pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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All Is Beloved

Reading: Psalm 148

Verse 14: “God has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants.”

Merry Christmas! Peace and joy, love and hope to you!

On this special day we turn to Psalm 148. This Psalm is all about praise. While not a traditional Christmas text, it does fit very well the spirit of the day. The psalmist’s encouragement to praise is sprinkled throughout this text – 12 times in my home Bible! The opening stanza encourages the first parts of creation to praise God – the angels, the sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the skies. The encouragement to praise next includes the physical creation – trees, mountains – and the living creation – animals, birds… Continuing along the creation narrative the psalmist lastly includes us – all of us. Kings and rulers, old men and maidens, children – all are encouraged to praise the Lord of all creation.

You and I are certainly included in today’s Psalm. So we must ask ourselves: What does it look like to praise God with our lives? It begins with our acts of piety. These include daily prayer and Bible study, regular worship, and fasting. These practices surely elicit our praise! These acts or practices then lead us to acts of mercy. These include all forms of loving and caring for our neighbor.

Returning to the Psalm, it closes with these connecting words: “God has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants.” This horn or king is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The Messiah came to teach us how to love. Jesus’ example of love was one without limits. In a world that sees race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and many other things as reasons to hate instead of love, let me say that again: Jesus’ example of love was one without limits. All people were invited into Jesus’ love. None were excluded. As part of the action of creation, which is detailed in today’s Psalm, Jesus knew that all of creation was divine. All of creation continues to carry the spark of the divine within. Therefore, my friend, all of creation – all – is beloved by God. May it be so for you and me as well. This is our true act of praise.

Prayer: Lord God, make me more full thine today. Fill me with your love so fully that all I do and say and think is praise to you. Use me to help others to see and love the spark of the divine within themselves. Amen.


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Always… Praise!

Reading: Psalm 148:13-14

Verse 14: “God has raised up for the people a horn… Praise the Lord!”

Photo credit: Greg Rakozy

We return to Psalm 148 today to again be reminded that God gave us Jesus, the horn and king. Because of this gift we are so blessed, so loved. Our response is to praise the Lord!

This horn connects to all of our other passages for this week. In John 13 it is the Lord who demonstrated what it means to love in noticeable and extraordinary ways – so much so that Christians are known by their love for one another. In Acts 11 it is this horn that began to pry open the circle, inviting all people to enter into a saving relationship with the Lord of life. And in Revelation 21 it is the king who will return in glory, establishing a new kingdom here on earth. In this new kingdom the time will be filled with praise and worship of the Lord.

He who was and is and is to come is at the center of faith and all life. He who always was and is and always will be invites us to praise him, bringing Christ the glory always. May it be so!

Prayer: Lord God, show me little ways to praise you today – a thousand small acts of love! Provide small opportunities to practice your radical love today! Amen.


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Praise the Lord!

Reading: Psalm 148

Verse 14: “He has raised up for his people a horn”.

As we begin the week leading into Christmas, we begin with a beautiful Psalm that calls all of creation to praise the Lord. The psalmist begins by inviting the heavens – angels and the rest of the heavenly host – to praise the Lord. From there he invites the sun, moon, and stars to join the chorus of praise. And then the writer adds the “waters above the skies” into the choir. All are invited to praise the Lord because “he commanded and they were created”.

Beginning in verse seven the psalmist turns to the things of the earth itself. First, he invites the creatures of “all ocean depths” and then calls the lightning, hail, snow, clouds, and wind to join in. Continuing on with the created world the psalmist invites the mountains and hills, the plants, animals, and birds to add their voices to the chorus of praise to the Lord. All of the choir is now assembled, save one. Beginning in verse eleven the psalmist calls for all of humanity to sing out their praises to the Lord. From kings and princes to young men and maidens to old men and children, the psalmist declares, “let them praise the name of the Lord”. All of humanity joins all of creation in praising the Lord “for his name alone is exalted”.

In verse fourteen we get to the culminating point. The world and universe created by the Lord has been assembled. Because all has been created by the Lord, all are connected to the Lord. This very connection calls forth our praise. Yet in the earthly, created sense all of this is temporary. Even the stars and mountains, those things that seem timeless to us, even these will fall from the sky and will fall into the sea. In verse fourteen the psalmist writes, “He has raised up for his people a horn”. The horn is the horn of salvation. The horn connects you and me and all of creation to the eternity of God. The horn of salvation is Jesus Christ the Lord and he alone offers salvation. Jesus offers us salvation from the chains of both sin and death. Freed from all that binds, we are made brothers and sisters in Christ, freed to raise our voices to the one who saves. Freed and created, we will one day raise our voices as we gather around the throne. One day we will offer our praise to the Lord face to face with glory itself. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord, what a way to begin the week we celebrate the birth of your son, the horn of salvation! All praise to you, the Lord of all. May all I do and say today bring you the glory! Amen.


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Recognition

Reading: Luke 14: 1 and 7-14

Verse 11: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”.

As Jesus arrives at a Pharisees’ house, he notices how the guests pick their seats. The order at the table was very important in Jesus’ day. The honored guest would sit at the center seat of the head table. The next most important persons would sit on the right and left of center and so on down the line. The furthest seat away from the honored guest would be the one with the least honor. Just like in the culture of our day, most folks want to be closest to the honored guest. Jesus observes people trying to ascertain where they rank amongst the other guests. Some people, of course, are filling in the important seats near the prime seat.

In the parable, Jesus warns against taking too “high” a seat, lest more important people arrive, forcing the host to move you to a lower seat. That would be humiliating and shameful. Jesus is speaking against arrogance and against judging. He is reminding his audience and his readers today that being humble is the correct course. If one is humble, choosing a lower seat, then the host might move you up some seats, exalting you in the process. We may not pick seats at tables anymore, but there is no shortage of ways that we can try to toot our own horn. Sometimes the ways are public, using different means to draw attention to ourselves and our accomplishments. For some of us, like me, it is usually a more private thing. I wonder why others don’t notice this or that and wish they did. Jesus would probably condemn this fake humility much more than he does the jostling over seats.

However and whenever we allow pride, arrogance, judging, and ego to control our lives and our thoughts, then we are not walking in Jesus’ footsteps. Each time we seek to bring honor for ourselves are instances when we do not bring honor to Jesus. In a similar way, when we seek to draw recognition ourselves, there is a piece of us that does not fully trust God. Humility links us to the belief that God is enough. Recognition does not need to come here and now. Simply living a life that is pleasing and honoring to God is more than enough. May we rest in that today.

Prayer: Lord, it can be tempting to want to be seen and known for doing great things. Yet serving you is all that matters. Remind me of this over and over again. Thank you, God. Amen.


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Horn of Salvation

Reading: Luke 1: 68-75

Verses 69 and 72: “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us… to show mercy… and to remember His holy covenant”.

Zechariah’s prophecy that comes to us today in Luke 1 begins with, “Praise be to the Lord”. His son has been born, fulfilling the promise of the angel. It is a personal experience to go along with all of Israel’s experiences of God being with them and loving them. God was present in the time in slavery, in the time in captivity, and in all of the other hard places that the people have found themselves. Added to that are the many experiences with God blessing the people when they turned to God – the sea parted and the giant fell, the fire consumed the offering and the rain once again fell from the sky.

In our passage today, the first half of Zechariah’s song, he speaks of the redeemer who is about to come. Zechariah says, “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us… to show mercy… and to remember His holy covenant”. Jesus Christ will be that horn. Through Jesus Christ, God will show His people mercy. Through Jesus Christ, God will remember His covenant to love His children and to always be their God. In and through Jesus Christ, the people of God will be able to “serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness”. The Savior will restore people through the forgiveness of sins, making us holy and right with God each time we repent and seek His love and grace.

Prophets often brought change and usually challenged the status quo of their day. They called the people away from sin and back into right relationship with God. Jesus Will and certainly continues to do this – calling us to walk the way of the cross. This day may we each help one more person to know the “horn of salvation”, Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, may my words and actions reveal Jesus to all I meet. May what they see lead them to want to know you. Amen.