Episode Transcript
Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of Grits in the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and I'm so excited to have you here with us. We are in the middle of Lent. Well early Lent actually still. We've got a little bit of ways to go before we get to that beautiful Easter morning and I hope that you are finding time each and every day to be Lenten in your study and your life and your prayer time that we are doing good for all those around us and avoiding temptation as we talked about last week. This week we are in the second Sunday of Lent and I am thankful that you are here with me. Let us come together now in a time of worship. The Lord be with you. And also with you. Today's Psalm is from the 27th Psalm. It is the entire chapter and I'm sure you'll be blessed by the Psalmist words. It gives us comfort for those who wish to do us harm. Here now the word of the Lord. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Him shall I fear. The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid. When evil doers assail me to devour my flesh my adversaries and foes. They shall stumble and fall. Though in army and camp against me my heart shall not fear. The war rise up against me yet I will be confident. One thing I asked of the Lord this I seek to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter and the day of trouble he will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will set me high on rock. Now my head is lifted above my enemies all around me and I will offer in his tent sacrifice with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Here O Lord when I cry aloud be gracious to me and answer me. Come my heart says seek his face. Your face O Lord do I seek? Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away and anger. You who have been my help do not cast me off do not forsake me. O God of my salvation and my father and mother forsake me. The Lord will take me up. Teach me your way O Lord and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries. For false witness have risen against witnesses have risen against me and they are breathing out violence. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. The word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God. Friends let us remind ourselves of the tenets of our faith as we say together the words of the apostles creed. Friends what do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven 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 sinned at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From that say 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. Let us pray. Do you Lord during this litin season help us to remain focused on you, focused on the love and care that you give us? The protection that we have in that your tents that you will place us high on a rock so our enemies can see our light shine brightly. We appreciate thank and praise you for that protection. Here are now the words that your son or Savior 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, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil where thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Today's Gospel Lesson comes from the book of Luke. We're still in Luke this week. We're in the 13th chapter verses 31 through 35. Here now the word of the Lord at that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here. Her hair and wants to kill you. He said to them, go and tell that fox for me. Listen, I am casting out demons of performing cures today and tomorrow. And on the third day I will finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow and the next day, I must be on my way because it's impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophet and prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as hens, a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you are not willing to see your house is left to you and I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. The word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me? Do Lord as I deliver this message may it be meaningful, comforting and even convicting for those who need to hear it. With the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. It's time for some true confessions. My brother and I used to do this when we were in college about things we did in our high school days. We waited until the statute of limitations had passed and we confessed all the bad stuff we used to do to our parents. As tempting as it is I will not wrap my brother out in the pulpit for all of the things he had to confess back in those days. That's between him and Jesus. Did I say it was tempting to do it anyway? Now we'll do it. I will, however, share a few things that were on my confession list back then. Cleanse my soul, if you will, when I was in high school. I loved a good prank. I have retired from that business because frankly some of you all scare me a little and I don't want to start anything. It may be hard to believe now. When I was in high school I was thought to be very innocent. All of my teachers trusted me. I was sweet and kind and never put a toe out of line or so they thought. What I learned was that my innocent looks and easily badtable, light baby blue eyes could work in my favor. Like the time I told my physical science teacher to close her eyes and put her hands together out in front of her. When she willingly complied without thinking anything of it we promptly handcuffed her with some props from drama class and told her we lost the key. She trusted me and I took advantage of it. And I knew she would never send me the office. It would have made her look awful to the principal. If she had allowed one of her students to handcuff her and Mr. Henry Middlebrooks would have never believed it was me who did it. The pranks were not limited to school. Every summer at camp the youth counselors were pranked the directors. Like the time we took everything out of the directors cabin. Everything that was stand still the light bulbs and toilets he's included. Or the time the directors bed went on top of the cabin. Or when we tied the door handle of the cabin to the trailer hitch on one of our trucks and trapped the director inside. That was a good one. And each one of those times. Guess I got the key of the directors cabin to use. Yep you guessed it. That would be me. Sweet innocent slavox Katie strikes again. Of course those pranks are meant all in good fun. But it does show how easily people can trust you when you look a certain way or say the right things. Like it or not every one of us can be like that slavox Herod when we need to. We all want to think. We are only part of the breed. That Jesus loves and protects. But sometimes it's hard to tell the difference in people who are in the brood and who is a fox and the skies. And sometimes at some point these behaviors can cross from unintentional to being the sly and intentional fox that Herod became. The trick for us all me included is to recognize when it's happening and turn our lives back towards Jesus. These days it can be pretty difficult to recognize when there's a fox in the hen house. It can be really trust. Who's being honest and who's just trying to eat all the chickens? Some days it's really hard to tell. And I'm not just talking about the political world. Although it's as big of a mess now as it was when Herod was in charge. Sadly we can even see it in the church. It's one of the reasons why people are leaving other churches in droves. There can be a skull of foxes anywhere you look, even in a church. It's the reason we are all here. It is the reason we need a safe place to worship and even why I need a safe place to speak from this beautiful pulpit to speak freely. We had to get out of Jerusalem to find safety and the wings of the Savior. How often have I desired to gather your children together as hens gather Her brood under Her wings and you are not willing? I feel exactly like what the United Methodist Church has been trying to do. We've been trying to be the hen gathering the chicks together with the love of God for protection. The thing we have to remember, the thing we have to fight against in our own lives and hearts is not becoming the fox ourselves. We are all human. We are not perfect, but our motivations have to stay pure. We cannot start to slip into fox mode when it suits our own purpose. If we see it in ourselves we need to work to correct it. That goes double for me. I feel the weight of this sacred three square feet of real estate each time I put on my robe. I've seen many times people who are called to stand up here in this space and turn into a slough fox. They forget why we're called here. They start to think of themselves as more important than they really are. It's easy to do. I've seen it so much that I actively work to ensure that I'm speaking God's truth and not my own. I have people around me to keep me humble and remind me that any success I have in this job and this conference or in this church ultimately has nothing to do with me. There are many a slough fox who have occupied pulpits over the years. I do not want to be one of them. It's the words of Jesus that tells exactly how we know the difference. See your house is left to you and I tell you you will not see me until the time comes when you say blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Our house this place our church and the Westland traditions we have been left to us. We cannot see Jesus in those places until we can say blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. When we can truly see our reflection of God and people when they emulate the life of Jesus in the world today when they are filled with the Spirit then we will know that we are under the protection of God. The mother hen that is shielding her flock just like the words of the psalmist told us for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will set me high on a rock. God will protect us. He will cover us in his tent. He will set us high on a rock. He has given us this place with a tabernacle and a rocky stream to be protected and cared for. But he did not do it so he could hide. I love that there are two very different images in this song verse. We have the tent to protect us when we need it but he puts us high on a rock as well. We are out in the open so everyone can see like a beacon that shows people the way to protection. What calling we are all given. It reminds me of that song. Maybe you sing it here as a camper and they'll know we are Christians by our love. It is that love that we are given and the love we give that will keep the fox away. That will keep us from becoming the fox. Slay as we may want to be that is no way to express love. The way we love should never leave any doubt as to who we really are. It is the one time that I would be happy to be called a chick under the wing and protection of the love of my Lord and Savior. I gave up the prank wars of my youth. I find other ways to satisfy my competitive nature these days. I no longer short cheat beds or steal them all together. Life has enough chances to try and out fox people. It can make exhausting. I have found most of them are just not kind. These days I would rather go on a treasure hunt in an antique store than go on a night hunt. Although if you've never been on a night hunt or gone looking for the pinnahatchi I might know a fox or two that will take you. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord and the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. It was so with the people of Israel. It was so with those who heard the teachings of Jesus as they were spoken. Let it be so with us as well. Amen. As we get throughout our week let us look to find love and find protection in our faith. Let us be high on a rock to look for the foxes of this world and have protection from them. But most of all let us not turn into the fox ourselves. Because in life and death and life beyond death God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.
