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Jul 11, 2021

Do It Again

Do It Again

Passage: Psalms

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Ascend

Keywords: remembering, restoration, sowing, asking, hoping, reveling

Faith is not optimism. It looks back and remembers reasons for looking forward with hope. What sits on the page here in the Psalm though has abundant implications for our common life ahead. Right now--in real-time.

Readings & Scriptures

PREPARATION: Isaiah 44:21-23
LEADER: 21 Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it!

ALL: For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.

CREED: Nicene Creed Patrick
ALL: We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through Him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven; He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen.

 

CENTRAL TEXT: Psalm 126:1-6
LEADER: A Song of Ascents. 1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad. 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negeb! 5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

 

BENEDICTION: Romans 11:33,36
LEADER: 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
ALL: 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Psalm 137:1
  • James 4:1-4

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Most memorable experience of recovery you’ve ever had--some heartening reversal of fortune? (physically, emotionally, circumstantially, relationally, spiritually?) Tell the story. Why is that one near the top of your list?
  2. What of Israel’s history do you know that might be the memory the Psalmist is rekindling? Without specifying, several are possible--or perhaps just some unrecorded experience.
  3. Why rekindle that heartening memory? What purpose do you think it serves in the rest of the Psalm?
  4. Can you remember a specific point in Jesus’s life in which this Psalm would’ve been particularly relevant--even similar to a particular experience one gospel-writer (hint: Luke) records? How does Jesus’s life offer both a connection to this Psalm, but also a kind of fulfillment of it?
  5. If you could ask the Lord anything for the good of this church, what would it be? Why those? What do you think might be hard about rebuilding our common life and ministry together? Why might it be worth the struggle--the “tears” even?

QUOTES:

  • "When getting up, when engaging in work, when resting, when she took her meals, when she arose from the table, when she went to bed or arose for prayers; always she had the Psalms with her like a good traveling companion. "Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of St. Macrina
  • "Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave." G.K. Chesterton

SERMONS / TALKS: