meditation 681 (150)

Psalm Meditation 681
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 7, 2013

Psalm 150
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!
(NRSV)

I sang “Lord of the Dance” at an ecumenical Lenten service many years ago and after the service a member of one of the other congregations told me that the only reason he didn’t walk out of the service as soon as I started singing was out of respect for me. Obviously, he hated the song, especially as it implied that Jesus would do something he thought of as uncomfortable if not downright evil. I started to argue with him that there are several references to dancing in Scripture but he would have none of it. It became easier to thank him for his respect for me than to convince him that while there might be some less than faithful types of dancing, it was not necessary to paint all dancing with the same broad brush.

This final psalm calls us, invites us to use all the resources at our disposal to lift our praises to God. Wind instruments, stringed instruments, percussion instruments as well our bodies can be employed in giving God praise. One of my friends reminds me on a regular basis that each of us does not have the same gifts to be employed in praise. That is, we do not have the freedom to express ourselves in each of these modes of praise. The point of the psalm is to let loose, to the best of our ability, in praising God for all that goes on in and around us because we feel the hand of God upon us. It is also important to recognize the presence of those voices in our heads that keep us from some of these expressions of praise.

The poor guy in the Lenten service had that voice in his head saying that all dance is bad. There are some wonderful expressions of dance as a form of worship, especially in the cultural context of the particular congregation. Whether we are comfortable praising God with dance or not, the psalmist reminds us to give God our praise in the best way we can and to do it with our whole heart, life, being.

July 1, 2013