– as usual for these homily posts I edited to try and include what I said but I’ve forgotten most of the off script, spontaneous things I said obviously aren’t included. If you want to watch the service on YouTube contact GoWC-C  (http://www.grainofwheat.ca/).  I added bracketed, italic comments for clarity…I hope.

Scriptures for the day – Genesis 3:8-21; Psalm 96; Romans 8:31-39; Mark 13:14-22

Morning. Please pray with me in silence that Spirit will help my words be true, healing and helpful.

These are wonderful and challenging passages from the Bible both the Hebrew and more recent Christian scriptures. I wondered all week what Spirit wanted you all to hear…what I could say about them. Gafney, the translator and writer of the lectionary we’re using has good things to say, which I could repeat. I found a great articles on Genesis 3:16 – the Woman’s Curse. (https://philarchive.org/rec/DOUTWC). I thot about just reading those last verses of Romans – who can separate us from the Love of Christ…not death, not life, and sit down…that’s more than enough to ponder.  The whole 13th chapter of Mark is a good Lenten passage. Full of doom and gloom, especially for followers of Jesus way especially – another gospel writer warning of false messiahs. Our reading was the conclusion of what Mark wanted us to hear Jesus say just before the last few days of his life. It concludes with reminding us  to stay awake cause you never know when the Son of Man will come in glory…  Pay attention to what’s happening…

Interestingly that’s sort of what I finally heard as my subject for this homily – Pay attention. focus on what is most important … at least for me … in these passages. The Psalm highlighted this. 

READ PSALM 96;12&13 FROM GAFNEY

(This is what I read. I’d put it in more poetic form here but the blog editor isn’t cooperating today. )

12. Let the field, exalt, and all that is in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest, sing for joy before the WISDOM OF THE AGES; for she is coming, so she is coming to judge the earth. She will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with her truth.

(p.82, Wilda C. Gafney, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church: A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary, Church Publishing Inc. 2021. The caps for the different names of God are included in Gafney’s translation of the Psalms.)

What stood out for you as I read these last verses of Psalm 96 – I couldn’t help but notice all the she pronouns… If I read the whole psalm again I think the pronouns would stand out even more, now I’ve mentioned them. 

Here’s a familiar version – Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice; Before the LORD: for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

Where am I going with this? I don’t really want to talk about what’s the best pronoun to use for God. it’s sort of interesting stuff, nerdy, wordy stuff – but it’s not really what I feel I’m to share with you this morning. If you want to talk about that stuff, come over for coffee sometime. It is really very easy to get distracted – by good things and by hard things, gender inequality, climate crisis, wars, politics… Throw in a few false prophets and it can get crazy making… And like Larry said last Sunday “Do not fear.” Do not fear is a great thing to hear…

And this morning – this Lord’s day – I’m thinking that what’s even better that hearing “do not fear” – is being aware, paying attention to who said it. Jesus our Lord…who’s table we’re coming to…who showed us, in his life and how he died where we need to look for courage and hope and peace. Even death couldn’t take away his hope…and his resurrection proved him right. There is hope for us too.

PAUSE… (I write this in my script so I take a breathe…it’s a bit dramatic but giving a homily is sort of theatre in a good way)

When I asked Spirit what to talk about this morning I heard that I, Stephen Murphy, was to pay attention to whom the Scriptures were about. I was reminded why we gather Sunday mornings…who we are worshipping. Who we are looking to for help from our fear. Who gives us the peace that passes understanding that the world and politicians can’t really give us and they can’t really take the Peace of Christ away. We gather over and over on Sunday, the day we remember Jesus resurrection the Lord’s day, a day to celebrate our Christian faith with millions of people of religious faith around the world…in Gaza, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Yemen. (Not sure why but when I said the names of the various countries I choked up for a moment?) To remind ourselves of the Light of Christ … in the middle of the darkness of Lent, of war, of uncertainty. The Light and Love of Christ shines in the darkness and nothing can put it out. Nothing can separate us from that Love and Light. Thanks be to Love.

This morning I’m to remind myself and hopefully you all to keep an eye on the subject of the scriptures, the inspiration for these words and stories – not as much the scriptures themselves, as important as they are, or even the lectionary we use but one the subject of those words … Sort of like the finger pointing at the moon…don’t get distracted by the finger…stay focused on what it’s pointing to. Pay attention to what / whom the writers were writing about…

Remember when I read that verse from Psalm 96 and how I was distracted by the pronouns…It can be easy to miss the wonderful naming of the LORD – Gafney uses – WISDOM OF THE AGES – It’s one of the 11 words she uses in this psalm for God’s unpronounceable Most Holy Name. If you look closely at your Bible at home or on your phone, no matter the translation you see LORD in capitals – that’s the word, the way most translators represent the original Hebrew letters YHWH. The Name that most religious Jews don’t use or even write. “the Name” is often a substitute for rabbis – Elohim, G-d.

Gafney gives us 11 substitutes in this one Psalm – she includes a list of over 120 names of God in our lectionary. Different ways of saying something about that which is beyond speech and understanding, helping us gain more understanding of the subject of the psalm. 

PAUSE

Sing to the EXALTED; sing to the CREATOR; great is the AGELESS GOD; the WOMB OF LIFE made the heavens; give to the MAJESTIC ONE, THE MIGHTY ONE; the FIRE OF SIANAI the glory due her name; the EVER-LIVING GOD reigns; the WISDOM OF THE AGES is coming

(I was going to include Nan C. Merrill, Psalms for Praying paraphrase of Psalm 96 as well but for time’s sake didn’t.)

I don’t know about you but hearing all these Names of God, ways of describing God, LOVE DIVINE – my souls feels fuller, full of something … some kind of presence maybe … there aren’t really words for that feeling, that emotion – it’s beyond speech and understanding …

and I want to stop talking and just rest in that awareness of something beyond me that somehow supports and sustains me no matter what the distractions all around me are. That’s why I try and spend at least 20 minutes a day in contemplative prayer – just sitting in silence, in THE silence. Silence with the presence – in which I live and move and have my being. 

Let’s do that now for at least 10. If you need to be doing something that’s alright, each of us comes to silence in different ways. No right or wrong. Maybe take one of those names and meditate on it – why it seems to mean something for you – how does it connect with your life. Draw something that represents it. Maybe today is the day you just sit quietly in the presence of Love for 10 mins and use that name to gently remind your mind that for these 10 mins I’m just going to sit in the presence, like a flower turning towards the sun. Blessings on your time of silence.

Tatiana will time our 10 minutes. (As part of GoWC-C Lenten Sunday service we conclude each homily with 10 minutes of silence.)