After the Israelites had been freed from their bondage, Moses led them out into the wilderness in search of the land of milk and honey.  Along the way, God called Moses up the mountain, and there God wrote his law on stone tablets. This law was their guiding principle that would set their feet on the right path and lead them into that land of milk and honey.

So precious were these stone tablets that they enshrined them in a gold ark that was carried with them wherever they went.  The ark was placed in a special tent where watchmen would keep constant vigil so no harm would come to them. When they finally were able to enter Jerusalem and built the temple, the ark was the centerpiece of the temple and set in the holy of holies. The law was in the temple, and that was where God would dwell, in the temple.

Then along comes the Babylonians who destroyed the temple, killed their king, and stole the tablets of the law, these tablets would never be seen again. Understandably they people were quite upset and in despair. These tablets represented the covenant relationship between God and the people, and now that the tablets were gone they felt that the covenant had been broken. What were they to do?

Today’s passage from the mouth of the Prophet Jeremiah comes after this period when the people are in their darkest moments.  Jeremiah, like all of the prophets, comes to preach the Good News, to bring God’s word to those who will listen. Not all of the prophets were met with enthusiastic praise, but they kept at it because God called them.

Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant between God and his people, but some were confused about this. If there is a new covenant that assumes that the old one has passed away, and that is precisely what Jeremiah is telling the people.

The people needed the visual evidence of the covenant, and that evidence was gone. The best modern example of this would be the Declaration of Independence. Many of you might have gone to Washington, DC and visited the Declaration housed in a beautiful building. So precious is this document that it is enshrined in a gold case, behind bulletproof glass, with climate control. So precious is this document that at night, or others times of trouble or natural disaster, the document is lowered by elevator from its display case to a vault well below ground.

In a very real sense, the Declaration of Independence is a covenant between the people of the United States and their government. It spells out for us our responsibility and that of the government we put into power. However, if that document was to disappear one day the United States of America would not cease to exists because the idea and the ideals of America are not just a piece of paper or a piece of cloth, the ideals are enshrined in us, the people, and that is precisely what Jeremiah is telling the Israelites.

Jeremiah is telling them that they no longer need the symbol, the tablets, the golden ark, or even the temple because God is making a new covenant with them that will be in their hearts. No longer will they find God in the law but they will have a much more intimate relationship with God a more personal relationship with God not just a relationship in a building, but in their hearts the very center of their being. God desires to put his law within them and to write it on their hearts.

But the story does not end there.

God sends his son Jesus into the world to remind us, not of the legal ramifications of that law but he comes to remind us that God dwells in every heart. That God’s promise also involves repentance and forgiveness for everyone and Jesus boldly proclaims this when he says he has come to fulfill the law and the covenant. You see the original promise that Jeremiah spoke about becomes fulfilled in Jesus Christ with his very life.

Jesus is the last of the prophets and comes to complete the work that had begun. God wrote the law on stone tablets, then God wrote the law in their hearts, then God sent his son to fulfill the law with his blood and that law reminds us that we are to love God with our entire being and we are also to love our neighbor and Jesus tells us that on these two, what he calls the greatest commandments, hang all the law and prophets.

No longer do we need temple sacrifice as mediation between us and God we have the perfect mediator, God’s son who mediates for us. No longer do we have the strict code of stone tablets for we have a covenant, the very love and essence of God, written in our hearts love God and love neighbor.

But it does not end there, and it does not merely end with Jesus because now that we have the covenant written on our hearts we have become prophets, and we must take this message of love and hope out into the world. We must extend the love of God not by some strict adherence to a law of stone, but by the love shown from a heart of flesh a heart that cares about others and helps and guides them along the path that God has shown us in the life of his son. Strict adherence to the law means, just as Jesus taught us, we love all and forgive all.

Let us pray:

Holy God, by the cross and resurrection of Jesus, you lift the suffering world toward hope and transformation and open the way to eternal salvation. As we move ever closer to the passion of Christ, may your law of love be written on our hearts as he draws all people to himself revealing your love for the world. Amen.

This past week I had the opportunity to work with the American Red Cross at a recovery assistance center. The center was a place for people, suffering from the effects of Winter Storm Riley, to come to one place and get information, and perhaps some assistance, from Red Cross and other agencies. I have worked in centers like this before, but this was the first time I worked in one in my town.

Helping people is in my nature and is part of what I am called to do not only as a minister but as a Christian. I have mixed emotions when I say that I have gotten good at ministering to people in times of distress in their lives and seemed to be at the end of their rope. In some ways it is easy when you do not know their backstory, you meet them for the first time, sit with them for a few moments, and then the next person comes in, but when they are your friends and neighbors, people you grew up with, went to school with, hung out with, it takes a whole different turn.

People would come to the center, many of them lost everything and just do not know what to do next. I sat with one man who had been just standing in this living room, look at the devastation and just feeling paralyzed and not knowing what to do next. I listened to the mother of two, with one on the way, that had to be rescued by the police and fire department in a front end loader as the water washed away everything they owned. People were in shock and disbelief, and some of them were angry.

But my job in this situation, as it is in any situation when dealing with people in need, is not to judge them but to minister to them no matter what. And I get the inevitable question, “where was God?” And as much as it pains me to say, my response to this question is, God was with you in the midst of the storm and is with you now in the middle of your recovery. God is always with us, no matter what.

But saying that God is always with people in times of distress is not easy so as I sat with folks I would merely point around the room at all of the folks there to help them. Sure, somewhere there because it was their job, but their job is to help. Each person was greeted with a smile and concern first for their well-being and then for that of their home. Each person helped lift a little bit of the load and make it easy to carry. Each person showed the love of God to the person sitting across the table from them.

The opening verse of the Psalm we read today says it all, “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

But what do we say to people who will inevitably claim, because they always do, that this is some punishment from God?  I am surprised I have not heard it said yet, but usually, after some natural disaster, school shooting or another such thing, some well-meaning preacher says that this is all a punishment from God. Perhaps there are some sitting here today or listen to or reading these words, nodding the head and agreeing that this is God’s wrath. Well I say, God’s steadfast love endures forever!

After the flood waters recede, God tells Noah and his children that he will never again destroy life and that this covenant will be marked by the rainbow in the sky. God continues to say that even if the clouds come, the rainbow will follow as a reminder of this covenant that God has with Noah and all generations. God’s steadfast love endures forever.

The writer of the Gospel of John tells us why God sent his only Son, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And how does he do this? Not with wrath and fire and judgment, no, he leaves that to his followers, Jesus came to save the world through him with love. God’s steadfast love endures forever.

I caught up with the man who had come into the center in shock as he was leaving and he had a big smile on his face and an arm full or papers. He was so happy because someone listened to his story and was willing to help him out. Because he came, volunteers would be coming to help him clean out his house so the next phase could begin. Because people cared and showed him concern he was physically, mentally, and spiritually on the road to recovery.

This is a wonderful Psalm to meditate on during these last weeks of Lent. The psalmist reminds us that no matter what we do, no matter how far we stray from God, God’s steadfast love endures forever and that God is always there to welcome us back. We need to be that agent that helps reconcile people to God, and we need to be the ones that show the world how much God does love them, no matter what.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. NIV

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer. NKJ

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. NRSV

Before the sermon on most Sundays, we recite the last verse of Psalm 19 and ask God that the words that we speak and those that we hold in our hearts will be acceptable in His sight. This prayer is a burdensome request and one that we should always be asking.  I checked three different versions of this passage and found that some have the phrase, “may these words…” while others have the version we use, “may the words…”

“May these words…” would seem to imply that the words we are about to speak, say the sermon, should or would be acceptable in the sight of God while the other version, the one we use here, “may the words…” implies that all of our words should be acceptable in the sight of God.

So are the words we speak acceptable in the sight of God?

It is a privilege and an honor to stand in this spot each week and bring you a message that not only uplifts but also convicts. It is always my prayer that the words that I hope God gives me move us to action of some kind in our personal lives or the world at large. A preaching mentor told me that the sermon should make people uncomfortable and squirm a little. We are supposed to preach what we need to hear and just what we want to hear.

But standing here each week is also a great responsibility, and I try not to take that lightly. All through history preachers have used their words for all sorts of reasons, good and bad. Our prayer that the words we speak not only here at this moment, but later today and continuing, will be words that are acceptable to God.

Words have immense power that can build someone up, offer them hope and comfort or can shatter their world and cause irreparable harm. Because of the damage that can be done by our words, it is essential for us to have custody of our words. There are very few examples in Scripture of Jesus making fun of someone or otherwise putting them down. Even when Jesus was “dressing someone down” his words were from a pure heart with the intent of making corrections to build up and not to break down. Although he had stern words for people they were always spoken in love, I am not sure I can say that about my words.

The words that the writer of this verse uses come from deep within himself, from his heart, the place where thoughts form and fester if you will.  The Psalmist is asking the God purify his heart so that his words will also be pure.

From a psychological perspective, we do not say things by mistake or say things we do not mean. For us to speak we have to have thoughts, so if we say a cruel or hurtful thing to someone that thought was born and took root in our hearts and our minds. We have control, or at least we should, over the things we say, and that is Psalmist prayer today, that just because the thought has formed does not mean we have to speak it. He is asking for God’s protection from himself!

There is an old saying, “engage brain before opening mouth.” I know I am guilty of saying something that should not have been said or perhaps said something that needed to be said but said it wrong like the Psalmist my prayer is that God will protect me from myself and purify my heart, so my words build up and not break down.

In a few moments, we will symbolically gather around that table and reenact of you will, a very intimate time that Jesus had with his followers. Among them was the person that would turn him in as well as the one who would deny him and they all abandoned him when he needed them the most. But knowing this he still gave himself to them in the bread and wine.

My faith teaches me that it is not so much about what happens if anything, with the bread and the wine but what happens with us at that moment. Theologians have argued for generations whether the bread and wine are transformed, but the question we should be asking is, are we changed?

As we continue this service and the meeting that follows let us keep in mind the prayer we say and the prayer of the Psalmist that the words of our mouths and the what we hold deep in our hearts may be acceptable in the sight of God. We invite him into our lives to change us not to change him.

Let our closing prayer be the same as the one we used to open:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.

It was not long ago that we were wishing each other a Merry Christmas and celebrating the birth of the Christ Child and now we have begun the season of Lent. We start this season with the reminder that we are mortals and that all of this is going to end. On Ash Wednesday we hear the words “remember thou are dust and to dust thou shall return.” This is not to put us under some cloud but to make us understand that the time we have here on this earth is finite.

Lent calls us to a time of deep spirituality, or a more profound sense of spirituality, as we prepare for that awesome day of the Resurrection. In some ways, Lent forces to focus on the events of Good Friday but I like to push through those events to the Resurrection keeping in mind that to get to Sunday we have to go through Friday.  We need to acknowledge those events, but we do not have to dwell there.

Over the next few weeks, I will be preaching from the Psalms. The Psalms are an exciting part of the Scripture. Unlike most of the book of the Bible, the Psalms are not written to any one person and are intensely personal. Most of them are prayers, and the early church used them as such in the daily prayers. The Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions still use them for the clergy and others in daily prayer. Some of the Psalms are laments while others are joyful but, they are a stream of consciousness by the writer who is wrestling with something and often takes his anger to God.

Psalm 25 underlines that the season of Lent is a sustained process in relationship with God. It also speaks to the reality of the struggle against enemies and is bound up with hearing and appropriating the teaching of the Lord over time.

But what are these enemies that the Psalmist writes about?

There are two types of enemies being confronted here, the obvious are the external enemies those who are out to get us or have declared war against us, but the other is more subtle, the enemies from within.

This past week we have, once again, come face to face with evil in the murder of 17 innocent children and teachers just going about their day. Evil picked up a weapon that has no other purpose but to kill and did just that. Evil was trained by other who hate those who are different and instructed him well. It did not take long for excuses to begin and fingers to be pointed and cry that it is “too soon” to discuss gun violence or who we might prevent it but the problem is there is no time in between these acts of evil to have that discussion as they have become all too familiar.

The enemy that is within is the enemy that says my rights are more important than others, or the voice that refuses to compromise, on any side of an issue, and therefore paralyzes us to working something out. When we entrench ourselves in our corners, we are unable to hear what the other person is saying. When we are so rigid in our beliefs, we think we are the only ones that are right, and that is a lie of the greatest magnitude.

In the days of the early church, there was a controversy between Peter and Paul about how Jewish this new way would have to be, and the issue was around circumcision, did the gentiles have to be circumcised like the Jews? A council was called in Jerusalem, and both sides of the issue were heard, and a decision was made. The entirety of the body of theology that we have today was decided by compromise and the best information available at that moment. The ability to listen to others and change the way we believe about an issue or issues is rooted in the tradition of the church.

With all of that said the biggest internal enemy is anger and there is a lot of that.

It has been said that emotions are irrational, all emotions and that we should not make decisions when we are emotional. Emotions blind us to reality and even the truth. Anger can be useful as it moves us to exact change, but only after the emotion has worn off. I do not doubt that the evil that was unleashed in the hallways of that school in Florida was caused by anger. What caused that anger is a matter of debate, was it a mental illness, probably as a sane person does not do such a thing, or was the anger caused by an external force, the white supremacist group he belongs too, perhaps it is both.

The Palmist is pleading with God to protect him from his enemies, and that should be our prayer as well. He does not wish them to harm only that they are exposed for what they are. But he ends this particular passage with the prayer:

Make me know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you, I wait all day long. (v 4-5)

This should always be our prayer not only during this season of Lent but always.