Ooops!

Well, I screwed up my calendar, and sent the scripture lessons for THIS week LAST week…. So I’m gonna devote this space to the Psalter reading, which generally gets overlooked. The Psalter for the upcoming weekend is Psalm 145:10-18; although the entire Psalm is worth reading, and in at least one tradition–United Methodist–is somewhat expanded. This is a Psalm of Praise, very fitting for most folks in mid-summer’s greenery. It’s easy to praise God when everything is rich and full; how about when a season of bleakness captures us? How about those hungry & homeless? Can THEY praise God?

The word “all” jumps forth throughout the reading: “The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.” All God’s works and all God’s words, all God’s ways and all God’s doings; “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” “Praise offered in the darkest hours springs from a confidence in God’s unfailing goodness even when that is not immediately visible.” (Tom Are, Jr., in FEASTING on the WORD B 3:274)

Notice the many times “your Kingdom” appears: people will worship by acknowledging its glory and splendor; “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.” This Kingdom has shown its power from the beginning–the contemporaries of the psalmist AND the worshipers of today can rest assured that despite “the wrong being oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” (Maltbie Babcock)

The preacher or study -leader confronted by this psalm does well to remember that such praise springs from telling stories of how God has entered our holy history. Pastor Michelle often begins prayer-time by asking, “Where have you seen God at work this week?” Where have you seen God’s sacramental in-breaking in the old family stories, or even in the cultural tales which may include an overview of wandering in the wilderness to finally arrive at the Promised Land?

These lazy, hazy, crazy days may be our opportunity to watch the rain, or to see shapes in the clouds–or to lovingly bask in God’s Steadfast Love! Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices; who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices; Who from our mother’s arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join me each Tuesday at this spot, as we’re encountered by the lessons assigned to the upcoming week: horacebrownking.com