Psalms for Today

 

Read Psalms 67-69

 

Yesterday, I invited you to bring your full self into God’s presence.  Hold that as I rewind, revisit Psalm 66 from yesterday as important wisdom for these days.  When we gather as people who are seen and loved and held in God’s love, we can sing Psalm 66.  What is bringing you joy today?  Notice how just this week we have ridden emotional rollercoaster of whimpering, whining, and wishing the world was different, now to praising.  This is the journey of orientation to disorientation to reorientation.  Praise, not because everything is perfectly polished and going according to our plans.  Praise because God is God and God is still at work in us and through us and sometimes despite us and other times inspiring us.  God is God.  I love the line in the hymn, God of Abraham and Sarah, where the writer invites us to sing, “Praise is the final mystery.”  That line takes a lifetime to explore and experience and express.  Praise is a way of life.  Praise is what the tree and wind do as they dance together.  Praise is what the squirrels do as they scurry around.  Praise is what my dog does when I rub his ears.  Praise is what my heart does when I hear music that moves me or am with my family.  Praise is what I feel from the top of my head to pinkie toe when we sing together on Sunday.  Praise is not some destination we reach at the end of life, praise is what our hearts long do every day of life.  This does not diminish or discount the disorientation of life ~ the hurt and heartbreak ~ nor does it say that those who hate and discriminate get to have the final word.  Praise is protest and prophetic in participation with the Holy is still at work in this world creating a realm where all (and I mean all creation, animals, plants, and featherless bipeds) will be fully alive and awake.  Praise is important because it lets loose a vision toward the possible rather than only pointing out what is wrong through constant criticism.  Praise is an antidote to apathy and enlivens the heart and lightens the soul to be in tune with the Holy hum of the universe.  How will you praise today?  What wisdom do you hear to inform and inspire your praise in Psalms 67 and 68?  And how does that sit with the heartbroken honesty of Psalm 69?  I encourage you to keep noting what verses in these Psalms awaken your soul to sing, which verses feel like sandpaper to your soul, and which Psalms you skim because the words right now are just not connecting to your experience.  Bring your full self to this project as we continue to sing these ancient words afresh as wisdom for our lives these days.  Amen.