Thematic Sermon: Church on Revival: Moving Forward, Claiming, and Growing
Occasion: Children of the Kingdom Church, UMC
Address: 16 Besotte Street, Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, Metro Manila.
Text: Psalm 80:19
“Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”
Introduction
Good morning! Warmest greetings of love and peace from the Office of the President, of UTS. I am grateful indeed for the invitation to deliver the sermon at your church’s 65th Anniversary Celebration extended to me by Rev. Dr. Menre Mendillo, your administrative pastor. Dr. Menre is an esteemed and committed member of the UTS BOT. I’m grateful for his valuable contribution to Theological Education and Ministerial Formation through the UTS. Coming to Church’s anniversaries gives me a feeling of nostalgia, that of being situated in the local church context and feeling the festive spirit and joy of being a member or leader of a community of faith.
This occasion helps us to look back at the past 65 years of the life of the local church, its early beginnings, and the growth of its members both numerically and spiritually. While we thank God for the past 65 years we as well look forward to the next 20 to 50 years of the life of the church, in relation to this, it is important to review the vision, mission and goals and what concrete mission and ministry programs are relevant for our times and what are our anticipations in the changes that are occurring in the local and larger contexts.
The theme for this 65th Anniversary Celebration is “Church on Revival: Moving Forward, Claiming, and Growing,” and its biblical basis is Psalm 80: 19.
The cry in Psalm 80:19 is a heartfelt prayer for revival—a plea for the Creator God to restore God’s people, shine God’s favor upon them, and lead them into salvation. Revival is not just an emotional experience; it is a divine movement that restores the church’s vitality, empowers us to claim God’s promises, and enables us to grow spiritually and numerically.
The theme for today reminds us that revival is a journey. It involves leaving behind spiritual stagnation, stepping into God’s promises, and growing as a vibrant community of faith. There are at least three important aspects of the theme that I would like to meditate together with you this morning:
O N E: Moving Forward: Embracing Restoration
“Restore us, Creator God Almighty…”
Revival begins with restoration. The psalmist recognizes that God’s people cannot move forward without their great resolve and commitment to live out the covenant relationships they have with God, and that this will sustain their unity and prosperity provided they obey the ethical prescriptions in their collective life, and more so in their personal lives. They have to believe in God’s intervention in their experience of oppression such as being unjustly treated and deprived of basic necessities to live a decent life. Complacency, and spiritual apathy had caused their downfall. Their only hope was to cry out to God for renewal.
The biblical context of Psalm 80, was that God’s people were in a season of hardship, feeling abandoned by God. Yet they did not stay in despair—they called upon the Almighty God to restore them. W. Dennis Tucker, Jr. in his exegesis of Psalm 80, said:
(quote) The images in Psalm 80 fall out into one of three categories: images of God; images of the people of God; and images of the world. The images associated with the world around the psalmist suggest that the world is a hostile place, a place that could surely undo the people of God. The previous psalm (Psalm 79) is a communal lament agonizing over both the ruined city of Jerusalem and the defiled precincts of the temple (79:1-3), as well as the verbal assaults of the nations (79:10, 12). (unquote)
Thus, in this context, it necessitates the need for restoration–from the ruins, from desperation to hope, from destruction to reconstruction. These images connect us with the Psalmist. We have experienced the series of calamities that visited the country and the world in the last five (5) years. There was Covid-19 from 2020-2023, volcanic eruptions, super typhoons, and the insurmountable impact on the lives of those directly affected was beyond measure. Yet, they and us were able to rise up again, despite the inefficiency of government services to reach the vulnerable communities, the lack of support for the suffering people did not cripple them. They fought the fiercest economic, political, social and environmental struggles.
For restoration and revival to happen, the church must confront areas of social and spiritual weakness or contradictions such as the lack of interest to deepen the faith and learning new values and modalities of forging greater unity and responding to the needs of the community where the church lives and have its being. Moving forward requires repentance, humility, and a renewed dependence on God.
T W O: Claiming: Walking in God’s Favor
“Make your face shine on us…”
The shining of God’s face represents God’s favor, presence, and guidance. For the church to claim the promises of God, we must live in God’s light and align ourselves with God’s will. Revival brings clarity, revealing God’s plans and empowering us to claim what God has already prepared for us.
Claiming God’s Promises: Revival is not about waiting passively; it’s about actively stepping into God’s promises. Like Joshua and the Israelites claiming the Promised Land, we must trust God and act boldly. But this is not just a personal responsibility to fulfill, rather redounds to our collective life as God’s people. Claiming God’s promises also means internalization of our faith imperatives and our moral-ethical grounds not only in our prayers and social work, but in our advocacies for justice and peace.
One of the three important images in Psalm 80 has been God is described as “enthroned upon the cherubim,” and as the “God of hosts” (verses 4, 7, 14, 17). Both descriptors allude to the ark of the covenant– -the place on earth where God makes God’s presence manifest as God reigns from the heavens. Scholars believe that throughout the Old Testament, being enthroned upon the cherubim suggests that God is one who is mobile, coming to God’s people in time of need, but also as Divine Warrior, prepared to race across the heavens to redeem God’s people (Psalm 18).
Reflection: Are you and this church claiming the promises of God for your life? God promises strength in weakness, peace in chaos, and provision in need. As a church, we are called to claim communities, families, and individuals for the kingdom of God. This means that our program ministries are not designed merely for the church members but also for the people and communities near and far. And these should be inclusive, that is ecumenical–reaching out to people in need regardless of their religious affiliation or other social backgrounds.
We have to believe that God is already working. Revival allows us to claim God’s promises with confidence because God’s face shines upon us.
T H R E E: Growing: Advancing in Salvation and Purpose
”…that we may be saved.”
Revival is not a one-time event—it is a continuous process of growth in salvation and purpose. Salvation here is not just deliverance from immediate troubles but the ongoing work of God in transforming us into God’s likeness and expanding God’s kingdom. Three characteristics of a revived church:
Growing in Unity: A revived church is united in purpose. Psalm 80:19 is a communal prayer, showing that revival happens when God’s people come together in prayer and mission.
Growing in Mission: Revival equips us to reach others. When God restores us and shines God’s face upon us, it’s not just for our benefit but for the salvation of others.
Growing Spiritually: Revival deepens our relationship with God, leading to stronger faith, fervent prayer, a hunger for God’s Word and strengthening of our moral and ethical compass.
Illustration:
I’ve watched the American TV series “Travelers” on Netflix. And the three-season and more than 20 episodes of 45 minutes each episode unveiled the mission of the Travelers. The main mission of the Travelers is to save humanity from a dystopian—or chaotic future by preventing catastrophic events in the 21st century that lead to the collapse of civilization. These individuals, known as “travelers,” are operatives from hundreds of years in the future whose consciousnesses are sent back in time to inhabit the bodies of people moments before their deaths. Guided by an artificial intelligence called The Director, the Travelers work to alter the timeline in a way that preserves humanity’s survival.
Key Aspects of Their Mission:
1. Preventing Disasters: Travelers are tasked with intervening in specific events, such as environmental disasters, pandemics, or wars, to prevent the long-term damage these would cause to the future.
2. The Director’s Guidance: The Director, a super-advanced (Artificial Intelligence) or AI from the future, identifies key moments in history and sends instructions to the Travelers via “protocols.” These protocols dictate how Travelers should act to ensure the success of the mission while minimizing unintended consequences.
3. Timeline Preservation: The Travelers aim to make precise changes to the timeline without causing a “butterfly effect” that could destabilize their mission or worsen the future.
4. Fighting the Faction: A rogue group called the Faction opposes the Director and seeks to control the timeline for their own purposes, often creating additional conflicts for the Travelers to manage.
5. Ethical Dilemmas: While their goal is noble, the Travelers face numerous ethical questions, as their interventions often result in collateral damage and disrupt the lives of those in the 21st century.
The Travelers’ overarching objective is to achieve a future where humanity thrives rather than succumbs to the disasters that their timeline faces. However, the complexity of time travel and the unpredictability of their actions create ongoing challenges and moral conflicts throughout the series.
Christian mission is characteristically similar with the mission of the Travelers, but ours is the mission of God in Jesus Christ–that of preaching good news to the poor, giving sight to the blind, freedom to the captives and oppressed, and the announcement of the indwelling of God with the people. A revived church is one that revitalizes the mission of God. It is like a tree planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:3), bearing fruit in every season. It grows upward toward God and outward to touch the lives of others.
CONCLUSION
Psalm 80:19 is both a plea and a promise. It reminds us that revival is God’s work, but it requires our participation. As a Church on Revival, we are called to:
1. Move Forward: Leave behind the sin of apathy, division, and spiritual stagnation, trusting in God’s power to restore. This requires our total self-release from the things that prevent us from experiencing abundant life. Healing is necessary for everyone in order to move on and move forward. The Church through its ministries should be able to initiate and sustain programs that promote healing and wholeness. As in the metaphorical imagery: the impact of our healing and well being are like growing of an amputated part of a creature’s body and in the digital age parlance, “consciousness transfer” where in the TV series Traveler, the traveler’s future mind replaces the consciousness of a host moments before death. In theological terms, moving forward is the experience of resurrection, with reference to Jesus’ resurrection.
2. Claim: Walk in God’s promises with boldness, knowing God;s face shines upon us. Our claims are surely the same 1) the world remains undone by chaos; 2) we are the people of God who remain sustained by God alone; and 3) the God we confess remains king over all. And so on this church’s 65th anniversary celebration, we implore God to restore us, to come again and indwell in us so that we might be saved.
3. Grow: Advance in salvation, unity, and purpose, bearing fruit for God’s glory. God’s salvation is wholistic–it covers our entire human existence both at the personal and social level and salvation is especially for those who are poor, deprived and marginalized. Our hope for God’s salvation and sanctification rests not in what we have done, nor can do, but in all that God is. And so we join Paul in confessing that “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9). And we join with the confessing church in a spirit of expectation.
Let us pray “Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” Revive us, O God and move us forward, and use us mightily to claim Your promises and grow ijn Your kingdom.
Amen.
Happy 65th anniversary to Children of the Kingdom Church!
———-000————
Commentary on Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Share:
In the conclusion to his excellent book, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor, William Brown explains that “the power of metaphor . . . lies in its ability (and manipulability) to inspire new theological vision.”1
The season of advent welcomes the faithful, even beckons the faithful to such a task: to cast a new, to cast again, a theological vision amidst a world swallowed up in the sounds and images of completing claims. Attention to the language found in the metaphorically rich Psalm 80 does more than simply provide imagistic language or poetic flair. Rather, attention to its language reveals that such images serve as rich fodder for theological reflection.
The images in Psalm 80 fall out into one of three categories: images of God; images of the people of God; and images of the world. The images associated with the world around the psalmist suggest that the world is a hostile place, a place that could surely undo the people of God. The previous psalm is a communal lament agonizing over both the ruined city of Jerusalem and the defiled precincts of the temple (79:1-3), as well as the verbal assaults of the nations (79:10, 12).
While such graphic imagery is lacking in Psalm 80, the psalm nonetheless refers to a similar militaristic scene. Places once deemed sacrosanct have been razed to the ground (80:16) and identities once deemed secure have been shaken by the mocking derision of the enemy (80:6). So great is the anguish that the psalmist can only revert to imagery, to images of people drinking tears by the bowlful (80:5, New Revised Standard Version). As James Mays suggests, “Whatever the original historical setting, the psalm in its continued use belongs to the repertoire of the afflicted people of God on their way through the troubles of history.”2
Ministers may tend to shy away from the militaristic portrayal of the enemy, lest our own congregations attempt to create a modern historical circumstance from which to read this psalm. Yet as Mays notes, this psalm now belongs to our repertoire. Such psalms and even further, such imagery cannot be avoided because the very same imagery is part of the construal of the advent proclamation. In advent, we confess the world remains undone; the world remains a place that leaves people drinking tears by the bowlful and in need of the advent of God.\
The imagery associated with the people of God is centered on two metaphors, the flock and the vineyard. The people of God are described as a flock whose shepherd is the “Shepherd of Israel” (verse 1), further connecting Psalm 80 with Psalm 79. The anguish of Psalm 79 concludes with the people confessing, “We are your people and the flock of your pasture” (79:13). While continuing the theme of a hostile world, Psalm 80 begins with a similar confession. There is no identity for the people of God apart from an identity rooted in relationship to God.
The dominant metaphor for the people of God in this psalm, however, actually appears outside the lectionary reading, but should be considered. In 80:8-13, the psalmist recounts Israel’s history in an extended allegory about a vine; a vine brought out of Egypt and planted by the God of Israel. The allegory suggests that the history of Israel is the work of God.
Her history is not born of a self-initiating, self-sustaining, spirit among the people of God, but solely at the initiation of the Shepherd of Israel. It is this confession that is held in juxtaposition with their current plight in verses 12-13. In those verses we are told, the vine planted has become the vine consumed. How shall a people respond to the Divine Gardner when faced with such an existence? How shall they speak of God and his work in the world?
The images of God appear in the opening verses. As mentioned above, God is referred to as the “Shepherd of Israel.” This image, however, is not a pastoral, romantic notion of shepherd, but a metaphor reinforcing the kingship of God. In the Ancient Near East, kings were often depicted as shepherds because of their divine mandate to protect and care for the people entrusted to them.
In addition, God is described as “enthroned upon the cherubim,” and as the “God of hosts” (verses 4, 7, 14, 17). Both descriptors allude to the ark – -the place on earth where God makes his presence manifest as he reigns from the heavens. Throughout the Old Testament, being enthroned upon the cherubim suggests that God is one who is mobile, coming to his people in time of need, but also as Divine Warrior, prepared to race across the heavens to redeem his people (Psalm 18).
And further, the image can refer to the great wings spread out across the ark, providing refuge, relief, and deliverance for the people of God (Deuteronomy 33:11-12). These images create a response to the lamenting in Psalm 80 (and 79). While the world appears undone, the community confessing God is not. The reign of God stands above the transient and evanescent, but no less real, powers of the world. But this Shepherd of Israel is not static, nor stayed, but instead, enthroned upon the cherubim, coming to the people called his own.
The three sets of images set forth the following claims: 1) the world is overwrought with chaos; 2) the people of God were created and are sustained by God; and 3) the covenant God of Israel remains firmly established as king over all. These claims lead to the thrice-repeated refrain “Restore us O God; let your face shine that we might be saved.”
In the first Sunday of Advent, our claims are surely the same: 1) the world remains undone by chaos; 2) we are the people of God who remain sustained by God alone; and 3) the God we confess remains king over all. And so on the first Sunday of Advent, we pray into that tension and we implore God to restore us, to come again so that we might be saved.
Our hope rests not in what we have done, nor can do, but in all that God is. And so we join Paul in confessing that “God is faithful” (1 Corinthians 1:9). And we join with the confessing church in a spirit of expectation.
1William P. Brown, Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 214.
2James L. Mays, Psalms (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 264.
No comments:
Post a Comment