|
View as Webpage
Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost
November 24, 2023
The Invitatory
The mercy of the Lord is everlasting: O come, let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 113
1 Hallelujah!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord; *
praise the Name of the Lord.
2 Let the Name of the Lord be blessed, *
from this time forth for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down *
let the Name of the Lord be praised.
4 The Lord is high above all nations, *
and his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high, *
but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
6 He takes up the weak out of the dust *
and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
7 He sets them with the princes, *
with the princes of his people.
8 He makes the woman of a childless house *
to be a joyful mother of children.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
Now that you have had a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner, I wonder if today’s Psalm will be too energetic for you. For those who did not take Latin, it is entitled Boys, give praise! I can imagine the energy and power generated both by the singers and the fulsomeness of praise expressed in this Psalm. Praise to me is somewhat similar to giving thanks. It enables me to enjoy once again, even savor, that which I am praising. It is immediately uplifting and, particularly in this case, strengthening. Here I am speaking contemporarily.
The psalms, of course, are ancient compositions. As people who are, upon reading them, immediately thrust into a world that is both foreign and familiar to us. Most of us were born half a world away, separated by 3,000 years of culture and history, and a non-Hebrew speaker. How might we read, hear, and interpret the words as the Word of God?
Since the Psalms were sung, the words will rise and fall with the pitch of the voice. The psalms of themselves have a language made for the people of God. They are meant for those who would count themselves as part of the group. They are directed toward those who deeply value a life rooted in a covenantal relationship with God. They are personal laments and reflections on life, corporate songs and prayers to remind people about what makes a life worth living, poetry about the activity of God, and prayers of praise to God.
The psalms are different from the rest of the Bible. They flow like water and seep into our thoughts. They offer literary landscapes punctuated by lofty flourishes and picturesque language. They invite poetic consideration of human experience, to reflect on the grittiness of life as the place for God’s activity. They encourage more carefully considered thoughts on the mystery of God. There is a timeless quality to the psalms, I think, in part because the verses defy simple or compact definitions of God, humanity, or creation. They invite active play and personal and communal discovery.
Psalm 113 is, from start to finish, a hymn that praises God. It is a call to the people of God to remember who God is and what God has done. Tracing the path of the sun across the sky, earthen landscapes it covers people pursuing their daily lives. In the ordinary movement of each day they are called to praise God.
God watches over people. What is emphasized in these few verses is that whatever distinctions we might draw concerning our fellow human beings,(weak, poor, princes, childless women) God cares for all God’s people. The distinctions drawn in Psalm 113 and those we might draw daily are of no consequence to God. And when one considers this deeply, no one truly loses anything, but is poised to gain much.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
| 
