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Morning Devotion for the Season After Pentecost
July 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 34:1-8
I will bless the Lord at all times; *
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
I will glory in the Lord; *
let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *
let us exalt his Name together.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me *
and delivered me out of all my terror.
Look upon him and be radiant, *
and let not your faces be ashamed.
I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *
and saved me from all my troubles.
The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *
and he will deliver them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; *
happy are they who trust in him!
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
Music has a way of recalling memories of events and people.
Acting as aural time machines, any particular song, melody, or lyrical tone can transport me across time and space to another space and time in life. Both important and ordinary occasions can be recalled just by the introduction of the early notes of a piece of music. They can bring to mind friends who are no longer with us, places I have visited, and events that have shaped me.
Psalm 34 functions something like that for me. Each line is a line from a piece of music I know and sang with my choir. “I will bless the Lord at all times’ his praise shall always be in my mouth” How many times could I say the same? The line itself transports me back to those feast and famine moments where life seemed out of control or too much to control. My poor soul cried out, and was heard by the Lord. In recognition of my watermark moments and desert places I discovered something about the presence of God that was there in the midst of it all and was vitally real.
Perhaps Psalm 34 served in some way like that for the Israelites. How wonderful it they were surprised to see where God’s grace softened the hard places and where his presence assuaged their disappointment or personal pain. Perhaps the activity of God in human experience is like a soft soaking rain in a new plant bed, providing for new life to emerge where none may have been thought possible. Hard times can be lightened by recognition of the abiding presence of God.
What would it mean to bless the Lord at all times with praise continually in our mouths? Is this a realistic view about human capacity to stay focused on a topic? Perhaps the Psalmist wishes to invite the Israelites to reorient their thoughts and actions. What would an entire day, or even life, be like that was spent in reflection on the presence of God? It is the invitation to his presence that calls attention to the kind of relationship one may have with God that reveals to us the uniqueness of God and the power of his love that inspires awe in us. And it is this awe/fear that places one in the protection of the angel of the Lord. This is truly an extraordinary gift. This is a recognition of that which cannot be fully comprehended: like an unsolvable math problem, the number of stars in the universe, or the number of beats our heart will beat over a lifetime. We only know that they exist and if we had the capacity to determine them, the answers would only produce more questions. To rest in this unknowing is truly the wonder of God.
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.
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