Weekend Wrap up (sermon after thoughts)
I love a good theme song, who doesn't?!
George Lucas was interviewed once about his state of mind when he see's the finished product of one his Star Wars films. (We can leave the prequel drama for another post). He was asked if there as any wonder or "awe" to the film like his fans would hope to hold when they saw it? His answer was pretty blunt, "Uh, well not really". The main thing he commented on was the people would mostly be paying attention to the music. Music? really? Well, the fashion of this epic tune by John Williams brings many melodic leaps that we identify excitement, heroism, and how it all comes together in a manner that is pleasing to our natural storytelling preferences.
Deconstructing this theme helps us to understand its appeal to its listeners and why it has become the most recognizable theme music in cinematic history!
Yesterday's sermon at Southport Church had us look at psalm 22. This is a dynamic psalm for it talks about the prophetic depiction of a righteous sufferer who we have seen history and testimony of the Holy Spirt reveal as Jesus. The hope was to bring out that in the moments of our life we are always going to through transition.
Psalms is a book about transitions that we face in life. The disorientation of a job loss, or a rejection. The reorientation of life after the death of a loved one, the new job that suddenly changes the day-to-day. Then the orientation of seasons when life feels stable or at least a little bit predictable. If we spend time in this book, we will see ourselves written all over it!
I was drawn to my knees last week as I read Psalm 103, verse 3
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
For whatever reason, this visual of God "crowning me" or encircling me with his steadfast love and mercy was just the theme I needed to hold onto when I was feeling overwhelmed and thirsty last week. Actually, for the last four decades of life to be more accurate. We think a lot about who crowns us with mistruth, with damage, with pain, regret, and who encircles us with shame.
We can picture their faces, their words, their actions. But what about drawing into the theme of the one who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Mercy that is ovewhelming and endures your deepest secrets? Love that consistently ignores your doubt and rebellion and makes his way to your heart!
That kind of love is so foreign that it can't help but wreck us.
To then bring our minds to the playing out of God's melody of love and mercy onto the sacrifice of Christ as proof of this love is just too much to reconcile in one sitting. It in fact takes a life time. A life that continues to listen intently to the words of our Lord. To the convictions and peace of the Spirit. To encounter the embrace and acceptance of our Father.
What must be our response to such? Nothing short of knowing the word so that it is written on our hearts and flowing from our mouths. If we are to be modeled by Jesus, then we must understand that in his most painful experience, taking on all of human depravity and hate, his response was to utter the opening line of psalm 22,
My God my God, why have you forsaken me?
Now, we too stand to bring ourselves into hearing and seeing the same melody being played out in our lives, the work of the cross demonstrating our worth to the father. May we be reminded in our eight second memory banks that to know the truth of the universe is to bring the words of the creator of it into the forefront of the mouth and mind of his creation.
So, here is a personal invitation, read the word with me. Chew on the truth, and let's discover the revelation of Christ's presence in your circumstances come through all the static of this 144 character culture.
Here is the invitation
Keep looking up!
