Sermonette: Oct. 21, 2024

Last week, we pondered the Northern Lights, and the wonder of the earth and seasons and nature. Today, David zooms in to the wonder of the creation of a human. Can you look at a newborn without awe?

Psalm 139:13–18

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Loving God, you are with us in the vulnerability and beauty of our mother’s womb. None of your creation is here without it. We thank you for your care, for your intricate work on each of our mitochondria, each of our muscle fibers, each of our brain synapses. Our minds cannot contain what we contain in our minds.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

It is with awe that you would create me, that you would create the people I love, that you would place me exactly where I am at exactly this time in history. Thank you for this incomprehensible gift.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Almighty God, you feel hidden at times. We don’t always understand your ways, don’t always understand why or when or how the future will unfold. It can feel scary. But who more would we have unfold our future, one who knit each of us, one who knows us better than we know ourselves? We thank you for hiding from us what we need hidden.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

Sometimes it’s comforting that you’ve ordained our days, Lord, but when our lives are in chaos, and suffering is at hand, it’s easy to ask big questions and even wonder where you are at work. We know that you too have suffered and asked questions. We praise you Lord, for being undaunted by our questions, but instead, holding us in love.

How precious to me are your thoughts [concerning me], God!

How vast is the sum of them!

It’s overwhelming and holy, Lord, how well you know each and every one of your created beings. How well you know me. All the times we feel unseen, misunderstood, persecuted. All the times we receive the consequences of our own actions. Your vastness is incomprehensible. Your perfect ability to see the whole picture of each of our lives, each of our stories, and look at it with love. To open your arms to us, even us.

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

Loving God, your blessings for us outnumber the grains of sand on earth. Help us to go into our lives, trusting this truth, and trusting that God loves my neighbor just as much. Help us to see you in all people.

In Your holy name we pray.