Sermon - 8-22-21
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<p>Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost</p> <p>August 22, 2021</p> <p>Faith, Okemos</p> <p>Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18, Psalm 34:15-22, Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69</p> <p> </p> <p><em>The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those whose spirits are crushed</em>.</p> <p> Psalm 34:18</p> <p>Who of us who has seen this week the pictures of those on the tarmac, some even clinging to a departing plane at the airport in Kabul, who of us has not felt the great anguish of those desperate to flee their Afghan homeland? Who of us who witnessed the tears of the Haitian people following the devastating earthquake compounded by torrents of rain from tropical storm Grace, who of us has not wondered how it could be any worse for a country still scarred by the earthquake of 2010 in which thousands died and by the recent assassination of its president? And who of us who week after week see the grieving faces of those whose homes and even whole towns have been reduced to ashes and naked chimneys and blackened remnants of cars and trucks from the still raging fires in California and the Pacific Northwest, who of us cannot but wonder if our whole world is edging toward irreparable brokenness and unyielding darkness?</p> <p> </p> <p>But all this week as I read and re-read the scriptures for today, the words of the psalmist refused to be extinguished:</p> <p> </p> <p><em>The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those whose spirits are crushed</em>.</p> <p> </p> <p>We pray this morning for the Afghan people, especially for the women and children, especially for all who supported the Allied forces over these past 20 years, We pray that they will know that God, whom most in Afghanistan name Allah, whom we as Christians know most intimately in Jesus, is near them is their great desperation. We pray this morning for the people of Haiti, clearly overwhelmed and fragile and afraid, that they, even now, will know our sufferi
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