Psalm 105

Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever.

Psalm 106 goes on to say.

What we're going to think about this morning is probably actually quite counter-cultural.

Here's some of the sound bites, the zeitgeist, if you like, of the modern.

And probably if you were watching Ireland yesterday, as I was, bidding for the number one place and getting absolutely whippeded by England.

You're only as good as your last match. Have you heard managers say that?

Never mind the record before, you're only as good as your last match.

You're only as good as your last sermon, some churches say, of their pastor.

In the back pages of the newspaper, in the investment section, if you're so inclined.

Past performance is no indication of future growth.

As we watch the stock markets plummet.

There's an awful lot about living for the day.

Living for the moment.

And indeed, I suppose quite naturally in our thinking, one of the questions I'm sure, if we could write it down in that question box, would be,

Where is God leading me?

What does God want to do in my life?

Where will I be in a year's time?

What should I do?

Lord, what do you want me to do?

I've got to tell you that if at 16, I had been told that I would be an ordained pastor and a teacher, I would have wept.

I couldn't have thought of anything worse at 16.

I don't know about you, but I find I'm not one of those people who very often in my life has been able to say,

This is absolutely what God wants me to do and where God wants me to go.

Now, there have been occasions, there definitely have been occasions, where we've sought and we've prayed and we've fasted and we've asked God to guide us.

And we have sensed a leading.

But for me, the way it seems to work, and I don't know if you think this is wrong, but it just seems to be the way it works for me.

It's when I turn and I look back that I can see that I was guided all along.

That doors opened and God put people into my life and, you know, coincidences, except they weren't coincidences, they were God incidences.

And at the time, I wasn't very sure about it.

I wasn't sure where the direction and the path was going.

But when I look back, I can see that I have been guided clearly.

I don't know if that's your experience.

So we seem very future orientated.

We don't like to talk about the past too much.

The past is passé.

And then there are rare moments when suddenly we do remember.

We make remembrance our focus.

Four years ago, I was very, very fortunate.

My father was a World War II veteran.

And he got invited, and he was allowed to bring somebody with him, so it was me, across to London from Northern Ireland for the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

And there was a service at Westminster Abbey and a two-mile walk, which he absolutely insisted upon doing, along the mile and into St. James's Park.

There was a reception there.

He got to meet Prince Charles.

He actually had a golden 15 minutes where he chatted to Prince Charles for quite a wee while and then was walking across the lawn.

And they'd had all these 1940s dancers, you know, all done up in the gear.

And the press were taking photographs of them.

And one of the press said, get the old guy in the middle.

And I've never seen a 90-year-old man drop 40 years or 50 years in about 10 seconds.

The walking stick, hold that, Nick.

And he was right in there in the middle of them.

But the best thing about that was as we were walking together up the mile, you know how, as you get older, people seem to mumble more.

You know, newsreaders don't speak as clearly.

And people were shouting things.

They were shouting things from, you know, the streets were absolutely packed.

And dad said to me, what are they shouting, Nicholas?

What are they shouting?

Do you know what they were shouting?

They were shouting, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you to all these old guys and girls who were marching up, probably for the last procession ever.

Because they were looking back and they were remembering that that was a time of peril and a time of deliverance.

And they were saying, thank you.

And Psalm 105 is a thank you psalm.

It's a remembering psalm.

It's about looking back in order to look forward.

The Jewish faith is particularly good at this.

So they tell the stories and they retell them and they retell them.

And in fact, you will know that it was a command.

And as you're walking down the street, tell the stories.

Remind them of the commandments.

Write them in your doorposts.

Tie them around your arms.

Tie it around your head.

Whatever you do, don't forget the stories.

Don't forget God's covenant.

Don't forget God's law.

And Jewish families will gather together every year at Pisa or Passover.

And why is this night to be remembered amongst all nights is the question.

And they go through a ritual of retelling the story.

They tell it in word.

They tell it in symbol.

They tell it.

I was quite glad that Haman was mentioned because the festival of Purim is a Jewish festival.

They all gather and they reread the story of Esther and Haman.

And I've seen, I'm sure this doesn't happen maybe in Orthodox synagogues, but in liberal synagogues, I've seen a video of a service.

And they're all fancy dress.

They dress up as one of the characters from the story.

And every time Haman's name is mentioned, they either blow raspberries or there's a rattle, you know, to drown out his name.

They remember the story.

They go to extraordinary lengths to remember the story.

Because that is when God came through for them.

Tell the story, the traditions of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob.

They remember them not just for who they were, great patriarchs, great people of faith, but for who God was for them.

And I know for some of you, this is cool to Newcastle.

You know this stuff better than I do.

But just in case you don't know what the word covenant means.

Covenant, it is a biblical expression, but actually it was quite common in near Middle Eastern history.

It simply meant a treaty or an agreement.

And the Jews believed three things, well, at least three things about God.

One, he was a creational God.

Now, that wasn't unusual amongst Middle Eastern religions.

Lots of religions believed in some kind of creator God or gods.

Secondly, the Jews believed in a providential God.

That means a God who got involved with human affairs.

Now, that again wasn't that unusual a belief amongst the other religions.

You know, they would quite often believe that God could smite or God could make a harvest grow or whatever.

But what made the Jewish people unique was that they believed in a covenantal God.

A God who entered into relationship with his people.

And the covenants often have a binding promise.

I will if you will.

I will be your God if you will be my people.

I will be your God if you keep my commandments.

So, there's a bind sort of on both sides.

So, they remember the covenant to Abraham.

In fact, the very, very first covenant was to Noah.

And each covenant has a sign as well, a seal on it.

And the seal of the covenant to Noah is the rainbow.

I will never flood the earth again.

To Abraham, he says, I'm going to give you many descendants.

That's my promise to you.

It's renewed to Isaac.

It's renewed to Jacob, whose name is changed and he becomes Israel.

And then it's renewed again through Moses.

And here we have in Psalm 105, more or less, the whole story.

From grandfather to father to son.

And then 400 years to Moses.

In verse 42 of Psalm 105, it says,

God remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham.

That's when Moses hits the rock and water flows out.

So, God remembers, and my biblical arithmetic might not be just absolutely tip-top,

but God remembers a promise he gave 700 years ago to Abraham, roughly.

And then 700 years later, David is saying to his people,

because we believe that David wrote this Psalm,

he's saying, you've got to remember.

Remember, remember God's goodness, God's deliverance, God's salvation.

And the Jewish community, 3,500 years later,

are still remembering every Passover.

The things that we've read about in Psalm 105.

You see, with God, past performance is an indication of future growth.

We look back and we see what God has done in order to move forward.

There's a tribe in South America, I believe,

quite like their thinking.

They are moving through time, metaphorically, backwards.

So, when they talk, and I have to read this out.

They're in the High Andes, by the way, if anybody wants to look them up.

They're called Amaira.

Their word for future,

and please correct my pronunciation if you know Amaira,

is Gipapacha.

That's their word for future.

And Gipapacha means behind time.

The future's behind them,

because they can't see it.

So, when they talk about the future,

they actually point backwards.

And when they talk about the past,

it's Naira Pacha.

It means Ford time.

So, when they talk about the past,

they point in front of them.

Because we don't know what's going to happen,

even later on today.

We may have plans,

but we don't really know what's going to happen.

But we can look back and see what has happened,

and identify how God has delivered,

and has rescued.

Because he is the I Am.

The old, what is it?

The old hymn says,

For I know who holds the future.

And he holds it in his hand.

With God, things don't just happen.

I used to sing it,

For God, things just don't happen.

And that's not right.

For God, things don't just happen.

Everything by him is planned.

God says to Moses,

I am.

I am the eternal present

in a way that you and I can never be.

He was as much present in the past

as he's present now.

And God is here

and is present in the future.

Now, I was born 1969.

I know I don't look good.

I can trace my family back to 1807.

But I know very little before that.

I am one person in time.

But God was as fully

with my great-great-grandparents

as he was with my great-grandparents

and my grandparents

and with you and with me

and with the generations before.

In fact, I think it says,

verse 8,

he remembers his covenant forever,

the word he commanded

for a thousand generations.

Psalm 105 says,

trust the one

who holds the past

and the present

and the future together.

Here's something I kind of,

I suppose I run past the kids.

This is my mathematics.

It's still probably not perfect.

We are told,

we are told by NASA,

whether you believe it or not,

there are 100 billion suns

in our galaxy.

100 billion suns.

And they estimate,

they estimate that

there are 100 billion galaxies.

And that's 100 with 23 zeros

after it, apparently.

And if you divide that

between 7 billion people

on the planet,

so you and I get our star kingdom

each,

each one of us,

and you go and visit

your star kingdom

bit by bit,

and you can travel

instantaneously between them,

so you spend a day

on each of your stars,

it would take you

39 billion years

just to visit the stars

assigned to you.

I don't know

if you like my maths or not,

but what my Bible says

is that he calls them out

one by one,

and by his power

not one of them

is missing.

He doesn't just hold

the future

and the present

and the past

in his hand,

he holds the whole

of creation

in his hand.

And what's best of all,

he's a covenantal

relationship-making God

with you

and me.

I don't know

where you are this morning.

I don't know

if you're discouraged

in your faith

or greatly encouraged

in your faith.

I don't know

if you're feeling

very close to God

or you're feeling

very far away from God.

I don't know,

it may be

that you don't know

that relationship

with God through Christ

that I'm speaking

about this morning.

But what I would like

this morning

for the next little bit,

and I don't think

it should finish

when I stop speaking,

is to be a time

of telling stories

of faith,

encouraging each other

with our individual

walk with God

about where you've

seen God

at work.

Because it's by

remembering these things

that we can

engage with others,

but we can also

re-engage

with our faith.

Remembering when God

has been faithful.

Because sometimes

you can be in a situation

and because it's

the immediate

and it's the present,

it feels overwhelming

or it feels maybe

that God isn't there.

And what we do

is we look back

and we say,

God is faithful.

As he was faithful

to Abraham

and to Isaac

and to Jacob

for generation

after generation

after generation,

he is faithful

and will be faithful

to me.

The future,

I can't see it,

it's behind me.

The past,

what he has done

is all in front of me.

And so I'm going to ask you,

I don't know whether you,

do you do tea and coffee

afterwards as well?

Or folks are like,

do you know what?

It would be great

to talk about the rugby yesterday.

And yes,

well done Scotland.

Yeah.

And didn't Liverpool do well?

And yeah,

what are you doing this week?

And all that.

How about

we just for once

go up,

if you're comfortable,

and ask somebody,

tell me a story

about faith in your life

when God was

really very real

for you.

And as that person

tells the story,

they'll remind themselves.

And as they tell the story,

they'll encourage you.

And as a congregation,

we'll be encouraged

to know that God

has been faithful.

And these just aren't

stories from the

dim,

distant past

that he's the same

yesterday,

today,

and forever.

And I think

that probably

would be far more

of an encouragement

to faith

than some

50-year-old Irishman

standing at the front

and talking

for possibly too long.

You do the ministry.

You share

with people.

I'm going to tell you

two quick stories.

And these are just

examples,

because they don't need

to be big,

big,

you know,

I was at death's door

stories.

Although they're

very good as well.

But here's one.

You'll maybe not even

think this is God.

You'll maybe think

this is too trivial.

I was in cool rain.

I was dropping my son

off at a Northern

Irish Scripture Union

camp.

I have managed

to brainwash him

into thinking

that he's a Northern

Ireland boy in exile.

So he goes to

Northern Irish

Scripture Union

camps.

He actually,

bizarrely,

in the way that

only Northern

Irish Scripture

Union could do,

he goes to a

Northern Irish

Scripture Union

Scottish camp.

Which used to

meet in Edinburgh.

So he would

leave him off

in Northern Ireland

so Scripture Union

could take him

to Edinburgh.

Now,

they can't go

to Edinburgh

anymore so they

go to Bullingar

which is in the

south of Ireland.

So it's now

the Northern

Ireland Scripture

Union Scottish

camp meeting

in the south

of Ireland.

Anyway,

we took him

across.

I'm from

Colerain.

I don't know

if you like

golf but that's

four miles from

Port Rush

where the Open

was held for

the first time

since 1951.

It was all

the news in

Northern Ireland.

It was the

biggest thing.

Tickets were sold

out nine hours

after they

went on sale.

So,

we're there.

We happened to

have a free day.

Bit of dad-son

bonding time.

What would you

like to do

before I drop

you off at

camp?

No.

Well,

come on,

let's do

something now

we're here.

No.

No.

Well,

shall we go to

Port Rush?

We'll just soak

up the atmosphere.

No.

No.

So,

we go to

Port Rush

and don't

expect you

to know

Port Rush

but you can

actually see

part of the

course from

the road.

So,

we were

standing on

the road

not having

paid to

get in

and we're

watching Rory

McIlroy and

some of the

greats tee off

down the

second fairway

thinking,

that's really

good.

That's quite

good,

Johnny.

Guy comes

up from

inside the

course,

says,

would you

like a

ticket?

I said,

yeah.

He said,

how much?

He said,

no,

no,

just have

it with

my blessing.

I'll

take it.

I said,

oh,

but there's

two of

us rapidly

thinking,

could I

get rid

of him

some way?

Here's a

fiver,

go and

have an

ice cream,

son.

And he

said,

well,

here,

we've

used one

of them

and we

haven't

used

the other.

Take

two.

He said,

maybe you

can tell

them that

you,

you know,

invent

some story.

He says,

by the way,

you have

to pretend

to be

Kieran

McCann.

to the

ticket

office.

And

Johnny's

woken up

by this

time,

because it's

almost 11

o'clock,

and he's

saying,

maybe you

could say

that we

got separated

and you

went in

and had

to come

out again.

Or maybe,

I don't know.

And I'm

thinking,

you know,

well,

I can't do

this.

I can't do

this.

I do love

my golf,

but I can't

do this.

So I just

went up and

I said,

Johnny,

here's my

strategy.

I'm just

going to be

completely and

utterly truthful

with the

guy.

I went

up to the

ticket booth

and just

said,

listen,

I'm not

going to

tell you

a word

of a lie.

Some

random

person

called

Kieran

McCann

has just

given me

this ticket

for free,

no money

exchanged

hands.

That's

not who

I am.

And I

can't use

the ticket

unless I

get one

for my

son here.

And the

guy goes,

you're

joking.

He said,

the ticket

sold out

nine hours

after they

went on

sale.

I said,

okay.

Well,

I said,

listen,

I was blessed

with a ticket

for five

minutes.

Take it,

give it to

somebody,

give it to

the next

person who

comes along

and inquires

about a

ticket.

He said,

what age

is your

son?

Fifteen.

Just a

moment.

Went,

printed off

a fresh

ticket,

gave it

to me.

Two of

us are

in watching

the British

Open

within five

minutes on

the 18th

and for

15 minutes

and it's a

precious 15

minutes if

you've got a

15-year-old

son.

I was on

a pedestal.

I was up

there.

How did

you do

that,

Dad?

Now,

where was

God in

that?

I think

God was

just honoring

me for

being honest

and not

valuing a

very,

very precious

Port Rush

Open ticket

ahead of

telling the

truth.

And what a

tremendous

example to

be able to

set to

my boy

that actually

telling the

truth,

you know,

okay,

sometimes it

doesn't work

in terms of

you don't

get what

you want,

but it's

always the

right thing

to do,

even to

be prepared

to hand

back a

ticket.

So that's

one story.

That's to

show you how

trivial it

can be,

except it's

not trivial

ever where

God is

involved or

God is

honored.

So you

be thinking

about what

story you

could tell.

Last one.

Do I still

have time for

one more?

That was

one.

No, no,

no,

one story.

I was

privileged to

go to

South Africa

with a

rugby tour

for the

school,

went as

chaplain,

but I

was flying

back because

we support

a charity

in Zimbabwe,

so I was

flying back

via there,

and I was

catching a

British Airways

flight back

home from

Joburg,

Joburg via

Heathrow up

to Edinburgh,

and I'd

booked extra

leg room

because I

have bad

knees from

playing rugby.

It's about

60 quid more,

and it was

one of those

lovely occasions

where there

was a woman

in the window

seat and a

completely free

seat beside

me, and I'm

sitting in the

aisle with my

legs stretched

out, and at

the very last

minute, this

young woman

bags all

everywhere,

comes in,

plants herself

down in the

seat, and

oh, just

made it,

just made

it, she

said.

And what a

good seat,

she said.

I didn't

even pay

for this.

And we're

chatting, I

said, well,

where are you

going?

She said, I'm

going to

Edinburgh.

I said, so

am I, so

am I.

And she

said, I

hate flying,

so do you

mind if I

grab your

leg during

take-off?

You have

to sometimes

suffer for

your ministry.

And then

she said, if

I fall asleep,

if I fall

asleep, I

might loll

over you.

Just feel

free to

nudge me

in the

ribs.

I said, what

are you

doing?

Are you

visiting

Edinburgh?

She said, no,

I'm leaving

South Africa

for the last

time.

We're

emigrating,

and I'm

going to

live in

Linlithgow.

She said,

what do you

do?

I said, well,

I'm going

home.

I said, I'm

a chaplain

at a school

in Edinburgh.

Oh, she

went, you

are God's

gift to

me.

Now, in

fairness, I

have heard

that one

or two

times in

life.

But what

had happened

is her

husband and

her had

just become

Christians

about a

year ago,

and they

were praying

in the

airport before

they came

that she

would be

sitting beside

a Christian

who she

could ask

about churches

to link up

with in

Edinburgh.

And yes, I

actually did

mention

Brunsfield,

but I

think they're

going to

St. John's

now in

Linlithgow,

because that's

where they

live.

Now, that's

just a little,

you know,

a couple

pray and

they get

a gobby

Irishman to

answer the

prayer and

sit beside.

God is

faithful.

God has

answered those

folks'

prayers.

He wanted

to be

faithful to

them and

get them

into a

fellowship

in Linlithgow.

The funny

thing is when

we got to

Heathrow, she

got through

security quicker

and she

was FaceTiming

her husband.

And she

was going,

yeah, and

I've met

this guy on

the plane and

he's just

God's gift.

And she

said, here

he is.

And there's

this big

really mountain

of a South

African guy

going, I'm

going, hi

Nick, I'm

married, three

children, nice

to meet you.

Yeah.

How has

God worked

in your life

faithfully?

How has God

been faithful

to you?

What story are

you going to

tell to a

person over

tea or coffee?

How are you

going to

encourage a

community of

faith and

encourage yourself

by remembering

God's covenant

to you?

And if you

really can't

think of

anything, then

as you forget

for a moment

about tomorrow,

you look

backwards and

as we were

singing, you

look at the

cross.

You look at

the cross and

you tell stories

and remember

Christ's

sacrifice for

me and for

you on the

cross, in

my place.

You remember

his words to

the thief on

the cross,

today you

will be with

me in

paradise.

And you

remember that

that was

for you.

Just as

actually those

old soldiers

walking down

the mile

four years

ago were

remembering

people that

they knew

friends who

had laid

down their

lives.

Christ, your

friend, Jesus,

your friend,

laid his

life down

for you.

He is

faithful and

remembers that

promise,

remembers the

promise that

he made,

that all who

come to him

and confess

their sins,

he is just

and will

forgive them

from all

unrighteousness.

Remember

that.

Write it

down somewhere,

write it on

your wall,

tie it in

your arm,

talk about

it as

you're

walking down

the street

with your

grandchildren

or kids

or your

friends or

whoever.

Look back

and remember

God's

faithfulness

and be

encouraged

for today

and take

hope in

tomorrow.

Let's

pray.

Father God,

God,

I pray

that actually

these next

five,

ten minutes

will be

refreshing,

will be

faith

inspiring,

will give

hope where

hope is

needed,

encouragement

where

encouragement

is needed,

challenge

where

challenge

is

needed.

And by

your spirit

you would

do your

work in

your way

in our

lives in

this place.

Amen.