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[Sermon] When God Scatters and Gathers

Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo & Lorelle Skellie



On the road to Emmaus and in the pages of one of scripture's most challenging psalms, Pastor Hector and Lorelle Skellie ask a question that feels urgent right now: what does it mean that God is sovereign? Psalm 68 is not a comfortable song — it is a piece of prophetic imagination that inverts every assumption we hold about power. The God who scatters the wicked is the same God who gathers the orphan and the widow, and that is not a contradiction but a revelation. Meanwhile, Jesus prays for his church — not that it would be powerful, but that it would be one. In a world where power is hoarded and fear drives so much of what we see, this is the good news: we are invited to partner with a God whose might looks like tenderness.


Sermon Transcript

From YouTube's automatic captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.

 

PASTOR HECTOR

Well, my siblings in Christ, you may wonder why I had two stools. Today is a "Conversations on the Road" Sunday — you saw an article about that in our newsletter — and we are going to have a conversation. Like the disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection, we are going to wrestle with the message that the Spirit is bringing to us today. I would like to invite our sister Lorelle to join me here at the front.

 

Grace to you and peace from God, Abba, Father, Mother, Creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, the one who is praying for his church. Amen.

 

Before we start the conversation, let me tell you a little bit about Lorelle. As much as I can, and she can help me complete the information. I have the blessing of knowing Lorelle for several years now. You have seen her leading different aspects of the life of the church, singing and leading the worship team. But she has also been bringing the Young Worshippers message, and I was thinking the other day that she has been teaching the young worshippers as well. Thank you for being that.

 

As I have been learning and walking with her, I have been hearing the depth of her thoughts, and how she has been thinking about her spiritual growth. Today I really thank you for your willingness to spend this time with us, to share with an open heart, and to be vulnerable in this congregation as we walk this journey together.

 

As I said, sometimes Jesus needs to pray for the church, because he knows we are going to be asking questions. Do you have questions? I have questions.

 

The stories that we bring for this conversation, I hope they will be stories that evoke questions, thoughts, and ideas. We will be talking about phrases and words that are really calling our attention, maybe making us uncomfortable, or maybe bringing joy, peace, and hope in our lives.

 

Lorelle and I were talking, and we thought: let's choose one passage. And then Lorelle told me, "I think, Pastor, I am going to choose the psalm. I'm really drawn to reflecting on the psalm with the congregation." I said, "Wonderful." Then I went to do some research, and the first thing I found was that scholars said this is the most difficult psalm to interpret. And I said, "Okay, Lorelle, you're on your own."

 

No, no, no. It certainly is one of the most difficult psalms to interpret because there are 15 words in this psalm that are not found anywhere else in the Old Testament, and a bunch of other words that are rare in the Old Testament. So one scholar says this is a complex, energetic psalm that functions as a powerful piece of prophetic imagination rather than a comforting song. So if you are looking for comfort, you are going to get prophetic imagination today. I do believe there is comfort in it, and that's part of what Lorelle and I were talking about.

 

Lorelle, if I missed anything about who you are and your journey, you can share with us. But can you start by sharing what drew you to this psalm?

 

 

LORELLE

Absolutely. Being here and a part of Trinity has been such an integral part of my growth into my fullest self, and I just love being a part of this family and this community.

 

And apologies for suggesting we do the psalm. I had no idea what I was getting us into.

 

 

HECTOR

I should have checked before asking. Let's just do John. No, no, that's fine.

 

 

LORELLE

But what really brought me to the psalm was kind of that opening meditation. It's like a rallying cry for the wicked to be brought low and the righteous to be raised up. I've been thinking a lot about those words: righteousness and wickedness. When we come to those passages, we automatically put ourselves in the protagonist's role. It's just kind of a natural thing to do. But I'm not certain that's always the right or most accurate way of reading those passages. It can also sound very judgmental, like God's retribution. And I think it feeds into those narratives that the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and the God of the New Testament is merciful. But if we have one God, then it's the same God at the beginning and the end. So I think it's a matter of how we are reading the scripture.

 

I've just been thinking a lot about what righteousness and wickedness really mean. I think it's different than how we reduce it to personal piety. When we understand it as right relationship and right living with one another, I think that helps inform how we read those passages.

 

And then also just keeping in mind context. This was a song written by and for the people of Israel. As common as the narrative is that we can create parallels between the United States and Israel, that requires some pretty flexible thinking. I think the similarities between the ancient world place us much more alongside ancient Babylon or ancient Egypt than ancient Israel. So I think if we come to these passages and read them a little differently, we get something different from them.

 

 

PASTOR HECTOR

You're right. You and I were talking about how these passages at some point may sound too strong, may sound too violent to some degree, and that makes us step back and kind of close ourselves off rather than look at the expansive love of God that can be both. A God with authority, a God who oversees, a God who is present, a God who is truly sovereign in the midst of all the powers we are experiencing in this world.

 

I kind of resonate with what you are saying about how we read this passage in the context of today. I was wondering: what do you think this psalm tells us about ourselves, or about our society? Do you think it speaks to the current realities of our world?

 

 

LORELLE

I think it comes back to power so often. We have the benefit of having read scripture for 2,000 years, through a Christian lens even longer. So we've become more comfortable with the idea that God could be kind and merciful, and that Jesus comes and inverts the power structures. But really, those ideas were very radical at the time, very unique, and they still are, because it runs so contrary to how we orient ourselves to the world.

 

I feel like right now what we're seeing is what happens when those who have had power start to fear that they're losing it, and there's that doubling down. So I think being able to come to this passage and see how our all-powerful God uses God's power, in what seems to me to be such a deeply tender and loving way, to gather the powerless to God's self, is a reminder and an example for us of how we should be using our own power and positions of privilege, to whatever extent we have them, to make an impact.

 

 

PASTOR HECTOR

You're making me think about what I was just sharing with our young worshippers, and the fact that Jesus is praying for his church, for the members of the church, that we may be one. That is a radical position. As you were saying, the grace of God that Jesus is bringing is really turning over all the structures. It's countercultural in some ways.

 

And I think that's also what you said about this image of God as a powerful God that imposes. That's one approach. But in the psalm we are reading, it turns out that God is actually embracing and lifting up the orphan and the widow. That, again, is a revolutionary and radical new understanding of what the power, might, and sovereignty of God means.

 

What do you think is the good news that we hear, for you, or for the world where we are now?

 

 

LORELLE

Another one of the phrases I've been meditating on a lot is "the kingdom of God." It sounds like a noun, it sounds like a place, but when I'm reading how Jesus uses it, he's using it more as a verb. "The kingdom of God is like..." and then he goes on to describe how people relate to one another in a righteous way, or even how a natural phenomenon in creation behaves. But it's always an action.

 

So in some ways I think the kingdom of God is a verb. It's a call to action. It's a call to live the way that God lives, to live in that Christlike way. But then if we understand it as a noun, I was thinking that as a group of people are doing the kingdom of God, they become the kingdom of God, and they're transformed into something new. Something holy, even.

 

When I'm approaching scripture passages with a more intentional focus and they talk about the character of God, I'm trying to view it immediately through the lens of: what does this say about how I should then be living? How should I be "kingdom of God-ing," in a way? And that resonates for me with what you tell us to do: go out into the world and be the church.

 

I think this is good news because we get to model ourselves after a God who uses power in the most loving of ways. And that's the work we get to partner in. Then as we go out into the world and we're working on being the kingdom of God, we get to be transformed into this beautiful expression of love. This passage is a model for us. What we're to do is to lift up those who are typically pushed to the margins. And to me, that's really good news. That's powerful news.

 

 

PASTOR HECTOR

I would say good, powerful news. As you are talking, it takes me back to where you started, what you were saying about God's power. This mighty God who scatters the wicked like smoke blown by the wind. You said it comes back to relationship, righteousness, right relationship with God and with one another. And so the kingdom is not something we attain, something we need to work for, or something we need to compete with others for. It is about embracing what God is in us, through Jesus. It's just a way of life. We are.

 

 

LORELLE

And that is our identity that God gives us.

 

 

PASTOR HECTOR

Honestly, when you and I were talking and I was reflecting, and be aware, siblings in Christ, that Lorelle and I have been in conversation, reflecting together and praying. So it's a process of accompanying one another. I have been thinking that those scholars should come to this church and speak with Lorelle to help them understand that this psalm is not that hard after all. Yes, it sounds difficult, and there are words that we probably do not understand. But the essence of the message, I think, is clear. It is the closeness, the grace, the embrace of God, where might and power and sovereignty are understood in a different way than the world understands it.

 

I was reading, I think I mentioned this to you, that one of the commentaries says this psalm is more of a prophetic imagination and a prophetic call, because it is a radical call to challenge the authorities. If God is sovereign, then Caesar is not. The powers are not. If Jesus is Lord, in this confession, then we are making a very strong statement to this world. If Jesus is Lord, the political powers are not Lord. You can imagine what these statements meant when the early Christians were confessing their faith in the midst of empire.

 

One of the things I've learned is that this prophetic imagination means: if God is sovereign, the gods of this world are not. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. If God rules the world, we as Christians ultimately deny allegiance to national security, political parties, economic systems, ethnic heritage, jobs, family, and sometimes even our own selves.

 

What I've come to conclude, Lorelle, through our conversations and some reading, is that this psalm is a song of new orientation. It's a celebration of God's victory that brings life out of death and establishes a new, just reality. And that reality is that we are part of a church for which Jesus prays every day, that we may be one. That's beautiful.

 

Is there anything else you wanted to share with us?

 

 

LORELLE

Just that I find so much beauty in scripture these days. I get tearful when I read some of these passages. It's just so compelling. And I feel the same about my relationships with my church family. The opportunity to talk with you about these passages has meant something very deep to me. Thank you for this opportunity.

 

 

PASTOR HECTOR

The Spirit is guiding us, and I think that's the essence of the church: that we are walking together. Even though the pastor went to seminary and has studied and done this for many years, pastors continue to learn through the voice of the Spirit that comes through each one of you. In these few days of speaking with you, reflecting with you, and the other times I have done this with other members of the congregation, these have been real moments of nurturing, refreshing reminders, and humbleness. Reminders that we are walking together, trying to figure out and make sense of this immense grace and love of God that we cannot quite grasp in our understanding, and yet is real in our midst.

 

Amen. Thank you, Lorelle, for sharing. May the Lord be with you in all your journey as you go. May the Lord go before you to guide you, next to you to befriend you, behind you to encourage you, above you to protect you, and also in you to give you peace. Thanks be to God for you. Amen.


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