God Pause for Tuesday, 7/8/2014
/Luther Seminary God Pause
Tuesday, 7/8/2014 Reading: Psalm 65:9-13
Preachers are encouraged to preach in a way that points to God's active presence in our lives. Note this Psalm's extensive job description of the divine: God listens, forgives, chooses us, brings us near, gives hope, silences chaos and makes time shout with joy (!). God visits, waters and enriches the earth. God settles, softens and blesses the earth's ridges. God crowns the year with bounty. No one but the God of Zion, our God, is qualified for this work.
Creation cannot help but respond to God's abundant work in our world: the morning and the evening shout for joy; the pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills gird themselves with joy; the meadows clothe themselves with flocks; the valleys deck themselves with grain. All shout and sing together for joy.
The psalmist's awareness of God's good creation prompts our awareness of God's goodness and the intricacies of God's creation. Creation becomes our model for responding to God's abundant work in our world. We too respond with happiness, satisfaction and awe in our own ways. Today seems as good a day as any to reflect on what those ways are for you.
Active God, thank you for the wonder of creation that never ceases to praise you. Ignite our senses to experience your gracious abundance and activity in this world. We glorify you as we shout and sing for joy together with your whole creation. Amen.
Shauna Hannan Associate Professor of Preaching, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C. Master of Divinity, 1998
Psalm 65:9-13 (NRSV)
9 You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
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