S4 Episode 20: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Translation: Common English Bible (CEB)

3 Questions:

What word, phrase or image strikes you in this text?

Toward what is God calling you in this text?

What makes worship feel like a celebration for you?

Additional texts:

Matthew 21:1-11

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Psalm 31:9-16

Philippians 2:5-11

Matthew 26:14—27:66

Matthew 27:11-54

Transcript

00:00:02.40
Nathan Pile
Oh, Kevin, this this the winter is switching to the spring and it's faster than I can keep up with it. um

00:00:13.02
Kevin Shock
Are you sure about that?

00:00:15.16
Nathan Pile
Yes. Yeah. Yep. It's coming. It's coming.

00:00:18.84
Kevin Shock
I know, I know. And yet, um as we record this, I'm getting ready to leave for Chicago tomorrow morning and now concerned about a winter weather advisory that we have in our area.

00:00:30.07
Kevin Shock
and And I have to say that this past Saturday, again, as we record this, it was sunny and 65.

00:00:37.95
Nathan Pile
Yeah, it's gorgeous.

00:00:37.82
Kevin Shock
And we took the dogs for a three-mile hike. And I was wearing long pants and a short-sleeved shirt. And it was glorious. And then I woke up early the next day to take the dogs out and to get ready for to go lead worship.

00:00:52.24
Kevin Shock
And it was snowing at my house.

00:00:54.10
Nathan Pile
Rudely, rudely reminded that it is still little bit close to winter.

00:00:56.98
Kevin Shock
It was... Mother nature was really not being nice, but anyway, yes.

00:01:02.18
Nathan Pile
it's tough when you have those nice days when you have a nice day like it just makes us all want to be there right and so you're just like then like the next cold day is like you harsh friend why are you back you know we're just angry we're just angry of, of the approaching ness of of cold so yeah yeah I'm, I hear you but it is as a camp director, I, I am in

00:01:16.82
Kevin Shock
Right. Hmm.

00:01:30.97
Nathan Pile
not panic mode, but I am like, Oh, there's a lot to do. I'm running out of time.

00:01:35.96
Kevin Shock
Oh yeah.

00:01:36.73
Nathan Pile
um

00:01:36.68
Kevin Shock
Well that I believe. Yeah.

00:01:38.14
Nathan Pile
yeah. So, um, as every date crawls forward, every calendar page gets flipped. I'm like, oh, Oh no, it's getting closer. so, but I am overjoyed to be together today to talk about scripture. Um, and, uh,

00:01:58.78
Nathan Pile
And to have some time with you, my friend. So

00:02:02.07
Kevin Shock
Absolutely.

00:02:02.90
Nathan Pile
ah this week, Kevin and I are going to be ah we're going to be talking about a psalm, which usually probably gets lost um on this day that it gets read. um Because oftentimes this the, the podcasts that we are, the texts that we're looking at this week, will be the texts that fall on Palm Sunday.

00:02:30.81
Nathan Pile
And usually we're, we're reading the, the big passion stories out of the Gospels. And this week, Kevin and I are going to read the psalm that goes with it. So, um, so it should be, again, we would hear it, but...

00:02:46.20
Nathan Pile
probably sometimes it doesn't get talked about because there's a really big story happening. And so we, we spend time talking about that.

00:02:51.67
Kevin Shock
Well, and, and actual actually, sorry to interrupt, Nathan.

00:02:53.85
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Well, what?

00:02:57.43
Kevin Shock
Actually, this is the psalm that goes with the procession of palms and not with the passion.

00:03:03.22
Nathan Pile
Whoa.

00:03:03.63
Kevin Shock
So um I noticed when I was preparing this, our sheet, um that this psalm was listed in the page.

00:03:04.76
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:03:11.19
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:03:15.19
Kevin Shock
that Nathan and I use a a lectionary. there's a Vanderbilt University has a revised common lectionary website. that's very helpful that can you can find any reading for any day of the three-year cycle at any time.

00:03:31.42
Kevin Shock
And so that's what I use to kind of figure out which reading we're going to do. This one shows up on the Vanderbilt site, but when then when I went into Sundays and Seasons to import the rest of the readings, this Psalm wasn't even listed.

00:03:47.11
Kevin Shock
there's a good question.

00:03:48.31
Nathan Pile
so very this this is we're we're you know jumping denominations here we're just really being you know ecumenical going beyond the lutheran mold. That's great, Kevin

00:04:00.63
Kevin Shock
so So our apologies, if you use this podcast for sermon prep, this particular one might not be very helpful for you.

00:04:08.50
Nathan Pile
here You may need to talk to whoever does your bulletin and get them to insert this reading if you're going to use this text.

00:04:17.91
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Or, or if you're reading The Passion this week, there's a chance that you may not be doing a sermon. So that, you know.

00:04:24.97
Nathan Pile
That's true.

00:04:25.33
Kevin Shock
Maybe this is as good a week for us to do it as any other than, but, or better than any other.

00:04:29.29
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah. So this whole time we've held you in suspense about what this passage is.

00:04:35.77
Kevin Shock
are.

00:04:36.25
Nathan Pile
um And it is, it's, that's the way we will operate here. We're very dramatic people. And so the Bible passage this week is Psalm 118, verses 1 and 2, and 19 through 29.

00:04:45.53
Kevin Shock
okay

00:04:53.42
Nathan Pile
Kevin and I are going to read it from the Common English Bible translation, um his favorite translation, especially since his mom bought him a book. um Shout out to Deb.

00:05:04.31
Nathan Pile
Woo-hoo! um We're going to look at it with three questions, as is our tradition. What word, phrase, or image strikes you in this text? Toward what is God calling you in this text?

00:05:15.48
Nathan Pile
And what makes worship feel like a celebration for you? Mm-hmm.

00:05:23.13
Kevin Shock
Here is some information about your hosts. We are men married to women in financially stable households, white, firmly in middle age, college and seminary educated. We work in the Lutheran Church and were born and raised in western Pennsylvania. All of this affects how we read scripture and discuss it, but none of this makes us better able to read and discuss scripture than anyone else.

00:05:44.60
Kevin Shock
We believe that the wisdom of Scripture is the whole community's compiled interpretation for life with God and one another. So we want to know what you hear and think from your life experience.

00:05:56.09
Kevin Shock
As Pastor Nathan said, Psalm 118, verses 1 to English Bible. and nineteen to twenty nine from the common english bible

00:06:07.74
Kevin Shock
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever. Let Israel say it. God's faithful love lasts forever. Open the gates of righteousness for me so I can come in and give thanks to the Lord.

00:06:22.23
Kevin Shock
This is the Lord's gate. Those who are righteous enter through it. I thank you because you answered me, because you were my saving help. The stone rejected by the builders is now the main foundation stone.

00:06:34.71
Kevin Shock
This has happened because of the Lord. It is as, astounding in our sight. This is the day the Lord acted. We will rejoice and celebrate in it. Lord, please save us. Lord, please let us succeed.

00:06:48.89
Kevin Shock
The one who enters in the Lord's name is blessed. We bless all of you from the Lord's house. The Lord is God. He has shined a light on us. So lead the festival offering with ropes all the way to the horns of the altar.

00:07:02.78
Kevin Shock
You are my God. I will give thanks to you. You are my God. I will lift you up high. Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever.

00:07:15.26
Kevin Shock
If you are reading this text or listening to this podcast with a group or another person, you can pause it and ask the questions of each other.

00:07:28.60
Kevin Shock
Nathan, what word phrase or image strikes you in this text?

00:07:34.74
Nathan Pile
Well, there are there were two places. The one, I'm just curious what, what it all means. And I don't have anything other than to say a question after, what does this all mean? So lead the festival offering with ropes all the way to the horns of the altar. I'm like, what is this all about? And I don't have any idea and I don't need to go any farther than that just by asking that question. The thing that where most of my time was spent spinning was, um, Kevin and I are currently in the midst of leading an an evening Zoom call on Tuesday nights looking at the small catechism. And specifically, ah one that has been rolling around in my head this week is the commandments.

00:08:19.38
Nathan Pile
And I was reading about the first commandment specifically and Luther's kind of push and, and, and the, in the book that we're reading, this push of that God chooses us.

00:08:32.98
Nathan Pile
Right. And so then I got to this verse 25. Lord, please save us. And Lord, please let us succeed. And that the, the echoing of God chooses us um was, was there. And, um, and it as you read as you read it, Kevin, for me, it was kind of like, oh it opened another aspect of of that understanding of of the of the Ten Commandments for me. of the you know the We're talking about the first commandment, the Lord is your God, you shall have no other gods. And,

00:09:15.41
Nathan Pile
and, And Luther's kind of push, also the book that we're reading By Heart, kind of push is this idea that that God chooses us, which is very different than,

00:09:31.64
Nathan Pile
then I think, when we look at history and we, we hear about all of the different gods, you know, people were the ones choosing their God. And I think today, in reality, we choose our gods, right? We choose the thing that that we're going to give our heart to. we, we make a, a throne in our heart, which is kind of Luther's language. We make a a throne in our heart and put that thing that we a value above everything else, trust above everything else into that throne.

00:10:05.53
Nathan Pile
um and And sometimes could change over the course of of the day, of or over the course of a lifetime. But this idea of what is it that I value is, is the thing that I make a God. And here in the Old Testament, they have this understanding um of that God chooses us. This comes out of Jeremiah, the 31st chapter of Jeremiah.

00:10:36.82
Nathan Pile
um And ah it's in the 30s. Usually we read 31 to 35, but I think it's like in the middle of that section. So chapter 31, 30, somewhere 31 to 35.

00:10:43.43
Kevin Shock
mm-hmm

00:10:48.35
Nathan Pile
But somewhere in the middle of that, it talks about these are my people.

00:10:56.66
Nathan Pile
And I am their God. God chooses them. God chooses us. And so this idea of God choosing us and then the these statements, commands, exclamations, Lord, please save us and Lord, please let us succeed.

00:11:16.57
Nathan Pile
Like these are easy yeses. Because if i'm if God has chosen us as God's people, God wants to save us and God wants us to succeed.

00:11:31.03
Nathan Pile
And so there there's that idea of, of for me, as, as, as we were reading this, it's not just a ah prayer that we throw out there and hope for.

00:11:42.10
Nathan Pile
um or And it's not a question. Lord, can you save us? Lord, will you save us? Lord, will you help us to succeed? it's it's ah It's a trust and it's a faith that because God chooses us, God is going to do these things for us.

00:12:00.31
Nathan Pile
so, So that's where my head kind of went.

00:12:06.10
Nathan Pile
But the ropes hanging on the horns of the altar also kind of left me like, what's this all about?

00:12:09.91
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I have no idea what that means.

00:12:11.74
Nathan Pile
Yeah, I have idea.

00:12:11.80
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah.

00:12:13.98
Nathan Pile
There was a little note there and I clicked it hoping it was going to explain it to me and it didn't. So then I was like, okay.

00:12:21.40
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I was just looking at Jeremiah 31. It doesn't use the I choose you language necessarily, but... um

00:12:31.08
Kevin Shock
Uh, but, but the, the feeling is in there for sure.

00:12:35.82
Nathan Pile
No.

00:12:35.57
Kevin Shock
There's, there's somewhere else in the Bible specifically where it says, um, you, you do not choose me. I choose you. And I can't think of where that is.

00:12:44.14
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:12:45.34
Kevin Shock
Um,

00:12:48.47
Kevin Shock
yeah, well, anyway.

00:12:49.50
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. But it was to me because I've been playing around in this Old Testament and in the, the specifically the law. This again, I, I spend some time in the law, but again, as a Christian, I spend most of my time in the Gospels or in the New Testament.

00:13:07.99
Nathan Pile
um And so it's a good reminder. when I do take time and and do these kinds of studies of this understanding of, of God's connection to us and our connection to God.

00:13:23.64
Nathan Pile
Um, but that God is good. That God is, is claiming us, choosing us. You know, that's what we we talked about.

00:13:29.23
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:13:30.17
Nathan Pile
you know, yesterday I talked about in, in, um, the, the idea of being claimed in baptism, right? Where God claims us, God chooses us. Um, in this and that it's a gift in those ways and so this idea of being being chosen by God means that all that is God's, is you know again we're part of the family all that is in that all that belongs to God's family is, is for God's family um you know just as it means to be a par-, part of the Pile family for me all that is a part of the Pile family is all of the things that i'm a part of that you know and so um

00:14:12.06
Nathan Pile
And so these, and like like as as I read, or as you read here 25, Lord, please save us, and Lord, I was like, oh, here we are only worrying about ourselves. But because of this Old Testament study here this week, um boy, it felt different to me.

00:14:28.95
Nathan Pile
I didn't go directly there.

00:14:29.88
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:14:31.11
Nathan Pile
I went instead to say, oh, if God's choosing us, then it makes sense why we would ask God to intervene um and, and trust that it was going to happen.

00:14:30.90
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:14:42.23
Nathan Pile
that it's not that it's not a question. It's a, it's an exclamation.

00:14:44.41
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:14:46.26
Nathan Pile
It is a statement. So.

00:14:47.51
Kevin Shock
yeah Yeah. um Real quick. Jesus said it.

00:14:51.38
Nathan Pile
Mm hmm.

00:14:53.27
Kevin Shock
you did not choose me, but I chose you.

00:14:54.12
Nathan Pile
Ah.

00:14:55.07
Kevin Shock
I thought that that was the case. And so I went, I just did a quick, ah quick word search in the gospels. um It's in, in John 15, when he says, ah yeah I don't call you servants any longer, but I call you, I've called you friends.

00:15:11.10
Nathan Pile
Friend.

00:15:11.67
Kevin Shock
um

00:15:11.97
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:15:12.44
Kevin Shock
And it's the, yeah, the John 15, the,

00:15:16.73
Kevin Shock
Chapter 15, when he's both teaching and praying ahead of the, well, what we're reading now, ahead, ahead of the, the triumphal entry, ahead of his suffering and death.

00:15:29.29
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:15:30.58
Kevin Shock
And yeah, chapter 15, verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.

00:15:43.76
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And then you said something else. I, Yeah. The, um, the Lord, please save us. Lord, let, let, please let us succeed.

00:15:55.54
Kevin Shock
Would sound self-serving without the context that you lift up, but also in this Psalm, it's interjected in the middle.

00:16:01.03
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

00:16:05.28
Kevin Shock
It's, it, it's in the middle of, um, we're here to celebrate God. I want to come in, you know, open the gates of righteousness for me so I can come in and give thanks. I thank you. And this is this is what you have done. This has happened because of the Lord. This is the day the Lord has acted. We will rejoice and celebrate in it. It's all pointing to what God's good work is. And then interjected right in the middle of that, Lord, please save us. Lord, please let us succeed. But it sounds, it sounds to me in that context, like,

00:16:38.87
Kevin Shock
so that we continue can continue to praise and to thank and to give honor that's due God because of all that God has done for us, yeah, yeah that's it's interesting how it's thrown in there and I'm sure not that i can look at it uh right now but I'm pretty certain that the um, that, that verse 25 lord please save us is ah Hosanna.

00:17:07.13
Kevin Shock
I, I'm sure that that's the Hebrew word Which is a word that we certainly hear a lot on this Sunday.

00:17:09.36
Nathan Pile
Oh, that's the Hebrew.

00:17:13.85
Nathan Pile
On this Sunday, absolutely.

00:17:14.78
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:17:15.50
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:17:15.58
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:17:17.43
Nathan Pile
Well, and it is a psalm of thankfulness, right? It's a song, song of gratitude because of God's faithfulness. You know, that's the beginning and the end of this of this psalm. We read it at the beginning and we've read it here at the end of we're celebrating God's faithfulness.

00:17:34.35
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:17:36.28
Nathan Pile
So, no, no.

00:17:36.22
Kevin Shock
yeah um

00:17:38.70
Nathan Pile
What about you? What word, phrase, or image strikes you?

00:17:41.28
Kevin Shock
that ropes and horns um although like you it's not the one i wanted to linger on ah um no i mean it's it's it's it it has to be some kind of um

00:17:43.28
Nathan Pile
Ha ha!

00:17:50.17
Nathan Pile
I don't want to linger there because I don't know what it is or what's going on.

00:17:58.49
Kevin Shock
reference to a a liturgical festal kind of act in the midst of worship yeah but I, but I don't know what that means it's, it's so ah I mean judging by just the context clues here it's around the uh it's around the offering right um so they're they're bringing things up, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know if, I don't know if it's a commentary on the uh on the ropes that um

00:18:17.46
Nathan Pile
Yeah, it's because it's going to the altar. Right. Yeah.

00:18:30.68
Kevin Shock
that the high priests wear whenever they go into the Holy of Holies. um But, but also, ah, there's a footnote there, Nathan.

00:18:43.08
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:18:43.67
Kevin Shock
Hebrew uncertain.

00:18:46.99
Nathan Pile
That's I said, said, I said, I said I saw the footnote.

00:18:47.03
Kevin Shock
So even the scholars don't know what it means. okay

00:18:50.72
Nathan Pile
It was all excited. And then it said nothing that it was helpful.

00:18:52.76
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Right. No, what ah what, what gets me comes right at the beginning. And it's that um it's the call and response. It's verse two. Let Israel say it. God's faithful love lasts forever.

00:19:09.02
Kevin Shock
um That's what the psalmist says in verse one. And then verse two, it's like a it's a callback. It's let me hear you say it to me. I just said it to you. Let me hear you say it to me.

00:19:21.75
Kevin Shock
And um for me, it's reminiscent of something we do in the, um well, I mean, it's an ancient ritual, but ah something we continue to do in the Christian church, and that is on the

00:19:37.53
Kevin Shock
not going to say the big A word because it's still Lent. But on Easter morning, when we say when the, the priest, pastor, presider, worship leader says Christ is risen and the whole congregation responds, Christ is risen indeed.

00:19:52.78
Kevin Shock
That's what this reminds me of. This is and I mean, it does you're laughing, but it does.

00:19:57.71
Nathan Pile
No, no, it does. I'm laughing because you won't say the A word.

00:19:57.52
Kevin Shock
It's yeah.

00:20:01.62
Kevin Shock
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Give thanks to the Lord because he's good because his faithful love lasts forever. Let Israel say it. God's faithful love lasts forever. It's to me, it's, it's that call and response.

00:20:13.46
Kevin Shock
And um I don't know the thing that.

00:20:14.64
Nathan Pile
hmm.

00:20:20.66
Kevin Shock
The thing that I like about that call and response is that both.

00:20:28.06
Kevin Shock
I like when there's dialogue between the worship leader and the congregation. As a worship leader, I like that. And, and if anyone, um, if anyone's in a congregation where I'm leading worship coming up, pay attention to me during the stage.

00:20:46.74
Nathan Pile
Wow. Wow. Things have really gone downhill very quickly.

00:20:51.54
Kevin Shock
Yeah, it's all gone to my head. No, this is, this is something that far precedes my bishopric. the,, um, Pay attention to to me when I'm presiding at the Eucharist, at the very beginning at least.

00:21:09.08
Kevin Shock
Because when we do the dialogue, the Lord be with you and also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise. I'm not looking in the book.

00:21:21.91
Kevin Shock
I'm looking at the people because we are having a conversation with one another.

00:21:23.19
Nathan Pile
People. Yeah.

00:21:26.93
Nathan Pile
No.

00:21:26.83
Kevin Shock
We're having a dialogue. And unfortunately, a lot of times people are looking in the book because that's what they're used to doing and they're not looking at me. But if you're listening to this and you're going to see me presiding somewhere soon any

00:21:35.21
Nathan Pile
And.

00:21:40.60
Kevin Shock
look at me. Like I will, if I see you looking at me, I will make eye contact with you because we are having a dialogue. And um it's important for the

00:21:49.23
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:21:55.29
Kevin Shock
worship leader and the congregation to have dialogue. There are other places in the, um in the liturgy, ah the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy spirit be with you all.

00:22:08.54
Kevin Shock
And also with you. Like I will, I will, I'm, I'm gesturing my hands toward you. I'm looking you in the face. And when you say it back to me, I will bow toward you.

00:22:20.47
Kevin Shock
But because that's the traditional thing to do, uh, the peace of Christ be with you always.

00:22:21.47
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:22:25.12
Kevin Shock
And also with you, we're looking at each other there.

00:22:29.39
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:22:29.14
Kevin Shock
That's, that's not a, it's not just words we're reading out of a book. Um, because this is, it's it's, it's a, I don't want to say discussion, but it's a dialogue, a conversation about the goodness of God and about greeting one another in God's presence.

00:22:46.20
Kevin Shock
um That we're not we're not just we're not going up to the altar by ourselves. We're going up to the altar with a whole group of people because that's who, those are the ones that God has gathered together. Yeah.

00:23:01.88
Kevin Shock
yeah I also think the other thing, I, so I think about that in a worship sense, but I also think about verse two in a in an everyday sense. um Like the the let Israel say it part of that verse, I don't think that that has to be just in worship.

00:23:17.36
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:23:19.40
Kevin Shock
That can be in any time, in any place. that's a remind That phrase, that sentence God's faithful love lasts forever can become a mantra for you in your everyday life.

00:23:29.48
Nathan Pile
Faithful love left forever. Hmm.

00:23:35.54
Kevin Shock
When you see something you're thankful for, say, say it say it to yourself, say it out loud. God's faithful love lasts forever. when um When you're struggling with something, say it.

00:23:48.80
Kevin Shock
God's faithful love lasts forever. like this is This is something that can be a a little... a little phrase, as a little statement of, it's a statement of faith is what it is, a little statement of faith that you can utilize in your everyday life with God.

00:24:01.91
Nathan Pile
It is a statement, right, right.

00:24:07.51
Kevin Shock
And so that's why that's why my attention is drawn to it, because I think it's such a ah helpful, it's a short, concise, helpful phrase. um and And we, along with Israel at the time, at the in the context of the Psalms, we are encouraged to say it.

00:24:26.49
Kevin Shock
to say it to one another and to say to ourselves.

00:24:31.51
Nathan Pile
Well, you've, you've just said some really rich um things. And A, so thank you for, for all of that. The thing that was one of the things that ran through my head as you were talking is, yes, this statement of faith of God's faithful love lasts forever.

00:24:49.59
Nathan Pile
um You know, I'm supposed to be out at a congregation on Palm Sunday and it now makes me want to, you know, we use...

00:25:03.67
Nathan Pile
there's dialogue words that we have used around the Palm Sunday story, telling the story of the passion um for the procession of palms for years, at least in in the places where I've been.

00:25:18.96
Nathan Pile
um But this, this phrase is intriguing to me of, because at times I don't think we know,

00:25:18.99
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:25:33.50
Nathan Pile
what Hosanna really means. Even though we're literate,

00:25:36.18
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:25:38.65
Nathan Pile
um that idea of Hosanna, Lord, please save us. um And this phrase of of God's faithful love lasts forever.

00:25:54.52
Nathan Pile
like So, so I'm, I'm intrigued by how do we make this our common response as we celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, because these are the statements that are being proclaimed, you know, um and they teach us something.

00:26:11.69
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:26:15.00
Nathan Pile
they they tell They teach us about, you know, though we're saying it out of our mouths, um how do we have how do we make those words that we're were using in our dialogues back and forth?

00:26:26.97
Nathan Pile
How do we make sure that those words have meaning for us? um And so, again, every now and then I like to mix up our change up, maybe not mix up, but change up the words that we're using that might help us to kind of think about,

00:26:43.26
Nathan Pile
oh we're yes we're having a dialogue yes we're having a celebration of uh of uh of an entrance in to um but how do we make sure that these are the things that we're saying have the meanings behind it that, that, that help us understand boy we're we're celebrating who god is here um in that and it not just become it's Palm Sunday. And so we say Hosanna,

00:27:17.75
Kevin Shock
right, right, yeah, Yeah, sometimes I'm packing the words a little bit.

00:27:19.64
Nathan Pile
you know, it's a one time a year we pull it out. Everybody we're pulling out Hosanna. Here we go.

00:27:23.90
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:24.80
Nathan Pile
do,

00:27:25.27
Kevin Shock
Well, we do, um we but we also sing it every time that we ah celebrate Holy Communion.

00:27:30.42
Nathan Pile
we do, we do.

00:27:32.18
Kevin Shock
Yeah, during the during the, the, the Holy, Holy, Holy, Sanctus.

00:27:32.92
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:27:37.69
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:27:38.07
Nathan Pile
So I just, I'd like, I'd like this idea of how can we be intentional about our dialogues together? um You know, even, even thinking about in our bulletins, how do we, how might we mark them?

00:27:43.50
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:27:48.47
Nathan Pile
Because you, you want people who are new to the congregation or, or visiting the congregation to be able to participate. And so I get having bulletins or hymn books with the language in it, but for the rest of us that know what the responses are, how do we get our head? How do we pick our heads up?

00:28:06.26
Nathan Pile
How do we talk about, that it is a dialogue. And how might we mark it in our own bulletins in such a way that we get, oh, this is designed to be this back and forth that, again, going back to our our study, that by heart, we're just sharing with one another.

00:28:27.80
Nathan Pile
By heart, we're remembering, um, our connection to God. And that brings out our thanks and praise.

00:28:36.32
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

00:28:38.15
Nathan Pile
So, yeah.

00:28:38.80
Kevin Shock
Yep. Yep. Yeah. it's um It's important, not just for its own sake, but for the sake of teaching the faith, remaining steadfast in the faith, um gathering community together, loving our neighbors, loving each other. It's important that we engage in this stuff together.

00:29:04.12
Kevin Shock
I don't think that people um like I don't think that I I don't know. I go back and forth. I don't think that faith.

00:29:15.96
Kevin Shock
No, I can't even I can't even come to say it. I think that faith happens by osmosis. I think I think. Well, shoot. I preached on it yesterday.

00:29:27.18
Kevin Shock
Yes. I think that faith happens passively.

00:29:31.26
Kevin Shock
In the sense that we don't. We don't do anything to earn it. We just receive it. It's a, it's a scripture names faith as a gift of the Holy spirit.

00:29:45.50
Kevin Shock
And, and our own, um, teaching documents as Lutherans say that I lifted that up in my sermon yesterday that, um, you know Martin Luther will hear about it in our By Heart study in a few weeks on the third article of the Creed on being made holy.

00:30:06.26
Kevin Shock
I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding and strength, believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to him, but that the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with gifts for ministry, made me holy,

00:30:25.66
Kevin Shock
and ah kept me in the true faith. ah So, ah you know, it does happen. It happens passively. It's not something that we earn for ourselves. That being said, if we engage in practices of the faith, we learn how to claim it for ourselves and our communities more and more and more and more and more.

00:30:48.41
Kevin Shock
and, And the... um

00:30:54.01
Kevin Shock
There can be gifts that we receive all the time that we never take notice of because we're too focused on other stuff. But if we start to set our focus toward the toward good and holy things, we will notice more and more things that we receive, more gifts that we receive all the time from God and from God's people because that's where our focus is.

00:31:17.43
Kevin Shock
And so it's helpful to read scripture, to engage in holy dialogue with each other, to to come to worship and to engage in worship, um to thank God, to to have these little mantras of faith.

00:31:35.33
Kevin Shock
God's faithful love lasts forever. um it's It's good to to do those things, engage in those things on a regular basis, because then we see

00:31:40.15
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:31:47.90
Kevin Shock
how good and glorious and present God is with us all the time.

00:31:58.81
Nathan Pile
Yeah,

00:32:01.67
Kevin Shock
Let's read it a second time.

00:32:02.94
Nathan Pile
yeah, I was going to say, we've, ah, we, we're going to have to pare back our answers.

00:32:07.29
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:32:07.18
Kevin Shock
we'll just, we'll, we're, We'll just keep going at it here if we don't.

00:32:10.14
Nathan Pile
well

00:32:10.37
Kevin Shock
Right,

00:32:10.87
Nathan Pile
look Look what happens when you we pull out a psalm that we don't normally read. Oh, geez louise.

00:32:15.74
Kevin Shock
right there you go.

00:32:18.20
Nathan Pile
ah All right.

00:32:19.73
Kevin Shock
Thank you.

00:32:22.58
Nathan Pile
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good. Because his faithful love lasts forever. Let Israel say it. God's faithful love lasts forever.

00:32:33.94
Nathan Pile
Open the gates of righteousness for me. So i can come in and give thanks to the Lord. This is the Lord's gate. Those who are righteous enter through it.

00:32:46.17
Nathan Pile
I thank you because you answered me, because you were my saving help. The stone rejected by the builders is now the main foundation stone. This has happened because of the Lord.

00:33:00.31
Nathan Pile
It is astounding in our sight. This is the day the Lord enacted. We will rejoice and celebrate in it. Lord, please save us. Lord, please let us succeed.

00:33:14.39
Nathan Pile
The one who enters in the Lord's name is blessed. We bless all of you from the Lord's house. The Lord is God. He has shined a light on us. So lead the festival offering with ropes all the way to the horns of the altar.

00:33:31.03
Nathan Pile
You are my God. I will give thanks to you. You are my God. I will lift you up high. Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever.

00:33:47.10
Nathan Pile
Kevin, toward what is God calling you in this text?

00:33:52.30
Kevin Shock
Thanksgiving.

00:33:53.63
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah.

00:33:54.81
Kevin Shock
um I, I just had... and, I, sometimes I have a lot of conversations in my life. And sometimes I can't remember the exact person that I had the conversation with, which is a It means I can't always attribute ah should the right people.

00:34:11.19
Nathan Pile
tribute their genius yeah

00:34:12.09
Kevin Shock
but But this was, they told me a story not about them, ah but about somebody else, someone who was on the margins of society. I think someone who at the time that they knew them was unhoused. And...

00:34:23.06
Kevin Shock
and I think this conversation happened at Grace Lutheran in State College recently, so I, I can't remember if it was one of the pastors there.

00:34:34.65
Kevin Shock
Anyway, oh I'm attributing this to the community of Grace State College. um

00:34:40.28
Nathan Pile
there we go

00:34:42.17
Kevin Shock
They were telling me the story about this person. it might have been Pastor Schul now that I think about it but telling me a story about this person who you know had had a rough life, um but but always had this this kind of air of joy to them and and and and goodness and and gratitude. And again, I'm not sure that, I can't remember exactly the person who told this to me.

00:35:07.86
Kevin Shock
But they said that they asked him at one point, um you know, where does this come from? And ah or, or what's, you know, what's the practice? What, what, what lets you, what lets you be like this? ah And they said that every day they give thanks for something that they haven't.

00:35:25.30
Kevin Shock
They give God thanks for something that they haven't thanked God for previously. And I thought that's a pretty tall order. But, but also, I mean, it's easy to, you know, like.

00:35:39.06
Kevin Shock
You go around the table at Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for? Friends, family, my health. I mean, those are all things to be faithful for, absolutely. um But if, if we put more thought into it, we could find a million other things to be thankful for, too.

00:35:58.04
Kevin Shock
and, And I think that this psalm leads us into giving thanks in and for all things.

00:36:08.92
Kevin Shock
and, And sometimes it can be maybe really helpful to think hard about what am I what am I truly thankful for in this moment, right now, on this day. Yeah.

00:36:22.07
Nathan Pile
Well, and and the practice of that, like the practice of of being grateful

00:36:28.82
Kevin Shock
Yeah, right. Mm-hmm.

00:36:31.67
Nathan Pile
and and keeping after it. Again, again you talking about the commandments, that your comment makes me think about that, of of you know the second commandment is about using God's name, right and and Luther is a huge advocate of using God's name for what it's like prayer, praise, thanksgiving. That's how we should be using God's name.

00:36:55.00
Nathan Pile
Those are all great ways to use God's name.

00:36:55.05
Kevin Shock
hmm.

00:36:58.10
Nathan Pile
um

00:36:57.88
Kevin Shock
Yes, absolutely.

00:36:59.58
Nathan Pile
And so that idea of, again, this, this Psalm kind of telling us, reminding us that, that absolutely we should be calling upon God's name when we're, when we're, when we are grateful. And, and as we practice that, obviously we get better at it. Right. And, and so we more frequently call on God's name when something wonderful or a blessing occurs to us in that moment. And, and, and it doesn't just become a,

00:37:34.33
Nathan Pile
you know, you know, it starts to happen organically. It happens, you know, because we've made it a part of our life. We've made it a part of how we live in relationship with God.

00:37:47.32
Nathan Pile
When beautiful things happen, our natural response becomes, God, thank you for blank, whatever it is, because of that moment.

00:37:58.40
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:38:00.31
Nathan Pile
So, yeah. Yeah. But yeah, as I read it this time through, I was over you know, it was again, what what poured over me was how how do we how do I live in gratitude for this God who has claimed me and all of the things that are God's, God has given us access to.

00:38:23.99
Nathan Pile
and you And so all that I have are God's, is God's. And so that I have lots to be thankful for. But how do I make that a part of

00:38:32.32
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:38:32.82
Nathan Pile
How do I make that a part of my life because of God's great faithfulness? How am I thankful of that faithfulness? Because I know I can't live with the same love and faithfulness God has given to me. I can't do it.

00:38:48.74
Nathan Pile
I'm not God. I can't do what God does. um But I can be thankful.

00:38:55.37
Kevin Shock
Hmm. Hmm.

00:38:56.69
Nathan Pile
So.

00:38:57.46
Kevin Shock
Hmm. well and maybe and Yeah, when you say that, maybe that's the response that God really wants and expects from us, is, is gratitude. Yeah, I, yeah, I'm, I go back and forth between the you know between the law gospel dialectic that we have, that um that there's you know there there are things that we're supposed to uphold as human beings, as people created in God's image. We don't we don't uphold them.

00:39:28.76
Kevin Shock
We fail. We confess that we fail. We're forgiven. We're brought into right relationship, not of our own accord, but only by God's doing. And and then it's hard for me sometimes not to get into the whole, well, because we're reconciled and because we're forgiven and because all of that, then we, I mean, and that's a Lutheran thing, honestly. that Then there are all of these other things we're supposed to do.

00:39:57.62
Kevin Shock
ah there's You know how much I hate that phrase. um

00:40:00.66
Nathan Pile
Yeah, should.

00:40:00.92
Kevin Shock
um But it's hard for me not to slip into it. And, you know, like, like be better people because God has saved you to do that.

00:40:05.68
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah.

00:40:09.79
Kevin Shock
And and there's truth in that. um But this, yeah, this reading for me is just... Just gratitude. let, Let gratitude be fill you and be who you are. And if gratitude is filling you and, and is who you are, everything else is going to fall into place.

00:40:33.60
Nathan Pile
No, no.

00:40:34.65
Kevin Shock
you can't be, You can't be grateful and be a jerk other people.

00:40:35.34
Nathan Pile
Well.

00:40:39.44
Kevin Shock
It's, it's just not... That's not the name. I mean, you can be grateful for a little bit and then be a jerk to other people. You can't be you can't be a jerk to other people while you're grateful.

00:40:47.04
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:40:51.26
Kevin Shock
but

00:40:52.22
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:40:54.72
Nathan Pile
Right. Well, in that phrase again, that gets repeated here in this psalm god's faithful love lasts forever forever if that's if those are the words off of our lips it would be hard to be mean rude etc to others you know because we've we're saying what god has done for us, I think again, it leads us to that place of

00:41:16.07
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:41:25.21
Nathan Pile
being told over and over, God, over and over again that God's, God's faithfulness lasts forever.

00:41:34.27
Nathan Pile
It's not that's not for a time. It's not for this moment, but it's for forever. I think it, again, changes our lens, changes the way we look at the world.

00:41:46.54
Nathan Pile
So, yeah.

00:41:48.60
Kevin Shock
Yep.

00:41:50.49
Nathan Pile
All right, you ready to a third time?

00:41:52.44
Kevin Shock
I certainly am.

00:41:52.96
Nathan Pile
Okay.

00:41:54.75
Kevin Shock
Psalm from Psalm 118. Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever. Let Israel say it, God's faithful love lasts forever.

00:42:06.65
Kevin Shock
Open the gates of righteousness for me so I can come in and give thanks to the Lord. This is the Lord's gate. Those who are righteous enter through it. I thank you because you answered me, because you were my saving help.

00:42:19.03
Kevin Shock
The stone rejected by the builders is now the main foundation stone. This has happened because of the Lord. It is astounding in our sight. This is the day the Lord acted. We will rejoice and celebrate in it.

00:42:32.28
Kevin Shock
Lord, please save us. Lord, please let us succeed. The one who enters in the Lord's name is blessed. We bless all of you from the Lord's house. The Lord is God.

00:42:50.30
Kevin Shock
you are my god i will give thanks to you you are my god i will lift you up high give thanks to the lord because he is good because his faithful love lasts for forever

00:43:03.00
Kevin Shock
Nathan, what makes worship feel like a celebration for you?

00:43:09.96
Nathan Pile
Um,

00:43:16.21
Nathan Pile
there are, ah several things that come to mind with this question. I think the, my answer today is going to be, ah preparation and people.

00:43:32.44
Nathan Pile
And so it's those two things that makes worship feel like a celebration. And I think probably some of it has to do with my own having grown up, because I'm a kid of the church, right? I grew up from the time I was a young kid um in a Lutheran church and and got to be a part of many great celebrations in in the life of of the congregations and communities that we were a part of. As as my father was a pastor and and eventually the bishop,

00:44:10.10
Nathan Pile
we had, I had this opportunity of, of being a part of worship services, but it always, it was, it was the people that were there, that were in that space and place, that had gathered for the unifying purpose of celebrating God.

00:44:27.51
Nathan Pile
you know um yeah that It's not that the people were the reason. it's they're they're the They're the physical representation of what I could see that helped to make that worship space feel like a celebration.

00:44:43.19
Nathan Pile
And so people would come early. There would be, I can remember being on large teams of acolytes that, carried, you know, a crucifixion or carried a cross and the Bible and candles. And there was a procession, a gospel pre procession into the middle of the sanctuary space. and That was something special. We didn't do that every week.

00:45:06.26
Nathan Pile
Kind of a thing. It made the celebration something else. You know, the people make help make the music happen. um The preparation of, of banners and flowers and whatever other, you know, if it's Christmas, Christmas trees, you know, whatever those kinds of pieces are.

00:45:26.94
Nathan Pile
It was all of that preparation and the people, the gathered community coming together that helped elevate those worship services to make them feel even more so um a celebration and I can remember, so I grew up in the time of the church the lutheran church where we only did communion a certain number times a sort certain number of Sundays in a year whereas now today we many of us will have communion every week in our spaces um

00:45:59.42
Nathan Pile
I grew up as a kid, we only had communion on specific festival days. I don't know. I think there was like 17 of them. I think I remember dad saying that when I was a kid.

00:46:14.42
Nathan Pile
And so 17 out of 52 wasn't very many Sundays that you had communion. But that that a that addition of the meal made that service feel like more of a celebration.

00:46:30.04
Nathan Pile
And so those were all a part of the liturgy, you know, and so, you know It was all of those pieces. And, and um I don't think as a kid, I necessarily took it this way. I think as an adult and ah, as ah, as a, as a trained theologian, um the idea that all of those things mean that God is present in that space, because more than two or three are gathered in my name. We've gathered with the word. We've gathered with the meal. you know um

00:47:03.45
Nathan Pile
All of those things now, also a part of that means that God is with us. as a kid that that's not you know sure you know God was there but it wasn't at the forefront of my it was that we had gathered to make this cell to have the celebration of, of, of who God is in the story of God with us um but it was the people and the preparation because it you know again the preparation is a part of that because again I lived in the church and so we were there not lived in it but I was a part of the community and so I helped to decorate the church, I showed up for practice the day before for because we were gonna have this special entrance and uh and so we had to do we had to practice some of that so that we we were all ready to go we all knew what we were supposed to do in the midst of that so that preparation and people I think is what um

00:48:00.98
Nathan Pile
is what makes it feel like a celebration.

00:48:06.84
Nathan Pile
And then obviously using that liturgy, which is designed to help us give thanks and praise, sing hymns, hear those dialogues, make share prayers.

00:48:20.18
Nathan Pile
But well I think what, what, what would take a typical worship to a celebration experience for me was the preparation of the people, if that makes sense.

00:48:29.66
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah, Nathan. Yeah. And I think, I think there's ah an element of that for me, too. um And it doesn't even have to be like

00:48:47.32
Kevin Shock
all all the all the trappings of worship that you that you describe. I mean, that certainly makes it feel like a celebration.

00:48:54.60
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:48:54.36
Kevin Shock
um You know, banners, processions.

00:48:54.74
Nathan Pile
Mm

00:48:56.76
Kevin Shock
ah um people, worship assistants, you know, a whole bunch a whole bunch of people who are, um

00:49:09.14
Kevin Shock
what's a whole bunch of people who are active in the service itself and and leading and leading the service. um Like that all certainly makes it feel like a celebration.

00:49:19.38
Kevin Shock
I also think about the times that I, that can all be present and I enter into the worship space. And if I'm not prepared to be a recipient of grace, then it can all it can all go unnoticed by me.

00:49:32.68
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:49:38.46
Kevin Shock
And um on the other hand, if If I go into worship in a prayerful manner in a way in which now it's different it's different for me because I'm usually a preacher or presider when I'm there, but it doesn't have to be. Even on the weeks that I'm not doing that, I still try to keep up with my daily readings and, and, and, and reading the text for Sunday beforehand. If I go in prepared in that way, then chances are I'm going to experience some kind of joy

00:50:12.92
Kevin Shock
there even if, even if all that other stuff isn't present because the people are still there and God is still there and and those are the elements that really can make it joyful, make it a celebration.

00:50:17.69
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:50:20.87
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:50:26.36
Kevin Shock
um You know, in the same way, I go to congregations that, it, it you know, some Sunday mornings it feels like that people are just going through the motions. They're just saying the words, but they're not really feeling them. And then other places where it's, it's the opposite. it's Again, it doesn't have to be all the all the fancy liturgical stuff, um but, but if the people are engaged, if they're present, if they're interacting with one another and and and saying the, you know, speaking the parts of the liturgy with with heart and with gratitude, then you can feel it.

00:51:05.08
Kevin Shock
Yeah. And, and I think if that happened I think if that happens on a consistent basis, then some of the some of the bigger trappings of worship come along with it.

00:51:06.95
Nathan Pile
It's funny that you say that. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.

00:51:14.39
Kevin Shock
You know, then people want banners. what They want acolytes.

00:51:17.92
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:51:19.43
Kevin Shock
They want a procession and they want all that stuff. um because worship becomes a place for celebration and excitement and not just ah not just an obligation or a duty.

00:51:32.57
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and your response made me think about yesterday. I was at a, at a congregation and we celebrated first communion for some of their kids because I could make it.

00:51:43.98
Nathan Pile
This was a Sunday I could make it and they wanted to do this before Easter. And so, um and so that was the plan, but just being, like, you could tell there was a buzz in the building as soon as I walked in the door, you know?

00:51:58.84
Kevin Shock
o That's great.

00:52:00.37
Nathan Pile
And so like, There's, there's excitement without, you know, everything else, you know? And so that, again, that's part of us as the people, right? We bring a bit of that, as you say, as, as we come prepared for that, that time to be, to be fully present in that time and space with one another. Yeah.

00:52:26.58
Nathan Pile
yeah And so as you said, as, as you reflected, I thought about, yeah, there wasn't,

00:52:33.66
Nathan Pile
There wasn't a lot of bells and whistles to yesterday's service, um but there absolutely was a buzz.

00:52:43.17
Kevin Shock
Thank you.

00:52:43.80
Nathan Pile
You know, there absolutely was

00:52:49.26
Nathan Pile
an energy in the space that hadn't been there a couple of weeks ago when I was in that space. And it wasn't anything different than made up of than the people that were there.

00:53:01.62
Nathan Pile
and there were two bibles on the altar that were given out to the the kids that were going to be the first community gets otherwise everything else was the same in the space so.

00:53:11.91
Kevin Shock
Hmm. Yeah.

00:53:13.25
Nathan Pile
So yeah.

00:53:13.46
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:53:16.73
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah.

00:53:21.40
Kevin Shock
Uh, I had something else on my mind, but it slipped my mind. So that's okay.

00:53:27.93
Kevin Shock
oh yeah. No, I know what it was. I know what it was. You mentioned the, but there was a buzz in the building. Yeah.

00:53:33.65
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:53:33.59
Kevin Shock
And, and there are days when we can feel it. And again, um I don't know, back when I was in seminary. So my second year of field education was at a um at the, the Lutheran Church of the Mediator in North Philadelphia.

00:53:49.33
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:53:53.56
Kevin Shock
um And it was a like historically black Lutheran church. And was the pastor was white, I as the vicar was white. There were a couple of people who, who attended regularly who were white, but a majority of the congregation was from the neighborhood right there and and was and were black. And um what that meant was we there were elements of the Lutheran liturgy, but there was also a lot of influence from black church tradition.

00:54:26.30
Kevin Shock
And so, um you know, organ, we had organ and drums.

00:54:26.73
Nathan Pile
Mm.

00:54:32.78
Nathan Pile
Oh.

00:54:33.11
Kevin Shock
and And preaching came at the end of the service, not in the middle, like a lot of ah Black Baptist and, and Church of God in Christ congregations, like those traditions.

00:54:42.77
Nathan Pile
Mm.

00:54:50.62
Kevin Shock
And preaching was 45 to 75 minutes, um depending.

00:55:00.16
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:55:00.34
Kevin Shock
ah

00:55:00.63
Nathan Pile
well

00:55:01.78
Kevin Shock
Um, so that was, I think, I think three times that year I got the opportunity to preach. And I, and of course I spent a lot of time watching my mentor, uh, Tim, Tim Poston, pastor Tim Poston, who's down North Carolina now watching him and his method and how he did it and learning from that and watching other other people from other congregations in the neighborhood and such and and learning from them.

00:55:29.30
Kevin Shock
um So I got to the point where I felt fairly comfortable, you know preaching for 45 minutes to an hour. um it But it was only something I had to do like three times that year.

00:55:37.37
Nathan Pile
Wow.

00:55:40.10
Kevin Shock
It wasn't there were three times in a semester. it wasn't, I wasn't doing that every week. I would not have been able to sustain that. Wouldn't, wouldn't be able to sustain it now. um Although some practice maybe. But anyway,

00:55:54.30
Kevin Shock
When you're in that that kind of Christian tradition, and there is more an expectation of call and response, you there is a, like in the preaching, it's

00:56:05.72
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:56:10.65
Kevin Shock
the the the faithful love, you know, his faithful love lasts forever. Let the congregation say God's faithful love lasts forever, and they will say it

00:56:19.91
Nathan Pile
Mmm.

00:56:19.70
Kevin Shock
They will respond to you. And there are days whenever, just like any other church tradition, there are days when it felt like things fell flat. And there were days whenever people were amped up by it. And, and I remember that year referring to it, You said buzz in the building. I remember referring to it as the hum.

00:56:38.71
Nathan Pile
Mmm.

00:56:38.58
Kevin Shock
that they're, they're, That the Holy Spirit always had this hum that she delivered to the to the community, to the, and, and, and it was, you know, it was exactly what you're doing right now. It's that, it's that, like that's the, that's the hum. It's, it's ah it's an affirmative hum.

00:56:57.78
Kevin Shock
And when the people hear it, perceive it and key into it, that place was on fire. I mean, that, that place was just rocking and,

00:57:10.87
Kevin Shock
And whenever, but you come in, you come in on some Sundays and people are distracted by what happened at work the past week, or they're distracted by the things that are coming up, or they had a bad day yesterday, or they slept into later, they didn't get enough sleep the night before. And, and the hum is there, but it just passes them by.

00:57:29.75
Kevin Shock
And it's, it's true for anybody. It's true for the worship leader too. um But I think that that the whole knowing the Holy Spirit, That buzz, that hum is present in every place, every time we gather together.

00:57:44.62
Nathan Pile
yeah sure

00:57:44.94
Kevin Shock
It's just a matter of whether we perceive it or not. And if we perceive it, are we then responding to it? And if we're responding to it, then everybody can feel it.

00:57:57.59
Kevin Shock
and And I think that's part of the reason for the, his faithful let love lasts forever. Let Israel say God's faithful love lasts forever. that's the, That's the worship leader.

00:58:08.76
Kevin Shock
calling the whole congregation into the hum or the buzz.

00:58:12.65
Nathan Pile
Yeah, yeah, I love it.

00:58:13.88
Kevin Shock
And, and, but, but the worship leader also has to be tuned into it. Because otherwise those are just words.

00:58:20.48
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:58:22.62
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:58:23.08
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:58:23.74
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:58:24.06
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:58:24.80
Kevin Shock
that's when, That's when the celebration happens. whenever Whenever the people there are tuned in to what God is doing and and what God is saying and and what and and God being present for us right there.

00:58:37.94
Kevin Shock
that's, That's when the celebration happens.

00:58:41.26
Nathan Pile
Oh.

00:58:41.91
Kevin Shock
you know

00:58:46.65
Kevin Shock
This makes me want to worship.

00:58:47.03
Nathan Pile
Well, yeah.

00:58:51.33
Kevin Shock
It's Monday morning. I just had a long day worship yesterday. It makes me want to worship again.

00:58:56.86
Nathan Pile
There we go.

00:58:58.30
Kevin Shock
Makes me want to say the A word in Lent.

00:58:58.65
Nathan Pile
um That's right.

00:59:01.14
Kevin Shock
ah ah

00:59:05.11
Kevin Shock
I hope everyone's picking up what I mean by the A word. It's the word that sometimes we put to rest during Lent, but we'll say multiple times on Easter again in, in church settings.

00:59:18.58
Kevin Shock
Nathan, can say it if he feels like he needs to.

00:59:20.89
Nathan Pile
yeah, I'm going to let it go. I'm trying to be respectful for you.

00:59:22.89
Kevin Shock
All right. All right.

00:59:25.94
Nathan Pile
um for me, it's a Sunday and every Sunday is Easter.

00:59:30.17
Kevin Shock
I know you're exactly right, my friend.

00:59:31.76
Nathan Pile
Um, So anyway, anyway, let's see here.

00:59:33.62
Kevin Shock
Exactly right.

00:59:36.70
Nathan Pile
Wrapping up our time. Additional texts for you to um ah read, chew on, get into here for this week. Matthew 21 verses 1 through 11.

00:59:49.56
Nathan Pile
Jesus enters Jerusalem. Oftentimes again on Palm Sunday, that might be the first reading. Um, at the very beginning of, of the service as you're, um, before or after you have the entrance of the palms, um, Isaiah chapter 50 verses four through nine, a, the servant of the Lord submits to suffering, uh, Psalm 31, nine to 16 into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.

01:00:16.22
Nathan Pile
Um, and that's, as Kevin said, that's typically the Psalm, um, that we have, um, in front of us on Palm Sunday. ah Philippians chapter two, verses five through 11, humbled to the point of death on a cross. And then two readings here from Matthew. Matthew, the longer passion, full narrative, chapter 26 to 14 through to chapter 27, verse 66. Or if you were just reading the Passion of the Lord, it would be Matthew chapter 27, verses 11 to 54.

01:00:55.22
Nathan Pile
As always, Kevin, oh, go ahead.

01:00:57.08
Kevin Shock
I was going to say read the long version. You don't have to do it in worship, but if you're going to read one, just read the whole thing.

01:00:59.51
Nathan Pile
Yeah, if you're going read it, if you're going to read it, read the read the whole story right from Matthew.

01:01:04.79
Kevin Shock
ah

01:01:06.16
Nathan Pile
So, um As always, buddy, it's good to share with you and to read scripture and then reflect together. So thanks for your comments today and your reflections as we prepare for this week of Holy Week.

01:01:23.90
Nathan Pile
um And for those of you listening, if there's reflections of your own that you would like to share, something that you heard in the text or from Kevin and I sharing our thoughts, please feel free to share those with us.

01:01:38.78
Nathan Pile
We hope to tend our faith with you again soon. Grace to you.

01:01:43.58
Kevin Shock
And peace.