Don’t forget the different events that are happening this weekend. (I’m not referring to the royal wedding here!)

On Saturday 19th May we have our coffee morning as usual from 10 a.m. until 12 noon and in the evening at 6 p.m. we have our Annual General Meeting. Do come along as we look back over the past year and look ahead to the future. We are grateful for all God has done and continues to do; please do come along to share with us for an hour or so on that date.

Sunday 20th May is the Day of Pentecost, so we are praying God will meet with us in a special way as we celebrate the birthday of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit 50 days after the resurrection. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to be upon us, enabling us to be witnesses to all God has done through Jesus Christ. Our services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m., but we will also be taking part in Big Local Thurnscoe’s ‘Dinosaur Day’ at Phoenix Park, Thurnscoe, between 12 noon and 4 p.m. If you’re able to join the ‘Dearne Churches Together’ table, we’ll be involved in craft activities, digging for fossils and giving out leaflets, pens and dinosaurs (albeit of the plastic variety…) Come along to this family fun day if you can and help us be involved in our local community. The event will feature animatronic dinosaurs, live animals and lots of family friendly activities including baby dinosaurs, bush craft, dog show, kite making and a dinosaur trail, so there will be lots to do. Portaloos and refreshment stalls will be available; parking is not available on site, but on-road parking is available nearby.

Reading the condensed versions of history in the historical psalms helps us to see an overview of history which is both shocking and sobering. Ps 106 tells us of incidents of rebellion against leadership (Ps 106:16-18, referring back to Numbers 16), idolatry (when Moses’ absence to receive the Ten Commandments led to the people making a golden calf in Exodus 32) and depravity (after the deaths of Moses and Joshua, Israel married foreigners and even sacrificed sons and daughters to idols, resorting to prostitution as part of their ‘worship’.) These sins were directly responsible for Israel’s exile (see 2 Kings 17:7-12, 2 Kings 24:2-4) and it is hard for us to comprehend how this slide into pagan worship could have happened.

But if we are honest, we can see that we too live in a society which has largely forgotten God. In our country, 1 in 6 pregnancies ends in abortion and we barely register that fact. The elderly are often forgotten in care homes which do not all meet the standards of care we would hope for, but we are too busy to notice. The news is full of scandals which ought to drive us to prayer, but so often, we are indifferent and uncaring, more concerned with our own lives than with national sin – which in effect becomes our own sin, for sin can be not doing right things as well as doing wrong things. The Book of Common Prayer says, ‘Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us.’ That is a fair summary of the historical psalms.

But these psalms were not written simply to depress us and leave us feeling hopeless and helpless. They show us big sins indeed (one commentator remarks that all the seven deadly sins – pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, anger and sloth – are mentioned in the potted history these psalms contain), but they show us also an almighty God whose plans and purposes may take a long time to unfold but these plans and purposes will not be thwarted. God remembers His covenant (Ps 105:8—11, 42; Ps 106:45). As Lam 3:22-23 puts it, ‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,  for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning;   great is your faithfulness.’

Forgetfulness is seen as a blight of older age, but many of us know what this is like from a younger age! We go into a room for something and on arrival there, forgot what we went for! One quote says, ‘I’ve reached an age when my train of thought often leaves the station without me.’ It’s often so hard to remember important things because our minds are full of so many other thoughts.

Psalm 106, like Psalm 105, reviews the exodus years. It begins later, not with Abraham but with the exodus itself and Israel’s departure from Egypt, and ends later, looking ahead into the period of the judges and perhaps even further. It too acknowledges God’s faithfulness, mercy and help, acknowledging His salvation and miraculous intervention (Ps 106:20-22), but its main focus seems to be to remind Israel of the stubbornness and rebellion which were so often their response to God. Forgetting what God has done is a major stumbling-block now as much as then (see Ps 106:13, 21). When we forget God and do not wait for His plans to unfold, we risk an independent lifestyle that ends in misery. The wilderness generation, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, did not enter the Promised Land. Israel was later exiled from this land because of her sinfulness and disobedience. There are serious consequences when we forget God.

The sins listed in Ps 106 include craving (Ps 106:13-15 – we need to be careful not to allow our physical needs to overtake our spiritual needs), envy (Ps 106:16-18 – reflecting Dathan and Abiram’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron, but envy of others does not just refer to coveting authority), idolatry (Ps 106:19-23, referring back to Exodus 32), grumbling (Ps 106:24-27) and rebellion (Ps 106:32-33). We need to remember these examples in order to learn from them. (1 Cor 10:1-13)

Ps 105:1-11 is a call to remember. Remembering, in Biblical language, (like hearing), is not just something that happens in the head. True remembering implies that you do something about what has come to your memory or your ear. We need to listen attentively to God and then to obey what He tells us to do. (James 1:22) Ps 105:5 urges us to ‘remember the wonders God has done, his miracles and the judgments he pronounced’, and part of our remembering has to reflect the fact that God remembers His covenant forever (Ps 105:8). We remember ultimately because God remembers.

God’s faithfulness is traced throughout Psalm 105. We read of the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ps 105:9-11, referring back to Genesis 12-35), those nomadic years of wandering, and then the arrival of Joseph and the move to Egypt. (Ps 105:16-25, referring back to Genesis 37-50) We read of Moses and the plagues (Ps 105:26-38, referring back to Exodus 1-11), and something of God’s provision in the wilderness years (Ps 105:39-41, referring back to Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and giving us a ‘telescopic view’ highlighting God’s presence and provision.) This history is directly related to God’s remembering: ‘For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for—that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws.’ (Ps 105:42-45) Here, the connection between remembering and obedience is explicit. As we remember God’s faithfulness and provision, we are moved to keep His precepts and observe His laws. Remembering stirs to action and should be something which keeps us faithful to the Faithful One.

Psalms 105 and 106 have been called the ‘non-identical twins’ which end the fourth book within the psaltery (there are five books altogether within the one book we call Psalms.)[1] Many of the psalms in this book (Ps 90-106) deal with historical events and these two psalms look again at Israel’s history from vastly different viewpoints. Ps 105 is largely positive, stressing God’s faithfulness, miraculous interventions and ongoing love, compassion and care for His people.  Ps 106 resembles Ps 78 in acknowledging the disobedience and rebellion of God’s people, but both remind us that history is really His-story and that a proper response to history is praise and obedience.

Both psalms begin with a call to praise, to proclaim His name, tell others of His wonders and remember what He has done. (Ps 105:1-5, Ps 106:1-5) In this sense, they show us the proper response to God’s works: keeping His precepts and obeying His laws (Ps 105:45), giving thanks and acknowledging who He is (Ps 106:48).

The psalms are obviously selective in giving us a ‘streamlined review’ of God’s dealings with people (from Abraham to the Exodus in Psalm 105 and from the Exodus to Judges in Psalm 106), but they remind us that we too are part of this history (we are the descendants of Abraham as Gal 3:29 makes explicit and part of the ‘thousand generations’ mentioned in Ps 105:8.) We therefore have a responsibility to acknowledge our own sinful tendencies (Ps 106:6) and to learn from the waywardness of past generations. As the American spiritual song asks, ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord?’ All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23), but we need to remember God’s sovereignty in history, something both psalms make very evident. God works despite our fallibility and sinfulness; His mercy and grace are more powerful still.

[1] Michael Wilcock, ‘The Message of Psalms 73-150’, P 128

We had a birthday to celebrate tonight!