Yesterday's sermon was from Psalm 148, "All of Creation, Praise the Lord!"
As I got up yesterday morning and came outside for coffee and quiet time, I decided to create my own version of a Psalm 148 psalm prayer:
Here is the entire post: (the psalm prayer portion begins with "Praise the LORD."
"Oh, what a beautiful morning! Today I am preaching Psalm 148. Therefore, Praise the LORD. Praise the Lord, all the skies and your colored clouds. Praise the Lord, you birds who sing and chirp. Praise the Lord, you waterfall (fountain) (though you are man-made and run on power created by man). Praise the Lord, all creatures big and small, all humans one and all. Praise the LORD!"
Below you will find yesterday's sermon in transcript form and in recorded form. As is typical, they are not identical, but fairly close.
I'll also include a picture of the bulletin cover (up top) and some links to some of the songs we sang during worship.
Peace,
Debra
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“All of Creation, Praise the Lord!”
Psalm 148 (CEB)
May 19, 2019 (5th Sunday
of Easter/Heritage Sunday)
Flintstone UMC
Psalm
148 (CEB)
1Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from heaven!
Praise God on the heights!
2 Praise God, all of you who are his messengers!
Praise God, all of you who comprise his heavenly forces!
3 Sun and moon, praise God!
All of you bright stars, praise God!
4 You highest heaven, praise God!
Do the same, you waters that are above the sky!
5 Let all of these praise the Lord’s name
because God gave the command and they were created!
6 God set them in place always and forever.
God made a law that will not be broken.
Praise God on the heights!
2 Praise God, all of you who are his messengers!
Praise God, all of you who comprise his heavenly forces!
3 Sun and moon, praise God!
All of you bright stars, praise God!
4 You highest heaven, praise God!
Do the same, you waters that are above the sky!
5 Let all of these praise the Lord’s name
because God gave the command and they were created!
6 God set them in place always and forever.
God made a law that will not be broken.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all you ocean depths!
8 Do the same, fire and hail, snow and smoke,
stormy wind that does what God says!
9 Do the same, you mountains, every single hill,
fruit trees, and every single cedar!
10 Do the same, you animals—wild or tame—
you creatures that creep along and you birds that fly!
11 Do the same, you kings of the earth and every single person,
you princes and every single ruler on earth!
12 Do the same, you young men—young women too!—
you who are old together with you who are young!
you sea monsters and all you ocean depths!
8 Do the same, fire and hail, snow and smoke,
stormy wind that does what God says!
9 Do the same, you mountains, every single hill,
fruit trees, and every single cedar!
10 Do the same, you animals—wild or tame—
you creatures that creep along and you birds that fly!
11 Do the same, you kings of the earth and every single person,
you princes and every single ruler on earth!
12 Do the same, you young men—young women too!—
you who are old together with you who are young!
13 Let all of these praise
the Lord’s name
because only God’s name is high over all.
Only God’s majesty is over earth and heaven.
14 God raised the strength of his people,
the praise of all his faithful ones—
that’s the Israelites,
the people who are close to him.
because only God’s name is high over all.
Only God’s majesty is over earth and heaven.
14 God raised the strength of his people,
the praise of all his faithful ones—
that’s the Israelites,
the people who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!
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THIS
IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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Today
is the 5th Sunday of Easter and we continue our journey through the
Psalms. Today’s Psalm allows us to think
about God’s creation. The Psalm calls
for all of creation to praise the Lord, pointing us to heaven, the heights, the
messengers, the heavenly forces, the sun and moon, the bright stars, the waters
above the sky, sea monsters, ocean depths, fire, hail, snow, smoke, stormy
wind, mountains, hills, fruit trees, every cedar… and the list goes on!
Have
you ever sat quietly in creation and just listened? What have you heard? Have you heard the wind rustling through the
trees? The birds sing? If you were near a waterfall or a creek, you
heard the sounds of rushing, flowing, or trickling water. Does creation praise its Creator? Does creation allow you to praise its Creator,
your Creator?
Being
in creation allows me to praise the Creator.
It reminds me of how intricate the details of life are and how
everything works together, for the good of the kingdom and the glory of
God. I am reminded that we are called to
be good stewards of what has been given to us and that creation care is a much
needed area of work. But that’s another
sermon for another day.
Today’s
sermon calls our attention to “praise the Lord”. As the psalmist is calling all of creation to
praise the Lord, it can become an intentional slowing down and a way of giving
thanks and showing gratitude for all things, all people, and for returning
thanks and gratitude to God, the Creator.
I
stopped in verse 9 with the cedar earlier.
Continuing with verse 10, the mandate is to praise the Lord all the
animals, creatures that creep along and birds that fly, kings of the earth and
every single person, princes and every single ruler, young men, young women,
old with the young, all of these.
The
Psalmist does a broad brush stroke, yet includes all of creation in the call to
“praise the Lord”.
Walter
Brueggemann writes of this Psalm that it is an “inventory of God’s creation.” (The Message of the Psalms, 165)
How
can we take this Psalm and apply it to our daily lives? What would it look like for us?
Shauna
Hannan writes about the Psalm in workingpreacher.org, that it is “a reminder of
the abundant and random nature of reasons to praise the Lord that arise in any
given day.” https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1650
She goes
on, “I wake up. Praise the Lord! I have food to eat.
Praise him! I have meaningful work to do! Praise the name of the Lord! I
encounter people who know my name and care for me. Praise him! Praise him! I
breathe in the crisp, clean air and note the gorgeous magnolia tree attempting
to bloom as I walk to work. Praise the Lord from the Earth! There are all these
reasons to praise the Lord and I have not even been awake for two hours.”
Maybe,
like Shauna, we could look around us each day and give thanks and praise for
the things we see and experience.
How
might that “attitude of gratitude” change our daily pattern?
Are
we willing to try it? Let’s stop for a
moment now. If you were to praise the Lord right now, what would you praise him
for? Do it. Out loud. Say your praises out loud.
How
many of you remember Amy Grant and her song, “Sing Your Praise to the Lord?” (from
the 1980s)
Sing your praise to the Lord
C'mon everybody
Stand up and sing one more
Hallelujah
Give your praise to the Lord
I can never tell you
Just how much good that its
gonna do you just to...
C'mon everybody
Stand up and sing one more
Hallelujah
Give your praise to the Lord
I can never tell you
Just how much good that its
gonna do you just to...
Praise
changes things. Praise changes us. When we praise the Lord, our perspective
changes.
You
may not always be able to say your praises out loud, but you could keep a list
of your gratitude thoughts—praise you for ____________.
One thing I praise the Lord for and give thanks for is this community
of Jesus followers right here. Look
around. Give thanks for one another. Have you ever considered saying to the person
next to you, “thanks for being here today”?
Let’s try that. “Thanks for being here today.” Without the person next
to you, behind you, in front of you, etc., we wouldn’t have a community of
worshipers. We are called to worship in
community, not as individuals. That is
something for which we can praise the Lord!
In
addition to being the 5th Sunday of Easter, today is also Heritage
Sunday. If you look it up on the UMC websites, the focus this year is on the
150 years of women in ministry in the UMC. But what I want to focus on is the
heritage of the little rock church.
There is a strong foundation here at the little rock church for which we
can all give thanks and praise the Lord.
[Show the documents I found in the choir room.] [Talk about the history boxes that were
brought to the church, one for Flintstone, the other for St. Elmo. Talk about connectional churches, etc.]
Psalm
148 can be considered a Psalm of new orientation or reorientation. It helps us to focus anew.
Jerry
Webber wrote a Psalm Prayer from Psalm 148.
As you listen to the Psalm Prayer, allow yourself to join in the praise
of the psalmist.
[read
the Psalm Prayer, purple book, pages 82-83]
May
all of creation praise the Lord. “Praise
the Lord!”
Amen!
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Call to Worship:
Mysterious God – still mystifying all humanity with
the glories of outer space and the heavenly realms.
We come to worship our Holy Maker, and to give thanks
for the glories revealed to us by our God and Creator.
Creative Love – God, still loving all creation’s wonders
that we human beings can hear, see, smell and touch.
We come to praise and bless our Holy Maker for the
loving and diverse ways God communicates with us.
Breath of God – still breathing into us the miracle of life
itself, and of being in an intimate relationship with God.
We come together in worship - along with all creation—
to praise and celebrate our Holy Maker - our Creating God. Amen.
the glories of outer space and the heavenly realms.
We come to worship our Holy Maker, and to give thanks
for the glories revealed to us by our God and Creator.
Creative Love – God, still loving all creation’s wonders
that we human beings can hear, see, smell and touch.
We come to praise and bless our Holy Maker for the
loving and diverse ways God communicates with us.
Breath of God – still breathing into us the miracle of life
itself, and of being in an intimate relationship with God.
We come together in worship - along with all creation—
to praise and celebrate our Holy Maker - our Creating God. Amen.
©
2013 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.
Songs sung in service:
"Shout to the Lord"
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" UMH 139
"I Love to Tell the Story" UMH 156
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" UMH 89
Jerry Webber's Psalm Prayer for Psalm 148, as heard on the recorded sermon, is from Fingerprints on Every Moment (2010), pages 82-83.
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