Hi, I'm Janelle. And it has been almost a year to
the day, actually, probably a year in a week that I have been
here. Speaking to you at reality
Church, Boston, and it's such an honor to be here.
And I'm just going to start by reciting our scripture verse for
today, where we're going to be for a bit.
And so, if you have your hand out, or you're out, Up or your
Bibles. Would you turn with me to Psalm
chapter 124? We are in the Psalms of ascent.
One of 15 Psalms, that is a pilgrim song.
And some 124 says this. If the Lord had not been on our
side, let Israel say if the Lord had not been on our side.
When people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us.
The flood would have engulfed us.
The torrent would have swept over us.
The Raging Waters would have swept us away.
Praise be to the Lord. Who has not let this beat, who
has not, let us be torn by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird from the Fowler's.
Snare, the snare has been broken and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and
Earth. Would you pray with me?
Lord I Thank you for the peace that abides in this room that
only comes to the presence of your Holy Spirit I thank you
Lord for your word that is life and truth and Lord more than
ever God, we need light. We need truth and we need
flavor. Lord media in these next couple
minutes, your Holy Spirit be out working our hearts in places
where we might not be aware of. And in places Lord that we are
all too aware of Biden us. Lord Jesus.
In your name, we pray. Amen.
Amen, amen. So hello.
So I was here for about two years, helping out a little bit
with transition. We were going through a lead
Pastor transition. But my day job is that I am a
chaplain at Harvard University, just down the road from here and
every Tuesday and Thursday. I kind of holds office hours and
what that means is that I hang out in a coffee shop and have
coffee with students. That's my office.
You can find me anywhere around Harvard Square either at flower.
Tot eh. And during this particular, I
believe, as a Thursday morning I get there really early in the
morning and I had just met with the student from Harvard Kennedy
School and we had just been talking about really deep
spiritual things. Actually, no, we were talking
about actually summer and what was coming up and I was leaving
this as I love the student and I was kind of coming back to my
car. I am also notorious for parking
tickets. So So, the city of Cambridge
really loves it when I do hold office hours.
Because so many times, I forget that my to ours have expired and
I end up paying $30 to park, which happens more often than
not. So, on this particular day, I
was very excited because I was on time, I was very aware and I
get to my car and I am on a one-way Street and I am about
ready to leave. And this big truck is also
Maneuvering out and Maneuvers out right in front of me and
just stops. So he's like half in a parking
space, half in the middle of this one way street that it is,
you know, as Cambridge and Boston streets are not very
large. And so I sit there and 30
seconds prior, there's nothing there.
I mean, I just walked into my car and just started it and so,
within 30 seconds I'm thinking what is going on?
And so I've been in Boston. For about five years now, and I
have become enculturated to do what bostonians usually do when
they have to. Wait, I go crazy.
And this pie is person, actually, not very, but I start
honking my horn. Incessantly, like, oh, let's go,
buddy. Like, I'm gonna get a ticket
because we're not moving, and I had already been sitting here.
I would love to save for at least 90 seconds.
Probably more like 15. Anyway, I just lose it.
And I'm just like, what is happening?
I'm like, going like this with my hands.
Like, let's go moving along, honking my horn, and the truck
isn't moving, and so I am. So I just sit there for probably
another 90 seconds and then finally this truck moves and
upon this truck moving I see and I'm I'm not exaggerating
probably like an 80 90 year old woman cry.
Passing the street out of nowhere with a cane and
immediately like I am garbage, okay?
Just, you know, this guy like, you know, goes and Russia's
honest and she crosses the street she staring at me, like,
are you a monster? And I'm liking, of course, I'm a
monster like, yes, I'm so sorry. And I proceeded to drive away
like feeling. Like I have a fever because my
face is the site, you know, it's just be read.
And as a high got introduced to the songs, I was sent from
Austin and Rashad and they said, hey, you're on for some 124 and
I began to study what a pilgrims song is an actual pilgrimage.
It was so reminiscent to me on how I how I walk with Jesus.
Attempt to be a pilgrim because I am a mess and I would love to
tell you that. I'm a peaceful person and I love
contemplatively space and I love the quiet.
No, like that makes me crazy and I find that pilgrimage.
Usually draws me into spaces and places that are frustrating.
Where there are big boulders that I can't see around and I'm
called to walk. Only to wait.
Anybody familiar with that. Something very interesting about
the Psalms of ascent, I'm not going to, I listen to Austin and
Rashad and and Rob kind of frame.
You know, some of these songs, I'm just going to give a quick
little review, their 15 songs, okay?
And the children of Israel would sing these songs on their way to
Jerusalem, where they would Pilgrim for one of three
festivals either. The Festival of the Passover
Festival, the Festival of weeks or the festival Tabernacle, And
you know, Rob so perfectly frame, that Within These 15
Psalms each five versus kind of hit three different themes.
So our first theme that I'm going to kind of capsule today
is this theme of trouble. Like this is, you know, we're
remembering what God does when we're in big trouble.
And next week, you're going to be introduced to trust and the
next five chapters after that, kind of hone in, on trusting the
Lord. And finally, I am like our God
is Victorious, but I get the fun, we get the fun, we get to
journey together and to pilgrimage through our last
chapter covering trouble. The thing that keeps coming up.
That has kept coming up as I've been pondering, and reading this
first over and this chapter over and over again, is how clumsy I
am as a pilgrim. What's really interesting is
that when we read scripture, the Lord is always inviting his
people to walk with him, not to run with him, not to Sprint with
him, not to fly with him but to walk.
And nothing around me. Especially living in the city
that I do. Points to walking.
If you're not brisk fully walking down the street, people
will literally like like you're in a car cut you off and walk in
front of you if you're driving slow and you're not driving
according to what bostonians think you should be driving, you
will get honked at, you will get yelled at, you will get spoken
to very beautifully. But I'm reminded in second
Corinthians 5:7. It says this for we walk by
faith and not by sight. Micah 6:8 says this, he has told
you o, man, what is good? And what does the Lord require
of you? But to do justice and to love
kindness and to walk humbly with your God.
The Lord walks. And when he says follow me, he
is asking us to walk with him. Pilgrimage also does this.
It opens my eyes to see a bigger picture because I am walking.
Sometimes frustratingly. So I am able to see things from
a Viewpoint that being in A hurried Rush, keeps me from
doing one thing that I really felt that the Lord was calling
us to do today especially within this within this chapter is to
yield So, I'm going to read this chapter again from the message
and I want you to close your eyes as I read.
And let's yield. Psalm 124 says this, if God
hadn't been for us all together now is real single out.
If God hadn't been for us, when everyone went against us, we
would have been swallowed Alive by their violent anger Swept
Away by the flood of Rage, drowned and torrent, we would
have lost our lives in the wild Raging Water.
Oh blessed. Be God.
He didn't go off and leave us. He didn't abandon us defenseless
helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs.
We flown free from their fangs, free of their traps free as a
bird. Their grip is broken, were free
as a bird in flight. God, strong name is our help the
same God who made Heaven and Earth.
What this chapter is underscoring, is that in the
magnification and true of trouble.
Violence, anger of betrayal of Abandonment of being a captive.
They are. God can be found.
But friends, we are not equipped.
To sit in that. Our world is a really good job
and provides many means for us to ignore to deny and to
silence. Some of life's worst fears that
has just been underscored in this chapter.
Eugene Peterson says this. Psalm 124 is an instance, of a
person who digs deeply into the trouble and finds their the
presence of God, who is on our side.
I'm going to say this again. Psalm 124 is an instance, of a
person who digs deeply into the trouble and finds their the
presence of God, who is on our side.
What if this Psalm is inviting us to Journey Into the deepest
fears of our heart. What if this Psalm is inviting
us to be a pilgrim in places and spaces where we've done a lot of
hard work to pretend, I don't exist.
We numb ourselves. To the violence that happens day
in and day out all around the world.
We medicate our anger at things that we cannot control. we
excuse the abandonment that we fear might happen, if we just
allow one person in, even the presence of God, I want you to
turn with me to John Chapter 11. When Richard asked me to speak,
I was hoping that he was going to give me free rein to talk
about whatever I wanted to. That wasn't the case.
But the Lord had put this this chapter on my heart when Richard
reached out to me and said, hey, I'm would you be available to
speak at rallies? That absolutely and I got really
excited because I'm like I think I Have a word for this church
and then he's like, okay so we're doing the Psalms of ascent
I'm like oh okay but don't you worry as I was studying the Lord
has a way of bridging bridging things together the the Lord put
on my heart, The Story of Lazarus.
And in John 11. I'm just going to set the scene
right now. John is actually an Immaculate
book. If you haven't sat in the Book
of John I would encourage you to do that to read it.
John is paralleling. Exodus in this gospel which is a
little bananas but that's a whole other sermon for a whole
nother time. We're not going to talk about
that but he is capitalizing the works of Jesus with this moment
with There is being raised from the dead.
But what I find so, interesting in.
This is how Jesus is on a pilgrimage of his own during
this chapter. He's on his way to Jerusalem,
and on his way to Jerusalem, the friends whom he loves very much
are in trouble. And so, he stops.
So we're going to pick up in verse 17.
And it says, now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had
already been in the Tomb. Four days, Bethany was near
Jerusalem about two miles off. So, he's two miles away from,
from where his pilgrimage is about to end because Passover is
coming and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to
console them concerning their brother.
So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met
him, but Mary remain seated in the house.
Martha said to Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my
brother would not have died. So we're going to skip down to
verse 28. When she Martha had said that
she went and called her sister Mary saying privately, the
teacher is here and is calling for you.
So Mary is in the house and she is not meeting Jesus because
she's she's heartbroken and when she heard it she Rose quickly
and went to him. Now, Jesus had not yet come into
the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met
him. When the Jews who were with her
in the house consoling, her saw Mary rice quickly and go, they
followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to Beep
there. Now, when Mary came to her,
Jesus was she saw him? She fell at his feet saying to
him? Lord, if you had been here, my
brother would not have died. Exactly.
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her
also weeping, Jesus was deeply moved and his spirit and greatly
troubled. And he said, where have you laid
him? They said to him Lord come and
see verse 35. Jesus wept.
So that you said see how he loved him, but some of them said
could not. He who opened the eyes of the
blind, man also have, kept this man from dying.
We're going to stop right there. Friends, in the magnification of
trouble, God can be found. But I will tell you what.
Always accompanies trouble doubt.
And as Eugene Peterson is beckoning us to lean into
trouble. I feel like the first greeter at
the door is doubt. We see Martha and we see Mary
and we see the crowd saying one thing to Jesus, as he appears on
the scene of Lazarus is death, Lord.
If he would have been here, our brother would not have died.
And I feel like that statement encapsulate, it's were our
pilgrimage, usually stops. It's where we say, you know
what? I can't.
This trouble is too big for you. God.
You know, Jesus Does He Weeps. He doesn't flip a table and get
frustrated at their doubt. He doesn't say.
Look at me. Hello?
Have more faith. Jesus sits in their grief and he
cries. The son of God.
Is inconsolable. Friends trouble leads us to a
tomb. And it leads us and it leads us
bound and Jesus enters into the scene.
And he enters into the scene and he enters into the doubt.
Deep. And the question Lord, if you
would have been here, my brother would not have died.
C for us pilgrims, the worst case scenario is death, the
worst-case scenario is betrayal. The worst-case scenario is
abandonment. But Jesus.
What I love about this is that in each of these interations,
Jesus shows up and is faithful. We're going to go back to
chapter 11. We're going to go to verse 22,
and this is Jesus and Martha speaking.
Martha says, I'm going to say it one more time.
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God
will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother
will rise. Again, Martha said to him, I
know that he will rise again, in the Resurrection on the last
day. Jesus said to her, I am the
resurrection and the life whoever believes In me, though.
He die. Yet shall he?
Live. And everyone who lives and
Believes In Me, shall never die. Do you believe this?
She said to him? Yes.
Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was
coming into the world. Verse 8 of Psalm 124 God, strong
name is our help the same. God who made Heaven and Earth.
I am. He's beginning to uncover at the
worst-case scenario for any Pilgrim death.
Life. Resurrection.
See, this was the first resurrection.
It was Martha. She was the first one to
acknowledge who Jesus was. But it doesn't stop there.
Verse 38. Then Jesus deeply moved again,
Eugene Peterson. And the message says, Jesus was
angry. He's angry.
At the Brokenness of this world came to the tomb.
It was a cave and a stone lay against it.
Jesus said, take away the stone Martha, the sister of the dead
man said to him. Lord, by this time, there will
be an odor for he has been dead for days.
Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God. So they took away the stone.
Jesus. Lifted up his eyes and said,
father, I thank you that you have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me but I said, This on account of
the people standing around that, they may believe that you sent
me verse 43 when he said these things, he cried out with a loud
voice Lazarus. Come out the man who had died
came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his
face wrapped with cloth, with a cloth.
Jesus said to them, unbind him, and let him go.
Trouble will always make us believe that the worst case
scenario is actually not the worst case scenario.
What we witness in this chapter and in the verses that we just
read together is a foreshadowing of what Jesus of what his
pilgrimage was taking him too. Death, a tomb.
Being bound. A violent and Angry Crowd,
yelling crucify him. The Betrayal of his twelve
closest friends, including the friends that he just radically
changed. Abandonment as everyone leaves
him. Jesus has pilgrimage leads him
to a place. That is desolate and lonely,
we're death awaits him, but this is a death that is very
different than anything we will ever experience.
Because not even God. Was present Upon Jesus At The
Cross. He turned his face to a son and
what I can't help. But to think this anguish of
Psalm 124 that this that David is writing an authoring.
This is what God has saved us from Jesus.
All Too. Well, is probably reciting these
very words as he's on his way to Jerusalem.
But that's not where our story ends, thanks be to God.
Because three days later. Jesus rose.
And when I can't help but to think and to get excited about
is that as we Pilgrim and as we journey, we don't do this alone.
What? I love about what happens after
Jesus calls out the name of Lazarus and Lazarus comes out.
What does he do? The community around him, what
does he tell them to do and find him friends?
It takes the Jesus to call us from death to life.
But it takes a community of people to set us free.
And as we Pilgrim, we don't Pilgrim alone we Pilgrim with
those that are sitting right next to You.
In This Very Room, those that aren't here, but are far but you
are connected through the body of Christ.
And so my hope and my prayer is that we wouldn't stop at doubt.
Is that we wouldn't stop at trouble but that we would trust
and the name of the Lord Our God and that it is through his name,
the name of Jesus, who knows your name?
that in those moments where you feel like this is it We're done
that. You would hear.
Hey Austin, come out. That you would hear.
Hey Sarah, come out. And there you would find a
familiar voice of resurrection of restoration and a piece.
And that through that, you would find the joy.
Of Heaven. I would, you know, I would love
to say that heaven is our destination, but I think it's
more like Resurrection. And know that no matter what
trouble can I just say this, I don't know what it took, most of
you to walk through that door this afternoon.
As someone who does church. And I say this, this might sound
terrible for me to say for a living, okay?
I forget how hard it is. Sometimes to walk through that
door and to be here, And to sit with other people with the
weight of trouble or worry or anxiety.
But I want to tell you something right now.
I am as here. And he wants to meet you in your
trouble and he wants to meet you and your doubt don't stop.
Don't stop walking. So as we close, I'm going to
leave you. With Eugene's words.
Psalm 124 is an instance, of a person who digs deeply into the
trouble and finds there, the presence of God, who is on our
side as we go into a time of silence.
As we go into a time of examination and reflection, I
want you to bring some of those things that you might have
worked really hard to not feel or to acknowledge.
And I want you to bring them before the Lord in the quietness
of your seat and in this room. I'm going to pray for us.
As we go into our silent time.