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Sunday, October 13, 2013

What Are You Looking For?

This is the message from the Oahe Manor Communion service on Thursday, October 10, 2013.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 66:1-12.

  You know, there's something I've noticed about life.  Maybe you've noticed it, too.  A lot of the time, we see what we're looking for and hear what we're listening for.

It happens all the time.  As you know, I'm the pastor both here in Gettysburg and also in Onida and Agar.  And of course, the sports teams of those towns, Potter County and Sully Buttes, play each other sometimes.  So, I'll sit with fans of both teams at different times, and here's what I've noticed.  When I'm with the Potter County fans, I'll hear people say that the refs are out to get Potter County and are favoring Sully Buttes.  And when I'm with the Sully Buttes fans, I'll hear people say that the refs are out to get Sully Buttes and are favoring Potter County.  And it's the same game and the same refs.  But the people watching the game are seeing what they're looking for.

You see it happening in politics right now.  I have friends who are strong Republicans and friends who are strong Democrats.  My friends who are Republicans look at what's going on now and blame it all on the Democrats.  My friends who are Democrats look at what's going on now and blame it all on the Republicans.  They're seeing what they're looking for and they're hearing what they're listening for.

Now, I am going to tie this into the psalm I just read.  The psalm tells us we should shout for joy to God.  It says we should sing the glory of God's name.  It talks about the awesomeness of God's deeds and the greatness of God's power.  It says God has done awesome deeds for humankind.

And I believe all that.  I think it's true.  But sometimes, it can be hard to see it.  Sometimes, we get wrapped up in our own lives and our own problems.  I'm not saying that critically.  Our problems are real, and sometimes they're serious.  I'm not saying we should pretend they don't exist.

What I am saying though, is that sometimes, our problems seem so big to us that we cannot see past them.  All we see are problems, because problems are all we're looking for.  And so we miss the joy that exists in the world.  We miss the awesomeness of God's deeds.  We don't see the greatness of God's power, because we're not looking for it.

I'll give you an example.  Tuesday morning, for about a half hour, we had one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen.  And I just got lucky that I saw it.  I was working at my computer and I just happened to glance out the window.  And I saw some of the most beautiful colors I've ever seen in my life.  I stopped what I was doing and walked outside and just looked at it.  And then I called Wanda, so she could see it, too.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life.

But the thing is, as beautiful as that sunrise was, I'll bet a lot of people missed it.  They missed it for a lot of reasons.  They were busy, they were still asleep, they were in a room without windows, there could be lots of reasons why they missed it.  As I said, I almost missed it myself.  But one of the reasons a lot of people missed that beautiful sunrise is that they were not looking for it.  They did not think about the possibility of a beautiful sunrise.  And so they missed out on one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

It happens so many times in our lives.  There's so much beauty all around us.  But if we don't look for it, we won't see it.

That's true of people, too, you know.  There's beauty in each one of us.  But if we don't look for the beauty in other people, we'll miss it.  And if we don't look for the beauty in ourselves, we'll miss that, too.

The fifth verse of our psalm said, “Come and see what God has done.”  That's what I'd invite each of you to do today.  Come and see what God has done.  Come and see what God has done in the world.  Come and see what God has done in Gettysburg.  Come and see what God has done in the people around you.  And come and see what God has done in you, too.

Look for it, and you will see it.  And when you do, do the other thing the psalm says to do.  Praise God for it.  The psalm says it over and over again.  Shout about it.  Sing about it.  Glorify God for it.  Let the sound of praise to God be heard.

God deserves our praise.  We know that.  So let's keep our eyes open.  Let's look for reasons to praise God.  Let's keep our ears open.  Let's listen for reasons to praise God.  And when we see and hear those reasons, let's shout and sing and raise a ruckus about how great God is.  Let's make so much noise about it that people wonder what all the noise is about.  Let's praise God so much that people say what we say to the kids about their music, “Would you turn that noise down?”

But when it comes to praising God, let's never turn the noise down.  Let's shout and sing praises to God whenever we can.  Let's look for reasons to praise God and listen for reasons to praise God.

And when we do, I'll bet those problems that seemed so big to us, those problems we could not see past, won't seem so big after all.

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