Showing posts with label Psalm 100. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 100. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Psalm Meditation 1246
¶Sixth Sunday of Easter
¶May 5, 2024
¶Psalm 100
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+100&version=NRSVUE
(NRSVUE)
¶I had every intention of writing about the importance of joy, even when we don’t feel particularly joyful, until I got to verse 3 and the alternate translation. “It is he who made us, and we are his;” is the translation the NRSV folks settled on. It must have been a close decisions, since the note is added, “Or ‘and not we ourselves.’” It is easy to nod our agreement that we belong to God, however when we translate that same phrase as ‘and not we ourselves’ we, at least I, we have to stop and think about all the ways we make life easier by believing that God sees things the same way we do.
¶There are folks outside the Judeo-Christian tradition who believe that all religious folk have made up their God or gods for any number of helpful reasons. There is probably some truth in that, since we can’t possibly comprehend the fullness of God, so we have to put in our own ruffles and flourishes to make God available to us. At the same time, that is not the whole truth. God is outside our comprehension, and in our hearts and minds in a way that is beyond anything that we could make up. So, we add our own touches to God even as we realize that God is the ultimate creator of all, including having made each of us.
¶When God begins to agree with everything we believe and offers us no challenges to live in a way that pushes us beyond that limits of our comfort, we have made God in our image. When we forget that God is the one who gives us life, being, and meaning we put ourselves in the place of God. It is God who made us, and not we ourselves. We did not make ourselves and we certainly did not make God in our image much as we may try to do that. We get to be joyful about not being in charge, and knowing that God loves us more deeply and intimately than we can imagine. Yippee.
¶April 30, 2024
¶LCM
Monday, March 11, 2019
Psalm Meditation 978
Second Sunday in Lent (St Patrick’s Day)
March 17, 2019
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations
(NRSV)
Making a joyful noise is a lot easier than singing since it is something that each of us can do. For some it is a full, jumping, dancing celebration with yells and screams of delight. For others it is a smile that takes over their whole body with a small chuckle thrown in for emphasis. We neither feel nor express our joy in the same way. It certainly varies from person to person, as well as from event to event.
The important part is to feel the joy and to express it in a way that works for the one experiencing it. I have heard people say that they do their best to limit their feelings of joy so that it also limits their feelings of grief and sadness. It feels safe, as if we are protecting ourselves from the extremes of emotion, however it is a source of sadness to those who watch us refuse to express our joy and sadness in full measure.
The psalmist calls us to express our full range of joy in the presence of God. And that joy comes in response to the steadfast love of God in every aspect of our lives. No matter who we are, no matter what we do, we are wrapped up in the love that God has for us. That is reason to be filled with joy and to express it to God to the fullest of our ability.
March 11, 2019
LCM
Second Sunday in Lent (St Patrick’s Day)
March 17, 2019
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations
(NRSV)
Making a joyful noise is a lot easier than singing since it is something that each of us can do. For some it is a full, jumping, dancing celebration with yells and screams of delight. For others it is a smile that takes over their whole body with a small chuckle thrown in for emphasis. We neither feel nor express our joy in the same way. It certainly varies from person to person, as well as from event to event.
The important part is to feel the joy and to express it in a way that works for the one experiencing it. I have heard people say that they do their best to limit their feelings of joy so that it also limits their feelings of grief and sadness. It feels safe, as if we are protecting ourselves from the extremes of emotion, however it is a source of sadness to those who watch us refuse to express our joy and sadness in full measure.
The psalmist calls us to express our full range of joy in the presence of God. And that joy comes in response to the steadfast love of God in every aspect of our lives. No matter who we are, no matter what we do, we are wrapped up in the love that God has for us. That is reason to be filled with joy and to express it to God to the fullest of our ability.
March 11, 2019
LCM
Monday, July 15, 2013
Psalm Meditation 683
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 21, 2013
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
(NRSV)
There are times in which we feel as if our emotions control us and there is nothing we can do to make ourselves feel any different than we do at a particular moment. This psalm reminds us that we have control over our actions and that our actions can make a difference in our emotions. In the middle of a bad day, we can lift our mood by singing a song, or dancing a dance, letting the outward expression of joy filter into the innermost parts of our being.
The psalmist doesn’t say we have to feel the joy, we are invited and encouraged to go through the motions with a sense of openness to the presence of God in our lives. It is possible that by being available to God we may find ourselves feeling the joy in the noise we are making. As we feel the joy, even a little bit of it, our worship goes from an outward expression to an inner experience. As our worship becomes heartfelt we know that God seeks out a relationship with us and we find ourselves wanting to draw closer to the presence of God.
Willingly going through the motions of worship will not take us from the depths of despair to the heights of joy. Expressions of joyful worship are likely to help us feel a bit of the joy that is available to us in the presence of God. Knowing that God is with us can lift us up a bit so that we can see that we are not alone, that we are in this together with God.
July 15, 2013
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 21, 2013
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
(NRSV)
There are times in which we feel as if our emotions control us and there is nothing we can do to make ourselves feel any different than we do at a particular moment. This psalm reminds us that we have control over our actions and that our actions can make a difference in our emotions. In the middle of a bad day, we can lift our mood by singing a song, or dancing a dance, letting the outward expression of joy filter into the innermost parts of our being.
The psalmist doesn’t say we have to feel the joy, we are invited and encouraged to go through the motions with a sense of openness to the presence of God in our lives. It is possible that by being available to God we may find ourselves feeling the joy in the noise we are making. As we feel the joy, even a little bit of it, our worship goes from an outward expression to an inner experience. As our worship becomes heartfelt we know that God seeks out a relationship with us and we find ourselves wanting to draw closer to the presence of God.
Willingly going through the motions of worship will not take us from the depths of despair to the heights of joy. Expressions of joyful worship are likely to help us feel a bit of the joy that is available to us in the presence of God. Knowing that God is with us can lift us up a bit so that we can see that we are not alone, that we are in this together with God.
July 15, 2013
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