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[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] greetings and uh it's good to share this time of worship together it has been said that we should look at life through the windshield and not through the rearview mirror and i trust that we are continuing to celebrate life and that we are looking forward with great faith and let us now with great faith continue our time of worship thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and let us now affirm our faith through the apostles creed 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 unto 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 thence 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 now bow our hearts in prayer almighty god we come to this time of worship with our own needs and expectations and help us now to center on you so that our greatest desire shall be to experience you help us to listen and to hear in jesus name we acknowledge that you are our refuge and our strength and as we worship we are fully aware of the heartache and despair that is everywhere but we're also aware that you are our shelter in times of despair that you are the high rock upon which we stand that you are our deliverer from the assaults that rise against us and so we are grateful for your gracious intervention on our behalf and for the sense of your nearness that keeps us strong we raise our thanksgiving for your abundant and unending favor in your grace we will nestle in our hearts so we will be neither troubled nor afraid your peace o lord we do seek give to us faith great faith for the living [Music] of these days through christ jesus we now pray together 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 for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever [Music] amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] our scripture lesson comes from the old testament book of numbers the 14th chapter beginning with the first verse and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night and all the children of israel murmured against moses and against aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would that god we had died in the land of egypt or with god we had died in this wilderness and wherefore hath the lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey were it not better for us to return into egypt and they said one to another let us make a captain let us return into egypt then moses and aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of israel and joshua the son of nun and caleb the son of the tuna which were of them that searched the land rent their clothes and they spake unto all the company of the children of israel saying the land which we pass through to search it is an exceedingly good land if the lord delight in us then he will bring us into this land and give it to us a land which flows with milk and honey and may god's blessing be upon the reading and hearing of his holy word the scripture let us bow hearts in prayer and the lord may the words of my mouth and the meditation of every heart be acceptable to you o lord our strength and our rock and our redeemer amen today's scripture lesson makes it very clear that the israelites were complaining about their life their time in the wilderness they were worried they were fearful and they were complaining even going so far as to suggest they might have been better off to have just stayed in in egypt land as slaves and captives but then joshua and caleb stepped forward and remind them that they had already explored parts of the promised land and they go on to say the land that we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land and if the lord delights in us he will bring us into this land and give it to us a land that flows with milk and honey an exceedingly good land i'm sure that that many of you uh on january the 20th of this year did what i did to watch the inauguration of our 46th president and the inauguration was was different this year mainly because of the pandemic and because of the need for increased security around the capital and the national mall and really throughout all of the washington d.c area and so the some 200 000 people who would normally attend an inauguration were not there but there were the flags over 190 000 american flags and flags from every state in our nation beautiful sight breathtaking so inspiring and then there was the actual inauguration itself the uh the swearing-in of the vice president and the president each one placed their hand on the bible as they took their oaths their hand placed on the bible the scripture the good news the word of god and this is a powerful statement and then there was the national anthem and then there was the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all oh yes yes an exceedingly good land america in spite of our challenges in spite of our difficulties in spite of our concerns in spite of our differences in spite of our divisions in spite of the fact that we don't all think alike or believe the same thing we are still an exceedingly good land and we know this and we celebrate this one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all a number of years ago billy graham was speaking at an honor america day at the lincoln memorial and one thing he mentioned was a picture he had just seen on the front page of a chicago newspaper it was a picture of betsy ross sewing the first american flag and beneath that picture was the caption time to check our stitches and maybe now is a good time for us to check our stitches to make sure that in our exceedingly good land we are not enjoying the the fruits of citizenship without meeting our responsibilities harry emerson fosnick was for many years the senior minister of the riverside church in in new york city he still considered to be one of the most effective and powerful preachers proclaimer of the gospel the good news in our land preacher pastor theologian writer arthur he wrote one of our our great hymns god of grace and god of glory and during his ministry at riverside the riverside years he preached a sermon called parking on another man's nickel now right away we know it was preached years ago it sounds rather dated and in some ways it is because where today can we do much of anything for a nickel we can't even park for a nickel at least not very long it takes many nickels and dimes and quarters and so forth to park for any length of time today and then he might also change the title somewhat today perhaps like parking on another person's money or investment or whatever but still the idea is sound and the point is clear many of us have had the experience of trying to find a parking place on a crowded street a busy street in a city town community we're looking for a parking place and finally we we see one an empty place a space to park and we either pull in angle park or parallel park and we get out and as they say we go to to feed the meter to feed the kitty and we see there's some time left on the meter oh this is our lucky day may not be a lot of time but there's some time still left on the meter and we can park at least for a while on somebody else's money this is exciting and it may be okay to park on somebody else's money but it's not right it's not right to park on somebody else's nickel when it comes to citizenship we must never we must never enjoy the fruits of citizenship without meeting our responsibilities what are some of our responsibilities that we can meet as as good citizens as responsible citizens well first of all just the right to vote i'm still amazed at how many people just don't make the effort to vote i realize this last election more people voted than ever but also often there are so many people who just fail to to vote and what a privilege we have to vote our conscience how we feel open and freely in this exceedingly good land and then throughout our land every community every town every city they're wonderful committees and organizations and sometimes they invite us to serve on one of these committees or boards or agencies and they help to enhance the community and the lives of people near and far how do we respond to this invitation what do we do and then i believe good citizenship even means assuming our responsibility is good citizens even means during this pandemic we continue to do what's asked office to wash our hands off the new sanitizer to observe social distancing to stay out of large crowds and gatherings and to wear masks all of this i think reflects that we are good citizens that that we that we are not just content to park on somebody else's nickel to enjoy the fruits of citizenship without meeting our responsibilities an immigrant was telling some friends about his new print his new picture it's familiar i think to many of us it's called the spirit of 1776. uh it shows three soldiers very clearly revolutionary war and they're marching side by side together two of them are playing drums one of them is playing a a fife and his head is bandaged in the background there's the picture of some other other soldiers and then on the horizon there's the american flag we've seen this picture the spirit of 1776 and the immigrant described it this way they are marching side by side two of them are playing drums one of them playing one of them is playing the fight and has a headache well he sees that white bandage around the man's head sometimes sometimes to serve on a committee or a board or an agency to assume responsible citizenship might be challenging at times it might put us on the spot sometimes make us uncomfortable sometimes even cause a headache but we just need to make sure that we're not enjoying the fruits of citizenship without meeting our responsibilities and then perhaps this time we check our stitches to make sure that in our exceedingly good land that we never put dollars ahead of deeds profits ahead of people of course we want our nation to be strong in every way and this includes financially economically we want our land to be strong and solid financially economically yes and we want people that that who want to work and who can work who are able to work who desire to work to be employed meaningfully and to be compensated fairly adequately we want people everyone to to work who can work who's able to work to have the opportunity to share to use their gifts their talents their graces to enhance their lives in the lives of their families to provide food shelter and clothing and some of the niceties of life so we want our nation as a whole to be strong economically and for everyone everyone to be meaningfully employed and compensated adequately and fairly but we also need to be careful that we never ever put dollars ahead of deeds prophets ahead of people it was george bernard shaw who said that the worst thing we can do to our fellow creatures is not to hate them but just to ignore them he goes on to say this is the essence of inhumanity to just ignore people and he's right he's right a minister in a certain denomination was asked by his denomination if he would go abroad for a while and go visit some of the mission fields where some of their missionaries were serving and he accepted the invitation and while he was abroad going from one mission field to the other he finally came to korea and he went to a place where a missionary had been serving for some time actually he was a medical missionary in the states he had been a very successful well-known surgeon but the time came when he felt the call to go to the mission field to serve as a medical missionary and he was serving in a little area in korea and the day the minister arrived to visit with him to meet with him the surgeon the missionary said i'll be glad to spend time with you but first of all i'm getting ready for surgery it'll be a long surgery at least three and a half hours with an eight-year-old child but i will get with you after the surgery and the minister waited and it was a long surgery over three hours and when this medical missionary this surgeon was able to speak with with the minister the first thing the minister asked him was what would an operation like this cost back in the states the surgeon just said plenty believe me plenty a lot of money then the minister asked and what what does it cost here the surgeon said a few dollars in the smile of god but then he said man this is really living this is really living and we know essential to really living is to care for one another near and far to never be inhumane toward anyone to never put dollars ahead of deeds profits ahead of people and i think we continue in this exceedingly good land to check our stitches to make sure always to make sure always that we're doing all we can to help one another to help one another and then perhaps it's time to check our stitches to make sure that in our exceedingly good land we're not just christians in name only but also in practice what about our christian faith do we practice our faith in in such a way that it's evident through our words our deeds our actions the very manner of our spirit the way we go about living each day the way we interact with people is our christian faith is our discipleship evident just in our very being are we making sure that we're not just christians a christian nation in name only but also also in practice in practice one evening a businessman an executive got home he entered the house in his hand was a contract an unsigned contract that he had been given that day and if he agreed to that contract if he signed that contract it would mean a lot of money a lot of money for he and his his wife and their family but it was unsigned he brought it home and he shared with with his wife what had taken place that day the contract was not signed and he wanted her to read it and she sat down and she read that contract carefully thoroughly and when she finished she looked at her husband and she said we we can't do this we can't do this and he asked well why why can't we and she said because because well because because because of god because of god he said i knew you'd feel that way and that's how i feel and why we won't sign this contract and these individuals passed up signing that contract which would have brought them a lot of money a lot of money oh it's so important it's so important that we are not christians just in name only but in practice that our christianity guides and directs everything that we come into contact with what we're all about oh yes there's a little delightful story about a little boy who had attended his first sunday school class and after sunday school his mother asked him what's the name of your teacher and he said i don't remember her name but she must be jesus's grandmother because he's all she talked about isn't that beautiful jesus is all she talked about would people know from our conversation day in and day out that we are christians that we're disciples that we're a follower of christ and because we are christians not just in name only we try to practice the christian faith the teachings of jesus christ in all situations day in and day out and so perhaps it is time in our exceedingly good land to check our stitches to make sure to make sure that we're not enjoying the fruits of citizenship without meeting our responsibilities to be determined to never ever ever put dollars ahead of deeds profits ahead of people and to yes always always be christians not just in name but in practice and exceedingly good land oh yes thanks be to god amen now that we have worshiped we carry with us the joy of praise let the glad song of the soul stir us each day to renewed living and sacrificial service leave us father by your tender hand [Music] amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you