Come Sunday Morning...

This has been a shocking week for us, it seemed as if the news was full of never ending sound bites and pictures of the Boston Marathon bombing, then the explosion in Texas and now I sit and watch with many others as they are searching for the one bomber who is still alive.  As the days proceed to Sunday morning I will be asked over and over "Where do you think God is in all of this?"  All I can say is that God is with us.  God is with us in our sorrow, our fear and our anger.                                                                                                                

         Sunday morning will come and we will remember all those who were killed this week and their families.  Other than that church will be the same.  We will sing, some of us louder than others, some of us with little volume at all, but we will sing and we will be moved by the words of the hymns as they relate to our life experiences.  We will listen to scripture, it is Good Shepherd Sunday so the scriptures will be ones we have heard before and yet some of us will hear them as if it is for the first time.  We will pray, we will pray as we do each Sunday, we will pray through cancer, death, illness, divorce and job loss but we will also pray for all those who are looking at destruction as a type of punishment and freedom. We will celebrate human kindness, generosity and God's grace as well.  We will celebrate the courage of the "helpers" at the marathon and then the explosion in Texas and then in Watertown.  There will be a sermon in the midst of the familiar liturgies that bring us a sense of order.  The children will light the candles to start the service bringing the light of Christ into a world that can at times be so dark.  They will have a story and then they are going to go and make blueberry jelly with the Sunday School leaders.  Church this Sunday will be like church most Sundays, full of all that life has to offer sharing a faith that has been celebrated for generations, and no matter what each Sunday brings we end our service by passing the peace. "Peace be with you" this is what we will say to each other with a gentle hug or a simple touch. Sunday mornings give me the confidence to say "God is with us."

The Psalm reading for this Sunday is Psalm 23:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;

He restores my soul.  He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff-they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of The Lord my whole life long.

            This common Psalm for funerals is also a Psalm for the living, for all those left behind in the midst of death.  Seize the green pastures in your life, find comfort in the still waters remembering that goodness and love win.  The stories of goodness and love shared with neighbor and strangers will be the stories that last longer than the destruction and terror. 

            For all of those who started their day this past week to celebrate the marathon, many running in honor of loved ones, or going to work or simply sitting at home in Texas; whose lives are changed forever ---we will have church on Sunday.  We will do what we always do knowing it is the day we take for granted that is missed the most.