WE GATHER IN GOD’S PRESENCE:

Lighting the Candle (John 12:46,47) –

Jesus said: ⁴⁶ I have come as light into the world,

so that everyone who believes in me

should not remain in the darkness. 

⁴⁷ I do not judge anyone who hears my words

and does not keep them,

for I came not to judge the world,

but to save the world. –

Let us be mindful of each other as we engage in worship,

those who worship at home

and those who worship in the chapel:

Greeting:

The Lord be with you AND ALSO WITH YOU

We Focus on God     Psalm 90

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
    in all generations.
2 BEFORE THE MOUNTAINS WERE BROUGHT FORTH,
    OR EVER YOU HAD FORMED THE EARTH AND THE WORLD,
    FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING YOU ARE GOD.

3 You turn humanity back to dust,
    AND SAY, ‘TURNBACK, YOU MORTALS’…
11 Who considers the power of your anger?
    YOUR WRATH IS AS GREAT AS THE FEAR THAT IS DUE TO YOU.

12 So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart.

13 TURN BACK, O LORD! HOW LONG?
    HAVE COMPASSION ON YOUR SERVANTS!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    SO THAT WE MAY REJOICE AND BE GLAD ALL OUR DAYS.15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    AND FOR AS MANY YEARS AS WE HAVE SEEN EVIL.

16 Let your work be manifest to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17 LET THE FAVOUR OF THE LORD OUR GOD BE UPON US,
    AND PROSPER FOR US THE WORK OF OUR HANDS—

We Sing:        TIS 216 REJOICE THE LORD IS KING

Prayer

Holy God, whose grace and mercy

transforms your wrath into actions

of reconciliation and renewal,

we come into your presence

acknowledging you as the true

creating, redeeming and sustaining God!

Our land is alive with your glory:[1]

desert sands hum and gum trees dance;

Brown grasses sing

and mountains breathe their stillness;

All created things add their rhythms of delight

and even stones rap out their praise.

Our voices mingle with those of the earth;

our hearts join the beat of her joy,

for our triune God is with us:

our Creator surrounds and upholds us.

Christ Jesus walks beside and before us.

The Spirit moves within and between us.

Blessed be God, our wonder and delight,

we worship in awe and with joy!

therefore we pray as our Lord taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen

WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD

Prayer for Illumination

OUR LORD AND OUR GOD,
NOW AS WE HEAR YOUR WORD,
BLESS US WITH YOUR SPIRIT;
SOFTEN OUR HEARTS
THAT WE MAY DELIGHT IN YOUR PRESENCE

SHARPEN OUR MINDS
THAT WE MAY DISCERN YOUR TRUTH
SHAPE OUR WILLS
THAT WE MAY DESIRE YOUR WAYS.
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD.  AMEN

Scripture  ROMANS 13:8-14

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

¹¹ Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹² the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; ¹³ let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. ¹⁴ Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In this is the Word of the Lord   WE HEAR AND REJOICE, O LORD

MATTHEW 22:34-46

³⁴ When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵ and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶ ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸ This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

⁴¹ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ⁴² ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ ⁴³ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spiritcalls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴ “The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
    until I put your enemies under your feet’”?

⁴⁵ If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ ⁴⁶ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

This is the Gospel of our Lord  PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST

Prayer of Confession

Jesus calls us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts

We confess how hard this is at times, O Lord…

Lord have mercy…LORD HAVE MERCY.

Jesus calls us to love the Lord our God with all our soul

We confess succumbing at times

to some of our modern idols, O Lord.  

Christ have mercy…CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

Jesus calls us to love the Lord our God with all our mind

We confess to being pre-occupied

with ungodly matters at times, O Lord.  

Lord have mercy…LORD HAVE MERCY.

Jesus calls us to love our neighbour as ourselves

We confess to merely loving only ourselves at times, O Lord.

Christ have mercy…CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

Declaration of Reconciliation

The Christ who invites us to accept his way

has reconciled us with the God

who in love saves us even from ourselves;

all is forgiven us,

and so we say with joy in our hearts!

THANKS BE TO GOD

Passing the Peace.. as we raise our hands in blessing to those unseen…
The peace of the Risen Lord be with you all  AND ALSO WITH YOU.

We Sing:  TIS 595 O JESUS I HAVE PROMISED

Contemporary Word:

WRATH AS PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATION AND RENEWAL

O Lord, how long?  (Psalm 90:13)

Moses, the man of God asks…

The day is near! (Romans 13:11ff)

Paul called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles answers.

Note the similarity between Ps 90:13 (a Psalm attributed to Moses)

Turn back, O LORD! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!

and how Moses appeals to God in Exodus 32:12ff,

Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.”’ ¹⁴ And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Here Moses tells God

to “turn” or “repent” from God’s anger, wrath…

Moses challenged God,

repent! how long will you keep this up!

Remember who you are!

Remember your promises… (my paraphrase)…

In Psalm 90 the focus is initially on God’s wrath,

verses omitted from the lectionary reading:

3 You turn humanity back to dust,
    and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past,
    or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are consumed by your anger;
    by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
    or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who considers the power of your anger?
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
12 So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart. (i.e seek grace and mercy[2])

13 Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!

Note the boldness implied in the words imputed to Moses,

the very challenge God puts to humanity,

‘Turn back, you mortals.’

(the implication being not so much a call to repentance,

as a threat of uncreation!

You turn humanity back to dust,)

the Psalmist boomerangs back to God:

Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!

Dare we to challenge God

as we examine this theme of ‘wrath’?

Rather than merely present a summary of usage of ‘wrath’

in the scriptures,

I suggest we take seriously the trajectory within scripture

where the movement is towards

the revelation, the apocalypse, of God,

as the One who loved humanity

whilst we were still at enmity with God…

(Recall Romans 3:21-26  and 5:1-11).

Furthermore that we as passionately as Moses,

as Paul, I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ

for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. (9.3)

would remind God of what is asked of us,

as for example, in the Gospel text this morning,

and urge God to model such love to neighbour

through transforming ‘wrath’ from our perception

of retributive justice into a process of care and concern.

We might then hear the words of Jesus, hanging on the cross,

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…

The ancient people who put together the book of Psalms

as we have it now, during their time in exile,

intentionally structured it so it shows a movement

of a people putting their trust in a king, David and his line,

the anointed in Psalm 2;

giving scant attention to the God

who is the power behind the throne, if you like;

then because of this apostacy,

experiencing loss of king, land and temple

and learning through that loss, whilst in exile,

a renewed trust in the true God,

the LORD![3]

In the Hebrew bible, the book of Psalm,

this collection of 150 poems is called tehillim which means ‘praises’.

The collection is divided into 5 sections,

with Psalms 1 and 2 serving as an introduction…

each section concluding with a refrain style blessing…

Ps 41: 14:  Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel,

From eternity to eternity.. Amen and Amen

Ps 72.. 18ff Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,

who alone does marvellous things;

Blessed is His glorious name for ever,

And let his glory fill the whole world… Amen and Amen

Ps 89:53 Blessed is the Lord forever: amen and amen

Ps 106: 48 Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel,

to all eternity. Let all the people say ‘Amen’ Hallelujah!

Psalms 146-150 each of these is a call to bless God.

This morning’s Psalm, Psalm 90 opens Book IV of the psalter.

Book III (73-89) is heavily weighted with prayers

that lament the destruction of Jerusalem,

and Psalm 89 concludes Book III

with the announcement of God’s rejection

of the covenant with David

and with the anguished questions of vv. 46 and 49.

⁴⁶ How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself for ever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is—
    for what vanity you have created all mortals!
⁴⁸ Who can live and never see death?
    Who can escape the power of Sheol?Selah

⁴⁹ Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
    which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

Thus it seems more than coincidental that Book IV

immediately takes the reader back to the time of Moses,

when there was no land or Temple or monarchy.

Indeed, Book IV can be characterized as a Moses-book,

and in response to the crisis of exile and its aftermath,

it offers the “answer” that pervades the psalter

and forms its theological heart: God reigns!

In short, even without land, Temple, and monarchy,

relatedness to God is still possible,

as it was in the time of Moses.

Thus the superscription of Psalm 90 should be taken seriously

—not merely as an indication of Mosaic authorship,

but as a clue to read Psalm 90

in the context of the stories about Moses in the Pentateuch.^[4]

God’s wrathful response to the Golden Calf incident

is turned from the annihilation of a rebellious called people,

to ‘merely’ sending a plague

because of Moses’ appeal (Exodus 32:35).

Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann informs us that

one pattern he has observed within the Old Testament

for covenant breaches is retributive action:

(see for example Leviticus 26:23-26)

disobedience to Torah is seen as hostility to God,

so God will be hostile to the disobedient!

Divine hostility takes the form of a sword of vengeance;

upon retreat from battle there comes pestilence;

and the result of pestilence is famine.

Thus we get the great triad of divine response.

That triad, moreover, is readily seen in sequence.

From war there may come pestilence

and from pestilence there may come famine.[5]

He also points out though, that the evidence points to

an inevitable triumph of mercy over retribution!

We note this in David’s choice of pestilence

as the choice for punishment

for his unauthorised census of the nation.

David’s reasoning was this (2 Samuel 24:14)

 ‘I am in great distress;

let us fall into the hand of the Lord,

for his mercy is great;

but let me not fall into human hands.’

The whole structure of the Book of Psalms

argues that God’s anger, wrath, as retribution,

will not be God’s final word to,

or experience with,

humanity and creation.

O Lord, how long?  (Psalm 90:13)

Moses, the man of God asks…

The day is near! (Romans 13:11ff)

Paul called to be the Apostle to the Gentiles answers.

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 

¹² the night is far gone, the day is near.

In a very real sense, the ‘how long’ depends on us;

from the moment we respond to the Gospel

the beginning of the end has commenced!

Paul declared we live with God’s wrath constantly,

(Romans 1:18).

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and wickedness

of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.

L. Ann Jervis comments,

‘in the reality of being under God’s wrath,

humanity has been handed over by GOD

to the desires of their hearts…

to impurity 1.24,

to every kind of disgrace 1.26

and to a corrupted mind 1.28…

humans are put in the hands of that which destroys them

as an act of divine wrath.[6]

Paul goes at great lengths to emphasise

that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation

to everyone who puts their trust in God… 1.16

This transfers one from living under wrath

to living within righteousness;

which is not to be confused with living perfectly!

Baptism, as a grateful response to God’s grace gifted reconciliation,

unites us with Christ in his death.

As a consequence we are destined to live a resurrection life

transformed by the Spirit within us.

Nothing now, Paul attests,

can come between the love of God and ourselves!

We have been relocated from living under wrath

through God’s gift of the recalibration of humanity and creation

effected through the faithfulness of Jesus

to God’s will for reconciliation,

even to the point of death!

This recapitulates what we have learned the last few weeks.

 Professor Jervis argues that seeing righteousness

(what we also term recalibration) is gifted,

there has been a movement away from ‘a retributive framework’.

Paul’s good news is that the revelation of the righteousness of God

opens a reality in which retribution is transcended.

Hence his urging believers then, and the text urging us now,

that we are to refrain from living retributively,

neither seeking vengeance nor paying back evil with evil,

but looking for ways to pay back evil with good!

In the context of both the Gospel and God’s faithfulness to Israel,

Paul portrays God as foregoing wrath.[7]

Furthermore she argues,

after having examined the relevant texts in Romans,

contrary to much established thinking,

that Christ’s death is described

not as the requirement of God’s righteousness,

nor as a site of battle or victory,

but purely and profoundly as a demonstration of God’s love for us.

She states: Paul leaves inchoate how God’s love in Christ’s death

achieved our liberation from sin and our reconciliation to God,

although he is wholeheartedly certain that it has![8]

Brueggemann, as an Old Testament scholar, 

names a second response by God to those who thwart God’s purpose,

A second interpretive trajectory

exhibits YHWH’s purposeful enactment of force

in order to implement the specific purpose of YHWH.

The accent is on the purposeful resolve of YHWH’s force.

The obvious example of this are the Ten Plagues on Egypt

to ensure the Exodus from that country

of the enslaved people of God.

On the one hand, this exhibit of YHWH’s force

is in order that Israel may know that YHWH is God

(Exod 6:7; 7:17; 10:2; 11:7).

On the other hand, it is in order that Egypt may know

that YHWH is God (Exod 7:5; 8:10, 22; 9:29–30; 14:18).

Israel and Egypt together are instructed

through this exhibit of divine power that takes violent form….[9]

Paul alerts all to the eternal power of God discernible in nature, 1.20

Paul speaks of Jesus as: declared to be Son of God

with power according to the spiritof holiness

by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 1.4

and names the Gospel as the power of God for salvation, 1.16

and again refers to God’s saving power with:

And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief,

will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.11.23

This expression of power demonstrates not coercion, but love!

If we take seriously our Trinitarian understanding of God,

then what Paul states of Jesus in Philippians 2.7,8

And being found in human form,
⁸     he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross.

is true of God… [10]

Jervis argues when Paul speaks of Christ’s death

he does not articulate what happened in the death,

but what happened as a result of Christ’s death.

She goes on to postulate:

when God turned Christ over to anti-god powers,

perhaps God in Christ… faced down those powers

through peaceful non-resistance…

both Christ and God responded non-violently

and thereby created an alternative reality… [11]

She admits this is speculative,

but suggests no more speculative

than forensic or battle like scenarios…

Paul, in Romans, suggests that Wrath, though real still,

as a destructive retributive force

is tempered by, perhaps even overwhelmed by,

God’s mercy and love, into a transformative force!

Brueggemann reminds us

that there is in the Old Testament a wild card…

This concerns the sheer holiness of God;

namely that God can enact in utter freedom without reason,

explanation, or accountability, seemingly beyond any purpose at all.

The classic textual example is in the whirlwind speeches

in the book of Job

where God declares that God’s forceful creative actions

are beyond any capacity of Job to master, explain, or comprehend.

God, moreover, intends that God’s actions should expose Job’s anemic capacity for understanding[12].

Paul echoes this awareness with his doxology in chapter 11:

³³ O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!

³⁴ ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?’
³⁵ ‘Or who has given a gift to him,
    to receive a gift in return?’

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory for ever. Amen.

Paul accepts there is a wild card aspect to God’s mercy! 9.14-18

Nevertheless, Paul affirms a bedrock conviction

that ultimately God acts out of love!

Love which has him reach out to humanity

whilst they are still at enmity with God,

a love for us, which nothing in heaven, on earth, below the earth,

can minimise, annul, destroy…  8.31-39

Jervis also postulates that by means of Christ’s death,

God created a new space, a new reality shaped not by sin

but by God’s righteousness.

The cross would thus not be the location of punishment,

appeasement, or of battle, but of creation.[13]

I think Paul describes such a space,

a maternity ward, if you like… 8.22

where new birthing can begin…

the birthing Paul describes we are all waiting for,

participating in…

God’s wrath is God’s process of challenge

to those who have not opened themselves to the truth about God;1.18ff

this process, uncomfortable and painful though it may be,

much as an openness to the Spirit’s transformative action

in our lives inevitably is,

this process is ultimately driven by God’s love

to ensure the final well-being of those enacted on.

I have described it before as akin to withdrawing

from alcohol and or other drug dependency!

It is I suppose withdrawing from sin dependency;

The experience is hell, but the end is well-being!

The Psalmist moves from despair to hope:

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Finally, lest this all seem rather academic, consider this…

ultimately how we think about God’s wrath

tells us as much about ourselves as our thinking about God…

As we think about God’s wrath,

do we just discuss the concept?

or do we in our bones sense a contradiction

between how we understand God as the God of love,

and any concept of retributive justice!

Or do we secretly cheer on any sort of divine retributive justice?

Do we deep down believe certain people

deserve that sort of divine intervention?

Not we, people like us, of course!

No, the ‘other’…  

if we harbour such thinking, we have misunderstood

the very essence of what Paul urges us to grasp!

Our calling might well be,

like Moses, to stand up to God,

and demand that if wrath seems retributive, vengeful,

rather than restorative,

God better remember who God is,

that God professed a love for humanity

even whilst humanity is at enmity with God! AMEN

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

We Sing: TIS 154 GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

We Bring Our offering to God

setting aside our gifts to support the local and wider work of the church

and bless our gifts in an act of praise…

We Share Our Community Life 

Prayers of the People

Eternal God,

we praise you for all that is good in our lives,

family and friends, our local community,

our congregation.

Grant all your Spirit of unity in these difficult times

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We praise you for the wonder of your creation,

so many programs on TV now show us

how wonderfully made your creation is,

how delicately balanced all of life is,

including human life…

Grant all your Spirit of humility in these difficult times.

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We praise you for the courage and strength

shown by so many people

including people near and dear to us

who struggle with day to day debilitating ill health.

Grant all your Spirit of compassion in these difficult times.

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We praise you for the selfless giving of time and resources

by so many in our communities

to affirm and assist in practical ways people isolated in their home,

and fearful of going out.

Grant all your Spirit of community in these difficult times.

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ

AMEN

WE GO OUT TO SERVE GOD

We Sing: TIS 687 GOD GIVES US A FUTURE

Sending Out

Go as a people

celebrating life

as a continuous moment of grace!

With a grateful heart

engage in good deeds

which echo God’s goodness to us!

Let joy fill your hearts

rather than fear,

for God has chosen you

for the abundant life!

Blessing

Therefore go with the blessing of God

having wrongs righted,

no more recipients of the wrath of God…

but now overwhelmed by the grace, mercy and peace

which springs from communion with the three in One

who has brought all, and us into being,

who rescues all, and us even from ourselves,

who guarantees our own homecoming…

              AMEN, AMEN, AMEN

---

[1] what follows in this prayer is taken from Uniting in Worship

[2] Jacobson, Rolf A. 2009  Psalm 90 in PSALMS FOR PREACHING AND WORSHIP (p.234) Edited by Roger E. Van Harn and Brent A. Strawn, Cambridge: Eerdmans.

[3] Wilson, Gerald Henry. 1985 THE EDITING OF THE HEBREW PSALTER Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series, pp 207-228 Chico C.: Scholars Press. These pages give a summary statement of his conclusions based on detailed textual and structural analysis of the 150 psalms…

also, 1992 “The Shape of the Book of Psalms” INTERPRETATION Volume XLVI April 1992 pp. 129-142.

^[4] Mccann, J. C., Jr. (1994–2004). The Book of Psalms. In L. E. Keck (Ed.), New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. 4, p. 1040). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

[5] Brueggemann, Walter. 2020. Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty (p. 2). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[6] Jervis, L. Ann 2015, Divine Retribution in Romans INTERPRETATION 69.3 July 2015 p. 327.

[7] Jervis, L. Ann 2015, Divine Retribution in Romans INTERPRETATION 69.3 July 2015 p. 330

[8] ibid p. 333

[9] Brueggemann, Walter. 2020 VIRUS AS A SUMMONS TO FAITH: BIBLICAL REFLECTIONS IN A TIME OF LOSS, GRIEF, AND UNCERTAINTY (pp. 5,6). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[10] Placher, William C. 1994  NARRATIVES OF A VULNERABLE GOD (p.55)  Louisville Kentucky: Westmisnter John Knox

[11] Jervis, L. Ann 2015, Divine Retribution in Romans INTERPRETATION 69.3 July 2015 pp. 332/3

[12] Brueggemann, Walter. 2020 Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty (p. 10). Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

[13] Jervis, L. Ann 2015, Divine Retribution in Romans INTERPRETATION 69.3 July 2015 p. 337