[The Rev. Dr. Todd Jordan:]
Good morning and welcome to worship with Strawbridge United Methodist Church.
My name is Todd Jordan and I 
serve as Senior Pastor here and
I am delighted that you could join us.
I am recording this on Tuesday.
And hopefully you're able to watch it on Sunday morning. And I'm praying that
now that Laura has made landfall,
that all is well with you and yours.
We pray for anyone and everyone who was
impacted by this storm
and would encourage you 
also to pray, as well.
I want to read from the Book of Philippians.
And - just as a reminder - Paul wrote
this letter while he was in prison himself.
And he writes these words to rejoice,
not because what goes on in life is always good,
but because God is *always* good.
And so Paul writes these words. 
And let these words be our words
as we prepare our hearts and minds for worship:
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice.
Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, 
but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your 
requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your 
hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."
Let us give praise and worship to our God this morning.
Amen.
[Opening Hymn: "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"
performed by the Houston Virtual Choir]
[Rev. Beth Chenault:]
Please join me in a modern 
Affirmation of Faith [UMH #885]:
[Pastor Beth:] 
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is one true church,
apostolic and universal,
whose holy faith let us declare:
[ALL:] 
We believe in God the Father,
infinite in wisdom, power, and love,
whose mercy is over all His works,
and whose will is ever directed
to His children’s good.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Son of man,
the gift of the Father’s unfailing grace,
the ground of our hope,
and the promise of our
deliverance from sin and death.
We believe in the Holy Spirit
as the divine presence in our lives,
whereby we are kept in perpetual
remembrance of the truth of Christ,
and find strength and help in time of need.
We believe that this faith should
manifest itself in the service of love
as set forth in the example
of our blessed Lord,
to the end that the kingdom of God
may come upon the earth.  Amen.
Before we have a moment of Prayer together, 
I just wanted to take a few minutes and talk to you.
I know that this is really a difficult time -
not only the pandemic - but now we're
facing Hurricane Laura just 
coming into - possibly - Galveston.
We are taping today on Tuesday [8/25]
where we usually do our recordings on
Thursday mornings.
And so I wanted you to know that some of
these things we're trying to prepare for
before this storm hits - just in case electricity,
or power, or some of those things 
happen to us in our community.
I also want you to know that your clergy 
and staff is praying for you.
I know that this is a
difficult time for many of you.
So many changes. Schools aren't the same.
Our homes aren't the same. People working from home.
It's been a very difficult time, 
but you are important to us.
Our church family is important to us.
So I hope that you know that you can get
in touch with us and that we would love to be
able to pray for you
or help you in any way possible.
So now let us pray together:
Dear Lord, you are the Risen Christ,
the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God,
and the Everlasting Counselor. Grant us
peace of mind and help our hearts to not
be troubled during these 
difficult and uncertain times.
Give us the strength and grace to trust You.
Even when we cannot see the way, remind
us that You will never let us go.
And that You will always hold us in Your
everlasting arms of love.
We thank You that we have the freedom to
worship You, Lord. And even though we are
unable to gather together in this place,
this sanctuary, we know that You are
always with us. And we thank You 
that You bind us all
together by Your presence.
Help us - in the middle of all this
uncertainty - to hold fast and to remember
who we are,
and to whom we belong.
Lord, for those who are sick, suffering, lonely, misguided, or just in need of Your presence, we ask that
You would touch them with
Your healing, with Your guidance,
with Your peace. We know that You 
know our needs before we ask.
But help us to be bold, unafraid, and transparent
as we bring those things on our hearts before You.
We ask that You would continue to guide and protect
the students, teachers, administrators, 
as they return to on-campus classes.
Bring peace to the families who are trusting 
their precious children into their care.
We pray for our church.
This is a difficult time, Lord.
Our faith community has been separated
for quite some time now.
And our emotions - and our reactions - 
are all over the place.
Guide us in every decision with 
Your wisdom and grace.
Lord, there are so many things 
going on in our world:
The pandemic and all the pieces, 
the uncertainty, and now the possibility of a hurricane.
Please protect every person in the path of the storm.
Sometimes we forget that You are the One
who can calm the storm.
And even when the storm rages on, calm us, Lord.
There are many that have been
through these storms in the past.
Many homes have flooded and been rebuilt.
Many are struggling as the possibility,
once again, comes our way. 
So calm us down.
Help us to turn our fears over to You.
Help us to believe You are with us, even
when we are afraid or just simply
tired, frustrated, angry with 
all that's going on.
We pray for courage to be the people You
have called us to be.
People who seek justice and peace
through Your love for all of Your people
as we pray together now, The Prayer that
You taught us to pray:
[ALL:] 
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 trespasses,
As we forgive those who
 trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and
the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
[Rev. Emily Bankston:]
Good morning, boys and girls! 
And welcome to Children's Conversation!
So excited to be with you this morning.
Do you have a
favorite Bible story? Maybe one that your
parents or your grandparents read to you
as you grew up? Or one from Sunday School?
Or one, maybe, you're studying and reading
right now? Well, I know - for me -
there are so many amazing stories in the
Bible and I love
especially those stories where Jesus
helps people. So I'm going to share with
you a few stories, a few things that Jesus did and
we're going to see what all the stories
have in common and how are they the same.
All right, you ready? 
All right...
First, we have Zacchaeus. Do you remember Zacchaeus and what did Zacchaeus want to do?
He wanted to see Jesus. But remember
people were like, "No, you're too little.
There's no way!"
Or, remember, he was a tax collector which
means he took money
that maybe wasn't always his.
And so he wasn't liked very much, so
he was like, "No way! Jesus would not want
to see you!"
And do you see who's in my picture?
That's right! It's Jesus. And he's saying,
"Zacchaeus, come down! I want to see
you! I want to come to your house!"
I know Zacchaeus was so excited to know
that he was loved by Jesus.
All right... So Jesus helped Zacchaeus. 
All right, now we've got another one!
Are you ready? This man's name 
is Bartimaeus. And what
do you think is wrong with Bartimaeus?
Well, in here he's blind. He couldn't see.
And what did Jesus do for him?
Looks like he laid his hands
over his eyes so he could see!
So Jesus helped Bartimaeus who was blind 
so he could do what? He could see!
All right! Isn't Jesus amazing?!? 
Okay and then let's look at this next one.
Are you ready? This is Pastor Emily's favorite story!
This is the story about Jesus calms the storm.
And you know I'm recording 
this sermon just a little early...
before the possibility of our hurricane.
And so we may have had a major hurricane this week.
Or some really bad weather.
And I'm sure you were afraid in the storm.
Well, in this story the men were
very afraid because there was a storm.
And what did Jesus do?
He told the wind and the waves to be at peace!
To be still! And Boy Howdy that really
helped those disciples
to feel less afraid!
Alright, here's our last story. Oh, this 
looks like such a good story. Let's see...
Do you see the man laying at Jesus' feet?
This was a man that
was super sick. He had what was
called leprosy.
And he touched Jesus' robe. 
Can you see that? And guess what?
He was healed just like
Bartimaeus was healed.
This man was healed, too!
So let's think of all of our stories.
We had Zacchaeus. And we had Bartimaeus. 
And we had the storm.
And we had the man that was really sick with leprosy.
And what did Jesus, you think, provide all of them?
Now we can think of lots of words.
But this morning, I'm going to
think about the word "comfort".
Jesus provided all of those people comfort!
They were all troubled.
Or they were all sick. Or they were all just
really struggling.
And they needed Jesus' comfort! 
Well, boys and girls, I know for many of you,
you had your first week back at school.
And I know for you parents, it may have
been nerve-wracking if your children
went back to the classroom.
And so I prayed for you this week that
Jesus would give you comfort and peace.
And whatever this week brought for you:
if it was a bad storm or we got minimal rain,
whatever was brought this week, I just
pray that you knew of God's comfort or if you
were needing to experience God's comfort
now, boys and girls,
that you know that Jesus loves you. 
He comforted people
thousands of years ago. And he still
comforts people today.
I love you guys so much! Praying for you!
And know that you are so loved by Jesus
and your awesome church family!
I love you guys! Bye!
All right church... you know what time it is!
It's time to Pass the Peace!
Check in on someone today and remind
them that Jesus loves them!
And that his comfort is the best!
We love you! Bye!
[Anthem: "Safe Within Your Arms" led by 
Rev. Lindsay Smith and Zane Barra]
[The Rev. Dr. Todd Jordan:]
So my new mantra these days is:
"Wake me when it's 2021." I mean, really?!?
So we've got the pandemic
and everything that that entails.
The closures. The economic hit.
Food insecurity for many people.
Unemployment for a whole lot of people.
And you know over, almost at this point,
180,000 families grieving a lost loved one,
because of COVID-19. Not to mention the millions
that were sickened by it.
This is Tuesday that I'm 
recording this, and as of today
there's another shooting in Wisconsin;
Jacob Lake, and we pray for him.
He has recovered from those gunshots, but
is paralyzed. That shooting happened
right in front of his three children.
It's disturbing that this keeps
happening. It's disturbing what happened
to him, and now there are protests and riots
in response and reaction to that.
And so our prayers are certainly for
him and his family, for that 
community. I know there's an
investigation underway, so
praying for justice and praying for
an end of this - these shootings and these
killings. Praying for racial justice
and equality in our country.
And now we've got two hurricanes
- well two storms - one storm hit,
Marco, and now as of Tuesday
Laura's on her way. You're watching this,
so by the time you're seeing this
that hurricane has already come through,
and so prayers for those impacted.
We usually record these sermons on
Thursday, it's Tuesday just in case we
weren't sure if we'd have
power to be able to do it or not. So 
if I seem a little less prepared for the
sermon, it's because I'm
less prepared for the sermon.
But I felt strongly that we need this
word for this week, which is looking at Psalm
of Praise. And the reason I felt strongly
about this, knowing full well that we're
in the midst of a pandemic,
that we're in the midst of a culture
crisis of systemic racism, that we're in the
midst of - for our area - the aftermath of a
storm, that we praise God.
Not because life is always good, but because God
is always good. Circumstances
may not be conducive to
wanting to praise. We may not feel
like we want to praise, but
we must always praise God because: 
#1 God is always good
#2 if we can only praise God
when things are well or when we feel
like it, then we can't really praise God at all.
Because we're not really praising God, we're just
happy that circumstances happen to be good for us.
But faith is when life is not going well for us.
When maybe life is just flat disastrous;
when we're angry; when we're frustrated;
when we're hurt; when we're flooded; when we're broken;
when we're grieving, that our praise for
God becomes the most powerful and most
poignant. Because faith is praising God
anywhere, anytime, in all conditions.
Because we trust that God is good.
But look, we don't always feel it. The
psalmist didn't always feel it, right?
There are a lot of types of Psalms:
Sometimes the psalmist feels like
thanksgiving; sometimes the psalmist
needs to confess; sometimes
the psalmist needs to bring a
lament or a complaint to God; sometimes a petition.
But there's always - always -
a place for praise. So what I want to
look to now is actually two Psalms, 137 and 138.
So I want you to take this time now,
to pull up on your device those Psalms,
or find a Bible and turn to the Psalms.
And I'll just say a quick trick
to finding the Psalms in your Bible
- if you don't have the Apocrypha this
works - that if you take your Bible
and you open it up to about halfway
through, you'll come to the Psalms.
Find Psalm 137 and 138. I want to
start with 137, because this finds the
psalmist in a very, very low place, in fact
probably the lowest point of any Psalm.
Just a little historic background, 
in the year 587/586 B.C.
the Babylonian Empire came 
through and just destroyed Judea;
besieged Jerusalem; ended up taking the city,
demolished it, and sent a number
- a significant number - of the population
into exile in Babylon. When Jerusalem 
was destroyed, when the Babylonian army
destroyed Jerusalem's walls,
Jerusalem's neighbors, the Moabites,
came in and literally sacked Jerusalem.
- Sorry it was the Edomites - 
The Edomites came in
and just looted and sacked what was left
of Jerusalem, and then mocked them
during that time. And so now you 
had a significant population of
Jerusalem in exile, in Babylon, lamenting
and grieving the loss of the temple, 
their place of worship;
the loss of their life and livelihood; 
the loss of their beloved city.
And with all these emotions,
Psalm 137 is written, probably by
a Levite, in response to something
that happened to him. As he was
lamenting the grief and the despair of the loss,
one of the Babylonians comes by and says:
Hey, you know, sing one of those happy
songs that you sing when you 
think of your old city, right?
Insult to injury. It reminds one of,
you know, like a slave master coming to
the slaves and saying:
Hey, sing some of those happy songs that
y'all sing. Really?!? So this is what
the Levite, or the psalmist, 
writes in response to that:
"By the rivers of Babylon, there 
we sat down and there we
wept when we remember Zion. On the willows
there we hung our harps. For our captors asked us
for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth,
saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!'
How could we sing the
Lord's song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, 
let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling 
to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you, if I do not
set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day
of Jerusalem's fall, how they said, 'Tear it down!
Tear it down! Down to its foundations!'
O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
Happy shall they be who pay you
back what you have done to us!"
And then this last line - I'm almost
embarrassed to read it - arguably the
lowest point of any of the Psalms,
the writer disturbingly finishes
the Psalm with this line:
"Happy shall they be who take your little ones
and dash them against a rock!"
This is not a person
who's in a good place.
This is not a person for 
whom life has done any favors.
This is a person at the depth of 
their pain, anger, and frustration.
This is a person for whom it 
would not be easy to praise God.
I don't know if you're quite there yet.
The violence, like I said, is disturbing,
but at least they're taking 
it to God, hopefully not
acting on anything like that.
And I start with Psalm 137
because sometimes we're in a similar
place of anger, or pain, or 
frustration, or grief, or loss.
Sometimes we're in the midst of such
trial and tribulation that the last
thing that we could think of
would be to stop and praise God.
And the reason I start here
is because I know that we don't finish
here. The reason that 
I'm okay with spending
time in 137, in all of its brutal 
and disturbing harshness,
is because the psalmist 
doesn't stay there.
And it reminds me that 
we don't have to stay here.
The reason we can handle Psalm 137
is because there's a 138.
Psalm 138 begins with the line: 
"I give you thanks, O
Lord, with my whole heart;" the psalmist
continues, "before the gods 
I sing Your praise; I bow
down toward Your holy
people and give thanks to Your name for
Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness;
for You have exalted Your name and Your
word above everything.
On the day I called, You answered me,
You increased my strength of soul.
All of the kings of the earth 
shall praise You, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of Your
mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the
Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, 
He regards the lowly;
but the haughty He perceives from far away.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve
me against the wrath of my enemies;
You stretch out Your hand, and Your right
hand delivers me. The Lord 
will fulfill His purpose for me;
Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of Your hands.
What I find powerful about 138,
is that I don't know that things 
have necessarily changed.
There's no indication, according to 
Psalm 138, that anything's different
in terms of circumstances than
what they were in 137. The only thing
that's changed is the psalmist!
In fact, it's quite likely that nothing's
changed, in terms of what's going on
in the psalmist's life. Probably still in
exile - they were in exile for like 60
years. The Edomites have done what the
Edomites did, Jerusalem's still
fallen, they're still in exile, and the
tormentors are still probably asking them
- painfully - to sing songs of mirth about Zion!
The only thing that's changed between
Psalm 137 and 138
is something's different 
in that psalmist's life.
And that is remembering 
that God is still good.
I wonder how much time
elapsed between 137 and 138.
What happened? What did God do?
We don't know.
All we know is that at some point
the psalmist and the people that were
sharing this Psalm with him, which
quite possibly could have been all of
the worshiping exiles,
at some point were able to move
from 137 to 138. Even when the world
was still in a 137 world, they were
able to be a Psalm 138 people, 
praising God. And so whatever condition
you find yourself in this 
Sunday morning, in response to
anything or everything that's 
gone on in our world,
in our country,
in our community.
I want you to remember 
that God is still good.
That on the day that we call, God will answer
and increase our strength of soul.
And this very last line, or actually
 verse 7, "Though I walk in the
midst of trouble," so they're still there -
the psalmist trusts that God will
preserve them against
the wrath of their enemies.
That the Lord will fulfill
God's purpose for that
person and those people.
That God's steadfast love endures forever.
And that even though we may 
not be out of the woods,
God will not forsake us.
I don't know about you, but that's a word
of hope that I really need right now.
That's a reminder that I really need
right now. Because I frequently these days find
myself in a Psalm 137 place,
and I personally need to be reminded
that I'm still called to be a
Psalm 138 people, and you are too.
And we can count on God to get us through
Thanks be to God. Amen
[Closing Hymn: "Graves into Gardens"
performed by the Strawbridge Praise Band]
I searched the world but it couldn't fill me
Man's empty praise and treasures that fade
Are never enough
Then You came along and put me back together
And every desire is now satisfied here in Your love
Oh there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
I'm not afraid to show You my weakness
My failures and flaws
Lord You've seen them all
And You still call me friend
'Cause the God of the mountain
Is the God of the valley
And there's not a place
Your mercy and grace won't find me again
Oh there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
Oh there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You're the only one who can
You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You're the only one who can
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You're the only one who can
You're the only one who can!
Oh there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
Oh there's nothing better than You
There's nothing better than You
Lord there's nothing
Nothing is better than You
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You're the only one who can
You turn graves into gardens
You turn bones into armies
You turn seas into highways
You're the only one who can
You're the only one who can!
You're the only one who can!
[The Rev. Dr. Todd Jordan:]
Thank you, again, for joining us in worship.
Please be in prayer for those
who were impacted by Hurricane Laura.
Maybe our community? 
Maybe another community?
Our prayers are with you all, us all, them all - regardless.
I do want to remind you that -
assuming our community is okay -
that we still are planning on having our
Parking Lot Communion
this afternoon at 4:00 and so you're invited
to come join us for that. And, again, in
the Methodist Church, we have an open table.
So anyone that wants to join us for the free gift of Communion - Christ's Gift of Himself to us,
any and all are invited to receive that.
And do me a favor, if you can and are able,
Mission Northeast is in desperate need for canned
meat or thick, hearty soup. So if you can get some
cans - if you haven't already - and bring
them with you. We are taking those canned goods to Mission Northeast
this coming week. So it's not too late today,
to either bring them with you to Communion or
just drop them off at the church.
And we will get those
to Mission Northeast.
And then, finally, thank you for all the ways
that either because of, or in spite of,
what's going on in your life,
you and your family, your household, are still finding ways and reasons to praise God for always being good.
And now may the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, grant you peace and mercy and abundance
both now and forevermore in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and the church said, "Amen".
