Full of Wonder (Harvest)
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Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?[c]5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]
and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their[g] feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
As you see from this morning's Notice sheet, today is Harvest. Through the world's eyes it is an old tradition, of the past, but through the eyes of wonder, we are grateful to our God for providing the seasons to provide food to provide for our needs.
Through the eyes of the world, you and I are quite insignificant - just one of 8-billion; but the wonder of it all is that, we are incredibly important: God knows us so intimately that even the hairs of our heads are numbered (a figure that changes by the hour for some of us).
Through the eyes of the world, Easter was just another crucifixion; through the eyes of faith, it was the wonder of God loving the world so much that he gave his only son to take the rap for our sin.
Let us look at Psalm through the eyes of faith to be:
1. Full of Wonder
2. Agents of Care
3. Attitude of Gratitude
Full of Wonder
After Reading Psalm 8 …How can we rediscover our sense of wonder? How can be ‘Full of Wonder’ people this Harvest time?
"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name…..When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are we that you are mindful of us, mere mortals that you care for us?"
Russell Schweikert, one of Apollo Xl astronauts.. After a space mission, said, "...the earth is not as something big.... It is so small and fragile and such a precious little spot in the universe ….and you realize that…little blue & white thing, is everything that means anything to you - all of history, and music and poetry and art and birth and love and death, all the tears, joy, games, all of it on that little spot out there ..”
In Psalm 8, we realise the writer is finding wonder in God’s greatness and in our smallness & he overflows with praise and worship and wonder. I hope that we can overflow with praise and worship and be full of wonder!
Wonder = Involuntary Praise. In his book ‘Reflections on the Psalms:’ CS Lewis ‘A Word about Praising’ pg 80 He wrote about when he first noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. eg when you enjoy something you want to praise it – and wonder at it eg sunset, newborn babe, music, football goal scored; there is an outburst of wonder - spontaneous gutsy praise.
When we invite the author of creation into our lives we find that it transforms us deep within, and we want to thank and praise him – not to get something but as an end in itself. That’s what worship is about. CS Lewis, ‘I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not only expresses but completes the joy.’
When we sing ‘O Lord, how majestic is you name in all the earth,’ it is not only expressing our joy but completes it. Like the outburst and joy and dancing with fans when the final whistle is blown and your team has won the cup. The spontaneous praise completes the joy. Indeed it completes you as a person. Like sharing a book you really enjoyed. You want to share it (this is great). The sharing completes the joy.
You may say, I am a Christian, but I don’t express that joy you are speaking about, not in worship not in Art/Sunset/creation – the work of his fingers. I can be like that too, so I praise him anyway as a discipline and that praise does become involuntary as I get lost in wonder love and praise (Charles Wesley: Love Divine).
Let us rediscover our awe & wonder in this thanksgiving service today.
2. Agents of Care
In Psalm 8, God calls us to be agents of care: be good stewards. In Ps 8:6 David writes, God has given us dominion (rule) over other creatures & creation. But Dominion doesn’t mean domination. On the contrary, dominion carries with it responsibilities. If we can benefit from God’s grace and mercy, they also have a responsibility to be agents of care for others and for all creatures great and small (v8), even the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, he declares, are under our care. Our dominion over creation must be with care. ‘You have put all things under their[our] feet, all flocks and herds, and animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish of the sea (Psalm 8:6b-8a). There we have it; God is entrusting his world to us as stewards. That should affect the way we think about our world: recycling, plastics, cleaning materials, compost & peat, emissions). The rainforest (‘the lungs of the planet.’) https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c237re7970jo
We should be amazed, like the Psalmist, that God crowning us with glory and honour comes with a responsibility to be agents of care in our world.
Despite our human smallness, God’s word shows the esteem in which God holds us, he trusts us as carers of his creation – that’s quite a responsibility.
3. Attitude of Gratitude
Some of us, are a bit like Bart Simpson in The Simpsons, when he was asked to give thanks, said: “Lord, my dad earned the money to pay for this food, and my mum worked for hours to cook it. What did you do? '' Bart Simpson is only a cartoon character, but he says what a lot of us are tempted to think."
There is a danger that we will, in time, forget what Harvest is all about. Our Harvest celebration is a tradition that s’be kept in every generation. Harvest Eucharist is a thanksgiving for all God’s gifts and thanksgiving for the greatest gift of all, Jesus.
We have more to be thankful for than to gripe about. Harvest is a time to give thanks for all that we have been given. Thanksgiving s/be an attitude of our everyday life. Giving as we have received, loving because he first loved us. Forgiving because he forgave us. Serving cause he gave his all for us.
If we cultivate an attitude of gratitude, giving thanks in all circumstances (1Thes 5:18 not ‘for all’) whereby we continue to give thanks and praise to God, even in our trials, It is a great challenge for the believer. But it is worth the effort. [George Muller 10k children in his care. Led 300 children into the dining room when they had no food].
I am thankful for... the taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed. A lawn that needs mowing, because it means that I have a garden.
Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means that I have been active. There is a perspective of gratitude, there is much for which we have to be thankful.
I suggest the starting place in developing a gratitude attitude - for thanksgiving to take place, we must focus in on the presence of God. [He is here moving among us]
The Psalmist encourages us to worship in God’s presence. Unlike Bart Simpson, the Psalmist gave thanks. It was as important as the food on the table. For Psalmist (David) - it was an outburst of joy. NB giving and helping others is a reflection of our heart of gratitude. We pass on God's blessings.
However, my greatest reason for thanksgiving and an attitude of gratitude is the fact that Almighty God, the one who is AWESOME and wonderful and majestic in all the earth, desires to have a personal relationship with me. 8:4 He is mindful of me, thinks about me, He wants to dwell within me. I am thankful that, despite the mess-ups .....I am grateful that I know who is ultimately in charge; I am thankful that JC is Lord! In response, let us, this Harvest, be serious about our responsibility as agents of care and let us rediscover the awe and wonder of God…..
Happy Harvest!
