God’s Omnipresence
When we speak of God as being omnipresent we are recognizing that God is always and forever with us.
Psalm 139:7-12
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Reta Lee made a point to come and tell me about her favorite song, This Is My Father’s World – Maltbie D. Babcock. Reta Lee told me she knew this was her favorite song but never really thought about why it was.
After I asked for people to share their favorite songs and if there was a story to share it as well she began to think more about it. She said that when she hears that song she is reminded of Grandmother’s place, Mount Carr Lodge. Reta Lee would visit her grandmother and stay there often in the summer. It was 3 stories high with 14 bedrooms 1 bathroom! 8-10 other kids from the city would also come and be able to experience nature and the mountains all around them. There was a wraparound porch on the Lodge and they could sit out on the porch and enjoy the beauty of nature all around them. From the Lodge they could see Mount Moosilauke with its majestic rocks and trees. The kids would also take a walk down a path that led down to the river where they would slide down the granite walls into the water. Here at the water there was a huge pine tree with massive roots that seemed to wrap around the granite and were unmovable! Reta Lee’s favorite song reminds her of all the summers she spend experiencing God’s presence in nature all around and in the rock and trees, skies and seas all of what the Lord has made!
Allow me to share the story behind Maltbie Babcock and this song. Maltbie came from an aristocratic family and was a brilliant scholar with a winning personality. He attended Syracuse University and was an outstanding athlete and also directed the university’s orchestra as well as played several instruments and composed music.
As the article states, “He would have been successful in any profession, but God called him to the ministry. His first pastorate was at the First Presbyterian Church in Lockport, NY. It was (is) a beautiful area – midway between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls. Once in a while Maltbie would tell his secretary, “I’m going out to see my Father’s world” and then run or hike a couple of miles into the countryside, where he would lose himself in nature. It was during his time in Lockport that he wrote the poem that we now sing. http://www.lectionary.org/HymnStories/This%20Is%20My%20Father’s%20World.htm
Let us sing together “This is My Father’s World” and while we sing let us consider how we experience God in the world around us.
Hearing God
Genesis 28:10-16
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. 12 And he dreamed that there was a ladder[a] set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And the Lord stood beside him[b] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14 and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed[c] in you and in your offspring. 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”
I Kings 19:11-13b
He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Jacob and Elijah both heard the Lord speaking to them. Jacob heard him in a dream. I’ve said before and I still believe it – God has to talk to some people in their dreams because it is the only time they are quiet enough to hear Him. Like we learn in the story of Elijah, God doesn’t come in a loud booming voice that we may all expect but instead God speaks in a quiet calming voice. People today say God doesn’t speak anymore but I think it may be because we are not quiet or attentive enough to hear his still quiet voice.
One of the songs that was emailed to me is this song titled, Word of God Speak, by Mercy Me.
The writer of this song Bart Millard told the story behind this song as this:
“We were doing church camps at the time. We’d just wrapped up our first album and we were working on the second album…. But we had a lot of prior commitments we had to fulfill of doing church camps. It had been a real busy, summer of stuff we had booked before we ever signed a record deal. We were doing a church camp in Jekyll Island, Georgia and trying to finish the record at the same time. Our producer came out and we were trying to get work done during the day when we were off the stage, because we were in a time crunch. I was getting real frustrated, because the timeframe and then having to do it in a hurry, it just started to feel like every song sounded exactly the same. I remember going to bed, just kind of down about, Man, this is not going to work out. I fell asleep somewhere along there, and then probably about 3 or so in the morning I woke up and I grabbed my journal – my pad and paper that I always keep next to me – and just started writing the first verse and part of the chorus. I went back to sleep and barely remember even doing that. In fact, I woke up the next morning, I packed everything up, I think it was the last day of camp, and we left. Then it wasn’t for a month or so later when we were actually wrapping up the album. We got to the end, it was the 11th hour, and our producer and myself both are like, Man, it’s missing something. Maybe something to tie the album up. I don’t know what it is.
I had this kind of nagging feeling, like, Man, there’s something that I did a few weeks ago. So I started flipping through the journal and found this verse and a chorus and was flipping out, like Oh, my gosh, I barely remember doing this. So I was sitting there going, this is it. I wrote the second verse real quick, and then we sang it right there with the piano and the vocal. And other than the strings that were added to it later on, the vocal and the piano were coming back nice, without any changes or anything. And then it was like Okay, now we’re done, now we’re finished. So it was a pretty cool deal. I don’t think it’s ever happened like that before, but I’m glad that it did happen.” http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=27047
The person who emailed me preferred to stay anonymous but this what they said about the song. “The melody and lyrics are like a meditation for me. It reminds me to stop, enjoy the silences, and listen to what God has to say. Keeping myself at a “loss for words” as the song says, is OK.” As we sing this song, let us think about how in the midst of our busy and chaotic lives do we listen for God to speak to us.
Communing with God and Each other
Matthew 5:22-24
I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister,[e] you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult[f] a brother or sister,[g] you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell[h] of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister[i] has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,[j] and then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 26:26-30
While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” 30 When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
I Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
The third song that was given to me was “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson.
Sy Miller and Jill Jackson were a husband and wife songwriting team. In 1955 they wrote a song about their dream of peace for the world and how they believed each one of us could help create it. They first introduced the song to a group of teenagers who attended a weeklong retreat in California. The young people were purposefully from different religious, racial, cultural and economic backgrounds, brought together to experiment with creating understanding and friendship through education, discussion groups, and living and working together in a camp situation. Sy Miller wrote in his own words what happened:
“One summer evening in 1955, a group of 180 teenagers of all races and religions, meeting at a workshop high in the California mountains locked arms, formed a circle and sang a song of peace. They felt that singing the song, with its simple basic sentiment – ‘Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,’ helped to create a climate for world peace and understanding.
‘When they came down from the mountain, these inspired young people brought the song with them and started sharing it. And, as though on wings, ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth’ began an amazing journey around the globe. It traveled with the young campers back to their homes and schools, churches and clubs. Soon the circle started by the teenagers began to grow. Before long the song was being shared in all fifty states and soon spread overseas and around the world.
In Sy Miller’s words again: ‘This simple thought, ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin With Me’ first born on a mountain top in the voices of youth, continues to travel heart to heart – gathering in people everywhere who wish to become a note in a song of understanding and peace—peace for all mankind.”
http://www.jan-leemusic.com/Site/History.html
Kristin Waters lifted this song as her favorite and wrote these words to explain why:
“Let There Be Peace on Earth” has very special meanings to me. The first time I heard this song was December 1980 at a Revival (Healing) I attended at a coliseum in Long Island with my sister, mother and aunt. The minister preached that in order for you to experience healing, Peace must start with you.
As people felt the spirit lead them, the minister asked them to come forward to the podium. This song was played as they were walking down. Many people were prayed upon to deliver them from health issues, drug and alcohol addictions. The second is when I got married the Rev. Jim Darby asked me if there was a special song I would like to sing at my wedding? I chose this song.
As we prepare to come to the Lord’s table let us sing this song and consider how it is we bring peace to the world around us.
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