Daily Meditation: "Acceptable"

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

SCRIPTURE

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." - Psalm 19:14

REFLECTION

I’ve heard many a pastor begin their sermons this way, and I totally get it. Particularly if you preach the way I do and you don’t have anything written down in front of you, you really hope and pray that what comes out of your mouth is acceptable: to those listening and especially to God. Often, it can be a nerve-wracking experience to give a sermon.

But the truth is, our lives are our sermons. Every moment of every day, we speak our faith in the ways in which we live our lives and communicate ourselves to the world. When we in the UCC testify to our “Priesthood Of All Believers” that I talk about so much and we embrace that each of us, in our ways, are ministers, then it really begins to hit home: our every moment is a sermon in action.

In that spirit, all the more so, wouldn’t we want the words of our mouths and meditations of our hearts to be acceptable; to the world around us and especially to God?

I often wonder if we all approached absolutely everything we do with this psalm in mind: before we speak, before we compose an email and hit “Send,” before we post a reply to something on social media, before we say something to or in front of our children, before we do or say anything at all, would our words and actions be done with different and more deliberate intentionality?

I think all of us could use the ways in which many pastors begin their sermons before we begin each day. Maybe it would make a difference.

PRAYER

Gracious God, may the living of the sermon of my living be acceptable to you and to the world in which I live and serve.

Amen.

Peace,

Shawn