Excerpted from The Heart of the Work, an Advent Guide for Lectionary Year B from the North Carolina Council of Churches.
Psalm 148
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heaven,
and you waters above the skies
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created,
and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars
wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds
kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
old men and children.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
And he has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the Lord.
Writing an Advent devotional for an early October deadline might present seasonal challenges. Truth is, I can contemplate the birth of Christ on the hottest day in July. What I am finding to be a challenge as I consider Christian unity, the theme for this week, is the disunity of the first presidential debate. Given the divisiveness it represented, the notion of “unity” seems a contradiction in terms. This might be equally true regardless of the upcoming election results.
This is why I am so thankful for the Psalms. These collected songs are like a mansion of 150 “rooms” where we can retreat to engage our lament, our fear, our sense of injustice and anger. And where, in spite of all those things, we are given the words to offer praise to the One who is the source of all life. The One – the Unity – who holds our dis-unity and dysfunction for us, until we can find comfort and joy; awe and wonder. Restoration.
Psalm 148 is among the last five of the psalms, each of which contains the words “praise the Lord” in both the first and last verses. And praise is the single action here, the only requirement. All that is, all the earth, is called to praise the Creator.
In this universal song, there is no disunity among God’s creation; because whatever its inhabitants’ boundaries or spheres or status or “categories,” we are united in that one action of praise. Furthermore, it is clear that humanity does not hold a sovereign position within Creation. Only God is sovereign and humanity is on equal footing and in partnership with the rest of the Creation–not above any of it. And finally, in their unified, collaborative outpouring of praise, all creatures, all beings, all spheres, all that exists, reflect the wholeness and oneness of God’s own being. In their praise, they become truly “made in God’s image.”
In this time of disunity when we look around and see so much contentiousness and “otherness,” perhaps we inflate our own selves, and our own positions, to a sovereign place we have no right to inhabit. Perhaps, in our fragmentation and dis-unity, we feel much more like offering up a curse instead of praise – because we stubbornly insist no praise will be forthcoming till we get what we want. Till those “others” become WHO we want . . .
Yet, maybe we could . . . follow the instructions. Or The instruction. If we have the courage and the humility and the eyes to see all that is glorious and praise-worthy and grace-filled in this world — and the image of God in each other – maybe we could offer up that first tentative note of a song of praise. Or maybe, when we can’t even quite manage that – we could just listen.
Listen closely: Do you hear the song of praise rising from Creation?
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