Grits and the Gospel - July 5, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of brits in the gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths It is good to be with you. I hope you're enjoying this fun week this july 4th holiday I hope that you have some time off work to spend with family and friends This week in the life of the church starts a series of sermons that I crowd sourced the scripture for From members of my congregation they submitted things that they loved scriptures that spoke to them Some of them are tough scriptures But all of them are inspired and so I'm excited to work through these scriptures today's scripture submission was Zephaniah 3 17 I have expanded the readings to include a couple other things But I hope that you will find Joy and inspiration in these next few weeks of sermons My grandfather Morris Byron when jr. Was shot down on july 3rd 1944 over a field in Italy He spent the night there and was captured and marched into the office of a nazi commander on july 4th 1944 The officer looked him it looked at him and said happy independence day He spent the next nine months as a prisoner of war He loved the country. He fought and suffered for He passed that love on to the next generations On this 250th anniversary of the country's independence from a king I cannot help but wonder what Morris would think about where our country is right now. I I Love this country But it's hard to explain why these days I Saw a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that really sums up how I feel and reminds me that we've had some pretty low points in our history But we always come out of it and make things better. It is my hope that that happens again Roosevelt said this of patriotism Patriotism means to stand by the country It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official Save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country It is patriotic to support him in so far as he efficiently serves the country It is unpatriotic Not to oppose him to the exact extent that by Inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country in Either event it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth Whether about the president or anyone else It is my hope that for the next 250 years of the United States of America That we find the truth in all we do Let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you today's Old Testament lesson is from the book of Zephaniah The third chapter verses 14 through 17 here now the word of the Lord Seeing aloud O daughter of Zion shout O Israel Rejoice and exalt with all your heart O daughter Jerusalem The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has turned away your enemies The king of Israel the Lord is in your midst You shall shall fear disaster no more On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem. Do not fear O Zion Do not let your hands grow weak The Lord your God is in your midst a mighty warrior who gives victory He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will renew you in his love. He will exalt you over you with loud singing The word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God As we come together today, let us be reminded of those tenets of our faith Friends, what do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit Born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried The third day he rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit The holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting Amen Let us pray dear lord. We come to you today just humbled That you sing about us What a gift that is what a joy What a gift that is what a joy that brings Help us to return that joy and love And gladness as we seek relationship with you Hear us now as we pray those words that your son our savior who sang hymns of praise to you as well Taught us to pray Our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven And give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen Today's gospel lesson is from the gospel according to mark Mark Pay close attention to the last verse when you hear these words from the gospel according to mark While they were eating he took a loaf of bread and after blessing it he broke it and he gave it to them He said take this is my body And then he took a cup and after giving thanks he gave it to them And all of them drank from it and he said to them. This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many Truly I tell you I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink in the new And drink it new in the kingdom of god When they had sung the hymn They went out to the mount of olives The word of god for us the people of god Thanks be To god Would you pray with me? Dear lord, let us be inspired by the words from the old testament and the actions from the new Those ideas that you sing about us and that jesus sang hymns of praise In chorus with his disciples Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord our strength And our redeemer amen I love music I cannot create music But I appreciate music song lyrics move me notes played to perfection can make me weep I feel like I have a soundtrack of my life running through my head and my heart It started in my early years when with the time my uncle who was a concert pianist Played an impromptu concert for the family It began sitting on the floor in my childhood bedroom listening to my dad's vinyl collection with him That's where I fell in love with the allman brothers soul shine derrick and the dominos and prince I miss hearing my second dad billy walker sing mac the knife so much that hearing the original is just not the same Those precious times of dancing in my grandparents kitchen with my grandfather morris Having my own little private concert at rolling stone keyboardist chuck level's home in twigs county Hearing renowned macon-born violinist bobby mcduffey play of all these four seasons made me put my glasses on my head Hearing my two best friends from candler sing great is thy faithfulness The ukulele band dedicating fulsome prison to me every time they play I'm watching one of our music directors Rock out on the guitar in church knowing that he is an actual rock star Music is life-giving Music is healing music shows care and joy and love 79 3 17 is the only verse in scripture that talks of god singing about us At first that's what drew me to the scripture the idea that god cares enough about me To sing about me is very humbling and tender But the verse goes far beyond that tenderness of god What solidified this verse is my favorite the words that I rely on is that it shows that god is exactly What we need her to be at any time in our lives The lord your god is with you. He is a mighty warrior who saves So many times in my life when I felt vulnerable and alone and helpless god has been that warrior When i've been too weak to fight anymore when i've been unable to see how to get through a situation god has come in And fought the way out for me He loves me enough to stand up and fight for me through the worst of times Sometimes it seems like the world is fighting hard to take me out, but this verse reminds me that god is fighting harder Because he loves me. I don't have to fear because he will be there to be my warrior He will rejoice over you with gladness Not only does god know the number of hairs on our heads, but he is glad that it created us Yes These words always remind me of how excited the dogs are to see me when I come home They get so excited just to be in my presence I feel like god has that same feeling times a thousand when we come to him in prayer and praise and worship I'm, also sure that at some point in time god was shaking his head at some of the decisions I made and some of the things I said Maybe even the title of this sermon God wants to be in relationship with us god wants us to be funny and have big feelings and quiet moments And I have to hope that those times where i'm slightly irreverent and full of sass She chuckles And is glad that she made me that way I have to believe that he rejoices over our uniqueness and quirks and things that make us Individually beautiful and is exuberant and glad when we come to build relationship with her He will renew you with his love I love the version that says he will calm you with his love When time was created god set aside an entire day For calm and rest and renewal Sabbath is an amazing gift that he gives us and models for us since we were created When the seas are rough when life is hard when the world around us seems like perpetual chaos The love of god creates a space for us to find calm If we let god fight the battles against evil and the world for us we can then be renewed with his love He rejoices over you with singing Well, this is the only verse in scripture that tells of god's singing about us The marked text is a little different and shows jesus singing hymns With his disciples after the last supper I love to think about the sound of jesus's laugh I know it had to be glorious, but can you even imagine the sound of his singing? I am sure he had perfect pitch. I am sure he sounded like an angel Was his voice perfectly imperfect like the gravelly voice of louis armstrong or joe cocker Was it deep like barry white? Was it melodic like frank sinatra? Or was it all of those things depending on what he was singing? And don't you just love the idea of him singing a hymn? And zephaniah god sings about us, but since we believe that jesus was god in mark jesus sang a hymn of praise to himself I wonder what the systematic theologians would say about that At one of the lowest points in my life. I needed god to be all of those things at once I needed a warrior I needed gladness back in my life. I needed the chaos to be calm again And most of all I needed to know that god loves me enough to sing about me That's why I got this very scripture permanently written on my body It is technically upside down But I don't care I needed that reminder for ever etched on my skin for myself Health and not for anyone else and having it written upside down means that I get to see it every day And it helps me stay right side up It reminds me that god knows and loves me well enough to be exactly what I need at any moment in time In college, I was presented to society as a debutante which is hilarious A very long time ago. It was a way for a girl to find a husband Clearly it didn't work for me For me, it was a reason for all my high school friends to come back together during college and have a ton of fun Since my dad's family's from twigs county. He liked to joke that I was the redneck debutante The tattoo would have probably been looked down upon by that crowd at the time I hid it from my grandmother for years. She would have been very disappointed I've never regretted it Every time I catch a glimpse of it god uses it to remind me Every time my soul needs to be lifted. I'll look at it God is my warrior My calm in the storm the music of my life God is glad that she made me she rejoices about it What a beautiful gift of light and love There are more tattoos that I want to get things that are so important to me that I want to take them with me everywhere I go The lyric from high women's crowded table everyone's a little broken And everyone belongs a cherry blossom to remind me of where I came from And the words from isaiah 6 8 when i'm ordained send me But the zephaniah scripture was the most important one for me to get The heart text that reminds me of all that god does for me How god is big enough to cover any hurt and joy that i'm feeling Being from making means you are required to be a big allman brothers fan I think they put it in your dna code or they mix it in the water of the alt muggy He goes right along with the love that is required of otis redding and little richard My favorite all in brother song soul shine is a small parallel of these ideas My soul shines when god sings about me I wonder warren hayes thought about the heavenly father at all when he wrote the lyrics about his earthly dad It makes me think of god for sure When you can't find the light that guides you through a cloudy day when the stars ain't shining bright And you feel like you've lost your way When the candlelight of home burns so very far away Well, you've got to let your soul shine Just like my daddy used to say He used to say soul shine It's better than sunshine. It's better than moonshine. It's darn sure better than the rain Hey now people don't mind we all feel this way sometimes Gotta let your soul shine shine like the break of day the soundtrack of my life The hopefulness of an ancient text the lyric of a modern song But most of all god's songs about each one of us Each of these are ways that god uses music to bring strength And peace and joy And laughter to my soul and one day When I meet god on the other side of this life I can't wait To hear the verses She sings as I come to meet her i'm in As you go throughout your week, I hope that you can hear the lyrics that god is singing about you I hope you can hear them and see them in the world around you that he created I hope that you being his creation Brings you calm and joy as well Because in life in death in life beyond death god is with us We are not alone Thanks be to god amen