God Our Father, Father's Day, Deuteronomy 33:26-29, 06/15/14

9Sermon 6-15-14       fathers day       deut 33:26-29

²⁶ “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’ ²⁸ So Israel will live in safety; Jacob will dwell^[f] secure in a land of grain and new wine where the heavens drop dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights.”

Who is Jeshurun? -- is a poetic name for Israel. Derived from root word meaning upright, just, straight

Lots of old testament passages like this…….

those who are oppressed seem to measure God in terms of God vanquishing their enemies

it doesn’t mean that you should pray for your enemies to flounder.

Underneath it all are the everlasting arms

Its fathers day

Jim truschke- mothers day, mothers are great.  Fathers day,dads are bad.

Sacrilegious to say that neither are religious holidays

But you would think that they were

Fathers day……maybe you are not a father and you wanted to be

Maybe your father was not nice.  Maybe you didn’t know your father.

God as father

Some don’t like to talk about god as father  because of things like this

My father was not perfect, but I have an idea of what a father should be like

And I personally feel comfortable calling him father

Even though we know that god is not a man or a woman

So is the sermon ever going to start?

I was thinking about all of this fathers day stuff.  should I talk about fathers? The heavenly father?

I thought of the first memory of my earthly father- oddly I compared it to the heavenly father

An interesting thing started to develop.

 I thought it interesting that the comparison of experiences seem to offer meaning

My first memory of my father

Yelling on Easter / the angry god of guilt

Fixing something on stairs/ the number of things that God has fixed over the years

Not around – god seems distant.  The heavens are brass

Ps 10

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Ps 13

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?   How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts   and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Then there were the times that I was not around…….

How did my dad feel? Cats in the cradle

aaron Israelite……..how did my dad feel?

Wow.  How does God feel? Cats in the cradle?

Enjoying nature- national parks/ the witness of creation

Yellowstone, grand Tetons, mesa verde, painted desert, petrified forest, Yosemite, muir woods, big sur, lassen, glacier, brice canyon, sequoia, crater lake, grand canyon

The witness of creation. Ps 19 the heavens declare

The last day at Yellowstone….shaken out of the bag

Allowing me to stand on my own feet- algebra problems

Preparing me for the future

Teaching us songs- throw the houlihan/choir director.  Singing in church

a song in my heart

I ride an old Paint and I lead an old Dan
Goin' to Montana to throw the houlihan

Feed them in the coulees, then water in the draw
Their tails are all matted and their backs are all raw

When I die take my saddle from the wall
Put it onto my pony, lead him out of his stall
Tie my bones on his back and turn our faces to the west
We'll ride the prairies that we love the best

A song in my heart ps 40

I waited patiently for the Lord;    he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock  and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,    a hymn of praise to our God.

Becoming friends-/ what a friend we have in Jesus

Want to go to my fathers table

Hugs from dad/Prodigal son story- sees the father from afar

Underneath it all are the everlasting arms.