hymns

Sunday’s Sermon – Leftovers – John 6:1-14; 2 Kings 4:42-44

July 29, 2018 Leave a Comment

Mention “leftovers” and you are likely to get a wide range of opinions, some of them quite strong. Some may insist that no leftover is a good one, while others appreciate encore performances of their favorites. I would offer that some things even taste better when they are leftovers, as the flavors have truly had the chance to come together. Consider a good batch of chili or slow simmered sauce. Or, my favorite “leftover” to enjoy: banana pudding.

Both of our scripture readings today leave God’s people with a lot of leftovers. Elijah’s meal feeds everyone with food left. In the gospel we hear the familiar story of Jesus blessing and multiplying a simple meal, so much so that twelve baskets are overflowing. These stories build upon the idea of God providing for us in a dramatic, exponential way. This is not just manna in the wilderness, enough sustenance for one day at a time; these are miracles of abundance.

The presence of leftovers is a promise that God isn’t done with us yet. There will be food and nourishment for another day. In fact, knowing they are there, we might even look forward to it. Leftovers, in a theological sense, build our anticipation of a continued relationship with God. Such stories remind us of the overwhelming generosity of God. Stories like these feeding tales encourage us to remember that even as we marvel in God’s goodness and blessings, they are only a small glimpse of what God is capable of. God is always bigger than our experiences, even our imaginations. Our God is indeed limitless. It’s as if we get to the end of an amazing deal or offer, and then hear that tag line “but wait, there’s more!”

This summer, we have spent 9 weeks exploring some of the stories of our faith and the songs that proclaim them. It was hard to pick such a small selection, so, as we come to the end of the summer together, I wanted to take time to remind you that, like those baskets of bread after all had been fed, there are ample “leftover” hymns for us to enjoy. This morning, we will get to sample a bit of those, first with a taste of some of the stories that didn’t make it into our series:

Did you know that one of the benefits of the Reformation was the rediscovery of congregational singing? Martin Luther was a huge proponent of the use and power of sacred music. He is quoted as saying:

If any man despises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices[i].

Luther also wrote many hymns in the early sixteenth century, including perhaps the most powerful hymn for the Reformation, based off Psalm 46, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. He said:

I wish to compose sacred hymns so that the Word of God may dwell among the people also by means of songs[ii].

Of course, no study of hymns would be complete without adequate mention of the late 17^th and early 18^th century poet Isaac Watts, who is frequently referred to as the father of English hymnody. He once wrote that:

The singing of God’s praise is the part of worship most related to heaven; but its performance among us is the worst on earth[iii].

For a period of two years, he wrote one hymn a week, seeking to give the church a better voice for its theology in song. Because of his departure from the classical settings of the Psalms, he was considered a radical churchman in his day. His more than 600 works include such scandalously new-fangled hymns as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, I Sing the Mighty Power of God, O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Jesus Shall Reign, and Joy to the World.

Few songs are as well-known and celebratory as Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee. Set to Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy”, from his ninth symphony (his last composed and generally considered the greatest). The words were penned by Henry van Dyke, a Presbyterian pastor from Pennsylvania who also served as our denomination’s moderator, a professor of literature at Princeton University, a Navy chaplain during World War I, and U.S. Ambassador to Holland and Luxembourg under President Wilson. He described the writing of the hymn, first published in 1911, saying:

These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time, hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that the truth of science will destroy their religion or that any revolution on earth will overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore these are hymns of trust and hope[iv].

Finally, many favorites stem from the tradition of gospel music, which saw its rise in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Robert M. Stevenson noted that:

Gospel hymnody has been a plough digging up hardened surfaces of pavemented minds. Its very obviousness has been its strength. It is the music of the people[vi].

A prime example of this musical trend, Blessed Assurance, was written by Fanny Crosby in response to simply hearing a new tune played for her by friend and eventual composer Phoebe Knapp, for Fanny Crosby was a blind poetess. She wrote three new hymns each week for a period while serving as a music publisher, and used over 200 pen names beside her own, writing pieces often suggested by visiting ministers wishing to have a new hymn on a particular subject or text. Over the course of her lifetime, Crosby wrote more than 8,000 gospel song texts, many of which have been an important part of evangelical worship for the past century. On her tombstone is a biblical quote referencing when Mary anointed Jesus with costly perfume, and reflects her very modest perspective on her contribution to sacred music: “She hath done what she could.”

Many of the stories behind our hymns are incredible. The ways in which music shares God’s story, our story, is not just limited to a short series, or even one hymnal. In fact, I think the sheer number of hymns and songs of faith are a sign of God’s incredible abundance and faithfulness. They remind us that there are not limits to God’s song. There are always more notes to be played. The “leftovers” from this summer and the many more within the pages of our hymnals and beyond remind us that God’s song continues. In fact, the songs of praise we offer and ways we express ourselves musically are ones that should go on and on, telling the story of God to new generations. Some old favorites will stand the test of time, alongside new melodies and lyrics that convey how God’s Word continues to be fresh and new to the next generation.

As people of faith, we are called to rise up and sing, with saints through all the years, with siblings in faith next to us in the pews, and for the future of God’s people who will continue to let voices ring forever in the glory of God. This morning, we invite you to do just that with a hymn sing to conclude this series together, allowing God’s word to be proclaimed once again in song! You can find hymnals in your pews, and we ask that you reference which hymnal and the hymn number so that everyone can follow along as we sing the first verse of your favorite – go ahead and call them out, as Denise leads us in song.

Let us sing!

~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford

July 29, 2018

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[i]       Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories: The Inspiring True Stories Behind 101 Favorite Hymns, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2012).
[ii]      Ibid.
[iii]     Ibid.
[iv]    Ibid.
[v]     Ibid.
[vi]    Robert. M. Stevenson in Patterns of Protestant Church Music, as quoted by Kenneth W. Osbeck in 101 Hymn Stories.

Sunday’s Sermon – Signs of Faithfulness

June 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

This is Our Story, This is Our Song is the theme for our June/July sermon series.
Each week, we will explore some of the great hymns of our faith and reflect on their stories and the stories of scripture that they proclaim.

“Here I raise my Ebenezer” has got to be one of the most amusing or strange lines of all of the hymns in our hymnal. In the midst of a beautiful and stirring hymn, it sticks out like a sore thumb, unless we happen to know the Scripture reference from 1 Samuel 7, as Samuel marks a victory over the Philistines with a stone as a monument of sorts to God, recognizing God’s role and giving God credit for their triumphant outcome. The word in Hebrew literally means “stone of help,” and is meant to be a symbol of God’s faithfulness. In some hymnals you’ll find this verse re-translated to “here I raise to thee an altar,” to help better convey the meaning. For my tastes, though, I like keeping Ebenezer, for the richness of the word’s etymology and the opportunity it gives us to remind us that great hymns, like Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, are rooted deeply in our understanding of God’s words in the Bible.

The hymn was written by Robert Robinson. His story begins with heartbreak; his father died when he was eight and at age fourteen his mother sent him to England to apprentice as a barber. Instead, though, he got caught up with a rougher gang-like crowd that led him down a path of drinking and general mischief. At age 17, he and his friends decided to attend a meeting where the prominent evangelical theologian, George Whitefield, was preaching. Their purpose, of course, was to heckle, and “scoff at the poor deluded Methodists[i],” but what happened was quite the opposite. Robinson became convicted by the preaching on Matthew 3, with that sermon becoming a turning point in his life, leading to his enrollment in seminary 3 years later. By the time he was 23, he was serving at Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England and in 1758 he wrote a hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday that was a prayer for the Holy Spirit to flood into our hearts with streams of mercy, enabling us to sing God’s praises and remain faithful[ii].

This hymn and it corresponding verse from 1 Samuel prompts us to consider the things in our lives that serve as reminders or witnesses to God’s help and faithfulness for us. For some, it is a place, like the stone gate that leads into Montreat, North Carolina, or stones that line the pathway of a labyrinth or walking trail; the rumble of the ocean waves or lapping of water against a boat. It might even be a literal church. These physical locations have a way of connecting us to the root of our faith. When all else seems lost or difficult, we can come back to these locations for a re-set. They are where we feel closest to God and can remind ourselves of God’s care for us and be at peace. For others, they might be symbols or tangible things we carry with us to remind us of our faith, such as a cross carried in our pocket or hanging around our neck. They could even be a literal stone – have you seen the ones that have a word inscribed on them? You can carry them with you as a reminder of that word of focus and reassurance. Early in my ministry, I received one as a gift from my spiritual director, during a tough time of transition when I wasn’t sure what the future would hold as my time with my first congregation came to an end. The word etched into the stone was “TRUST” and while it seemed ridiculous at first, I found that carrying it with me, in my pocket was calming. Whenever I felt unsure or unstable, I could reach into my pocket and find the rock, which would prompt me to pray and remember to trust God in the midst of my anxiety. It was not a panacea that made the difficulty of that time go away, but it was a way to remind myself that I was not in it alone. “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come.”

In our lives of faith, it is helpful to have such signs and reminders of God’s presence along the way. When things are difficult, they are critical claims of faith that we cling to in order to have hope even in the midst of despair. That is the setting for the book of Lamentations, written around the end of the 6^th century BCE as a poetic response to a national tragedy following Babylonian military assaults. Our passage this morning from chapter 3 is set within the third of five poems of the book, which cry out to God in the midst of intense pain, both for individuals and the community. These verses provide a brief point of hope, a break of light in the midst of darkness, which present a quiet and persistent confidence in God’s mercy even in the midst of bitter agony. As Beth Laneel Tanner notes:

the hope in God and God’s faithfulness is anchored in the expression of loss and personal reflection on sin.

God is not just faithful; God is faithful in the toughest of times[iii].

Even if all seems lost, God is present and faithful. Lamentations bears witness to hope among the ruins of Jerusalem and our lives without sugar-coating or ignoring the real pain that exists. Like the poet, the weight of the world swirls around us as well. This week brought news of two celebrities who completed suicide, a sobering reminder of the deep pain some live with daily, even when everything on the outside might appear to be going well. Wildfires are raging in Colorado. Children have been separated from parents or lost in systems and people are being detained in tall kennel-like cages on cement floors with only lightweight space blankets for comfort. School children in a Massachusetts kindergarten classroom are learning a rhyme to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” about how to keep safe if they need to go into Lockdown mode because someone, likely an active shooter, has entered the building. Last Sunday, the Fuego Volcano in Guatemala suddenly erupted, sending pyroclastic flows – fast-moving, searingly hot clouds of volcanic ash and gases, down the mountainside at speeds faster than a jet plane. Entire communities were covered in moments. The death count is currently over 100 and will continue to climb as responders search through the disaster and as the volcano continues to be active. In the midst of these harsh realities, and those difficulties in our own lives, we might be tempted to ask “is God really faithful?”

My favorite Presbyterian Pastor, Fred Rogers, repeatedly said for us to look for the helpers when bad things happened. Put theologically, I think he was calling us to look for those who had raised Ebenezers, signs of faithfulness that God is at work. It is when we notice the first responders – firefighters and officers – who reach out in compassion and love, even saving lives. It is when we see educators teaching in love and calming fears. It is when we see disaster workers around tables making plans not just for tangible relief of clean water and clothing, but also providing trauma counseling for those who have lost it all. It is when we hear about the suicide prevention line where people can call anytime to talk – just dial 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Or, if you are struggling and can’t talk but can text, the Crisis Text Line is available 24/7 by texting 741-741 to receive help. These are signs of God’s faithfulness and help, and they come in the everyday responses of people who care. They are the streams of mercy, shining through like rays of sunlight on the horizon. And they remind us we are not alone.

These signs are what captured the poet in Lamentations 3, who in the midst of despair, looked up, and noted in verse 23 that this love and mercy from God “never comes to an end; they are new every morning.” This verse resonated with another poet, Thomas Obediah Chisholm, who authored more than 1200 poems in the early 20^th century. His life was a roller coaster of ups and downs, including bouts of serious illnesses and inconsistent employment that often left him struggling. He was a man of faith, who identified that throughout his life he had not had a large climactic moment, but instead took note of God’s presence in his life, little by little, morning by morning as he discovered new blessings from God. He sent some of his poems to his friend and musician William Runyan in 1923, who was inspired to put it to music, and the classic beloved hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” was born. It wasn’t an immediate hit, but was a favorite of Dr. Will Houghton of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, who adopted it as its unofficial theme song, and it became wildly popular worldwide in the 1950s when it was introduced by George Beverly Shea and the choirs at the Billy Graham Crusades.

Like the Ebenezer raised by Samuel, this hymn calls us to place our faith and hope in God, no matter what. It is not a naive belief that God will simply sweep in and fix it all, but a statement about who God is in relation to the world. As Martha Moore-Keish reminds us, it is a:

lively eschatological hope [that] is not escape from the troubles of this world, but stubborn insistence that God’s mercy will have the last word – and life lived defiantly in light of that hope[iv].

To sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” is a refusal to accept the world as it is, but to instead place a sign of faithfulness at the feet of the one through whom all mercies come. It is a song desperately needed for those who had been through tough times, whether it was the Philistines or the Babylonians, or our own modern-day struggles, to remind ourselves where to place our hope. May we join together in singing it, allowing its light to break into our lives, and serve as a beacon of hope for us, resonating deep within our souls. . . .

~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford
June 10, 2018

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[i]       Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories: The Inspiring True Stories Behind 101 Favorite Hymns, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1982).
[ii]     Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul: 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2011).
[iii]    Beth Laneel Tanner, “Lamentations 3:19-26, Exegetical Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).
[iv]    Martha L. Moore-Keish, “Lamentations 3:19-26, Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010).

Sunday’s Sermon – First Things First, Matthew 6:25-34; Deuteronomy 6:1-9

June 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

This is Our Story, This is Our Song: Summer Sermon Series 2018 (week one)

129. That is the number of e-mails I returned to find this week in my church e-mail inbox. Full disclosure. I have not read them all. Not even close in fact, since I was only in the office one day. Alongside the “snail mail” and other notes on my desk, I had quite a bit stack up while I was gone. It wasn’t all together surprising, in fact the number of e-mails was less than I feared it might be. And here I thought it would be an easy time to get away. It seems that business is even true in the summertime, a season when deceptively we tend to think there is less to do. And yet, whether it’s ongoing work or planning a family trip or just figuring out when you can mow your yard in between rain drops, there seems to be just as much “stuff” in our lives to contend with. As I took a quick survey of the tasks at hand, I realized quickly that I needed to develop some sort of plan of attack if I was to accomplish anything. I remembered the all-to-true cliched question: How do you eat an elephant? (one bite at a time).

Toward the end of his sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives similar advice. In previous verses (going back to chapter 5), Jesus has given his followers a primer for what it means to be a disciple, from caring for others to how to pray. Here, though, he provides some tactile instructions relating to their relationship with gaining and spending money. The disciples around him, and perhaps their culture in general too, seemed to be in a tizzy with worry. The details of logistics and genuine practical concerns consumed them. It makes sense. They left their livelihoods to follow this curious man, all that they had known and all that provided them security. But Jesus tells them not to worry. Just sit back, and “God will provide.” Taken at just face value, it seems to imply that we have no real responsibility for caring for the basic needs of ourselves or others. That seems to be a dangerous theological approach to living, and on that poses serious ethical questions of entitlement and leads us to a prosperity gospel in which those with enough faith get taken care of, and even are emboldened to ask for ludicrous things like like $54 million dollar jets; while those who struggling are categorized as simply not having enough faith, or worse, being loved less by God. That type of thinking seems pretty contradictory to the gospel message, the “good news” of our Lord and Savior, both in the 1^st century and today.

Perhaps, then, we might look at this teaching from Christ as having another angle; similar to other parables and metaphors, it uses language that is more poetry than prose. As writer Douglas R. A. Hare notes:

“The birds of heaven” and “the lilies of the field” become larger than life. They are not models to be imitated but powerful symbols of God’s providential care . . .The rhetorical development of these symbols draws our attention away from our frantic pursuit of the necessities of life to a calmer vision of God’s bountiful care in the natural world[i].

Such a focus might redirect our attention away from those things that keep us spinning toward a renewed understanding of an ever-present God who is engaged and active in our world. It is God stepping in to the most anxious moments in our life with a reassurance that it is going to be ok, because God’s got us in all of this, and through Jesus we are able to again see the big picture of what God has in mind for the world – namely, love and care for all of God’s creation.

Just over a week ago I had the amazing opportunity to attend an ecumenical preaching conference known as the Festival of Homiletics. This year it was held in Washington, D.C., and continued its tradition of bringing some of the best preachers and theologians of the Christian faith for inspiring sermons and reflections on the craft of preaching. As I have described it to some of you, it’s having those names on the spines of the books on my theological shelf come to life: Walter Brueggemann, Otis Moss, III, Anna Carter Florence, Richard Rohr, Diana Butler Bass, and more. They were inspiring and challenging and uplifting to more than 1500 of us preachers who gathered to consider how we might better proclaim the good news each week from the pulpit and in our lives as well. In addition to the Festival, another event happened in D.C. that week. On Thursday evening, I attended a worship service and prayer vigil with the Reclaiming Jesus movement. In association with the Sojourners, 23 elders from various denominations of the Christian faith gathered this Lent and reflected on the state of Christianity in our country and world. Through study, prayer, and conversation, they noted this:

We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.

It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography—our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We pray that our nation will see Jesus’ words in us. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35)[ii].

In response to the worry, and toil, and spinning of our world, these 23 elders put forth an incredible statement with 6 essential assertions of what it means to claim Jesus Christ as Lord. You can read the full statement, which is subtitled “A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis” at http://www.ReclaimingJesus.org. But here is a brief summary of its main confessions of faith:

WE BELIEVE each human being is made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).
WE BELIEVE we are one body. In Christ, there is to be no oppression based on race, gender, identity, or class (Galatians 3:28).
WE BELIEVE how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself. (Matthew 25: 31-46)
WE BELIEVE that truth is morally central to our personal and public lives.
WE BELIEVE that Christ’s way of leadership is servanthood, not domination.
WE BELIEVE Jesus when he tells us to go into all nations making disciples (Matthew 28:18)[iii]

It is a powerful statement of faith. It was even more incredible to hear so many leaders in the Christian faith speak to these statements, from Bishop Michael Curry (yes, the one who preached at the royal wedding) to Tony Campolo to the legendary James Forbes and more. As they spoke about each of these statements, a common theme emerged – this is what it means to say Jesus Christ is Lord. The biblical references from both the Old and New Testaments were rich, and the energy in the packed National City Church was brimming. As we professed our faith in word and song, at one point the more than 1,000 who were gathered joined in unison to repeat “Jesus Christ is Lord!” The crowd was diverse. It was far more than just us preacher folks, and included young and old, male and female, different cultural and social backgrounds, and many different denominations. I truly felt like I was in the presence of a great cloud of witnesses. That evening I was tremendously moved by the Spirit and incredibly aware of God’s presence that I couldn’t help but be re-energized for the work of a calling to ministry to proclaim such good news; and at the same time truly humbled by the enormity of the task and terrified I might not be able to do it, to do God, justice.

As I read the passage from Matthew upon my return, I wonder if that is the feeling the disciples might have had during the Sermon on the Mount. They had been given a high calling, an exciting one, and then suddenly be swept up in the worry that you might not be able to handle it. Then, the many practical reasons this is all going to blow up in your face start to come. How will you eat? What will you wear? What will people think about you if you just start talking all the time about Jesus? Perhaps the disciples are also struck by the enormity of the task Jesus is presenting – spreading the good news of God’s love in revolutionary ways is HUGE. It is not something accomplished in one day. Or one lifetime. Or even twenty centuries. It is ongoing work, and such important work that it is bound to make faithful disciples worry if we are doing enough. To this, Jesus speaks words of calm, akin to his popular refrain, “Peace, be still.” Stop putting your energy into worry and toil, Jesus says, and instead focus on the one who has provided everything and still cares for you. Instead of just plowing through a to-do list of tasks, seek something else first – the kingdom of God. For followers of Jesus, that is the first bite we should take of the elephant of discipleship.

This is a simple instruction worth remembering. It might have even reminded those who were Jewish of the central prayer and instruction God gave to the people Israel as recorded in Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 and 5. It is known as the Shema, which means hearing or obeying, and reminds the people that the most important thing they can do as God’s own is to remember that God is God alone, and that we are to love God with all we’ve got. In fact, this is the call Jesus will refer to later in the gospel as the most important commandment. But he also echoes it, I think, in this portion of the sermon on the mount, particularly in verse 33 when followers are instructed to first seek the kingdom of God. Both of these, along with countless other reminders in Scripture, remind us that if we are to call ourselves children of God, and if we are to claim that we follow Jesus, we need to put first things first. And what comes first needs to be God.

In Deuteronomy, the people are instructed to repeat the shema, sharing them with children at home and away, and binding them literally to themselves, lest they forget their importance. I think one of the ways we as people of faith live into this instruction to carry our faith with us is through song. More than perhaps any other experience or practice of faith, music seems to stay with me. It gets stuck in my head and is what I can return to when things are tough. As the chorus from Blessed Assurance goes, “this is my story; this is my song!” The hymns and songs of our faith help proclaim our story, God’s story, in ways that stick with us and inspire us to lead compelling lives of faith that matter. Over the next two months, we will connect one or more of these great hymns to the stories of Scripture and learn a bit more about their background in the process.

This week is one of our most literal connections, with the popular hymn “Seek Ye First,” which directly quotes Matthew 6:33 from the King James Version. It was written by Karen Lafferty in the early 1970s. Shortly before then, Karen was putting her music degree to use as an entertainer in a nightclub in New Orleans. A friend came to visit her and reminded her of the importance of the Christian faith in which she had been raised, one she had paid less attention to in her search for herself as a young adult. Something shifted within her, and she moved to California and soon became involved with a community of young musicians at Calvary Chapel. What is now a major Christian music label, Maranatha! Music, was just getting its start in very informal ways, as this group tried to figure out how to serve God through music. One evening, after a Bible study on Matthew 6, Karen was struck by verse 33 and followed the trend of other musicians at the time by setting it to music, complete with an Alleluia descant[iv]. It became one of the hit songs on Maranatha! Music’s first album, Praise 1, with additional related verses from Scripture added at later dates. It continues to be in the majority of hymnals today and is one of the most well known modern songs of praise in the Christian faith[v]. While Lafferty’s ministry of music continued, as she now serves in mission with music internationally, this is considered her “one-hit-wonder.” The words, by design, are simple and reflective, almost a prayerful singing of the biblical text, but I believe the combination with the tune also captures the essence of the passage, a calming reassurance of God’s presence, and a commitment we each make as singers to put God first. As we proclaim our faith in song today, I invite you to consider this a prayer and an offering to God, and hope that this will be a song to carry you this week as you seek to follow Christ by putting God first. Together, let us claim God’s story, our story, in song:

~Rev. Elizabeth Lovell Milford
June 3, 2018

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[i]      Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for teaching and preaching, (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993), 74.
[ii]     http://www.reclaimingjesus.org/
[iii]    Read the full statement and accompanying information at www.reclaimingjesus.org
[iv]    To hear Karen’s description of this story, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p9UN7DAmV4, accessed 6/2/18.
[v]     Additional descriptions of the hymn’s history can be found here: https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-seek-ye-first and here: https://www.reformedworship.org/article/march-1990/seek-ye-first-interview-karen-lafferty. Both accessed 6/2/18.

Sunday’s Sermon – Leftovers – John 6:1-14; 2 Kings 4:42-44

Sunday’s Sermon – Signs of Faithfulness

Sunday’s Sermon – First Things First, Matthew 6:25-34; Deuteronomy 6:1-9

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