GREETING
“He leadeth me, O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! What-e'er I do, wher-e're I be, still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me; his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.” Amen. (PH, 370, 1)
CALL TO WORSHIP (Psalm 97: 1, 2, 4, 11, 12)
L: The lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad.
P: Clouds and thick darkness are round him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
L: His lightnings lighten the world; the earth sees and trembles.
P: Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
All: Let us rejoice in the Lord...and give thanks to his holy name!”
HYMN
Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah
https://youtu.be/5LXXh1-G7ns
Guide me, O Thou great *Jehovah, [*Redeemer]
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy pow’rful hand.
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.
Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliv’rer, strong Deliv’rer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield;
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.
*alternate text
INVOCATION
Let us pray...
“God of our life, through all the circling years, we trust in thee; in all the past, through all our hopes and fears, thy hand we see. With each new day, when morning lifts the veil, we own thy mercies, Lord, which never fail.” Amen. (PH, 97, 1)
FIRST SCRIPTURE LESSON
Psalm 18: 25-30: “The Lord my God lightens my darkness”
GLORIA PATRI
https://youtu.be/QUBxpypSblw
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen, Amen!
PASTORAL PRAYER
Let us pray...
O Lord, our God: great, eternal, wonderful in glory, and glorious in love, we unite our minds and hearts in adoring praise and in humble prayer. Come into every life open to your presence now, that with the joy of forgiveness, with more perfect love, and with a more serene hope, we may worship you in the spirit and grace of your Son.
O God, the lover of our spirits, the Lord and giver of life: we bless and praise you for all that you are to us, for all that you are doing for us, and for all that you have forgiven us. For your loving care, for your mercies new every morning, which are more than we can number; for the wonder and beauty of the world around us; for the rhythm of the seasons; for your supply of all our needs; and for all whom you give to be near and dear to us: our friends, our loved ones, all with whom we are linked in the covenant of this your church. But most of all, we thank you, Dear God, for sending your Son to be our Savior, for his life, for his acts of healing and restoration of lost souls, for his suffering and death on the cross, and for his resurrection and reign. Grant that our lives might grow in thankfulness, to the glory of your name.
O You who are the source of life and of healing: tenderly minister to all in any sickness, trouble, or danger this day, especially those suffering from this Corona virus. Give skill and insight, tenderness and strength to all who tend the sick and the wounded, especially those frontline heroes of ours who battle the disease for us. Bless those who care for the dying, the grieving, the lonely, and those wronged by their own folly or by the sin of others. And hear us too, as we pray always for those nearest and dearest to this community of faith.
All these things we ask through our mediator and Savior, our friend, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit, we would honor and obey; and in whose name we pray, Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power,
and the Glory forever!
Amen!
DOXOLOGY
https://youtu.be/eMnevRoAz74
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise God all creatures here below!
Praise God above you heavenly host!
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen!
OFFERING PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Let us pray...
O God, accept the gifts which your people make unto you. Grant that the causes for which they are given might prosper under your guidance and to the glory of your holy name. In Christ’s name we give and pray, Amen.
HYMN
Lighten the Darkness
(an alternate tune to the below words:)
https://youtu.be/6mcJjfWcs-M
Lighten the darkness of our life’s long night,
Through which we blindly stumble to the day,
Shadows mislead us; Father, send Thy light
To set our footsteps in the homeward way.
Lighten the darkness of our self conceit,
The subtle darkness that we love so well,
Which shrouds the path of wisdom from our feet,
And lulls our spirits with its baneful spell.
Lighten our darkness when we bow the knee
To all the gods we ignorantly make
And worship, dreaming that we worship Thee,
Till clearer light our slumbering souls awake.
SECOND SCRIPTURE LESSON
Acts 16: 16-34: “Paul and Silas in prison”
SERMON Singing in the Dark
Let us pray...
“Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling doom, lead thou me on; the night is dark, and I am far from home; lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.” Amen. (PH, 215, 1)
Some of you may remember that the very first church I served as a full-time pastor back in the 1970’s is located in the town of Warren, CT, a pristine, rural village in Litchfield County with a lovely lake within the town limits. Because of our proximity to Manhattan, we had many metropolitan New Yorkers who spent weekends and summers at what they called their lakeside cottages, which always looked more to me like lakeside mansions. The famous and the not-so-famous lived part-time in our little town.
We had, for example, the actor/director Dustin Hoffman, who regularly shopped at the village store; the novelist Philip Roth, who pretty much kept to himself, because the natives didn’t appreciate the dirty books he wrote; the artist Eric Sloane, who annually auctioned off one of his paintings, the proceeds of which would balance the church budget.
And some of our celebrities even attended worship with us, especially in the summer. One of those not-so-famous ones was dear, sweet Ethel Porter. Perhaps I’ve mentioned her before. She was the widow of Hugh Porter, former professor of sacred music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Ethel and Hugh had been the music editors for the 1958 edition of the Pilgrim Hymnal. One Sunday after worship, she greeted me with tears in her eyes, saying that for the very first time ever, in worship that morning, she joined in singing her and her husband’s very favorite hymn in the Pilgrim Hymnal: “Lighten the Darkness,” the one we’ve just “sung.” Its first verse says, “Lighten the darkness of our life’s long night, through which we blindly stumble to the day. Shadows mislead us; Father, send thy light to set our footsteps in the homeward way.” (PH, 386, 1)
We’ve all experienced such darkness in our own lives, just as we are right now during this health crisis. And we’ve all longed to have all such darknesses lightened. But how? Recall the details of our scripture lesson about a call for lights in the very midst of the darkness of midnight.
Once upon a time, Paul and Silas were dragged into the marketplace, falsely accused, stripped of their clothing, and publicly flogged. They were thrown into jail, and their feet were securely fastened in stocks. Surely, their darkness couldn’t have gotten much darker! So how did they lighten the darkness?
The story goes on—about midnight, the two imprisoned missionaries, according to our lesson, “were praying and singing hymns to God.” In other words, they were singing in the dark and probably singing at the very top of their lungs! The singing was so loud in fact that the other prisoners and even the jailer heard it.
Suddenly, as the story continues, there was a violent earthquake. The very foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately, all the doors flew open. The jailer “called for lights” in the midst of the darkness, ran in, expecting to find his prisoners gone. But, much to his amazement and relief, Paul and Silas and the others were still where they were supposed to be. The whole affair so moved the jailer that he took the two men to
his own home, where he fed them and dressed their wounds. And he even asked the missionaries to baptize him and his entire family into the Christian faith. Everyone’s darkness was lightened that night!
The result of Paul’s and Silas’ singing in the dark were that they were delivered; they were able to witness to their faith; and they saw the conversion and baptism of the jailer and his family. In short, several dark lives were lightened and indeed changed forever!
“Lighten the darkness of our self-conceit, the subtle darkness that we love so well, which shrouds the path of wisdom from our feet, and lulls our spirits with its baneful spell.” (PH, 386, 2)
Now folks like us cannot expect a ground-shaking earthquake every time we sing in the dark, not even during this very dark COVID-19 pandemic. But our common human experience has taught us—as in the case, for example, of black Southern slaves, who gave us the great Negro spirituals—that singing through the dark nights and days of life can make all the burdens a little lighter and all the darknesses a little brighter. Our eternal nighttime prayer of hope is that dawn will always come; as we say these days, “we will make it through this together!”
My friends, when darkness falls on our lives—and it has, it does, it will—like the darkness of the death of a loved one, a terminal illness, an addiction, the crumbling of a marriage or other intimate relationship, financial disaster, and/or countless others troubles and trials, like this once-in-a-lifetime health threat we’re enduring right now—when such darkness descends, we can always do one of two things.
We can of course give up in despair, close our eyes, and enter some metaphorical sleep, waiting to wake up when it’s all over. We can sit down in the dirty alleys of life, pull ourselves up into the fetal position and give up, call it quits, wallow in our own misery. Or, like Paul and Silas, we can sing in the dark; we can keep faith; we can pray; we can put forth our very best efforts at courage, conviction, and hope. Some of us have chosen to help out with our church’s Food Pantry, as the need grows daily and our guests multiply in number every week. We can remember the words of the psalmist, which we “heard” again this morning: “Yea, thou dost light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.” (Psalm 18: 28)
The simple point is that if we believe what we claim to believe, if we have the faith we claim to have, we can affirm the words of the psalmist: “Even the darkness is not dark to [us], the night is bright as the day; for darkness is as light with [us].” (Psalm 139: 12)
We people of faith, even in our own darkest hours, perhaps like these through which we’re living, even when confronted with obstacles, problems, disappointments, and fears of imminent illness and even death, we are called never to give up. We are called to address the problems, roll with the proverbial punches, and try as hard as we can to believe indeed that all things work for good for those who love God and seek God’s purpose in their lives. As the old aphorisms remind us, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself;” “The darkest hour is just before the dawn; “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” And as we say these days, “Look for the silver linings in this dark cloud of pandemic.” Singing in the dark is the response of faith!
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” What a concept! What a faith! Singing in the dark! at midnight! in a prison cell! with feet securely bound in stocks! with backs wounded from flogging! Could any of us do the same?
“Lighten our darkness when we bow the knee to all the gods we ignorantly make and worship, dreaming that we worship thee, till clearer light our slumbering souls awake.” (PH, 386, 3)
In another one of my former churches, we had a long-time member whose name was Rachel. Perhaps I’ve mentioned her to you before. She had begun to enter the darkness of Alzheimer’s disease. For the six years I knew her, her descent was fast and furious, even though she had done her very best to heed the counsel of Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
In her younger days, she had been a professional musician. Before the darkness came, she played several instruments, had a beautiful alto voice, and sang as a soloist in many different religious and secular venues.
Her husband had been a highly respected superintendent of schools, and her three adult daughters were also talented musicians and faithful church people.
In her last months, she was living in a nursing home and was unable to speak. She did not appear to recognize her family members and friends or even her own name when called by it. To use some of the psalmist’s words, “the darkness had covered her, and the light around her had become night.” (re 139:12)
Finally, when her earthly end seemed imminent, her caregivers alerted her family; and her husband and one daughter living locally asked me to accompany them to her room, to say goodbye in some way or other. After praying together, we sat for a while, not knowing what more to say or do, believing that Rachel was, as always, completely unresponsive. Then her daughter, who had inherited her mother’s lovely alto voice, began quietly to sing some of the old familiar hymns of our faith, like, you know, “Abide With Me,” “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” “Rock of Ages,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Amazing Grace;” and the rest of us joined her, trying somehow to comfort ourselves.
You can probably guess what happened next. Then, in the very middle of it all, Rachel began to sing—in a loud, clear, beautiful alto voice—all those hymns she had committed to memory years before. It was quite literally the voice of an angel; and when Rachel stopped singing, we knew that the darkness had finally departed and the light had come.
In those moments before her death, she taught me a lesson I shall never forget about singing in the dark.
“Lighten our darkness when we fail at last, and in the midnight lay us down to die; we trust to find thee when the night is past, and daylight breaks across the morning sky.” (PH, 386, 4)
Let us pray...
“God of the past, our times are in thy hand; with us abide. Lead us by faith to hope’s true promised land; be thou our guide. With thee to bless, the darkness shines as light, and faith’s fair vision changes into sight.” Amen. (PH, 97, 2)
HYMN
My Life Flows on in Endless Song
https://youtu.be/I9QE7No9SQs
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth's lamentation,
I hear the sweet, though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing
It finds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
What though my joys and comforts die?
I know my Savior liveth
What though the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
I lift my eyes, the cloud grows thin
I see the blue above it
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it,
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart
A fountain ever springing
For all things are mine since I am his
How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that refuge clinging
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
BENEDICTION
“Christ, whose glory fills the skies, Christ, the true, the only Light, Sun of righteousness, arise, triumph o’er the shades of night...” Amen. (PH. 43, 1)
BENEDICTION RESPONSE
GO NOW IN PEACE
Go now In peace, never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now In faith, steadfast strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now In love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there watching from above.
Go now in peace. in faith and in love.
Amen. Amen. AMEN!
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