. Your Will be done in what we do and in what we say, in what we do not do, in our silence, in your church in Heaven, as on Earth.

Our daily bread give us today. And not only us, but also those who are desperate an who are crying out for help, Those who stand in front of their shattered lives and who are afraid of the future. You are the source of all life, ban the hunger from this Earth. Our daily bread give us today, us and those who live in famine areas, us and the families who need food from the food banks, us and the children who start their day without breakfast, us and those who are desperate when thinking about tomorrow.

And forgive us our trespasses. Forgive us that we dress up on cost of the seamstresses in Bangladesh, that we are surfing our cell phones on cost of the workers in the cell phone factories, that we eat on cost of the children in the cacao and banana plantations, that we first of all think of ourselves.

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Open our hardened heats for forgiveness. Open the fists of the violent ones for gentleness. Direct our fett onto the path of peace. Reconcile us and the whole world. Yes, give us a forgiving heart, open our clenched fists and move us, so that we reach out our hands for peace.

Lead us not into temptation, but let us seek you. Let us find you. Show yourself to those who do not have peace. To those who are hopeful. Show yourself to the grieving. Overcome all fear. Free us from evil. Intervene, we cannot do it, but you can end the suffering, the

violence, the injustice. You can redeem us. Do not hesitate. Lead us not into temptation.

Your word means life. You can close our hearts to envy, greed and hubris. Keep us away from hatred and violence. Keep us from taking the wrong paths!

And free us from all evil. Open our eyes, so that we will recognize evil behind its many facades. Help us resist evil and free all who have become captured by evil.

For yours is the Kingdom. You call us by name. You see us – wherever we may be. At our kitchen table, with our masks in the stores, in our homes. With you present, all anxiety and pain quiets. We are putting our hope in you, today and all days. For yours is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, Today – because you are present with us through Christ Tomorrow – because you will not surrender us to death.

In eternity – because we belong to Christ.

In Jesus Name we entrust ourselves to you.

Amen

Song 4 Prayer

Thank you very much