Those Things We Build

PSALM 138 (King James Version)

Psalm 138

 ¹I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

 ²I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

 ³In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

 ⁴All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.

 ⁵Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.

 ⁶Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

 ⁷Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

 ⁸The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20138%20&version=KJV

SCRIPTURE READING Exodus 32:1-24 (The Message)

"Make Gods for Us"

 ¹ When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, "Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt—who knows what's happened to him?"

 ^2-4 So Aaron told them, "Take off the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me." They all did it; they removed the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool.

   The people responded with enthusiasm: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!"

 ⁵ Aaron, taking in the situation, built an altar before the calf.

   Aaron then announced, "Tomorrow is a feast day to God!"

 ⁶ Early the next morning, the people got up and offered Whole-Burnt-Offerings and brought Peace-Offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and then began to party. It turned into a wild party!

 ^7-8 God spoke to Moses, "Go! Get down there! Your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have fallen to pieces. In no time at all they've turned away from the way I commanded them: They made a molten calf and worshiped it. They've sacrificed to it and said, 'These are the gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"

 ^9-10 God said to Moses, "I look at this people—oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I'll make a great nation out of you."

 ^11-13 Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, "Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, 'He had it in for them—he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.' Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them 'I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I'll give this land to your children as their land forever.'"

 ¹⁴ And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people.

 ^15-16 Moses turned around and came down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of The Testimony. The tablets were written on both sides, front and back. God made the tablets and God wrote the tablets— engraved them.

 ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting noisily, he said to Moses, "That's the sound of war in the camp!"

 ¹⁸ But Moses said, 

      Those aren't songs of victory, 
      And those aren't songs of defeat, 
      I hear songs of people throwing a party.

 ^19-20 And that's what it was. When Moses came near to the camp and saw the calf and the people dancing, his anger flared. He threw down the tablets and smashed them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, melted it down with fire, pulverized it to powder, then scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

 ²¹ Moses said to Aaron, "What on Earth did these people ever do to you that you involved them in this huge sin?"

 ^22-23 Aaron said, "Master, don't be angry. You know this people and how set on evil they are. They said to me, 'Make us gods who will lead us. This Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him.'

 ²⁴ "So I said, 'Who has gold?' And they took off their jewelry and gave it to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2032:1-24%20&version=MSG

HYMN Spirit

Tune:  Spirit

CHORUS:

Spirit, Spirit of gentleness blow through the wilderness calling and free, Spirit, Spirit of restlessness, stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

1. You moved on the waters you called to the deep then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep and over the eons you called to each thing “Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings”
2. You swept through the desert you stung with the sand and you gifted your people with a law and a land when they were confounded with idols and lies then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes.
3. You sang in a stable you cried from a hill then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still and down in the city you called once again when you blew through your people on the rush of the wind
4. You call from tomorrow you break ancient schemes from the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams our women see visions our men clear their eyes. With bold new decisions your people arise.

I haven’t been able to find a good link to hear this tune!

  We always seem to be able to build our golden calf.  Things take longer than we think they should.  People don’t do what we’d like them to do when we want them to, so we take matters into our own hands and ‘fix’ the problem. And often times in fixing the problem we only make it worse.  This time it had gotten so bad that God was ready to wipe his hands of the whole thing – wipe out the people completely and start over with Moses.  But God heard Moses’ plea and that didn’t happen. 

    As I read this passage, I wonder who it is that I am in this story.  There are PLENTY of times when I’ve built my own Golden Calf.  But then there are times when others around me build a calf.  How do I respond to that?  Do I have the wisdom, insight, and grace of Moses?? Maybe we are called to go from those Golden Calf moments with the sentiments of the 4^th verse of the hymn of today – “with bold new decisions, your people arise.”  May our bold decisions be to tear down the Golden Calves we’ve made, to have patience with those who are working on their calves, and to remember that God and God alone is the one who is worthy of our worship.

   Rev. Engman is preaching this morning at both worship services at 8:00 and 10:30.  The choir will be singing an a cappella piece.  Penny and I are enjoying our time in North Carolina.  We had dinner Saturday night with two of our Farm Town friends on Facebook.  It was great to finally put faces (and accents) with MJ and Nunya!!!!

  Blessings on your journey!