pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: praise


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Serving Humbly

Reading: Luke 1:46-55

Luke 1:47 – “In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my Savior.”

In our passage today Mary praises God. Her prayer of thanks contains many of the themes found throughout Luke’s gospel. Considering Mary’s circumstances, these are amazing words to speak. She is barely a teenager. Mary is unmarried yet pregnant. This likely led her to travel to see Elizabeth, perhaps an even more unlikely mother-to-be. Elizabeth has been barren all her life and is very much past child bearing years. Yet she too is pregnant. Both pregnancies have been blessed by an angel’s prophetic words. Mary humbly accepted these words, declaring, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

We see Mary’s commitment in verses 46 and 47. Mary glorifies God “with all my heart” and rejoices in God from “the depths of who I am.” Because God chose her, the lowly has become “highly favored.” This theme continues as Mary celebrates a God who shows mercy and lifts the lowly and feeds the hungry. Recognizing the coming reality of God in the flesh, Mary declares prophetically, “He has come to the aid of his servant Israel.” Mary truly understands the incarnational nature of the one in her womb. Young Mary’s faith is amazing.

While the role we are called to play will never be exactly like Mary’s role, we too are called to humble servanthood. God has a plan and a purpose for each of us in the work of building the kingdom here on earth. Sometimes the call invites us to places or to people who are difficult or challenging. As we play our role, especially in the hard moments, may we choose to trust as Mary trusted, knowing that the Lord our God will look with favor upon all who serve the Lord.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the reminder of how simple faith can be. Playing our roles comes down to leaning into the call, trusting that you are present and will walk with us. When we don’t know the steps to take or the words to say, help us to trust that you know and that your Spirit will guide us in those moments. In this way may we each humbly serve you with all of our heart. Amen.


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Practice, Practice, Practice

Reading: Philippians 4:4-9

Philippians 4:9 – “Practice these things… The peace of God will be with you.”

Paul begins today’s reading with an encouragement to “Be glad!” The apostle is inviting the Philippian Christians to find joy in all of life. Paul, like us, has his ups and downs in his life and in his faith. He has endured more than most of us will ever come close to enduring. As he writes, Paul sits in prison, likely nearing his death. Even so, his focus, his perspective, his faith – they all find a joy and peace in Christ.

Paul offers us a guide to living with joy and peace in all circumstances. First, treat others gently. This brings to mind various expressions that all remind us that we never know what another person is going through. We should always offer grace. Second, pray. Instead of being anxious about this or that, take it to God in prayer. And take time to give thanks to God for the blessings and for the presence. In prayer and then in life, a peace beyond our circumstances will keep our hearts and minds safe in Jesus Christ.

In verse 8 Paul invites us to focus on the ways of God, on all that is “excellent… and admirable.” Focus on these things and we will find God in them. Paul also encourages us to pay attention to our own thoughts too. He encourages us to focus our thoughts on all that is “true… holy… just… pure… lovely… worthy of praise.” Focusing on these thoughts, we will be Christ to the world.

When we choose to live and practice our faith in these ways, then we will develop a Christ-centered heart and mind. The challenges, the difficult circumstances, they will still come. But when we “Practice these things… The peace of God will be with you.” May it be so for us all.

Prayer: Lord God, walk closely with us, strengthening and encouraging us in each step of faith. In all things, remind us of your love. In all ways, use us as examples of your love. Rooted and grounded in love, guide us to trust in you and lead us to hope in you. Deeply connected, fill us with a peace that leads to joy. Use us to offer these things to the world. Amen.


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Faithful, Joyful Living

Reading: Psalm 100

Psalm 100:1 – “Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth!”

Joy in the Lord flows throughout Psalm 100. Unlike happiness that comes and goes, joy is a state of being. It is a state of being that becomes our “norm” as we spend more and more time walking with the Lord. It is from this state of being that the psalmist declares, “Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth!” This declaration invites all of creation to praise God. This invitation is not limited to the psalmist’s community of faith. It is quite the opposite. All people and all of creation are the work of God’s hands. All are invited. This concept is also echoed in verse 3. We are all the “sheep” of God’s pasture.

The Psalm is filled with action. It calls us to a living faith. We’re invited to serve God with celebration, to offer shouts of joy, to thank God often, and to bless God’s name. This open invitation to active, faithful living and worship creates a place of welcome and community. This kind of living breaks down walls and barriers. Joyful worship draws others in.

Faithful living and joy as our state of being are not rooted in ourselves. We find the source in the last verse. We can be faithful and we can be joyful because of who and what God is. We are made in the image of God – the one who is good, who is loyal in love, who is always and forever faithful. God is our source of joy. God gives us the power to be faithful. God is with us. We are God’s. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Lord God, we celebrate our place in your pasture. We are your family and you are our God. What joy! From our place of belonging, help us to extend invitation to others. From our place in community, guide us to make all feel included. All for your praise and glory! Amen!


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Worthy with Christ

Reading: Colossians 1:10-14

Colossians 1:10-12 – “We’re praying this so that… being strengthened through his glorious might… you endure everything and have patience, and by giving thanks with joy.”

Photo credit: Diego Gennaro

We back up a bit in Colossians 1 today, looking at the prayer that leads into yesterday’s hymn of praise. The prayer begins with Paul asking God to help those in these churches to “live lives worthy of the Lord.” This is an expression that Paul and other New Testament writers used frequently. It was a call to live like and act like and speak like and treat others like Jesus did. While there was and is an understanding that one could never be exactly like Jesus because he was perfect, the charge was and is to get as close as possible. This idea reminds me of the 90’s, when many aspiring basketball players wanted to play and be like Michael Jordan. Athletes worked hard at emulating the six time NBA champ’s moves, style… Although no one is or was exactly like Christ (or MJ) many have and do walk faithfully in his footsteps, bearing fruit and growing in faith.

Daily faithful living creates a connection with Jesus that becoming sustaining, yielding what Paul prays for. Through the Spirit of Christ within us, we receive strength from Jesus. This strength empowers us to endure and to have patience. When our faith places us in a difficult spot or leads us into a hard situation, we do have to endure at times. In these times, this strength brings us a patience to endure, trusting as God leads and guided according to God’s plans and purposes. When we are faithful, striving to live a life worthy of Jesus’ example and teachings, then his strength helps us through. Often, from the other side of the trial or suffering or…, we can look back and see how God in Christ was at work in our lives. This usually leads to joyfully giving thanks to the one who is faithful and true. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, in our day we don’t face the same persecution and threats that Jesus’ first disciples faced. But our culture, with its focus on power over and on personal gain, creates at least as great of a challenge to faithful living. So Lord we ask for strength and endurance and patience. Help us to be faithful in this secular, selfish world. Amen.


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A Charge to Keep

Reading: Psalm 98:4-9

Psalm 98:9a – “He is coming to establish justice on earth!”

Continuing in Psalm 98 today, the new song kicks off. All the earth shouts triumphantly to the Lord. Humanity adds lyre, trumpet, and horn to their voices. The seas roar and humanity echoes. The mountains rejoice as the rivers clap along. There is a great rejoicing when all of creation joins together to praise God. Reading these five verses, one can sense the connection that God designed between humanity and the created world. If you’ve walked quietly in the woods or sat alone on the beach or looked peacefully out from the mountaintop, you’ve likely sensed this connection between self, creation, and God. In these moments, it is as God intended it to be.

Humanity has not always gotten this intention “right.” Often we tilt the relationship in our favor, exploiting creation and even one another for our own benefit. Even though we have gotten “better,” too often we fail to treat all of creation as an intimately connected part of who we are. God recognizes this. In verse 9 the psalmist declares, “He is coming to establish justice on earth!” Since the writing of this Psalm, the verb tense has changed. Jesus has come to establish justice. He walked among us, teaching humanity about living justly with one another and with creation.

Jesus’ dual purposes – to live amongst us to teach us how to love and to die for us to free us from the power of sin and death – these meant that he could not be here forever. So he left the task of establishing justice to his disciples. Eventually this charge fell to you and me. As I look at the world, it is far from a just place for all people and for all of creation. There is much work to do. The work must begin where we are – feeding the hungry family next door, comforting the grieving elder down the street, standing with the abused spouse and children who need protection, fighting for the just treatment of the vulnerable in our communities… A charge we have to keep. May it be so until all have justice.

Prayer: Lord God, one of us cannot fix all of the injustice in the world – or even in our smallest of communities. But together… Together with you, we are powerful and mighty. Lord, walk with us, using us to bring justice to creation and to one another. Amen.


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Wonderful Things

Reading: Psalm 98:1-3

Psalm 98:1a – “Sing to the Lord a new song because he has done wonderful things!”

Psalm 98 is a song of praise for God’s victory. These words of joy come from deep within the psalmist’s soul. His or her joy simply exudes from these words of praise. It pours forth especially from the first line: “Sing to the Lord a new song because he has done wonderful things!”

When have you felt this kind of joy in your life? When have you felt completely blessed to be in God’s presence? For me, great joy has come in moments both big and small, at times anticipated and at other times totally unexpected. From moments in worship when suddenly tears of joy are streaming down my face to times when holding a newborn child in my arms, these experiences fill my heart, reminding me that God is present in our lives.

The psalmist rejoices first in victories won by God’s “strong hand… his holy arm.” These might be great military victories or they might be triumphs over sin in our lives. I’d lean towards the second because the author next expresses joy in God making salvation and righteousness known to “all the nations.” Today’s portion of Psalm 98 closes with the psalmist celebrating God’s love for and faithfulness to God’s people. This has helped spread salvation to “every corner of the earth.” What joy the psalmist has!

What is the source, what fuels this joy? It comes from time in two ways. First, it comes from time spent with God: practicing a daily quiet time of prayer and study, investing in our relationship with God. Second, our joy builds each time we experience the hand of God touching our lives. These “touches” also deepen our relationship with God, opening our eyes to see joy, widening our hearts to be filled with joy.

Prayer: Lord God, your salvation and righteousness continue to pour forth into the world. Your love and joy pours out from your heart into our lives. We join the psalmist in celebrating the wonderful things you do in our lives and in the world. Hallelujah and amen!


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Power and Presence

Reading: Psalm 65:1-8

Psalm 65:5 – “In righteousness you answer us, by your awesome deeds, God of our salvation.”

Photo credit: Diego Gennaro

Psalm 65 is a song of praise for all of God’s works. The psalmist intertwines and connects God’s works in creation and in our lives. In the first two verses we are reminded that God is the God of all living things. God is in the created world just as much as God is in you and me and in all of humanity. In response we praise God by being faithful in our living and in our praying. And, the psalmist reminds us, when we fall short, God forgives our sins. For David and for us, in drawing close to God we encounter happiness, goodness, and holiness. These traits of God become ours when we choose to enter God’s presence.

The focus shifts to God’s acts in verses 5-8. In verse 5 we read, “In righteousness you answer us, by your awesome deeds, God of our salvation.” God’s power and presence is evident in many ways. God holds all things, even to the “far edges of the sea.” In strength God established the mountains. In power God calms the storms and will calm the “waves” and “noise” of the nations. God’s power brings the morning and evening, day after day, giving us more reasons to praise God.

These are David’s observations and experiences of God’s power and presence in his life and in the world. We certainly experience some of these. In what other ways have you and do you see and feel God’s power and presence in your life and in the world? May these be a source of praise today.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for your love and care. It is all around us. Open our eyes and hearts to see you in both the wonders of creation and in the daily ways that you work in our lives and in the world. For all of this we praise you! Amen.


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Our Response?

Reading: Joel 2:23-27

Joel 2:26 – “You will eat abundantly and be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God.”

The book of Joel begins with a lament over the destruction of Israel and the causes of this great devastation. The invading armies are like locust – they strip the land bare and leave suffering in their wake. In response, Joel calls for fasting and repentance, both as means to draw close to God once again. Midway through chapter 2 God promises to respond to the changed hearts of the once again faithful people.

As we turn to verse 23, through Joel, God invites the “children of God” to rejoice and be glad. God promises to send rain upon the land, “a sign of righteousness.” This abundant rainfall will lead to an abundant harvest. The grain, grapes, and olives will fill threshing floors and storage vats. In stark contrast to the years of suffering and hunger, God says, “You will eat abundantly and be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God.” The peoples’ shame will be no more and they will know “that I am the Lord your God.” God’s love and provision will be clearly evident.

For those who haven’t faced hunger as a way of life, think of recent images in Gaza, in slums outside major urban areas, in poverty-stricken third world nations. Many in our world and even in our nation lack food security. Recent policy changes will likely put more people into this situation. In these places of suffering and hunger, as it was for the people of Joel’s day, shame is often present. Living today in a land of great abundance, we must ask ourselves why hunger is such an overwhelming issue for so many people. It should not be so. As the people of God, what is our response to this injustice?

Prayer: Lord God, open our eyes and hearts to the food needs around us. Whether it is people living in “food deserts” or people wrestling with the decision to buy gas to get to work or to buy food to put on the table, raise up your people to respond. Move us out into the world, filled with compassion, bringing our abundance along with us. Lead us to care well for those created in your image, so that they too might “praise the name of the Lord.” Amen.


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Praise and Thanksgiving

Reading: Luke 17:15-19

Luke 17:18 – “No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?”

As we continue in the story of Jesus healing ten men of their skin diseases, we turn to the second step in the spiritual discipline called the Examen: relish. This step is the expression of gratitude for the way(s) that God has worked in our lives. While I did not notice the subtitle yesterday, today I did. It is this: “Jesus heals a Samaritan.”

All ten men are cleansed of their skin diseases as they make their way to the priest. The cleansing must not have been immediate but somewhere along the journey. At that time, one saw he was healed and turned back toward Jesus. The other nine continued on to the priest to complete the next step: passing inspection so that they could be declared “clean.” This priestly step allowed them to rejoin society, to go back to their old life – to life before disease.

The Samaritan returns, praising God in a loud voice. He falls at Jesus’ feet to express his deep gratitude. This is what “relish” looks like. Jesus then muses aloud, wondering where the other nine are. He points out the fact that ten were cleansed. Jesus then asks, “No one returned to praise God except this foreigner?” The cleansing was the first step in healing the Samaritan. His faith has been deepened because of his experience. His praise and gratitude build up his relationship with God. The other nine were surely grateful for being able to go back to their old life. But then they just returned to their old faith. This is what saddens Jesus. God moved the needle for a moment, then it just went back to empty.

Most of us pray to God all the time. When we’re serious we likely seek to enter into God’s presence (request.) In those instances when God does restore health or open a door or whatever, do we relish what God has done? If so, we begin to experience healing as we move closer to wholeness in our relationship with God. In our daily lives, may we choose to make time to praise and thank the Lord our God.

Prayer: Lord God, how often we are like the nine. We whisper a quick “thank you” and get right back to the buzz of life. O God, slow us down, draw us closer. Lead our heart to fully recognize how you’ve moved or acted, and then guide us to offer our praise and thanksgiving. Taking this time builds our faith, our relationship with you, healing a bit more of our brokenness. Teach us to relish you and all you do. Amen.


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A Deeper Faith

Reading: Psalm 66:1-4

Psalm 66:1-2 – “Shout joyfully to God, all the earth! Sing praises to the glory of God’s name!”

Psalm 66 is a celebration of God’s mighty acts amongst the people of Israel. In the opening verses the psalmist invites us to “shout joyfully” and to “sing praises” so that God is glorified. In our walks of faith, gratitude and praise are two essential practices. Often in our life of faith, it is gratitude that leads to praise. In the first verses of Psalm 66 the gratitude comes from seeing God’s strength rescue Israel from “your enemies.” Being saved leads Israel to praise and glorify God. While it is a good habit to praise God, our relationship with God is about more than God thanking God for saving us. We’ll explore some other practices a bit today and throughout this week that can deepen our walk of faith.

In this week’s Disciplines, Rev. Dr. Mark Wethington shares insights into an ancient spiritual discipline established by Ignatius of Loyola called the Examen. This regular practice looks back and reflects on a period of time, usually a day. A modern take on this 16th century practice offers us the five R’s as a means to remember the steps: request, relish, review, repent, resolve. The practice begins with requesting God’s presence during this time of reflection and introspection. One then relishes God’s presence and blessings in the day. This is followed by a review of one’s day – what sins and failures were there? The movement turns next to repenting of the ways that one fell short and, lastly, one resolves that through God’s grace one will strive to live more like Christ in the next day.

As we work through this week’s lectionary readings we will do so with the five R’s in mind. There is not always a linear pattern in the scriptures. For example, Psalm 66 begins with “relish,” but will turn to “request” as we read the next verses later this week. As we close today, please take a moment to work through the five R’s. Each day this week, following the example given in the Disciplines, we will add depth to our practice of this ancient spiritual discipline.

Prayer: Lord God, guide us this week as we practice this ancient way of drawing closer to you day by day. Work within our hearts to form us more into the image of Christ. Thank you, Lord. Amen.