Teresa’s Note: August 9, 2024

Teresa's Note

Aug 9

Teresa's Note - August 9, 2024

Dear friends and members of University UMC:

This Sunday in worship we begin a new sermon series inspired by Psalm 90 entitled “Teach Us to Number Our Days.” Psalm 90:12 reads, “Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom” and Nan Merrill in her book, Praying the Psalms, translates this verse “Teach us, O Beloved, to honor each day that we may have a heart of wisdom.” What does it mean to have a heart of wisdom? What does it mean to honor each day? We’ll explore these questions and more in the weeks ahead. We’ll look at the gift of pastimes and hobbies this week and in the weeks ahead we'll consider subjects such as our commitment to community, the gift of beauty, and work/life balance. This series begins as many of us look to a new school year. And often it is true that educators, parents, and students alike feel as if there is never enough time to complete school activities and assignments, not to mention non-school-related commitments. And even for those working in other professions and those who aren’t students and aren’t parents of school-aged children, we often hear and experience for ourselves that people are busier than ever. It is true that activities fill our schedules and days to overflowing. And I believe a life of faith can assist us in being aware of how we spend our days and intentional about making choices that foster joy, peace, and hope.

Isaac Watts was a theologian, living and writing hymns in the early 1700s. Over 500 hymns are attributed to Watts including “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.” He also wrote the hymn “Our God, Our Help In Ages Past,” which is based on his understanding of Psalm 90 - namely that God ultimately is our home and that the whole of our lives is lived and held in God’s love. You can find a few verses of this hymn below and this Sunday our organist Dr. EunJoo Fierro will offer an arrangement of this hymn during the postlude. (Note: Watts’ original lyrics were “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” but were edited to “O God, Our Help…” in more recent hymnals)

I look forward to being back in worship on Sunday and seeing many of you at the Pride Parade tomorrow evening.

What a joy to be your pastor!

Teresa

O God, Our Help in Ages Past

by Isaac Watts

“O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

A thousand ages in Thy sight

Are like an evening gone;

Short as the watch that ends the night

Before the rising sun.

O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Be Thou our guard while troubles last,

And our eternal home.”

Prayer based on Psalm 90

You are the memory of where we have been

And the anticipation of where we are going.

Though we are not yet in possession

of all we have been promised,

Here and there along the way we catch

glimpses of our eternal home.

O Lord, you are our home along the way

And at the end of the journey.

For traveling with us,

For rescuing us when we are lost,

And for calling us into your hot place,

Thanks be to you, O God, our eternal home.

- by Sharlande Sledge,

“Prayer and Litanies for the Christian Seasons.”

A quick selfie before worship in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at Hancock First UMC last weekend.

Members and Friends of UUMC Marching in last year’s Austin Pride Parade. Looking forward to sharing a picture from this year in my Friday note next week.