The Second Sunday in Lent – February 20, 2005

Psalm 121

             You and I know that we are spoiled. Many mornings when I am preparing breakfast I look up and out the window is the sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is, as our youth say, an awesome moment. Such a sight spoils us because we begin to take for granted that such a beautiful and inspiring sight will always be there for us to see. We tend to take for granted this gift of God, this scenic place in which we live.

             It isn’t hard then for you to understand the words of the Psalmist as they open Psalm 121 this morning: “I lift up my eyes to the hills…” We who live in the shadow of the Blue Ridge know what it means to look to the mountains.

             The Psalmist does not intend to be taken too literally. “I life up my eyes to the hills…” is a word picture of seeking another to be near us and help us in our need. So, the question, “…from where will my help come?” completes the first verse. The Psalmist looks to the mountain, to the hills, for help. There they know God dwells and will come to their aid.

             The second verse tells you: “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” God, who created it all, is the one who will come and help you.

             In this season of repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love, you and I know that we can use all the help we can get. Like the Psalm writer you might be looking around for help when you are tempted to give up on the disciplines of Lent or cheat on that promise you made not to watch TV after dinner…at least I remember Iain making that promise last Sunday during the Children’s Time.

             How are you doing with your Lenten promises? Confession is fitting for the Lenten repentance, so allow me a personal moment to confess that I have kept my promise not to eat dessert. However, another promise, the one about praying daily for specific people has been kept loosely, at best. I am not up to “par” on my prayers. They are there, but not as they could be.

             I could use some help in my faith practice. How about you?

             The Psalm writer is very clear that God will help us.  Maybe you are better at keeping your Lenten promises than I am. Maybe you want God’s help with other matters in your life?

             Perhaps your need is more than the strength to pray well each day. Perhaps the help you need is in making a decision about a career change or retirement. Can we depend on God for a secure future?

             Perhaps the help you need is to decide when you will move from your home to assisted living. That is such a difficult decision. It feels like we are being displaced, and we don’t like it. Can we depend on God to be with us in a new place?

             Perhaps the help you need is to know what to do when your child is so shy they do not want to go to school. How can we help them? How can we encourage them to step into a difficult and often hostile world? How can we assure them of God’s presence for them?

             Whatever the help you need, the Psalmist is clear: God is ready to help.

             God is so ready to help that God sees what we need before we do. God sees that too often we are living in broken and damaged relationships: you are at odds with your parent over how to raise the grandchildren. You are alienated from the spouse who no longer seems as interested in you as they were a year or two ago. And most of all, you are aware that your relationship with God is just not what it used to be. God used to be so close at hand, and now seems so far away. It happens to us all.

             To such need God comes to help. God comes to help in a most surprising way. God does not come to you and ask that you straighten out all your problems and difficulties. How does the hymn put it: “Just as I am without one plea…?” Indeed, God comes to meet you where you are.

             God comes to us in the cross. In the cross God comes and dies that all our sin may be forgiven and we become transformed people, new people of mercy and love. God comes to help. God comes in the cross to shower down upon us love and mercy. God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

             So, our help comes from the cross where God is forgiving us, making us new.

             What the Psalmist tells us is that it is not about our good deeds; but life at its best is about the cross where God forms us into what we cannot be any other way.

             The cross is about “less is more.” The cross is about less of me; me thinking that by doing some nice and good things I can save myself. Even prayer fits there. The cross is about less of you and more of God. The cross is about less of our certainty and more about trusting, having faith in God’s mighty act to save us, the cross.

             It is by faith that we pray. It is not our perfection of prayer. Prayer is not about how good we do it. It is about the trust, the bond that is present between you and God. God has created that connection in your baptism and is present to you to listen and speak.

             Are you wondering about a significant life decision? Pray about it and listen. Be open to God answering. Be assured by the Psalmist that “The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” God is with us from the waters of our baptism to our place at the Table, from the gracious Word to the awesome silence. God is your help. God is present. Amen.

• Pastor Robert F. Holley