1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!*
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 150
What a great way to end the psalter - praise God, praise everything about Him. And take every instrument you have to do it: your voice, your lyre, your cymbals, your cowbell - whatever you have, take it and praise Him!
Psalm 19 gives two great reasons to praise Him: his creation and his law. For me, to praise God for his creation is a natural. As a child of the 60s, I am less inclined to understand the giddy praise of God for his law. When law is used as a club, it is hard to see it joyously. But when you understand law as an expression of love, of the Word that engenders all beauty and light in the middle of a world that is killing and dying in darkness and fear for the lack of knowledge and Life, then you begin to understand its true goodness and the great gift that it is
These readings are taken from the daily lectionary of the PCUSA.
Can I quote your sentence on understanding law? I struggle with the psalms that are about praising God's law because I think - why would we just praise rules? But, your sentence of what God's law can do in this world is enlightening and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet! I hope you are asking me about the quote with tongue in cheek. Everything that I have is yours
ReplyDeleteI have had a hard time with the concept of law too: first, when I was young since, to me, law represented repression - then, later, when, to me, law represented legalism. It has taken a very long time for the very ancient and spiritual understanding of law to become alive for me. Notice in Psalm 119 how law is described very much as Jesus is described or as Jesus describes himself.
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