“Going Underground” – a Message from Pastor Kaji
Sunday August 6
Last week, as part of our Restore & Elevate series, we learned about the gifts God offers when we have the chance to burrow, to go underground, to get quiet.This week, we reflect on how God builds us up with strength as we reflect on Psalm 118. In preparation, I invite you to think about the ways God has given you strength when you didn’t have it. Or, if you cannot pull down that testimony, I encourage you to think about ways you need God’s strength right now.
I pray that we emerge from this time of worship strengthened in the Spirit, indeed!
Pax Christi,
Pastor Kaji
Have you ever encountered Kitten heel faith? What’s at risk in this construct?
In what ways do you need help building your spiritual strength?
God’s steadfast love endures for ever! …
the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
What can mortals do to me?
The Lord is on my side to help me;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in mortals.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.All nations surrounded me;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees;
they blazed like a fire of thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my might;
The Lord has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely,
but did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
and has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
you are my God, I will extol you.
O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good,
for God’s steadfast love endures for ever.