Worship

Here is my musical meditation for Palm Sunday 2020 and the beginning of our stay-at-home Holy Week, played on the Klais organ at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church. The hymn “My song is love unknown” is often sung to the tune Rhosymedre. Here is the last stanza:

Here might I stay and sing, no story so divine;

Never was love, dear King, never was grief like thine.

This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise

I all my days could gladly spend.

(words by Samuel Crossman; musical setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams)

Here is my musical meditation for March 29, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, recorded in a cold and empty Grosse Pointe Memorial Church. It is the spiritual “There is a balm in Gilead.” I am looking forward to that day when the building is filled with faithful singers once again! – James Biery, minister of music and organist

My offering for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is the “Little” Fugue in G minor by J. S.  Bach, played on our Klais pipe organ. In these uncertain times, the perfection and beauty of Bach’s counterpoint inspires us and keeps us focused on God’s love for us all. Click here to watch the video. – James Biery, minister of music and organist

All alone in an empty church this morning, I sang through one of the hymns that we planned to sing during worship tomorrow. Click here to watch the video. I invite you to sing along. – James Biery

1 Fairest Lord Jesus,
Ruler of all nature,
O thou of God to earth come down,
thee will I cherish,
thee will I honor,
thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.

2 Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring.
Jesus is fairer;
Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3 Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling, starry host.
Jesus shines brighter;
Jesus shines purer,
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4 Beautiful Savior,
Ruler of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine!

(Music and words Public Domain)

This is the sermon from morning worship on March 8, 2020. The Rev. Mark Diehl preached a sermon called “Grasping Grace” based on 2 Chronicles 34:19-28. It was International Women’s Day, and we were celebrating the gifts of women in our worship service.

This is the sermon from morning worship on March 1, 2020. The Rev. Mark Diehl preached a sermon called “Choose Carefully Whom to Follow” based on Philippians 3:17-4:1. The Second and Third Grade Sunday School class helped lead us in worship.

This is the sermon from morning worship on February 23, 2020, which was Transfiguration Sunday. The Rev. Sarah Godbehere preached a sermon called “Fear and Trembling” based on Psalm 99 and Matthew 17:1-9.

Music at Memorial’s 2019-2020 season continues on Sunday, March 15, at 3:00 with a concert presented by our own choir, soloists, and orchestra. In April 2016, the GPMC music department first presented “From Doubt to Faith,” an original liturgical music drama with words by Marilyn Biery and music by James Biery. The drama recounts the biblical story of Thomas the Twin and his turning from doubt to faith. The singer-actors bring the story to life, and the choir ethereally sings the words of the risen Christ. The piece ends with all of the cast – and the audience – singing a powerful statement of faith. We are pleased to present this piece again. The choir will also sing the powerful “Kyrie” by Louis Vierne, and the exquisitely beautiful “Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Fauré. Advance tickets for $10 can be purchased online at eventgroove.com. Tickets at the door on the day of the concert are $15 each.

This is the sermon from Sunday morning worship on February 16, 2020.  The Rev. Mark Diehl preached a sermon called “Boundary Breakers” based on Acts 16:6-15. Due to a technical issue, this sermon was not video taped. The manuscript is available below.

Boundary Breakers by Rev. Mark Diehl

The Apostle Paul had it all planned out. Having returned from a meeting with church leaders in Jerusalem, Paul now prepared to embark on a new missionary endeavor. The council of Christian men with whom Paul met had resolved the thorny issue of integrating Gentiles into what had been an all Jewish fellowship of believers.

Their decision was momentous. It marked the point when Christianity was no longer one of many Jewish sects. Christianity was independent of its origins and Gentiles were admitted into the Christian community free of requirements to follow Jewish practices. Circumcision, dietary restrictions, ritual washings were eliminated; Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians could freely worship and eat and fellowship together. So with the council’s blessing, Paul was commissioned to proclaim the Gospel to everyone.

With this controversy behind him, Paul focused on a new geographic location for his travels and ministry: Asia. But Paul’s plan was stymied. Setting his sights on another location, Bithynia, again Paul’s efforts failed. The only explanations given in scripture for these failures are that Paul was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” or “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow” it.

To me that language is strong and unequivocal. For reasons undisclosed, God had other plans. We know nothing about Paul’s reaction to these obstacles other than his unwillingness to stand still. Paul kept probing for viable opportunities to bring the Gospel to those who had not heard.

This is where our scripture text picks up. In his quandary about the geographic location of his next missionary journey, Paul had a dream. In it, he saw a man standing before him, pleading for him to come to Macedonia and “to help.” The dream disclosed the opportunity Paul was seeking, so he and his traveling companions headed out for this new destination.

Macedonia is the opposite direction from where Paul originally intended to go. Instead of going to Asia, Paul headed into Europe. The writer of Acts makes it perfectly clear that these events are not accidental. Being forbidden to go one direction, Paul was guided in the opposite direction. The writer wants us to know that God’s fingerprints all over these events.

Have you ever had plans and intentions that you were passionate about, at the top of your priority list, and you were committed to carrying out? It might have been a relationship, or the preparation for a career, or a professional pursuit?
We make our plans, our passions run deep, our motivations have integrity. And then it falls apart. That has happened to me. What a terrible position to be put in. Disappointment. Frustration. Uncertainty. When that happens, how do you and I make sense of it? How do we cope and move forward?

That is precisely what Paul faced. Now at this very point in our scripture reading, the writer of Acts does something almost imperceptible. For 15 chapters, the book of Acts uses the point of view of a detached recorder of history: it is written in the third person. In the tenth verse of the sixteenth chapter, however, the author shifts from third person to first person. Instead of describing what “they” are doing, the point of view shifts to what “we” are doing. The remainder of the Book of Acts is written in this first person perspective.

The shift from third person to first person has fascinated students of the Bible for centuries. Many scholars propose that the writer of the Book of Acts, Luke, joins Paul in his ministry at this point. What transpires from this point on in the Book of Acts becomes a first person account. That is a tantalizing possibility since it corroborates Paul’s own accounts in his letters. Yet Biblical scholars are uncertain; they point out many problems with this theory.

Another suggestion for understanding this change from third person to first person is that the author employs a literary technique. By shifting the language, the writer is inviting the readers to enter the story, shifting from the impersonal to the personal, from “they” to “we.” The reader is asked to join the mission, to dream dreams, to consider the possibility that her or his life is being directed by the Holy Spirit. And in that shift of language, you and I are invited to encounter the world in a similarly open and intentional fashion. The story is not just about “them” and events that happened a long time ago; it’s about “us,” about God using you and me just like God employed Paul for God’s purposes. And if it is true that we are to be included in this story, perhaps our own disappointments can be viewed, as we look back on them, as God’s directing hand.

You see, the writer could have attributed the obstacles to Paul’s plans as the work of the devil. Paul is seeking to bring the Gospel message to others, and who but the forces of evil would prevent that?

On occasion, I hear Christians talk more about the devil than about God. And the way they talk sounds like the devil and the forces of evil have God on the ropes. I recently saw a message on a church billboard illustrating this. The words were arranged so that the sign appeared like a scoreboard. It showed a tie between God and the devil: God: 1, the devil: 1. And then these words: “You get to break the tie.”
It made me laugh! If God is short on muscle until the likes of you and me join the game, our religious faith is in serious trouble.

The author of Acts didn’t believed God was on the ropes. God was directing Paul’s life. The story continues. In a vision, a dream at night, Paul perceived a new direction: a man was pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” The very next day Paul and his companions headed for Philippi, a major city in the district of Macedonia, in Europe. After their arrival and on the next Sabbath day, Paul searched for the spot where the Jewish community assembled. He located it outside the city gates, along the river.

Paul is looking for a Macedonian man, the one he saw in his vision. Walking along a riverbank, Paul encountered women, scores of women! I can see Paul looking above their heads down the riverbank trying to spy the man he saw in his vision, or perhaps any man. Maybe he asked the women gathered there, “Have you seen a Macedonian man, about yea tall with a short-cropped beard, asking for help?” Yet Paul is not put off by another disappointment; he seizes the opportunity to engage in conversation about Jesus.

One of the women who gathered for prayer at the riverside listened intently to Paul’s message. Her name was Lydia. We know little about her, but Acts tells us all we need to know. Lydia owned and ran her own household and a very lucrative business. She was strong and independent. As any successful businessperson would be, she was decisive and clear in her thinking. No man’s authority cowed her into submissiveness.

Now Paul the Apostle, because his writing can be interpreted as limiting women’s participation in the church, is perceived by many as a sexist. So what we have here is an encounter between Lydia, a first century feminist and Paul, the chauvinist! And the writer of Acts asserts in no uncertain terms that this encounter was the WILL OF GOD. Given the strong personalities of Lydia and Paul, their drive and independence, their differing cultural experiences and theology, it would be reasonable to expect this encounter to go poorly.

What happened next is completely surprising. God opened Lydia’s heart to the message of God’s expansive love in Jesus. Lydia opened the door of hospitality to Paul and his colleagues as her home became the center of operations for Paul’s ministry in Macedonia. And God opened Paul’s heart to the bias-breaking love in Jesus! Paul was looking for a Macedonian man; what God provided was a strong, independent, faithful, and absolutely essential woman.

Maybe Paul did not have all the prejudices attributed to him. Or, maybe he did, yet in pursuing God’s direction Paul had his eyes opened to a larger reality.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ was breaking boundaries and bridging differences: reconciling humanity with God, reconciling Gentile and Jew. And in this encounter with Lydia, a gender boundary began to disappear. We are seeing here what Paul later reflected when he wrote to the Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Jesus Christ.” (3:28)

Just when we think we know it all, God uses people different from us to bring a fuller, more robust and expansive understanding of the Gospel and the mystery of God’s boundary-breaking grace!

If you want to grow in your faith and if you want to make a difference in this world, put yourself in God’s hands and invest in the lives of others. The path you travel may lead to unexpected places. And the people you encounter may not be the ones you intended to engage. And God’s fingerprints will be all over the surprising outcomes.