(Click HERE to see the FBLive stream of this service – starts at 8:00, sermon at 39:00 – Today’s audio did not get recorded correctly, our apologies – it is ambient sound (which means you hear everything in the room), and the Zoom-music-setting got turned off (which means the music is unhearable) – we are so sorry!!)
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Mark Wheeler
Psalm 139:7-10
Mother’s Day, 05/12/2024
Who is God? – “All-Over (Omnipresence)”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
Welcome to Worship, friends, and Happy Mother’s Day! To one and all – may this be a good day!
I know that there are as many feelings about Mother’s Day as there are people in a room – Moms who are proud, Moms who are grieving, Women who want to be Moms, Women who can’t be Moms, Step-Moms, Adoptive-Moms, Aunties-who-are-like-Moms, God-Mothers, Grandmothers, and this only begins to name the emotions of the women – there are also the children, the fathers, the other men, and so many more!
So, today’s service will honor the women in our lives – Moms and others, but will not be the main focus.
Today we continue our study on theology – who is God? How does God do what God does? Is He real? Today’s “theology word” is Omnipresence – God is “All-Over” the Place – everywhere!
Into Your presence, we come, God of Grace and Peace,
who was, and is and ever shall be the eternal One.
Into fellowship we come, bound together in the love
that died and rose again for us, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
2-3
Pastor Kathy calls us to worship, today, and prepares us for the Love we experience in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, from Psalm 85:
4-9 And our Prelude of Praise and Worship ––– #635 … He Leadeth Me –
10 Good morning Friends! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem! May the PEACE of Christ be with you!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
11 This morning our Chancel Choir leads us in worship with this beautiful anthem: “Blessed Assurance”
12 Children’s Message
13 Pastor Kathy opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
14 Gloria Patri
15-18 Praises, thanksgivings, adorations, concerns and prays [The Lord’s Prayer]
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20-22 Song of Devotion and Preparation to receive God’s Word – #107 – Christ Be My Leader –
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Last week we talked about the Agapeic love of God, and I thought about having that as the theme for Mother’s Day – love – what could be more perfect than “love” for Mother’s Day? Then, I realized — all knowing and every where – that’s what’s perfect for Mother’s Day!
My parents left us children home alone for a week, for the first time – and the last time – when they went to Hawaii for their 20th Wedding Anniversary, March 1974 – My sister was 18, my brother was 17, I was 13 and my little sister was 10.
While they were gone – 1974 (Expo year) – no cell phones, no Ring cameras, no Nanny-cams – Mom and Dad came home, entered the front door, gave us a hug, and my loving Mom said, “Who broke the stereo?”
How did she know? (It was my brother and me, playing indoor baseball with Hot Wheels tracks and ping pong balls!) Mom was every where!
Created in the image of God? Yes – her seeming-omnipresence reflected God’s “all-over-ness”!
Aseity – God’s independent self-expression; Immutability – God’s unchangeable character; Impassibility – God’s self-agency and immovable nature; and today we look at Agapeity – God’s expression of Perfect Love. – those are the words we’ve learned and concepts we have explored so far. Today we come to one that may be more familiar – Omni-presence – God is “all over the place!”
This week’s pop-quiz questions: Where is God? Do we enter God’s presence when we come through the doors of the “House of God”? When we open our worship service, do we need to invite God to be present with us?
Let’s look, together, at the Word of God: Psalm 139:7-10 …. —-
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7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
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Where is the beginning of God, and the outer edge? Where is where God is not? Do you remember the Great I am name of God? I am, YHWH, Yahweh, means where-ever we find ourselves – we also can find God’s presence!
Relying on God’s presence and power is key to our relationship with the Creator of the universe. And how could we rely on God if we could not find Him?
It’s true that most of us have experienced moments in our lives when we wondered where God was? Usually this is a time of suffering, grief, illness, injury, for ourselves or for loved ones. Theological philosophers might call this “the dark night of the soul!” Who here has been in this place? God where are You? The Psalmists were there often! This is very real! Some of us here today, right now, might wonder if God has left you…. Are we alone in this world?
Even Jesus felt abandoned when He was dying on the cross – but we all know He was not actually abandoned, and in the end, Jesus gave Himself to His heavenly Father.
Yet, the Bible clearly tells us that when we feel this way, the problem is with us, not with God. We may have shut our minds to Him; we may have closed our ears to His voice; we may have walked away from His Word, from His people, from God’s presence.
But this does not mean God is still not every where! Including right where we are! His voice is not silent – our ears are just plugged up and we can’t hear Him. Maybe you’ve seen the Bumper Sticker theology that states, “If God is not near, guess who moved.”
What was true for Jesus on the cross, is just as true for you and me.
God is “all over the place” is not the same as the philosophy that claims that God is “in everything”, or that everything in the universe is somehow divine in and of itself!
That is not what the Bible teaches. We call this “pantheism”. The Bible does not teach pantheism. God is distinct from Creation. Creator and creation are not equal. Creator is in charge – sovereign, Omnipresent!
But, while I completely believe everything I just said to be completely true – I confess that there are places on this planet that appear to be closer to God’s presence than other places!
Am I alone? Who else has experienced what the Irish call a “thin place”, where the nearness of God is more palpable? What are some of those places? [church, mountain-top, beach, the lake, the garden …]
If God is equally “all-over”, how do we explain this feeling? The Old Testament books of the Pentateuch, the History books, the Prophets, often talk about places where God put His name, where God’s presence is heavier – Jerusalem and the Temple in particular. But they also say that the Temple cannot contain God, God does not fit in a building, or a city, or a nation. God is “all-over”!
But our finite brains, our inability to understand God’s ultimate infinite dimensions; so, He helps us grasp His presence with gifts of places that feel more focused, that offer deeper relationship, that seem nearer to the Almighty.
We gather in the Church Sanctuary, not because God is here, and not out there! We gather here because this room is designated for the purpose of worship! We humans require a place that we all recognize as dedicated to the worship of God! It is for our benefit, not God’s necessity, that God might feel nearer here than in our cars or at our jobs or in our classrooms.
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God is infinite in His eternally transcendent self – omnipresent! Therefore, wherever we are; whatever our circumstance; whoever we’re with; we can rely on God! He is right here with us – always. Our God is “all-over the place”, always!
27 Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Offering (4449 N Nevada St., Spokane, WA, 99207; or go to www.givlia.com/g/lidgerwoodpresbychurch; or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
28-29 Expedition Song #834 – Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing! –
30 Benediction:
May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
31-32
Announcements
- Pentecost Sunday – Next Sunday! Wear RED!
- Ezra 3 Initiative – Commissioning, Next Sunday, on Pentecost
- A/C Fundraiser
- Potluck Lunch & LPC Story-sharing – June 2, right after worship, share favorite dish, dish up favorite KPC exoperience
Resources:
Bray, Gerald; “Omnipresence”; TableTalk; May 2022; Pp. 17-19.
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