Psalm 103
“Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.”
Sounds like the opposite of what it should be, doesn’t it? We usually think of God as the one who blesses us, who pronounces favor, benediction and all manner of good things upon us. For who are we, mere mortals, to offer blessing to the Divine, to the One who is Eternal, Creator of heaven and earth? Isn’t blessing God a bit audacious on our part?
Not if you think of blessing in terms of praise or offering due honor and respect. This way of blessing God is not only something very appropriate, but also something at which we humans can excel. There are an infinite number of ways to praise God, but this morning, taking a little license with a David Letterman tradition, I want to offer (in my humble opinion) my top ten. And the best thing you could do in response to the sermon is spend some time later considering your own top ten ways to praise. I give you full license to disagree with my list, to change the order, or to come up with entirely different ways. But for now, here’s mine.
Number 10 should come as no surprise. The tenth best way to praise God is with prayer. Anytime, anywhere. That could be grace before meals, prayer before bedtime, special time set apart or even a quick “thank you God, it’s a new day” as we hop or drag ourselves out of bed each morning. There’s also the prayer that can go on wherever we are, given whatever is on our minds. We bless God and honor God by being in prayerful conversation with the divine about anything and everything; and that doesn’t have to happen with eyes closed, hands folded and heads bowed. Some of my best prayer time actually happens while I’m ironing or walking alongside the ocean.
Number 9. A wonderful way to praise or bless God is through service, and as with prayer, the ways to serve are innumerable. We praise God through our service of baking bars for coffee hour, teaching Sunday school or knitting shawls or being on a team or committee. Yet service within the church isn’t the only way to bless God; there are the many ways we offer service in the wider community. Congregationalists have always believed that whatever our vocation or avocation was, that service is a priceless form of praise and actually has more influence on those around us than the minister does from the pulpit.
The eighth way to praise? Rest! And I don’t mean napping, despite my father’s insistence that dessert and naps are the two best things ordained by God for human pleasure. Sleeping doesn’t quite count as praise. But being still and contemplating the wonder, majesty and mystery that is God does count. And so does observing a Sabbath rest. As we know from the first verses of Genesis, God made it clear from the beginning that we were not meant to work all the time. There is a time for putting up our feet and enjoying what has been accomplished. Work is not finished until it is enjoyed in rest, and the grace of praising God comes when we can leave alone for a while our ‘to do lists’ and our computers and our smart phones and all the chores that have piled up.
The seventh way to praise, while it may seem a contradiction with #8 is really a continuation of it, and that is to play!
Think about those things that you do in which you get so involved, so caught up that you are ‘taken outside of yourself’. It can be playing a sport; it can be the peacefulness of a mountain trail or a golf course or running before the wind; it can be the unencumbered delight of playing with children or grandchildren – you know the experience I mean of being so into something that you feel nothing but joy and peace. This kind of mindful play is praise of the best kind!
Similar to this is the sixth best way to praise, and that is to dance! Now I know some religions forbid it or frown on it, and there are others who refuse to ever set foot on a dance floor but the Bible is full of examples like King David dancing with praise, even reckless abandon before the Lord. Dance is nothing more than believing God has given us our bodies to use in movement and praise. If God didn’t care about the body then Jesus taking on human form would have no meaning. So, don’t be afraid to move! Praise God with all your senses and with all your limbs!
Number 5. Sing! Anywhere, anytime, in church, in the shower, on the street, in your car, silently, at the top of your lungs. Always have a song on your lips or in your heart or in the back of your mind; it is an incredible way to praise God. While the songs each of us might choose will differ according to who we are and the nature of our relationship with God, there is nothing better than making a joyful noise even if you and God are the only ones who hear it.
The fourth way to praise and bless God moves from the verbal realm to silence. We can praise God eloquently through our words – when we write letters or in a journal or when we take the time to write a note of thanks or appreciation. The thoughtful, intentional, labor intensive act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard in order to articulate and record something in the context of noticing the world around you or acknowledging another’s part in your own spiritual journey is an invaluable way to praise God. It takes time and effort and work and there is a depth in this form of praise that comes no other way. Never underestimate the power and gift your words have when you share them with someone else in the context of the difference that person has made in your life. For both the giver and the recipient, it is a way to marvel at the wonder which God has done.
Now the third way to praise God is a way that might generate as much consternation as the sixth way (dancing) and that is money! As uncomfortable as we often feel talking about money or being honest about it, the truth is we praise God well when we give generously. Generously not in terms of amount but in proportion to what we have. For what we spend our money on is an indication of what we value highly.
The second best way to praise God is almost a given. It is to worship. To worship God, yes, in nature, for there is no denying the grandeur and beauty of God seen in a mountain peak or ocean vista. But not even this can substitute for the power of praise that can come only from the community of faith gathered together in worship. Praising God must have a horizontal dimension as well as a vertical one; we cannot do it alone. We need each other to help us learn of God and experience God and to support us when we cannot praise and someone else must say the words for us. Something essential is lost when worship is solitary.
Finally, the #1 way to praise God and it is? Any guesses?
Be yourself. Being true to your hopes and fears, your dreams and your longings. Being honest with God about everything. Don’t try to be someone you are not. So often we think that somehow we have to sanitize ourselves before we can relate to God, or censor who we are and what we bring. We judge ourselves harshly.
But, in reality, we honor God best when we hide nothing before the One who has made us to be just a little lower than the angels and who chose none other than our very human frailty to shelter the Divine. It was Nelson Mandela who said: “We do God a disservice, not when we think too highly of ourselves but too little. We do God a disservice when we discount the wonder God has placed within us.”
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.” Prayer, service, rest, play, dance, sing, write, pay, worship, be yourself. These are my top ten – now, how about yours?
Amen.