Northminster Presbyterian Church February 28, 2016, Third Sunday in Lent Scripture: 55:1-9 and Psalm 63:1-8 Sermon: God’s Hesed

Lent is certainly a season of introspection, contemplation, and repentance. Yet, according to our text today, it is also a time of joy. The prophet realizes that God’s mercy is close at hand and is available to all who will draw on it. The image given is of a lavish banquet where God’s mercy is compared to fine wine and pure milk that anyone may purchase, even “without money and without price.”

Hear the words of promise given by the prophet Isaiah 55:1-9…

Isaiah 55:1-9 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for . See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of , for he has glorified you.

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

Page 1 of 4 Merriam Alexander February 28, 2016 so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Our Psalm for today offers a similar, yet more restrained, sense of joy. The image here is that of a traveler in a desert land who longs for a precious drink of water. The psalmist expresses strong confidence in the God who will quench his thirst and the God whose outpourings of mercy provide the very sustenance of life itself.

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

God’s Hesed

There may be no more significant Old Testament description of how God relates to God’s people than this Hebrew word hesed. Say it with me: Hesed…hesed…hesed. It is a good word…a word worth learning…and a word worth using! Hesed. In the Old Testament, hesed is a central theological term. It is a key attribute of God’s character. Because there is no exact English equivalent, it has proved hard for translators to render it accurately. In various versions, it appears as “kindness,” “faithfulness,” “mercy,” “goodness,” “loyalty,” and “steadfast love.” All in all, hesed describes how God relates to God’s beloved people…with kindness, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, loyalty, and steadfast love. Our Psalm today is one of the truly great pieces of devotional writing in all of human history. It reveals to us a rich and textured picture of our thirst for God and the assurance of God’s

Page 2 of 4 Merriam Alexander February 28, 2016 help throughout our days.1 When we read the psalmist’s words, “you are my God” we read a clear statement of faith that so clearly declares our human need for God and God’s assured presence with us…as individuals and as a congregation. The psalmist seeks God, cries out for God, thirsts for God, looks for God in the sanctuary, beholds God’s power and glory, praises God, blesses God, lifts his hands in praise to God, thinks about and meditates on God’s blessings, and sings for joy at God’s deliverance. The scholars tell us this psalm was written by David when he was in the Judean wilderness. It may have been when he was young and he ran for his life from Saul or decades later when, as king, he fled during his son’s insurrection.2 We know the desert terrain is difficult, unforgiving, and offers no water. Life itself is threatened. The psalmist needs help and protection. Have you ever found yourself in a threatening situation where all you knew to do was to call on God’s help and plead for God’s protection? For those of you who are old enough to remember time before cell phones, how did you feel when you had a flat tire along the side of the road after dark? When it happened to me I knew I could do nothing but depend on the mercy of passers-by. Have you ever found yourself in the path of a hurricane with 100 mile an hour winds or a tornado that barreled through town like the freight train it seemed to be? Have you found yourself without a place to live and had to depend on the kindness of family or friends? Do you know what it feels like to have your job taken from you when unemployment is surging all around? What does one do when the chemotherapy bills are higher than what Medicare will cover and all the reserve funds are gone? The psalmist is hunted and afraid for his life. He calls on God, reminding God of God’s own covenant, and actually hunts for God in the midst of this life-threatening situation. “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you.” And the psalmist remembers…he remembers God’s protection, God’s loving-kindness, God’s power, and God’s glory. Thirsty for God, the psalmist remembers God’s faithfulness and his soul is revived. Memory is a powerful thing. Longing for God is a healthy activity. Thirsting for God’s presence actually invites and brings about God’s presence and God’s presence satisfies longing. God’s presence brings more blessings than the psalmist seeks because that is God’s nature. God is not limited to what we might ask or even think we need. God’s blessings come with God’s hesed: God’s faithful, steadfast, loving mercy that provides blessing and protection as the psalmist says “in the shadow of God’s wings.” It is as the prophet Isaiah wrote of God: my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God’s hesed is always associated with preserving life. The psalmist knows that his very life is threatened. Coming into God’s presence calls forth God’s response, which emerges out of God’s loving nature and God’s covenant commitment. You see, my friends, God’s love is constant and unchanging. God’s intention is to bless the covenant community—to bless you and me…to bless this congregation. When the beloved of God come into the sanctuary to worship, one’s heart is transformed from a platform of fear into a temple of praise. Worship is the time in which we focus on God and on God alone. You see, God is the audience in worship and we are merely the actors. We present our praise to God. We offer ourselves as Christ’s body to God. As those who approach God in worship, we come together as

1 Roberts, Samuel K., Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Westminster John Knox, p. 80 2 Branch, Robin Gallagher, Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Westminster John Knox, p.83 Page 3 of 4 Merriam Alexander February 28, 2016 members of a great family—part of the Communion of the Saints, both living and dead. We bring our thirst for God into the sanctuary where God comes in power and glory to meet us and feed us in the most unexpected ways. God’s hesed—God’s steadfast love and mercy bond with God’s power and glory to provide the help, protection, and guidance so desperately needed by God’s people. The more we become aware of all that God has done for us—the more we remember God’s faithfulness in the past—we like the psalmist, must sing! We are a singing people! And singing God’s praises provides a veritable “feast for the soul!” The psalmist calls it a rich feast. Did you notice the transformation there? Praising God—offering God our praise—satisfies our hunger. Our hunger and our thirst for God are satisfied when we find ourselves feasting on God’s presence. This psalm invites us to remember God’s steadfast love for us and all God has done for us in the past as well as the blessings we enjoy every day. This remembering becomes for us a rich divine feast in which we may even find ourselves “lost in wonder, love and praise.”3 During this season of Lent, we are often challenged to give up something. I know I have friends who are giving up road rage as they maneuver city traffic, or Facebook, or eating chocolate, or drinking soft drinks. I would challenge us to take up something for Lent. I would urge us to consider taking up disciplines of daily prayer or Bible reading. Seek God, as the psalmist says, and discover God’s steadfast love surrounding you in new and exciting ways—ways that never even occurred to you. Praise God in the sanctuary and trust God’s presence with you, your family, and especially this congregation. The days, weeks, and months ahead will hold their own challenge as we prepare for and search for a new pastor for Northminster Presbyterian Church. Let us invite God to be present with us in that search. Keep the Session members and your interim pastor in your prayers and seek God’s covenant presence with us as we serve this community of faith in the journey ahead. Ask God to guide your mind and your heart as you serve your neighbor through this congregation. I will be so bold as to encourage you even to remind God, just like the psalmist did, that we depend on God’s steadfast presence and help. My friends, Psalm 63 invites us to begin with the longing that lives in our hearts and offer ourselves to God. And remember, God does amazing things with even the smallest offering. God chose a meager nation of Hebrew people to be God’s own people. God changed the world forever by sending a vulnerable baby to a fearful people. God transformed death to life through a wooden cross and a rolled away stone. God will take our deepest longings at Northminster Presbyterian Church and will help us grow and cultivate those longings until they are transfigured into a rich divine feast of praise and joy. And remember, the whole time we are seeking and thirsting for God, we are held in God’s divine hand. That, my friends, is God’s hesed. To God be the glory. Amen

3 Wesley, Charles, “Love Divine All Loves Excelling,” Glory To God, #366 Page 4 of 4 Merriam Alexander February 28, 2016