This is the Day
Text: Psalm 118:24
This past week, I was at the 136th General Assembly as a commissioner to the court. Each year a group of people, about 1/6th of all the ministers in the denomination plus an equal number of elders, come together to make decisions that have impact upon the entirety of the denomination. These can be as mundane and minor housekeeping issues, or as profound as to change the course of the church as a whole. This year it was my turn... and this morning, I am still recovering. Last Sunday I had some free time before Assembly started to visit my ancestral homeland... including a visit to the Fortress of Louisbourg... a place that I had played as a child, and a place that my father had played amongst the ruins before it was partially rebuilt as a historic site.
As much as the history is part of Louisbourg’s appeal, the weather, the weather is so much a part of the environment there. To give you an idea, where Assembly was held, which is not far from the Airport, is well away from the coastal areas. When I left that morning it was about 16 Degrees Celsius, by the time I got to Louisbourg, which is only about 25km away, the temperature had dropped to 10. It wasn’t rainy, but it was rather foggy... I got out of the car, felt the cool mist, the smell of the ocean, and the chill of the breeze... This was the Louisbourg I remembered.
“This is the day the Lord has made... let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
I think most of the time we tend to think of beautiful warm summer days as “fitting the bill” –not cold, wet windy, misty, gloomy days... on a day that we have our picnic Sunday, it’s not really a stretch to say that at some level we pray for a nice, wonderful sunny day, to enjoy the outdoors without such inconveniences as rain, or wind. I’m not sure that if the weather that I experienced at Louisbourg would qualify as being decent picnic weather... and yet it’s a reminder that every day is the day the Lord has made... and God calls us to rejoice and be glad in it.
That having been said, I don’t think any of us would respond with a great deal of enthusiasm if we were to hold a picnic on the lawn amidst wet snow and rain in January or February.
But why? Even in the midst of January or February... even on the day of the worst weather... it is still the day that the Lord has made... Just ask my daughter. In the midst of the snow of January, the first thing Megan wanted to do was go outside and be in it. Even when it was cold and rainy, given how mild our winter was, Megan wanted to go outside and jump in the puddles. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, Megan always seems to find something to enjoy and have fun with. On many occasions, she has reminded me that every day has something about it to be rejoice and enjoy. Her innocence is refreshing... and it has helped me to reclaim a bit of it for myself.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
But let’s be honest it can be hard. There can be all kinds of days that we have where we do not feel like rejoicing, we do not feel glad in it... not even slightly. So what do we do with a passage like this when we don’t feel that we are able to rejoice?
I think maybe we take the verse by itself, it’s perhaps too simple to say “don’t worry, be happy!” But that isn’t what this is about. Rejoicing in the day that the Lord has made comes after a realization that God has been with us in the midst of our struggles and fears... it follows this line that “the stone that the builder’s rejected has become the chief cornerstone... it is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.” It comes after realizing that in the midst of our own personal struggles and fears, that we realize that God is with us. Our rejoicing comes not out of a forced kind of happiness, but out of a genuine sense of gratitude that God is with us no matter what kind of day we are having.
Later that day, after I had finished my pilgrimage to Louisbourg, I then made another trip that I had to make: I went to visit my grandparents and my aunt. On a misty hill overlooking the city of Sydney, the last time I was here was three years ago to put Nana’s ashes in the ground. My grandfather died when I was 2 at age 54. My aunt was eleven years old when she was killed in a pedestrian car accident. Needless to say, it was a quiet visit.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Not because we’re happy and cheery, but that God is with us no matter what kind of day we are having. Maybe that’s something we too often forget.
So today is our picnic Sunday! So have a hamburger, hot-dog... enjoy the company of friends and family, and enjoy the day that God has made. It is the day the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it. It’s not about ignoring the struggles... but trusting and celebrating that God is there in the midst of all the days that we are having.
Amen.
This past week, I was at the 136th General Assembly as a commissioner to the court. Each year a group of people, about 1/6th of all the ministers in the denomination plus an equal number of elders, come together to make decisions that have impact upon the entirety of the denomination. These can be as mundane and minor housekeeping issues, or as profound as to change the course of the church as a whole. This year it was my turn... and this morning, I am still recovering. Last Sunday I had some free time before Assembly started to visit my ancestral homeland... including a visit to the Fortress of Louisbourg... a place that I had played as a child, and a place that my father had played amongst the ruins before it was partially rebuilt as a historic site.
As much as the history is part of Louisbourg’s appeal, the weather, the weather is so much a part of the environment there. To give you an idea, where Assembly was held, which is not far from the Airport, is well away from the coastal areas. When I left that morning it was about 16 Degrees Celsius, by the time I got to Louisbourg, which is only about 25km away, the temperature had dropped to 10. It wasn’t rainy, but it was rather foggy... I got out of the car, felt the cool mist, the smell of the ocean, and the chill of the breeze... This was the Louisbourg I remembered.
“This is the day the Lord has made... let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
I think most of the time we tend to think of beautiful warm summer days as “fitting the bill” –not cold, wet windy, misty, gloomy days... on a day that we have our picnic Sunday, it’s not really a stretch to say that at some level we pray for a nice, wonderful sunny day, to enjoy the outdoors without such inconveniences as rain, or wind. I’m not sure that if the weather that I experienced at Louisbourg would qualify as being decent picnic weather... and yet it’s a reminder that every day is the day the Lord has made... and God calls us to rejoice and be glad in it.
That having been said, I don’t think any of us would respond with a great deal of enthusiasm if we were to hold a picnic on the lawn amidst wet snow and rain in January or February.
But why? Even in the midst of January or February... even on the day of the worst weather... it is still the day that the Lord has made... Just ask my daughter. In the midst of the snow of January, the first thing Megan wanted to do was go outside and be in it. Even when it was cold and rainy, given how mild our winter was, Megan wanted to go outside and jump in the puddles. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, Megan always seems to find something to enjoy and have fun with. On many occasions, she has reminded me that every day has something about it to be rejoice and enjoy. Her innocence is refreshing... and it has helped me to reclaim a bit of it for myself.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
But let’s be honest it can be hard. There can be all kinds of days that we have where we do not feel like rejoicing, we do not feel glad in it... not even slightly. So what do we do with a passage like this when we don’t feel that we are able to rejoice?
I think maybe we take the verse by itself, it’s perhaps too simple to say “don’t worry, be happy!” But that isn’t what this is about. Rejoicing in the day that the Lord has made comes after a realization that God has been with us in the midst of our struggles and fears... it follows this line that “the stone that the builder’s rejected has become the chief cornerstone... it is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.” It comes after realizing that in the midst of our own personal struggles and fears, that we realize that God is with us. Our rejoicing comes not out of a forced kind of happiness, but out of a genuine sense of gratitude that God is with us no matter what kind of day we are having.
Later that day, after I had finished my pilgrimage to Louisbourg, I then made another trip that I had to make: I went to visit my grandparents and my aunt. On a misty hill overlooking the city of Sydney, the last time I was here was three years ago to put Nana’s ashes in the ground. My grandfather died when I was 2 at age 54. My aunt was eleven years old when she was killed in a pedestrian car accident. Needless to say, it was a quiet visit.
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Not because we’re happy and cheery, but that God is with us no matter what kind of day we are having. Maybe that’s something we too often forget.
So today is our picnic Sunday! So have a hamburger, hot-dog... enjoy the company of friends and family, and enjoy the day that God has made. It is the day the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it. It’s not about ignoring the struggles... but trusting and celebrating that God is there in the midst of all the days that we are having.
Amen.
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