Sermons & Meditations

1 Kings 17:8-16; Luke 14:15-24
Presented August 21, 2011, by Joel Kline
Vacation Bible School Sunday

O taste and see that God is good. The 34th psalm, from which this phrase is taken, is a wisdom psalm, with the writer seeking to convey insight into what it means to experience firsthand the goodness of God. One of the dictionary definitions for taste is sample, but when the psalmist urges us to taste, we quickly sense that the writer would be happier with subsequent synonyms listed by the dictionary: experience, encounter, perceive, savor. O taste and see that God is good—is this not an invitation to savor the goodness of our God?

Only a few verses later the poet continues, Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord (v.11). That is to say, I will teach you the wonders of life with God; I will show you what it means to live a life savoring the grace and mercy of our Creator; I will speak to you of the transformation, the new life that comes through genuine encounter with our God. Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it, continues the psalm writer. Remember that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and God’s ears are open to their cry (vv.13-15).

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Isaiah 56:1-8; Matthew 15:21-28
Presented August 14, 2011, by Joel Kline
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

On our recent vacation in Wyoming I reread California Gold, a historical novel by John Jakes. The main character, Mack Chance, is convinced that California holds the promise of wealth. It is the mid-1880s, and Mack’s late father, a worker in Pennsylvania coal mines who had previously tried to make his fortune in California in the Gold Rush but failed, nevertheless communicated to his son a passion for life in California. Alone as a young man, Mack makes his way across the country, mostly by walking and always by pure grit and determination, certain that the promise of California will be his—the promise of new beginnings, of wealth and success.

After a remarkable cross-country trek, Mack arrives in the Golden State, quickly encountering those who had already made their fortune yet had little interest in sharing that wealth with newcomers. Early on, there is a scene in which Mack, hot and filthy from endless walking, has stopped at a stream, anxious for a drink. He is preparing to take that long-overdue taste of water when he hears several riders on horses approaching, their rifles pointed directly at him. “That’s my water,” the land owner bellows, and the incredulous Mack realizes that this landowner is unwilling to share even a simple handful of cold water. Many who were already established in California viewed newcomers with suspicion—and even more, with animosity—so fearful were they that these upstarts might take what the landowners had already claimed as their own.

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