October 23,2022
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
" Hommmmmme"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
October 23, 2022 Based on Genesis 1
It’s unfortunately been too long since I’ve kept a regular yoga practice. But when I did one of my favorite parts of a yoga session was at the end of our practice, where we’d lay down for shavasanah, which if you’ve never done yoga, is a time of rest and meditation after all the poses and movement. It’s this time where you lay on your back and give your mind and body a chance to find ground again after all that you’ve just done. It’s a time to center yourself.
My favorite yoga teacher through the years concluded that time with an om chant. Where we’d close our eyes and chant “om” together. It’s an ancient practice in meditation, you say this word and the sound reverberates with in you and you feel an inner calm, this peace, this settlement.
But because my yoga teacher was teaching in rural America with a class of folks who weren’t very familiar with Asian religion or meditation practice, she provided another word for those that weren’t comfortable saying a foreign word they didn’t understand… “home”
“Hommmmme”
It provided the same meditative centering, and not only did it calm you, as you chanted home it evoked your memories of being at home, in that a safe and familiar place that is more than the physical. But that feeling where you are known and loved, Home, where you feel comfortable, provided for, protected, centered and at rest.
I don’t know if you got to take a walk outside this weekend, but man, was Ohio showing off. The leaves were glorious, and it was the kind of weather that just makes you want to bask in nature as long as you possibly can. To kick through a leaf pile, to lay under the blue sky, to listen to the wind blowing through the trees. You experience creation on days like this and it makes you feel what God must have felt after each day of creation… looking over everything that was made and feeling that is oh so good.
It was in the fall of 2020, after the first wave of the pandemic, when a friend of mine discovered the healing power of walking in nature. We were still locked down, anxiety was high, our future felt unsure, but my friend looked out her window, saw the orange and yellow, the red and purple, and decided to start walking. Immediately she felt her tension loosen, her breathing slow. She felt calm and centered, she felt at home. She did this again the next day, and then the next. In the midst of chaos nature was the only place of healing that she could find. At times she’d take off her shoes and walk barefoot on the ground as though the earth itself was providing her rootedness and grounding.
She shared this new practice with another friend, who immediately started asking for details… How long do you walk? Is it a time thing or a distance that makes you feel healed. Her response:
“You walk until you feel better”
It is seasons like fall that give you a sense of place, that make you feel at home in the goodness of creation. It is seasons like this that remind us that this was God’s intent from the start. To create goodness in abundance. To make a home for all things to belong where there is more than enough to go around. To provide: not for Godself, but for everything else.
God made us in Gods own image to steward this goodness, to continue this legacy of provision and beauty for all the world in our own way. To make a home in our communities for all things to find their grounding, their center, their healing, their home.
This is what we do in church. We participate in building a community that is a reflection of God’s goodness and beauty in this world. We help transform our neighborhood into a place that is ordered not by the world, but by in response to God’s grace, mercy, and love.
This is something IPC has been doing now for 108 years. Helping to foster a sense of belonging, of home, a healing experience of beauty and goodness for all those who encounter us. And it is no small act.
In the first few months after I arrived here I began a task of intentionally shaping our online presence. I logged onto our Instagram account to get it back up and running, which for those of you out of touch with social media it is a popular phone app for sharing pictures.
After logging on, I did a search for the church which pulls up all the pictures that people have taken here, to find some of the meaningful photos of church life through the years. What I found was surprising. The first ten photos that came up were of college students not even at the church but in the surrounding houses. There were parties with solo cups in hand, people having a great time. And the number one photo, was of two women in bikinis with the center focus of the picture being their rear ends trying to get a suntan on a neighboring lawn.
I realized what happened. These students in our neighborhood added the church as their location when posting their picture, even though they were not at the church. So, thinking this was something we didn’t really want as a reflection of our church, I set about contacting each of the people who had photos that were obviously not taken as part of church life.
I began with the first picture of the young women. From the looks of her account, it seemed like she graduated a few years ago since the photo was about 4 years old at that point. I reached out to the person who posted it and said… Hi, I’m the pastor at Indianola Presbyterian church in Columbus’ university district. This is a little awkward, but we are trying to get a better handle on our social media presence, and it turns out one of the top photos you find when searching for our church is a photo you posted not at the church. Would you mind untagging us?
She responded, she apologized, she looked up the photo and of course was embarrassed. And we started to chat. She shared that she lived in the neighborhood surrounding the church for about 4 years through under grad and grad school. And she wanted to share how much she appreciated our church being here, how beautiful our building and lawn are. She said she never stepped foot in the church, she’s not religious. But every day when walking back from class, returning home, she would see the church and she could feel herself begin to calm down, to settle, to breathe, to begin to rest after all the stress and anxiety from her day.
Friends, even without saying a word to this person, we helped put God’s grace into action for her. We helped her find a sense of home and sense of healing. As people of God. This is our calling. To make a home here in this community that is the best reflection of God’s grace that we can.
May that calling deepen, expand, and grow for the next 108 years of our life here.
Amen.
We welcome all who worship here this morning!
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE
INTROIT “Praise to the Lord” arr. Paul Sjolund
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Where once there was nothing – something. Where once there was silence – a voice. People say, “Amen!”
Many: Amen!
One: When once there was nowhere to stand, God gave us earth. When once there was no time, God gave us day and night. People say, “Amen!”
Many: Amen!
One: When once we had no way of knowing, God breathed wisdom. When once we were formless and void, God made us in the divine image: Creators,
redeemers, sustainers!
Many: From generosity, for generosity:
All: Come, let us worship God!
HYMN No. 26 “Earth and All Stars” EARTH AND ALL STARS
PRAYER OF CONFESSION Brian Roe
Generous God, thank you for the beauty of this world. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in its pain and brokenness that we miss its
wonders. Today we pause to thank you for the beauty of your creation in this place we call home. You have been so generous in providing for
everything in abundance, and yet we have responded as though we lived in scarcity. Hoarding the gifts of this world as though they were
ours to possess rather than yours to share. Have mercy on us, Creator. Help us to join you in making a home that reflects your abundant and
beautiful image…Silence is kept for individual confessions
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
RESPONSE OF PRAISE # 695 “Change My Heart, O God” CHANGE MY HEART
PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “I Look to Mountains High Above” Hal H. Hopson
(based on a canon by Antonio Caldara)
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Jeremy Carroll
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE: Genesis 1
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
HYMN NO. 22 “God of the Sparrow” vs. 1, 3,6 ROEDER
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH with The Lord’s Prayer using debt and debtors
TIME OF OFFERING
OFFERTORY RESPONSE #596 “You Are Holy” DU ÄR HELIG
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Come, God, come! You hovered over the waters at the beginning, poised to make something new. Do the same now! Hover over this unformed offering – all the coins and bills and checks and automatic withdraws – and give it form! Hover over our gifts and make them into a home fit for everyone who needs it, with safety and healing and food and warmth and mercy and life and grace upon grace for all. It’s in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
HYMN NO. 37 “Let All Things Now Living” ASH GROVE
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
Moment for Stewardship Peter Maurath
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION RSPONSE "A Unified Prayer" B.E. Boykin
POSTLUDE
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452
WORSHIP LEADERS
Pastor – Rev. Trip Porch
Liturgist – Brian Roe
Children’s Message – Jeremy Carroll
MUSIC LEADERS
Chancel Choir
Organist – Orlay Alonso
Director of Music – Christopher Dent
Assoc. Director of Music – Ariel Alvarado