Hallowed Be Thy Name: Awe, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

Hallowed Be Thy Name: Awe, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: 7 Spiritual Practices for the New Year A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Matthew 6.9; Ephesians 3.19; Luke 5. 4-11.

Join Rev. Dr. Steven Koski this Sunday, either online or in-person, as he explores the power of awe and wonder. Don’t miss this thought-provoking message that just might shift your perspective. Come experience the mystery with us.

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Keywords:

Worship service, First Presbyterian, spacious Christianity, doubts and questions, diversity, sacred stories, radical love, prayer, attention guide, spiritual life, awe and wonder, miracle, faith journey, mystery, love beyond knowledge., presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Whitney Higdon: 0:37

Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian we at first, Presbyterian practice a spacious Christianity, which means, no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong, and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred, and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830 or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support You. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome.

Steven: 5:14

Here's a prayer adapted from a prayer by Reverend Nadia Bolz Weber, Holy God, all we can think to say right now is, please guide our attention to that which is worthy of it. When we are overwhelmed by everything that has to get fixed in this broken down world, show us what is ours to do, and then please, give us the strength to do it and the humility to rest afterwards. Open our eyes to behold that which is hopeful and beautiful, and to know that the terrifying and malicious will always be there, and that looking away for a moment is not callous, it's self care guide our attention to that which is worthy of it, making art, cooking food, singing, welcoming the stranger, loving People, being kind, petting dogs, contacting friends, checking in on our neighbors, doing the work of love that is ours to do. And when we're scrolling through meaningless posts on social media, once again, wasting more precious moments on this earth than we realize, snap us out of it. Lord, help us just go for a walk or be still for a moment, and remember that you are with us. Your love endures in your holy name, amen Albert Einstein said, there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. I actually think that's what Jesus meant when he said, Pray this way Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. We're continuing our sermon series on on the Lord's prayer, the prayer that Jesus taught. And Jesus wasn't teaching a prayer to be memorized and and recited on a Sunday morning, Jesus was teaching and orientation of the heart, a way of being in the world. And today we're looking at that phrase, hallowed be your name. Hallowed means sacred, holy. Holy be your name. The invitation, I think, is to a to a posture of humility, awakening to a deep sense of reverence and awe. You know, I really think the antidote to our anxiety and and despair is cultivating a sense of awe and wonder, the antidote to our selfishness and arrogance thinking we're in control is cultivating a sense of awe and wonder. The antidote to cynicism and superficiality is cultivating a sense of awe and wonder. And Lamotte said, we only need three prayers every morning, help every night, thank you. And in between morning and night to have as many moments as possible when the prayer that comes out of our mouth is wow. Now WoW is our way of saying, hallowed be your name. I mean, how many times a day do you say wow? One of the greatest theologians of the last 100 years, Abraham Heschel, said the heart of religion is not belief, but wonder and awe. He said the goal of spirituality is to live life in radical amazement. Get up in the morning, look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Have you ever thought of your spiritual life as to live in radical amazement? You know, our tendency is to treat God as the object of our knowledge, and the goal of our spiritual life is to gain more knowledge. What if God was not the object of our knowledge but the catalyst of our wonder? And. On the goal of our spiritual life is to be spiritually amazed. The apostle Paul put it this way, in the book of Ephesians, May you experience the love that is beyond anything you can possibly know. There's a story from the Gospel of Luke where it says Jesus was standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd was pressing in to try to hear what Jesus had to say. And Jesus noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them, and they were scrubbing their nets. Jesus climbed into the boat that was Simon's and asked him to put out a little from the shore and using the boat for a pulpit, Jesus began to teach the crowd. And when Jesus finished teaching, he said to Simon, who later became Simon Peter, Jesus said, push out into deep water and let your nets. Nets out for a catch. Simon said, Teacher, we've been fishing hard all night and we haven't even caught a minnow. Now, Simon and the others, they've been fishing all night and they caught nothing, and they were cleaning their nets. They were exhausted, discouraged, defeated, ready to go home for breakfast and a nap. Life can feel like that. We work hard, we don't get the results we desire or think we deserve, life doesn't go as planned. In fact, life can feel downright cruel and unfair, leaving us feeling defeated, depleted, our nets empty. This is our reality. We doubt anything else is possible, we doubt there's a greater reality, and that's where Jesus meets us. Jesus meets us when we've been up all night, working, struggling, striving, trying as hard as we can, and we're exhausted, ready to give up our nets empty. Anna Mott said, the first prayer we need is help. I prayed that prayer for the first time. Actually, in my final year of seminary, I was working as a chaplain on a pediatric oncology unit. I was on call, got a call at 2am that Ryan, a six year old with leukemia, had died. I had become really close to Ryan receiving the news that he died shattered by heart in ways I had never experienced before. I was devastated, numb, lost, driving to the hospital. I was the one wearing the clergy collar. I was the one who was who was supposed to have all the answers. I was the one who was supposed to know what to say and what to do. And as tears streamed down my face, I felt helpless, nothing, nothing made sense. My nets were empty. For the first time in my life, even though I had been going to church my whole life, I actually prayed help. I walked into that hospital room, I mean, devastated, scared, feeling incredibly inadequate, not up to the task, and the next thing I knew, I was anointing Ryan, praying saying, saying, words that I can only say came from somewhere else. They didn't come from me or from anything I learned or studied. I actually can't explain what happened. A Love was present in that room that was that was stronger than death, and that love moved through me. That love moved through my words, that love enfolded everyone in that room. I wonder if that's what Paul meant in Ephesians when he said, May you experience a love beyond anything you can possibly know. All I could say was, wow, hallowed be your name. Back to the story from Luke for a minute so Simon and his friends had been fishing. Night, they'd caught nothing. Jesus said to Simon, push out into deeper water. Let your nets out for a catch. Now, is this actually an invitation to go beyond what we think we already know? Is this an invitation to go beyond where, where we think we're in control, to leave the shallows where we think we have all the answers. I really wonder sometimes, if we settle for the shallows and resist the invitation to push out the deep waters, what would it mean to make a little room in your faith for mystery, to have a little room in your heart for the unimaginable. I was having a conversation with someone struggling to forgive her father. She went to counseling for years, did the work to forgive yet for years, even after all this work, when she found herself in her father's presence, she'd immediately feel rage. She'd put up these walls, and her stomach would be in knots. And then one day, one day, she was in her father's presence, and she said, I realized I was free. I couldn't explain it, the the anger, the bitterness, it was gone. She was amazed that she was able to feel love for her father. She felt a lightness of being that she hadn't experienced in in 20 years. She couldn't explain what happened or how it happened. That's what I call mystery. You know, it doesn't have to be some miraculous encounter with God. It can be a slight movement in your soul, a slight shift. One minute, you're carrying this huge weight, and everything feels heavy, and then all of a sudden, there's a shift. There's a gift of grace that you can't explain. You can only pray. Wow, hallowed be your name. Again. Back to the story from Luke Simon said to Jesus, Jesus, we've been fishing all night. We haven't caught a thing, but if you say so, I'll let out the nets. It was No sooner said than done, a huge hollow fish straining in their nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch. Simon Peter, when he saw it, he fell to his knees before Jesus, Master, master, leave. I am not worthy. I can't handle the holiness plead me to myself. And when they pulled in that catch of fish, the Scripture says, ah, overwhelm Simon and everyone with him. And Jesus said to Simon, there's there's nothing to fear. From now on, you'll be fishing for men and women. They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, left their nets and everything, and followed Jesus. I'm really struck that Simon Peter's invitation of faith isn't asserting what he believes. He encounters a mystery that takes his breath away, that overwhelms him with with awe, that leaves him radically amazed, praying, wow, hallowed be your name. William Sloan coffin said, the miraculous catch in the story is not all the fish that Simon Peter and the others caught. The miracle, the real miracle is that Simon Peter and the others were caught in the net of Christ's love, they were caught, caught up into something greater than themselves. They were shown a reality greater than the reality of their empty nets, and they chose to give their lives to the mystery of that love. Do you remember Ryan, the doctors, nurses, Ryan's parents left to speak in the hallway. I was left in the room by myself with Ryan. Hand. I sat beside his bed and and I held his hand. Everything I thought I knew, or everything that previously had had made sense in the world evaporated. It was gone. I experienced a depth of depth of anguish and grief I had never experienced before, and then I felt this arm wrapped around my shoulders, holding me tight. I this was not my imagination. I felt the physical presence of an arm embracing me, but no one else was in the room, and that moment, I was sure. I was sure. Sure. Can be that it was Jesus. No words were spoken. I simply felt the presence of Love holding me. I can't explain it. I don't understand it like Simon Peter. I felt unworthy, and something shifted. I hadn't been convinced that I wanted to be a pastor. I didn't think I was called to be a pastor, that I was actually up to the task. I actually felt inadequate to be a pastor, and I'm here before you today, 37 years later, still feeling inadequate, by the way. But here I am. Here I am because I was caught that day. I was caught by a love I can't explain or understand what I knew in that moment, and what I know now is that my job isn't to have all the answers I course, my job is simply to invite you again and again and again into the presence of a love greater than anything we can comprehend. There are only two ways to live your life. One is though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything everything is a miracle. May our hearts be open to those moments where the only prayer we can utter. Wow, hallowed be thy name. May it be so. Friends, May you experience today and each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder. May you have those holy moments when all you can say is, wow, hallowed be your name. Go in the peace and the love of Christ, that love beyond knowledge, and May the love that you bring into the world. May your love bring peace to others. Amen.

Whitney Higdon: 28:28

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these podcasts possible, or support the many ways, first, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community, you can make a financial gift online at bend fp.org, every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to See you next week.