1 Psalm 47, Today’s New International Version:
Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
shout to God with cries of joy.
For the LORD Most High is awesome,
the great King over all the earth.
He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
peoples under our feet.
He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
sing to him a psalm of praise.
God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.
_______
Sometimes, you’ve just gotta sing praise.
That’s all there is to it.
You remember who God is.
And who you are not.
“God has ascended amid shouts of joy!”
ALL RIGHT! Amen. Hallelujah.
Except.
During Lent, the hallelujahs are supposed to be
suppressed,
removed from the liturgy,
laid to rest until Easter Sunday,
when they will surge forth from the people of God.
So today, I’ll do the praising a little more quietly,
more quietly even than I might feel.
Because I think it’s good to keep a season of quiet,
to contain the exuberance,
to reflect on the seriousness of this journey we’re on.
I will admit that 40 days is a very.long.time.
And by the time we get to the end,
I’m gonna want to let ‘er rip –
I mean,
every word of joyful abandon I can find.
40 days feels like a long, hard climb.
But then I think about that for just a minute.
And really, is it so much to ask?
After all, ‘from the foundations of the world,’
scripture tell us –
that’s how long Jesus has been climbing that hill to
our salvation,
our restoration,
our wholeness.
On second thought, I think I can hike with him for 40 days.
Yes. I think I can.
_______
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for taking the dive and making the climb. For sinking and rising, for coming and changing everything. Thank you for the journey you made for me; now strengthen me to journey for you and with you during this Lenten season.
_______
Offering a quiet “amen,” from over here….and reflecting on today’s quiet, and the exuberance of Easter.
Thank you, Diana.
Diana, this entire thing just made me smile…..of course the pictures of the California coast helped. I loved the prayer, ‘Thank you Jesus for taking the dive and making the climb.’ I love the way you see things.
I think I would have liked having you as my pastor.
It reminds me of what I always tell my boys when they act like they are starving to death: “Just think how good the food will taste because of the hunger”. This faith journey is filled with those chiaroscuro moments, isn’t it? Lovely thoughts, Diana.
Thank you, Megan. I know I would have loved having you in the congregation.
Your poetic vocabulary never ceases to amaze me, Laura! Thanks for this lovely comment and for your encouragement.
Thank you, Jody. Always grateful to hear someone smiles at what I say. (Although I must admit this particular picture is not of the California side of the Pacific Ocean – but the Hawaiian side.)
You are welcome, Sheila. Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to comment.
Me. Too!
I’ve been feeling such subdued joy and quiet praise for a while now. But that photo is applause worthy!
Thanks for stopping by here, Sandy. And thanks for your kind words. That photo was taken almost exactly one year ago, standing on the grass in front of our condo in Maui. It was a two week trip in honor of my retirement – one week with our son and his family nearby and one week just the two of us. We’d had a fair amount of cloudy weather – which I don’t mind in HI because it’s usually warm, breezy and there are tons of rainbows. But that night it began to clear up about 5:00 or so, so I took my camera and just stood and shot pictures for about 45 minutes. It was without doubt the most glorious, dramatic sunset I’ve ever seen – it just did not quit. We have been to HI numerous times and we live in a coastal town – so sunsets show up with some frequency in my catalog of photos. But this was – beyond words. And this shot is of the ‘front’ end of the sky – there are other lovely ones of the ‘back’ end, too. It felt like a gigantic gift from God as we settled into our week alone. You’ll see this one – or others from the same evening – lots of times on this blog, I’m sure.