May 29th
Psalm 148

God's creation tunes it carol

I did not learn to dance as a teenager since it was regarded as sinful by my church and my parents!  Sports was the only acceptable way to move my body; you didn’t use the body for worship, except of course to walk to church, or sometimes to kneel to pray.

We do not easily think of dancing as an expression of worship, just as we do not easily think of worship being offered by sun, moon, or stars, sea monsters, cattle, or fruit trees.  Think of trees sighing in the wind. We think of worship as something that essentially involves our hearts and minds (though children often get the body movement idea!).  The expression HALLELUJAH suggests the body could be involved.

Writer Frederick Beuchner in his usual insightfully playful style puts it this way:

Psalm 148 . . . . is about as measured as a volcanic eruption, and there is no implication that under any conceivable circumstances it could be anything other than what it is. The whole of creation is in on the act—the sun and moon, the sea, fire and snow, Holstein cows and white-throated sparrows, old men in walkers and children who still haven't taken their first step. Their praise is not chiefly a matter of saying anything, because most of creation doesn't deal in words. Instead, the snow whirls, the fire roars, the Holstein bellows, the old man watches the moon rise. Their praise is not something that at their most complimentary they say, but something that at their truest they are.

We learn to praise God not by paying compliments, but by paying attention. Watch how the trees exult when the wind is in them. Mark the utter stillness of the great blue heron in the swamp. Listen to the sound of the rain. Learn how to say "Hallelujah" from the ones who say it right.

Several crucial truths stand out for me as I meditate on this psalm-hymn:

  • This psalm fills in the details of Jesus’ words in John 3.16, that God ‘so loved the cosmos’ that he sent his Son to redeem it, all of it!
  • By the end of the psalm the word ‘praise’ as a verb has occurred eleven times! This praise is universal and inclusive.  The psalm anticipates and even exceeds the final vs. of  the Psalter (150.6).  While 150 invites ‘everything that breathes’ to praise God, in Psalm 148 having breath is not a requirement.  Every creature and every thing are invited to praise God – total praise!   
  • As in Genesis 1, the culminating focus is on humanity (v.11-12). I like Eugene Peterson’s translation here:

Earth’s kings and all races,
    leaders and important people,
Robust men and women in their prime,
    and yes, graybeards and little children.

 

  • This psalm reinforces God as Creator, the only wise One.

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?
    Tell me if you know.
5 Who set its measurements? Surely you know.
    Who stretched a measuring tape on it?
6 On what were its footings sunk;
    who laid its cornerstone,
7     while the morning stars sang in unison
        and all the divine beings shouted?  [Job 38.7]

Dr. Heather Josselyn-Cranson drew on the musical aspirations of ancient Greeks, who thought there was music all around the universe, as she wrote Planets Humming as They Wander. The song won the Boston University School of Theology Hymn Competition created to celebrate the work of one of her former professors, Carl Daw, the retiring executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada.

For Daw, music is integral to worship, since hymns “are the last, careful impression people get from the service,” he says. “I like to remind clergy that no one leaves church humming the sermon.”

 

Planets humming as they wander

Planets humming as they wander,                                                          

stars aflame with silent song:                                                         

galaxies that spin on, endless;                                                          

melodies afar but strong.                                                              

God’s creation tunes its carol,                                                                         

far beyond our mortal gaze.                                                               

Heav’nly bodies help us listen                                                                

to the boundless song of praise.

Atoms quiv’ring deep inside us,                                                           

cells abuzz with energy.                                                                   

Particles are chanting psalms                                                                   

in tiny, holy synergy.                                                                           

All these molecules provide us                                                   

patterns of the craft of God.                                                            

Off’ring up melodic first fruit,                                                           

grateful hymns which leave us awed.

Human voices praise our Maker,                                                            

part of the created choir:                                                              

rumbling tones of space below us,                                                      

neutron’s descant ever higher.                                                               

Hymns arise from all around us,                                                          

thankful praise our whole life long,                                                                    

to the One who made us, knows us,                                                        

Author of the endless song!       [VT 175]