And Now, On with Life
Isaiah 58: 9b-14
LUKE 13: 10-17
AUGUST 24, 2025
Almost every morning I am sleeping pretty soundly until I hear my ALEXA device ring out followed by the West Deptford weather report. I stretch and then rub the sleep out from my eyes and then double check to see where Tyler is sleeping making sure that in those early morning moments, I don’t accidentally step on him as he continues his dog slumbers … as I continue to stretch I realize it’s another day and now on with life.
In those early morning moments once my eyes are in focus … I open up an e-mail from a guy named Pastor Andy. I really have no idea who he is, but he has been sending me God’s Minute every day for years now … apparently he knows me because each day his emails begin with DEAR DAVE. That must mean he cares about me … he does care enough to send me a daily email with a few verses and thoughts. Nice to be cared for.
Today it’s as if Andy read my mind … that my sermon was about living each day completely and fully because today’s first verse from God’s Minute comes from Psalm 47. Now, I know some of you subscribe to God’s Minute too, but it never hurts to repeat hearing God’s Word in the morning …
OH CLAP YOUR HANDS … ALL YOU PEOPLE … SHOUT TO GOD with the voice of TRIUMPH!! For the Lord Most High is Awesome!! He is a Great King over all the earth!!”
It’s another day … well today is SUNDAY, the often referenced to SABBATH DAY … called the Sabbath even by church folks who don’t go to any church other than on Christmas Eve and Easter. A day that once was reflected through BLUE LAWS that limited shopping opportunities alleging that then people could focus more on family and church. I don’t think we need blue laws, but I do believe we need to regain some focus on life … what matters and how we are to go through this journey. It is SUNDAY.
I am not looking for a show of hands but are you waking up to God? Each morning is God a presence in your active mind? I have a friend who keeps a check list of things to do each day that he has told me he goes over before his first cup of coffee in the morning … DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE actually is doing something before their first cup of coffee in the morning? Frankly I can not imagine doing hardly anything before my first cup of coffee in the morning and I am thankful that the GOD’s MINUTE devotional e-mail is always short although I often reread it with my coffee to make sure I digest God’s Word and really noticed what Pastor Andy sent me.
As much as most of us enjoy a good restful sleep … I do believe that there is something very special about waking up. The morning sunshine … the birds singing and if you happen to have chickens in the neighborhood the sound of a rooster crowing. Taking in your very first breath of fresh air and stretching … moving about … knowing you are alive for another day’s possibilities.
Ah, knowing that you are alive … for another day … that you made it through the night’s darkness … “Weeping may endure for a night but JOY COMES in the morning!” The Christian praise song references that Psalm by declaring that God’s “joy is gonna be my strength.” But that all depends on our focus … our lives … our days.
Our new days are new opportunities … new options and choices … our yesterdays are in the past and frankly we cannot change them any more than we can alter what we had for breakfast when it is time for us to sit down for lunch. We move onward with the possibilities that God has placed before us. Scripture says that when we connect with God … when we discover God’s expectations … Our light will shine in the darkness of the world. We’re called to be Christ’s Light … to make disciples … to care for the hurting and struggling … to love all with mercy while doing justice.
OH CLAP YOUR HANDS … ALL YOU PEOPLE … SHOUT TO GOD with the voice of TRIUMPH!! For the Lord Most High is Awesome!! He is a Great King over all the earth!!” And, yes I want to sing JOY TO THE WORLD …
This week I have been focused on life … well truthfully I have been focused on one person’s life and life journey because Megan would have turned 40 on Wednesday but I believe that when we need God most God is there for us … and reflecting on the truth as many of you know … the truth that Megan demonstrated love each and every day for every person … welcoming all … embracing all … taking God seriously. That made me feel better.
Friday night at the Phillies’ game Pastor Doug from the Mantua church and I talked about Red Bird’s blessings. Perhaps next summer his church will join ours heading to Kentucky because when you take on missions for God you are blessed … your life is better … you want to CLAP YOUR HANDS and SHOUT TO GOD with joy. I think the two of us needed each other even as the Phillies blew their lead and lost the game.
We were just two guys talking about what God can do … what God’s people can do when we pull together … the values that matter in life … and we checked in on how we each are doing. Do you consider what God can do for you each day? OR how you can pull together with other people of faith … using your days for God?
Earlier in my Friday I met an interesting man … his name is Thorne Holder. We were walking into El Manantial, Woodbury’s Mexican restaurant on Broad Street and you couldn’t help but hear two rather loud voices. The waiter and a customer in the corner were talking to each other. Sighing the walk into the dining room continued and yes, I was thinking about whether my afternoon meal would be disrupted by their conversation.
You see Thorne is a black man … a black man with an accent because his home is Trinidad Tobago. There are some folks in our country who think that someone like Thorne should be put in a camp … in the Everglades … just because of the color of his skin and his accent and because he came here as a young man from a different nation.
Scripture says, “God will say … I am here if you remove the yoke from among you … the finger pointing … the wicked speech … if you open your heart to the hungry and provide ABUNDANTLY for those who are afflicted … then YOUR LIGHT will shine in the darkness.”
Thorne soon made his way over to the table where I was seated … smiling, laughing and saying our entrance brought good vibes to the restaurant. It was funny everyone in that dining room was dressed in black … Thorne is black, which I think I mentioned but we are living in an era when powers are attempting to erase the history of the Civil Rights Movement … when the Smithsonian is being told to not tell the truth about slavery because the true history might offend those who enjoy being part of the increased level of racism in our nation. But, Jesus said “LOVE ALL OF YOUR NEIGHBORS just as I have loved you” and more than likely Jesus’ skin color was dark and he and his family had lived as aliens in the land of Egypt as foreigners.
And, Thorne shared how God has blessed him … he played goalie for the Philadelphia Union professional soccer team and for FC New York. He opened his phone to show him coaching kids … you could see the kids smiles and Thorne said, “I sneak God into every coaching moment I get. In school you can’t talk about God but in coaching … well in coaching I let them see my faith.”
Already those moments seeing the sparkle coming from Thorne’s eyes as he leaned in towards us has led me to writing two poems. He might even show up here some Sunday because we shared contact information. The conversation continued as we ate lunch … Thorne had already eaten his … we laughed, we smiled, we listened intently, and we hugged. God says, “welcome the stranger … any stranger at your door … might be an angel in disguise” but I know Thorne is real because he has a Wikipedia page. But what an angel … I never expected to meet but something led to the lunch decision and Friday when I woke up and the sunlight hit my eyes … never knew Thorne Holder would become part of the the journey.
You just never know do you … remember my friend’s check list? Do you make a daily God check list making sure that you “remove the yoke from you that the world wants to wrap you up in? Are you actively removing the finger-pointing and actively standing against wicked speech? Is your heart open daily to caring for the hungry amongst us and are you actively engaged in supporting the abundant provision of goods and care for those who are afflicted? Are you welcoming strangers with hugs, love and conversation knowing one or more of them might be angels sent just for your moment in time? You know … being Good Samaritans because Jesus said that is what it takes to have eternal life … to cross the road even when the powerful spit at the hurting and hurry on their side of the highway.
So, as you were getting ready for church today was your energy level increasing? We’re you focused on God … did you consider that God is the Lord Most High … were you all about living life to its fullest knowing that when we live our lives to the highest degree that God needs to be part of that reality.
OH CLAP YOUR HANDS … ALL YOU PEOPLE … SHOUT TO GOD with the voice of TRIUMPH!! For the Lord Most High is Awesome!! He is a Great King over all the earth!!”
Jesus stood up against the rule-focused hypocritical leaders … Jesus calls us to align with God …
And, Pastor Andy’s message for today contained my favorite Psalm … BECAUSE YOUR LOVING KINDNESS IS BETTER THAN LIFE … MY LIPS SHALL PRAISE YOU … I WILL BLESS YOU WHILE I LIVE.
Today’s just another day … it’s a Sunday … it’s the Sabbath … will your joy pour out from this Sanctuary and touch another life … I know I want more conversations with Thorne and I hope to see my friend Pastor Doug and some of his church members alongside some of you next summer at Red Bird … and this box of underwear makes me happy!
OH CLAP YOUR HANDS … ALL YOU PEOPLE … SHOUT TO GOD with the voice of TRIUMPH!! For the Lord Most High is Awesome!! He is a Great King over all the earth!!” AMEN