Sermon Psalm 8 Mindfulness

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

New Covenant Presbyterian Church

Sermon Psalm 8 Mindfulness

Trinity Sunday

June 11, 2017

Today is Trinity Sunday.  We remember today that we have one God who reveals Himself to us in three ways, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Last week on Pentecost Sunday we talked about the coming of the Holy Spirit and the empowerment of the first church to be witnesses of what Jesus said and did and to make disciples.  On Easter, we remembered the Son and his resurrection from the dead assuring us of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  Today we will look at the third person of the Trinity, the Father who created us and loves us.  We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Three thousand years ago, a thousand years before Christ, a young shepherd was walking on a hillside caring for his sheep on a dark summer’s night.  He looked up at the sky and saw thousands and thousands of stars.  The Milky Way looked like a road across the sky.  There were no electric lights and no tall buildings to obstruct his view.  And so he saw the grandeur of the night sky.  And David began to sing.

Psalm 8:1 Lord (Yahweh), our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory in the heavens.

As David looked at the night sky he realized that God he worships was also the God who created the entire universe.  The lights in the night sky glowed with the brightness of God’s glory.  And he couldn’t help but sing God’s praises.

Isn’t it the same for us?  We see evidence of God’s work all around us, in the beautiful farmland around the church, the sunset over the Chesapeake Bay, and hot dogs at a “pignic” on a warm Sunday in June.  God is all around us and we can’t resist the temptation to praise God with everything we’ve got.

God created us with a desire to praise him.  We need to praise God.  Praise God is the most natural thing we do.  We were born to praise God.  As David walked among his sheep he heard the sound of a baby crying in the village below.  Maybe the baby is hungry and is calling for its mother.  Or maybe the baby is praising God as it was created to do.  Praising God is as natural to us as breathing or sleeping or eating.  And so even infants would raise their voices in praise.  Listen as David continues his song.

2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

So according to scripture infants and babies praise God.  But lest you think that praising God is something you grow out of consider this.  Jesus met with a group of middle schoolers in the Jerusalem temple.  And they begin saying “save us son of David”.  When the religious authorities questioned Jesus about what these pre-teens were saying Jesus quoted Psalm 8.  So according to Jesus even middle schoolers have been created with and continue to have a deep desire to praise God.

We were born to praise God.  Not praising God is real work.  Who do you think is more relaxing and less tiring:  spending Sunday morning in worship or spending Sunday morning with the newspaper or on the golf course?  So many people complain about being tired.  No wonder they work all the time.  But we know that rest is important and a day of rest starting with praising God in worship recharges our batteries and get’s us going.

Then David looked into the night sky.  And he wondered why the creator of all of those stars would be concerned with the people in a small farming village called Bethlehem.  Here is what he sang.  

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them human beings that you care for them?

This is a question we all ponder:  Why is God mindful of us?  To be mindful means that God thinks about us and is focused on us.  With all the responsibilities that God has you couldn’t blame him for ignoring us.  But the amazing thing is that God is mindful of us.  God focuses on us.  God thinks about us all the time.  

Suppose you are having dinner with someone important to you.  This might be your spouse or a parent or a child or a dear friend.  To be mindful means that you pay attention to this other person.  You listen to what this person is saying.  And you respond in a caring way.  But if your telephone beeps and your turn your attention to reading a text message and responding with a message of your own you are not being mindful of your dinner guest.  You have divided your attention.  You are no longer focused on the person sitting across from you at dinner.  You are not mindful.

We know from scripture that God is mindful.  God pay attention to us.  God is focused on us.  And this is truly remarkable.  The creator of the world is concerned about me.  And even though God has so many things to do and so many concerns of his own God still focuses on me.  God is mindful of me.  And this is why it is so great a privilege to pray because God pays attention to and focuses on our prayers.

I know a young Korean pastor who came to Los Angeles to study English.  He arrived at the airport and was completely bewildered.  He spoke little English and had no idea how to navigate the airport and get to where he was going.  As his stress level grew he remembered a song he had sung with his youth group in Korea.  It was a praise song called “He Knows My Name” by Tommy Walker.   Here is how it goes.   “I have a Maker. He formed my heart. Before even time began my life was in his hands. He calls me His own.  He'll never leave me. No matter where I go.  He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls. And He hears me when I call.”  By singing this song to himself this young pastor was assured that God was mindful of him even in this strange land where no one seemed to speak Korean and no one would help him.  Eventually, his cousin found him at the airport and took him home.

As David stared into the sky he began to think about people and where they fit into the cosmos.  Certainly, if God is mindful of people, then people must be very important in God’s creation.  And we are.   Listen to David’s song.

4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;  you put everything under their feet:  7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,  8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.

We are important in God’s creation.  In God’s scheme of things, we are placed just below his messengers, the angels.  We are created in God’s image.  And so like God, we share in his glory and honor.  And we are privileged to rule over, have dominion over all of God’s good creation.   Everything God has made we can use.  But we must not abuse this power.  We must not use God’s creation for our own selfish purposes. We must always consider what God is doing in the world and manage the resources he has given us appropriately.  We use what God has created to advance God mission in the world.  And so we use our resources to care for the needs of the poor and the needy and to advance the Kingdom of God by growing his church.

David was overcome with awe as he stared into the night sky and beheld the glory of God.  He was amazed that God is mindful of his people.  David responded with praise.  And God blessed his with fields and sheep to care for.  This is the world that our benevolent Father, Almighty God has created for us.  And so we join our voices with David’s and offer up our own songs of praise.   

9 Lord, our Lord,

   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Let’s pray.  Lord, our Lord we praise you for the glory of creation.  We praise you for thinking about us and for your concern for us.  We praise you for the blessing we have received.  We praise you with the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.