© Rev. Lance Carrithers, all rights reserved.  Permission required to copy any portion of this message by any means. Email for permission: lance@firstchurchdc.com

"This is the Day"

Psalm 118:19-29

          “This is the day, this is the day

          that the Lord hath made, that the Lord hath made. 

          Let us rejoice, let us rejoice and be glad in it. And be glad in it.

          The song has long been a favorite of Methodists for opening worship at the beginning of the day.  To mark the day as God’s gift.  To celebrate the beauty and the hope of another sunrise.  This is the Day! 

          But the psalm from where we gather those words isn’t so much talking about just any old day as God’s gift, but a specific day. 

          This is the day!   Not, This is a day—this is THE day!

          What day?  What is so specific about this day!  If we are talking about the day being one of God’s own handi-work—the day the Lord made—then this day is unremarkable from the rest of the days.    But the New English Bible says it a bit differently….this the THE day the Lord has acted!             Hear the difference?

          The day the Lord has made…meaning that something remarkable, something worthy of praise has happened in this day—and that the day which has produced such a wonderful event is of God’s own doing.

          This is the day the Lord has made.   Look—put it into context with these verses that surround this phrase:   

²¹I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
²³This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
²⁶Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
²⁷Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar.

          This is nothing short of a song of praise for God’s saving act for the people of God.   For us...for those who are Christian, we cannot help but appropriate these words to the day of our salvation.

           Palm branches, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Ring a bell with anyone here?   We cannot help but think of Jesus.  This is the day!  The Lord has made.    He has sent to us the Son.  

          And because of that…we are free from bondage to sin.  No more!  Slavery to death.  No more!  Bent toward evil.  No more!  This is the day of our salvation.   Let us rejoice and be glad!   Let us rejoice and be glad!

          Do you understand?   The reality of a God who has done this marvelous thing for you?  For you?   For me?   Dear Lord, even for me?  For all?

        This week we begin our annual fall stewardship drive—it’s a process by which we give thanks for all that God has done for us, commit to the ministry of this congregation and envision all that is possible, and then…(and this is the part that receives all the emphasis) then, we encourage the congregation to underwrite the cost of this church’s ministries.   If you give enough, we’ll be able to do all that we have set out to do in the name of Jesus.

          The name of the stewardship drive, “This is the Day!” was intended to focus on the commitment part and the pledging part.  “This is the Day—we do it!  This is the day we fund our ministries in full!”

          But you know what?   The context of that phrase in the Bible is not about this being our day…no, it is about this being God’s day.  God’s day to act.  God’s day to save us.

          And we…are left to reflect upon that part of the stewardship drive we usually just touch upon and move on.   The thanksgiving for all that God has done.

          It occurred to me.   If we only understood even a small part…if we had just an inkling of what God has done for us…we’d be changed forever.  If we could only grasp a tiny fraction of what we really are saying when we say that God sent Jesus “so that we might have life --the life that really is life,” we’d be so humbled, we be so grateful…we be transformed.  Just absolutely changed, wholly different beings. 

          I think we make a mistake when we move too quickly to talking about the joy of giving.  That joy must spring from somewhere.  It cannot be prescribed.   You don’t feel joy because the preacher stands up and says, “Be joyful!  Now!  Hurry up!  Joy….”

          “Joy comes in the morning,” another psalm reminds us.   “Joy comes…it isn’t forced.  It isn’t conjured.   “Joy comes..”  But joy comes from somewhere.  It comes from, emanates from…receiving.  Don’t believe me? 

          Give a child a present, and you’ll see joy!  I’ll guarantee it.  Give away a smile…and one comes back.  Joy comes from receiving.   We try awfully hard in stewardship campaigns to say that Joy comes from giving.  Well…that’s not being 100 percent truthful.   Those who find great joy in giving do so because they receive something from it.  If they are doing it because they were obligated, told to do so, filled out a pledge and are committed to honoring it…well then.  There’s usually not much joy associated with such giving.  

          That’s because the giver in those circumstances is thinking…”what will this cost me.”   “How much can I afford?”    “What will I lose if I give this?”   And where these questions are lingering in the back of the mind…there is no joy!

          Joy comes from receiving!   And the joy of giving comes only when one discovers what one receives in return as one gives.    Ask Oakley and Pat Ralph, or Charles or Betty Allen!   Why go and give more than half of your year fixing up other people’s property?  With the price of gas, why go gallivanting up to Washington State, or Texas hauling a big ol heavy RV?   Why would a person do that, and come back looking so happy, so rested, so fulfilled?   Because they received!   Isn’t that so?   They received.  And they found joy, real JOY in their giving!

          This is the day!   If we could tap into that…what we have received already from God in the gift of Jesus who saves us from evil, sin, insignificance and death.   If we could just understand…oh my!   If we could just tap into what God continues to give to us each day…the breath of life,  the love of those nearby, the smile of our children and grandchildren, the health we may enjoy or the healing we experience in the midst of illness, the strength to endure those things that weigh us down, the help of neighbors, the care of friends….

           If we could just scratch the surface of all that God has done and is doing for us…words of wisdom from Holy Scripture, worship that lifts and inspires…music—oh my goodness, music.   What a gift music is in our lives?   Isn’t that right?  

          You hear what I’m getting at?   Our stewardship drive isn’t about getting us all to give more.    This is the day!   This is the day we’ll figure it out.  This is the day we’ll understand.   This is the day the Lord has acted.  On my behalf.  On your behalf.  This is the day!

          If we can just begin to get that…no one will have to tell us what to give.  Or how much to give.    You’ll be able to toss out those step up cards, and those forward step charts.   No one will have to tell us to tithe ten percent.   Because we’ll just begin to give out of that deep sense of gratitude deep inside of us.   We’ll not be able to help ourselves. 

          Pretty soon…you’ll find yourself off on a Volunteer in Mission trip.  And then you’ll be taking angels off of the angel tree.  And then you’ll be collecting food for the hungry.  And then you’ll be giving your time to teach children or youth on Wednesdays or Sunday mornings.  And next thing you’ll be organizing a new ministry, something we haven’t even thought of yet…and all the while you’ll be just writing check after check after check and….you know what?   You what?

          You’ll be having a ball!    That’s what happens when one begins to sense what God has done.  Is doing.  Will do.   This is the day!   Let us rejoice!   And be glad!         

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