Fries Memorial Moravian Church

Cedar Beam used in Construction in American Southwest

Psalm 92: 1-4, 12-15
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. 4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14 In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, 15 showing that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 92 talks about “the righteous.” In the Bible, righteousness is nothing more and nothing less than “the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship.” People are righteous when we fulfill the demands of our relationships, and these demands vary. We owe our parents one thing, and our spouse another. We are called upon to honor our father and mother, but only to a point. When we marry, we are called upon to leave our mother and father and cleave to our mate. Loyalties shift, and if they do not, there is trouble, right here in River City. A noted psychiatrist said that a failure to separate from one’s parents is the number one cause of failure in marriage. Likewise, we owe our friends and neighbors certain things that we do not owe the stranger we meet in the street. Unless, of course, that stranger is in need, in which case, according to Jesus, that stranger becomes a neighbor.

God calls upon his people to be righteous and insist upon nothing less for Himself. Emil Brunner said that God’s righteousness (or holiness) is God’s self-respect. In Biblical terms, God is righteous when God rewards virtue and right living and punishes sin—just as he promised to do when he made his covenant with Israel. Continue reading →

A Pre-Covid 19 Celebration. On June 27, we will be back!

We are considering Psalm 130. I want to begin by rearranging, modernizing, and amplifying the voice of the psalmist.  In verse 3, he confesses “O Lord, if you should keep a permanent record of our human sin and evil, who could stand?”   The Psalmist then cries out from the depths of his own sin and guilt—and the unspoken circumstances into which that sin has cast him, and he ask that the LORD God of Israel might forgive him and restore him

The psalmist based his hope on the word that God had spoken through his prophets, and the Mighty Works God had done on behalf of his people, Israel. When we see others enjoying the benefits of faith—we seek the same for ourselves.  The Psalmist had faith. People can always count on sunset and sunrise, that day follows night. The Psalmist said, “My faith in God is stronger than our common faith that sunrise always follows sunset.”

Now, let me ask you, “What do you know about the depths?”  I know at least this: Continue reading →