Psalm 96 –
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
1 Kings 18:20, 21, 30-39 –
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord – he is God! The Lord – he is God!”
Luke 7:1-10 –
When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
It is special to get an invite to return to a church just to enjoy worship. God knows when we need recharging and provides the opportunity.
It was a real treat to be greeted by not only those that we know but quite a few of the members, some who remembered our names. It is very welcoming to be greeted by so many in Christian love.
We were invited for the music program, which was simply great, but also witnessed ordination and partook of Communion. The amazing adult anthem was without instruments and needed none, and I also really enjoyed the children’s anthem, especially the enthusiasm of some of the children. Worship for me could easily have consisted of the music program, but there was so much more.
The sermon was based on some of my favorite passages of Scripture. The message started with reference to a commercial referring to the Most Interesting Man in the World. I got a kick out of not having a clue to whom he could be referring…I can’t remember the last time we watched TV or a commercial. I wonder if Christ-followers in the day thought of Him as the Most Interesting Man in the World.
It was stressed that we are in the faith business and that we need more “Wow! Look what God has done!” We are called to nurture that faith in others as we grow in faith.
The slate of Elders and Deacons seemed full. It is exciting to see good things like this going on as this church continues to heal.
We were honored to be invited to worship at Ben Avon for the choir’s musical culmination of the season. The music was amazing, ranging from African American Spirituals to Mozart to Taize, along with the Junior Choir, which was a real joy to both hear and watch. We were blessed to witness the recognition of teachers and mentors, the ordination and installation of Elders and Deacons as well as to participate in the Sacrament of Communion. It was a full, rich, meaningful service of worship to our God.
Although we have friends here we were welcomed by some folks we did not know, and appreciated the time they took for conversation. Since we had arrived early we looked around the building; it was heartwarming to again meet a friend with whom I had traveled to Malawi as well as to see reminders of Ben Avon’s involvement in the Partnership between Pittsburgh Presbytery and the Synod of Blantyre, CCAP.
An interesting note: next Sunday will be this church’s sixth annual “Faith in Action Day.” Instead of meeting for worship in the morning, the congregation will serve in and with the community on a variety of service projects in order to reflect Christ’s love to others in the community. Everyone joins together at the close of the day for dinner, reflection, and evening vespers.
In the sermon, entitled “Surprising Faith,” the pastor spoke of Jesus’ unexpectedly finding faith in the centurion and pointed out that we sometimes find faith in some unexpected people. We have the obligation to display our faith openly and show hospitality, to demonstrate less doubt and more faith, in order to nurture faith wherever it may be.
I think this is a struggle for most believers, and I appreciated the encouragement.
Dear Lord, we pray You will continue to bless and guide this congregation. Continue to open their hearts to encourage and nurture the faith that grows around them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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