WORSHIP aboard the Silver Whisper on March 24, 2019, The Third Sunday in Lent
HYMN: Holy, holy, holy
Let us pray. O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and have grace and power to accomplish them faithfully; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Reading from the book of Exodus
Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (20:1-17)
Psalm 25: 3-9
Oh, how I love your law! * all the day long it is in my mind.
Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, * and it is always with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers, * for your decrees are my study.
I am wiser than the elders, * because I observe your commandments.
I restrain my feet from every evil way, * that I may keep your word.
I do not shrink from your judgments, * because you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste! * they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.
Through your commandments I gain understanding; * therefore I hate every lying way.
A Reading from the first letter of John
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. (2:2-4)
A Reflection The Reverend Hope H. Eakins
Rules: they’re a part of life. Our parents taught them to us, our schools printed them up in student handbooks. We had to learn them to get our driver’s licenses. And here on the Silver Whisper we have them too. “Do not throw anything over the side of the ship.” “Deck chairs cannot be reserved.” “No shorts after 6:00pm in indoor venues.” Do not throw bulky objects into the toilet.”
Now there is a great difference between the rules our parents and schools taught us, a great difference between the rules for safe shipboard life and the commandments of God. The Ten Commandments are much, much more than moral advice, social nicety, and practical strategy. The Ten Commandments are a matter of life and death. Their function is not to keep life running smoothly and keep us polite but to constitute a people and form them into a community. The commandments tell us who we really are, and they prod us to become the people we ought to be.
The commandments are not harsh directives sent from on high by a distant tyrant. Rather they are sent as help from a loving God to give us signposts on the journey of life. The Ten Commandments are not ten different laws. They are one law in ten forms. “I am the Lord your God … therefore do this and do not do that.” The commandments are the details; “I am the Lord your God” is the main thing. First comes God’s rule, God’s reign over us, and then come God’s rules.
Take the commandment to honor the Sabbath Day. Keeping holy one day out of every seven is a regular way of keeping life in its proper perspective by taking time off to rest and worship, to renew our spiritual batteries through time with God and the people we love. God gave us this commandment so that we might enjoy life, play, and give thanks. It’s a commandment that God has given us to bless us.
Take the commandment: You shall not bear false witness. God’s commandment forbids public and political lying, lying to protect your job, lying to get ahead by ruining the reputation of another, or lying to sell goods or make a profit. Such lies erode the foundation of truth. Organizations and families break apart and decay when members are not truthful with each other. Life is hell when lying becomes a way of life. Therefore people of God may not lie. The first and maybe the most important thing American children are taught about George Washington is that he did not lie about chopping down a cherry tree. And although historians have told us that there is no evidence that this incident really occurred, Americans continue to remember it because it is a powerful story of the honesty we believe to be foundational.
Take the commandment: You shall not steal. It is about much more than not snitching candy bars from the super market or lifting a towel from a hotel bathroom. The prohibition against taking what does not belong to you is rooted in the concept of a God of justice who provides the resources of the earth to be shared by all the peoples of the earth. It condemns those who do not pay their employees a fair wage or a nation which spends more money on one day of war in Afghanistan than in a whole year on aid to Africa.
Or take the commandment: You shall not commit adultery. Sexuality is a gift from God, a part of the way God has made us. Sexual attraction and sexual relationships teach us about love, about God. But sex without love is not Godly. Trivializing sexuality, making sex a means to advertise merchandise, pornography and prostitution teach us of the power of lust, not the love of God.
God gave us the commandments for a purpose. As best we can reconstruct the process, when a loose confederation of migrants found themselves in a temporary encampment beside Mt. Sinai, God called Moses and gave him the tablets of the Law. Suddenly those desert dwellers became the Israelites, a people brought into being by God when they were given a code by which to live.
When this people was exiled in Babylon, they mourned “how can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” Well, the Jews did four things in their Babylonian exile to maintain their identity. They circumcised their sons. They kept dietary rules. They ate a Passover meal to remember their rescue from Pharaoh. And they tried to keep the Ten Commandments. They kept them partly as a practical moral code but more importantly, they kept the commandments as the values and customs of a people whose God had redeemed them from slavery and given them their identity.
The Jews knew that God’s forgiveness is not an issue. If you break a commandment and repent, God will forgive you. But if you forget the commandments, then you will forget that there is a God who will forgive you. You will forget who you are, how you got here, and what you are about as a people. Sabbath, diet, the Passover and the Law. People who honor these things are Jews in whatever culture they happen to find themselves.
Rudyard Kipling wrote in his poem Mandalay
Ship me somewhere east of Suez
Where the best is like the worst
Where there ain’t no Ten Commandments
An’ a man can raise a thirst.
Can you imagine living without the commandments? Can you imagine having a God who doesn’t care about how we live? Can you imagine living “where the best is like the worst?”
Thank God for the commandments, for every single one of them, and incline our hearts to keep these laws.
The Prayers
Almighty and merciful Lord, you have brought us out of bondage and commanded us to worship you alone. Keep us from false choices, from worshipping wealth and prestige, comfort and ease. Make us faithful to you and you alone.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
You have commanded us to keep holy the Lord’s Day. Deepen our gratitude for times of leisure and reflection and use our worship this day to mold and strengthen us for your service.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
You have commanded us to honor our parents. Lead us to honor all those who have guided us in your ways. Give courage and understanding to all who hold positions of authority and give integrity and godly vision to those who seek public office.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
You have commanded us not to kill. Guide us in the ways of peace. Look after the crew and passengers of the Viking Sun as it founders and guide the rescue teams. Make us good stewards of the riches of creation and of the people you have entrusted into our care. Keep us from reckless and selfish choices and give us hearts and hands ready to serve those who are in need, those who mourn, those whose lives are in peril.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
You have commanded us not to steal and not to covet what is not ours. Deliver us from greed and bestow on us a sure sense that you have given us enough to share.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
You have commanded us not to bear false witness. Make us honest and trustworthy people; save us from gossip and slander and give us loving hearts.
Incline our hearts to keep your law.
Summing up all our petitions and all our thanksgivings, we pray in the words Jesus taught us
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Blessing
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of God and of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you now and always. Amen.
HYMN: How Firm a Foundation
Officiants: The Reverend William J. Eakins, The Reverend Hope H. Eakins
Altar Guild: Jane Kline, Directress; Jill Ingham
Music: Alex Manev
Expected time of next service: March 31st at 5:30 pm