July 26, 2020 Psalm 90 Bishop Peggy Johnson "O God, Our Help In Ages Past"

July 26, 2020 Bishop Peggy Johnson preaching on ”O God, Our Help in Ages Past” Bethel UMC Pastor Jacqueline Hines

On this 17^th week of our quarantine that has caused us to reflect, we still expect God to show up and even show off.

Our message today comes from our Bishop Peggy Johnson.

Bishop Peggy Johnson is the Resident Bishop of the Philadelphia Area, which includes the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences in the Northeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church.

She was baptized and grew up in the Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. She pursued a degree in Music Education at Lebanon Valley, a United Methodist-related college in Eastern Pennsylvania. She taught elementary vocal music in Baltimore County Public Schools for two years. During this time she felt a call to ministry, specifically with deaf people and people with disabilities. She left teaching and began to pursue a Master of Divinity degree at Asbury Theological Seminary. Peggy met her husband, Michael C. Johnson, at seminary and they graduated together.

Upon graduation they were offered appointments in the Baltimore Annual Conference.

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Let us prepare our hearts for a word from our Bishop Peggy Johnson! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_96WAz9jHJI

Pastoral Message “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past”

Psalm 90:1-2

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”

1.     I bid you grace and peace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Know that I am praying for you during this national health crisis.  I appreciate your many prayers as we navigate this fluid time.

2.     Today I want to remind you about our ultimate hope in all of this: God.  Psalm 90 reminds us: “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”  We know that God is with us now as we journey through this ever-flowing stream of time.

3.     The words of the hymn, “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” were penned by the prolific English poet, Isaac Watts.  Born in 1674, he began writing poetry and particularly religious poetry at the age of 7 and in his lifetime he is credited for composing more than 6,000 hymns, about the same as our Charles Wesley.  “Joy to the World” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” are among Isaac Watt’s “greatest hits.”

4.     Watts was a preacher for a time but mostly spent his life writing hymns and he was known as the “Father of English Hymnody.” 

5.     The hymn: “O God Our Help in Ages Past” has endured through the years and is known as the “Second National Anthem of England. It is sung at all official remembrance services in England and Canada.

6.     John Wesley included many of Isaac’s hymns in his hymnbooks and even tweaked the words from time to time.

7.     For example, “O God Our Help in Ages Past” was originally penned “Our God our help in Ages Past.”   Wesley took out the “our” and changed it to “O.” Though grammatically smoother with the “O,” I think that Watts left it in there on purpose.  “Our God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home.”  In one small stanza Watts included the word “our” 5 times.  Could it be a message here?

8.     God is OUR God.  The one we trust, the one we worship, the one who saves and sanctifies us and delivers us from adversity. 

9.     If he is OUR God, then we, his children, are brothers and sisters in this family of humanity.  This means with God as our God, our heavenly parent, our supreme source of strength, we must be in loving relationship with all of our entire human family.

10.So treat all people like family during this Covid-19 crisis.  A crisis always brings with it an opportunity.  Isaac Watts’ own father was imprisoned for being a Dissenter, who challenged the theology of the Church of England.  Watts experienced suffering in his young life. But I think he used his hymns to call us to our better selves.  So during this crisis:

a)     Call on those who don’t have family or friends to support them.

b)     Invite new people to be on your live-streamed worship services for inspiration and comfort.

c)     Start up a prayer meeting using a Free Conference call number and pray for all the needs that are happening around us. Prayer changes things!

d)     Give of your means to those who will be in financial difficulty because of job losses.

e)     Volunteer to watch some children, if your situation permits, so that parents can go to work.

f)       Send a letter of support and encouragement to our health care professionals, our first responders and news media who are working overtime right now for our health concerns, protection and information.

g)     Don’t blame anyone for this disease. This kind of virus is a phenomena that occurs from time to time in human history.  Accusations of neglect or mal-intent are not helpful. Be gentle with one another and if there are signs of poor judgement, call folks to accountability with an attitude of love.

11.Remember, God is our dwelling place, not our homes made with human hands, or even this present crisis.  Keep your eyes on your neighbors and friends and celebrate the “Our God” in every way you can.

Lord, we have come into this place to worship you! Thank you that it is as well with us as it is. Thank you that you never leave us nor forsake us, that you always, always bless us in more ways than we could ever count. We pray your mercy upon those who need you most urgently – the hopeless, the helpless, the heedless, the leaderless, and the scattered. Bless our bishop and all the preachers, teachers, leaders, and missionaries of every nation and station. We pray as you taught the disciples-

Our Father, Who art in heaven, 
Hallowed be Thy Name. 
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy Will be done, 
on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Next week join us as we celebrate communion and the confirmation of two youth at 11 a.m. in the pavilion.

If you would like to make your contribution to the ministry and mission of Bethel, the website is Bethelumchurch.com

Or you can send to 952 Bethel Church Road, Spring City, Pa. 19475. God bless you! 

We are closing with a musical selection entitled Spirit of Gentleness.  God bless you.