Blessed by our days in God’s courts
February 2, 2025
Lighting the Christ Candle
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
Welcome to God’s dwelling place.
We yearn for God, and for life spent in his courts.
Blessed are those who are God’s dwelling place.
We are blessed when we trust in God and walk in his ways.
Hymn: 440 For all the love
Online: The power of your love
Prayer of Approach
Living God, come be known among us. Open our hearts to perceive your presence. Be as near to us as our breath, remind us that you have put the breath of life into us. Awaken us to your presence and make us as eager to seek you as you are always seeking us. Make us true disciples of Jesus, transform us with your fiery Spirit. We give you all the glory O God, and we open our hearts and our souls to your leading and guidance, as we join together in confession, saying,
Prayer of Confession:
It is difficult for us to deal with the knowledge that discipleship requires patience and perseverance. We wonder how Simeon and Anna could remain faithful for so long, without seeing what you have promised. We always struggle with waiting for your revelation. We forget our commitment to live as your people and to be your dwelling place. Forgive us, Lord, when we are so impatient; when we just want to “get on with it” and be where the action is.
Help us to remember that we are blessed as we spend our days with you. Give to us that extra measure of faith and commitment that keep us faithful day after day, and year after year. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
791 Lord God, you now have set your servant free, spoken responsively (adapted)
Lord God, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as promised in your word.
My eyes have seen the Saviour who is Christ the Lord, prepared for all the world to see.
To shine on nations trapped in darkest light
The glory of your people, and their light
You are the people who are the glory of God
Thanks be to God
Passing the Peace
Hymn: 449 Lord listen to your children praying 3x
Scripture:
Responsive Psalm 84 p 922
Luke 2: 22-40 p 1591
Sermon: Blessed by our days in God’s courts
Today we read Psalm 84, which speaks to us about the joy of coming to the Temple to worship God. It is important to remember that for the people of that day, the Temple was located in Jerusalem and was the only place to which everyone made a pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime for worship. For that reason, it was a journey that was filled with great anticipation for the joy of being in the presence of God. The Psalmist speaks of a longing to be in the courts of God.
We who come to worship every week may not always come to worship with that same joyful expectation and longing.
The commentators said that there may be many reasons we don’t always eagerly come to worship. Some have to do with the preacher, who always seems to do that same irritating thing.
I remember one day in MOO 1, which was what the preaching classes were called, and Dr. van Seters called out one person for one of his mannerisms. The class pointed out that this was just who he is and we were fine with it. Dr. van Seters responded that there were some things that congregations should not have to become accustomed to.
But you do, don’t you. After all we are who we are, and you are who you are. Human nature intervenes. Then, our human reactions mean that we don’t see coming to worship as being for God, and about connecting with God in a spectacular way. There are levels of nuance.
I think for that reason we need to take a deeper dive into what this Psalm is revealing for us. We need to come to worship with the expectation that we will encounter the living God.
We need to come with our hearts and minds opened to the work of the Holy Spirit who will bless us with the truth from God’s word.
The commentator Mast writes: “we find God by yearning for him and seeking for him.”
What does that yearning look like? In the Message we read, “1-2 What a beautiful home, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
I’ve always longed to live in a place like this,
Always dreamed of a room in your house,
where I could sing for joy to God-alive!” Ps 84: 1-2 MSG
Have we always longed to live in a place like this? Do we come here dreaming of being able to sing for joy to God? Even when the preacher chooses the hymn for the words and the tune is horrible?
But we forget that our room in the house of God, is centered in our relationship with Jesus.
One of the things that the commentators pointed out again and again is that the locus of our worship, is not the church building. This sanctuary is where we find community, the 2 or 3 others with whom we are in the presence of God.
But the locus of our worship is the God who is with us all the time.
We find God in Jesus. He is the source of our salvation, grace, mercy and forgiveness. Coupled with the Holy Spirit we are always in the presence of God.
When we are focused on walking with Jesus, then every day we are blessed to be in the presence of God. We are able to worship every time we open our Bibles, every time we come before God in prayer. We are blessed every time we speak of his grace to others. All of this is the worship we long for.
We don’t have to make that big trip to go and be with God. God is always with us.
And yet, there is still something about the joy of coming to worship that feeds our souls. So, we have to ask the question, “how do we encounter God in spite of all the human limitations that we encounter?
In spite of so-so preachers?
In spite of long boring prayers?
In spite of hymns we struggle to sing?”
Do we realize that those are just the externals?
When we worship daily and pray daily it is our time to experience our yearning for God. It is a time when we seek God.
You will remember that last summer we spoke of waiting on God. Waiting for him to speak, and show us what he desires. We were challenged to keep being faithful in waiting, even when it seems like God is taking forever to answer the prayers we have poured out again and again.
When we wait on God daily, then we come to worship with the expectation that it will also be a time when we are wrapped in God’s love and blessed in his mercy.
The readings for this Sunday also included the accounts of Simeon and Anna who were present when Jesus was brought to the Temple.
The commentator Harmon points out that this is both profound and ordinary.
A young couple bringing their child to be presented to God and to make the offering for the cleansing of the mother.
Two faithful congregants who come to worship every day simply trusting that at the right time, God would reveal the Messiah.
And by chance these four meet.
Or is it by chance?
These two things happened every day. Parents brought children every day. Simeon and Anna and also other faithful, came daily to pray.
But this day was different. These four people all came with a longing and a yearning in their hearts to be with God. Then, on this day God spoke to that yearning and revealed the salvation of God fulfilling his promises for all of humankind and specifically for Simeon and Anna.
More to the point, Harmon reminds us that these events are examples of deep piety. That piety is broken down in three ways.
First there is hope-piety where hope for God’s revelation is always present in the heart of the worshippers.
Secondly there is trust-piety which is an act of trust that God will keep his promises.
The third piety is a faith-piety which completely trusts that God will receive the worshipper and fill them with his Spirit.
Hope, trust and faith.
Do we bring that into worship? Week after week, year after year do we bring hope, trust and faith into worship with the expectation that God will bless us without measure?
Joseph and Mary did.
They had known profound encounters with the angels of God, and the Spirit of God. They had been blessed to be a part of the salvation of the world. They would have been eager to demonstrate their faithful devotion to God for so many reasons. Just coming into God’s presence would have been an overwhelming joy.
Simeon did.
He came day after day trusting in the promise of God that he would live to see the Messiah. Every day he came with hope. Every day he trusted that God would bless him. Every day he had faith that God always keeps his promise.
On this day of all days, it wasn’t just chance that brought Simeon to the Temple. He lived in faithfulness and saw what God had promised because he had always been faithful in coming to worship with a longing in his heart to encounter God.
He had to wait a lifetime to see the Messiah; but his daily presence in the Temple was a sign that this was the place where he always encountered God and was blessed by God. He kept coming back trusting that God would continue to bless him, and believing that God would keep his promise.
Simeon’s yearning for God kept him coming back, but it also opened his eyes, and his heart so that he was able to see the revelation of God when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple. He took the baby in his arms and prophesied about all that God would accomplish through Jesus.
That same yearning could be seen in Anna.
She too lived a life of faithful piety in partnership with God’s calling to speak prophetically. She makes the choice to come and worship and pray daily. She prayed and she fasted, and she taught others about the promises of God.
Her longing for God and her faith in him, made it possible for her eyes and her heart to recognize Jesus. As soon as she saw him the baby she broke into joyful song.
We can see how both Simeon and Anna found their delight in God, and thereby being so in tune with him that they recognized the revelation of God when no one else in the Temple that day noticed that anything special was happening.
So as I have pondered this in the context of the Psalm there have been a few things that I think we need to look at a little differently.
First we need to bring our open minds and seeking hearts when we come to worship. That means, first of all coming to shower God with praise and in doing so to pour out our love at his feet. Worship is about honouring God, praising God and singing with joy for his goodness.
Then, we need to expect that we will learn from God. What is God saying to us as we worship?
We need to expect that we will be guided by the Holy Spirit. How is the Holy Spirit stirring in our hearts?
When we do all of that then we will be open to connecting with God’s presence and finding our purpose in God.
Do you see how longing to be in the presence of God brings all of that out in us? When we come into the presence of God, his blessing flows into and through us.
The other thing we need to look at differently is the how much we treasure our time in God’s presence. The Psalmist writes, “ Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
I have always believed that meant just being the doorkeeper, like at expensive hotels, where someone’s job is just to open the doors to let people in or out.
But what if it is something more? What if a doorkeeper facilitates your coming and going with God?
When I was undergoing radiation, my sister-in-law dropped me at the door of the Cancer Clinic, and by the time I had walked through the door, the greeters already had a wheelchair ready for me and had called for someone to bring me down to the radiation wing. They opened the way for me to undergo treatment.
So that is part of being a doorkeeper. Only a part of it. These last few days as I have thought about Anna, and how she taught people day and night when she was in the Temple, I have begun to wonder if being a doorkeeper in the Kingdom of God is about opening up the Scriptures and teaching people about God.
I wonder if being a doorkeeper is about helping people to come to an understanding of the revelation of God for them.
Isn’t that really what all of us are called to do and be?
Anna was a prophet and someone who brought others into the knowledge of God. Clearly worship is about revealing God; and opening the way for others to find their longing answered in God’s presence.
So then, as I see it we are all called to share the good news, reach out to others, pray for others, and tell them God loves them.
If we live out our longing for God every day in private worship and every Sunday in public worship, what will that do for our faith?
We are the doorkeepers, who praise God, who long for him and his revelation and we are the ones who make access to God and who make his revelation available to others.
It is about letting everyone in and pointing them to where grace is being given. Basically, the best job in the whole world. Simeon and Anna would agree.
Amen.
Hymn: 461 Be thou my vision
Offering and Doxology 830
Offertory Prayer
O Loving God, this is the offering of our hearts which we freely give to you, in the desire to praise your name, and enter into service with you in all ways.
Direct these gifts and our hands and hearts in your service that your world will be touched with mercy and justice, grace and joy, as all people come together in your realm. Amen.
Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of steadfast love, you sent your Son to be the light of the world, saving people everywhere from sin and death.
As Anna gave thanks for the freedom he would bring, and Simeon saw in him the dawn of redemption, complete your purpose once made known in him. Make us the vessels of his light, that all the world may glory in the splendor of your peace.
Accept the prayers we bring this day, for you know all that tests and troubles us. Hear us now as we take our troubles and place them where they belong, with you, so that we may be freed to serve you and love you with joy.
FIRST OUR JOY AND THANKSGIVING
We give thanks for the rains which have put out most of the fires in California.
CONCERNS
All those who are grieving following the mid air collision in Washington
WORLD
Cease fire between Israel/Hammas. Exchange of hostages/ Peace and justice for the middle east
Our economy with the tariffs
Our government as we seek a new Prime Minister, and the rebuilding and restructuring that will follow in the spring
The American people and the government that they be blessed with your guidance
Embrace our needs in your blessing, so that we may be sustained,
even in times of trial. We give you thanks and praise that all the needs of our hearts are in your safekeeping. Your grace is the source of our delight, as is Jesus who taught us to pray, saying,
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen
Hymn: 457 Now thank we all our God
Benediction
Blessing Song: 445 Open our eyes Lord
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch him, and say that we love him. Open our ears Lord ad help us to listen
Open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus
1976, PCC
3 Fold Amen