THE EARTH IS FULL OF THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD

Ephesians 3:14-21; Ps 33 The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord; Luke 12:49-53

The response for today's psalm is the following, "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

It was striking to read that this morning especially after i checked the headlines on the news for today: rampage in Canada, teacher murdered in VErmont, teens hit and run on a 9 year old, more jihadist, domestic violence in the NFL, stoning to death in Syria, husband charged with killing wife, wife charged with killing husband, Satanist wants to talk about the black Mass ebola still on the move, and the list goes on.

And yet this morning we hear that refrain nice again, "The Earth is filled with the goodness of the Lord."

People wonder where is the goodness of the Lord.

The word "goodness: in today's refrain is the hebrew word hesed, which is the mutual concern that marks the relationship of covenant members with each other.  It mutual care and concern.

We are all covenant members with God.  We have been asked to have mutual care and concern for one another.  We bring the goodness of God to the world daily by our mutual care and concern we have for those we encounter.  The goodness of the Lord is a grass roots reality.  IT fills the world from the bottom up.

This is the way the goodness of the Lord fills the earth.

This morning after I read the headlines and then the refrain I stepped outside and caught a glimpse of the rising sun.  Everything was bathed isn a orange glow.

It reminded me that in order for the goodness of the Lord to fill the earth, we have to be willing to step outside, step outside the headlines and zoom in on what is around us and there reach out in mutual care and concern and watch the goodness of the lord blossom.

It is easy to lose sight of God' s goodness when we focus on the headlines.  But lets focus elsewhere. We must remember, even division is a sign of God's goodness, "Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? no, I tell you, but rather division."  We have to be willing to be part of that division, stepping outside the bounds of the world so that the goodness of God can reign.