Text: Psalm 100
Title: "Called Into God's Presence"
Author: Rev. Graham C. Fowler

Every Sunday we begin our worship service with a choral Call to Worship. As the piano plays and choir begins to sing, we know that it's time for us to leave our busy and sometimes chaotic world behind, to come in to God's presence, and to worship him.

Our scripture lesson this morning, Psalm 100, was like a choral call to worship for the Israelites. As the people came to the temple to worship God, they would sing a psalm like this one. The psalm would call them out of the world, into the presence of God. And as they sang the psalm and began to worship God, they were reminded once again of who God is. He is a God who not only created the world and everyone in it, but who is also good, and loving, and faithful to his people.

As I think about this psalm and the way it called the people together to worship God, I am reminded of the story of 3 people, living in our modern day world, who also heard God's call to worship him. It was a cold, clear Wednesday night in the big city. The night before Thanksgiving. He was pushing an old, beat up shopping cart along a back alley. It was filled with discarded clothes, old newspapers, and a couple of cans of food. He didn't look any better. He wore several layers of clothes, all of them filthy and full of holes. His hair was long and matted, he had a scraggly beard, and what little you could see of his face was covered in dirt and grease. Nobody knew his name, but the kids had started calling him "Hobo Bob." He would wander through the streets digging through trash cans, begging the odd quarter off of strangers. He didn't bother anyone, so people didn't bother him.

That cold, clear night before thanksgiving, "Hobo Bob" was just wandering through the alleys, looking for a corner he could sleep in that would shelter him from the cold. He had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving. He had nothing to be Thankful for, and no God to give thanks too. How could he believe in God, when God had let this happen to him. But then, floating on the air, came the faint strains of a Pipe Organ playing a hymn that was familiar to him. He slowly pushed his cart toward the sound, and found himself standing in front of a church. On the sign out in front of the church it said, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." "Hobo Bob" just stood their transfixed by the music.

The Office was quiet. The lights were off except for a desk lamp glaring brightly in one cubicle. You could hear the quiet hum of the cooling fan in a computer, the clickety-clack of a keyboard. Everyone had gone home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, except for Maria. She knew her boss wouldn't be back until Monday, but if she could finish this report and personally hand it to him first thing Monday Morning, maybe she could win that promotion she'd been competing for. The strain on Maria's eyes was getting to her, her fingers were cramping. She decided to go outside and take a walk in the cool November air before she finished the report. As the door to the office closed behind her, the phone rang. A child's voice came over the answering machine. "Mommy, when are you coming home? You promised we could have dinner with Grandma tonight."

As Maria walked along the street in front of her office building, she too heard the faint strains of a Pipe Organ playing a hymn she knew from her childhood. Slowly she walked toward the sound till she came to a church. The sign out front read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." She just stood there next to "Hobo Bob," transfixed by the music.

Mai Ling had been raised a Buddhist and she was very faithful to it's teachings and traditions. But her parents had also taught her to tolerate and respect people of other religions. Even so, when she moved to America with her husband, she had a hard time respecting the Christian religion. In a country that was supposed to be founded on Christian principles, people didn't seem to take their religion seriously. Here it was Thanksgiving, a holiday that was supposed to honor God for all his blessings. And yet her co-workers called it Turkey Day. They bragged about how they would stuff themselves with food and then sit in front of a T.V. and watch parades or football. How could she respect a religion that had commercialized it's Holy Days? She had no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving.

But as she was walking home from the subway station, she heard the faint sounds of music in the air. It sounded like a pipe organ. The tune was beautiful, but unfamiliar to her. Curiosity got the best of her and she started to walk toward the sound. She came to the front of a Christian Church. Out in front was a sign that read, "Community Thanksgiving Service, Wednesday Night, 7:30 p.m. Everyone Welcome." And she stood there, along with Maria and "Hobo Bob," transfixed by the music coming from within.

As the tune began to repeat, the music swelled. Maria recognized that the song was coming to an end. The three looked at each other, then back at the open door of the church. Slowly they climbed the stairs together. An usher was still standing at the door. He looked them over for a moment, took a second look at "Hobo Bob," then shrugged, smiled, and handed each of them a bulletin. He lead them down the aisle to an empty pew where they could sit together. And for the next hour they listened as the congregation sang and prayed, as the scriptures were read and preached.

"Hobo Bob" began to think seriously about the God he had been trying to ignore. He didn't understand why he lost his job, and family, and home. He didn't understand why God had left him to fend for himself out on the streets. And yet, he could see how God had been present with him over the years. He thought about the shelters he had stayed in on the coldest nights, the hot meals people sometimes prepared for the homeless. He thought about the little girl who had shoved a dollar bill in his hand and said "God Bless You" as she ran back to her horrified parents. He had sneered at her then. But now, as he worshiped with this congregation, he began to think that maybe God was greater than his poverty, and maybe he did have something to be thankful for on this night.

Maria's thoughts went back to the God of her childhood. Her parents had taken her to church faithfully, but lately she had been to busy to think about God. She had been serving other gods, the gods of success and power and promotion. And yet the one true God had been there all along. He had richly blessed her with a wonderful son. A son who deserved more of her time and who should be raised to know God too. As Maria worshiped with that congregation, God became her God once again.

Mai Ling was deep in thought. She could sense the love and devotion these people had for their God. Maybe there was more to this holiday than the commercialization. But what caught her attention most was the story of a God who loved all people, no matter how they were raised or what country they were from. A God who loved us so much he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, so that we might turn back to God. As Mai Ling worshiped with that congregation, she realized that this was truly something to be thankful for.

Three people, with little or no connection to the church, heard God's call to come into his house and worship him. As they responded to the call, they experienced the presence of the one true God, and they respond with thankfulness. Over the centuries, Psalm 100 has called God's people together to Worship him. But notice that this psalm is not just for the Israelites, or for Christians. It says, "Make a joyful noise to the LORD, ALL THE EARTH." All people are created by God. All people belong to Him. And it is by coming together and worshiping Him that we realize the Lord is God and He has a claim on our lives.