Praise the Lord. He is worthy of all our praise and adoration. Psalm 148 was the Psalm for last Sunday.This psalm was paraphrased many years ago by Archbishop Cranmer as a great hymn of praise, used for generations in the Church of England. Its Latin name is "Benedicite Omnia Opera" (Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord). This hymn is a long recitation of many of God’s creations, every one of which is addressed and urged to praise and magnify God. It includes some strange and wonderful things in its list of the works of the Lord.
You may expect such lines as, "All ye children of men, bless ye the Lord", and it causes no great stir to sing, "All ye servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord", but we can certainly identify with the line, "All ye holy and humble men of heart, bless ye the Lord". All these references to persons praising the Lord make sense to us, yet some of the other lines may sound peculiar to us. The song also calls out, "Oh ye sun and moon, bless ye the Lord"? and "Oh ye fire and heat, bless ye the Lord." "0 ye winds of God, bless ye the Lord; 0 ye winter and summer, bless ye the Lord; 0 ye dews and frosts, ye frost and cold, ye ice and snow, bless ye the Lord." It goes on to exhort all things to bless and praise the Lord. "All the mountains and hills, bless the Lord; all ye seas and floods, praise ye the Lord; all the whales and all that move in the waters, praise and bless ye the Lord."
It calls out not only to you and to me, or just to the Church and Christians, but all things are summoned to give blessing and praise to our God. All things, it would appear, might include some very peculiar items. It even sings out, "All ye sea monsters and all deeps, praise the Lord. . . All ye wild animals and all cattle, bless the Lord. . . All mountains and hills, all fire and hail, snow and frost, all stormy winds fulfilling his command, praise and bless ye the Lord." That’s quite a catalog, isn’t it? It makes us wonder what else should be included in the list of those of God’s works which are to bless and praise Him.
I have spent a few hot summers in Birmingham, Alabama attending Pastor's conferences. During the conference the organizers have sometimes included an evening of southern culture including Blue Grass Music. We have some very good friends in Tennessee. I love Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky. Virginia Carey Winston, wrote a little book a number of years ago, describing her childhood in old Kentucky, in the central bluegrass region. Her intent was to give you the flavor of what it was like to grow up in a land of beauty and genteel ways at the turn of the 20th Century. Bear in mind that the land of which she speaks is a land of unsurpassed beauty, and that this is a land where the grass is greener, (or bluer, as the case may be), than anywhere else in creation. When spring comes in Kentucky and the horses foal and the lambs are born, there is, according to Winston, a sweetness unlike any other on earth. Thus Virginia Carey Winston reports that when she was a little girl growing up in the bluegrass country, attending a prim and proper school for girls, chapel services every day included the recitation of this very hymn, "All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord". "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord; praise God, sun and moon and earth, wild animals and all cattle." You see, when Christ came, He came to redeem all of God’s creation. Because He is the word made flesh, it is a sign to us that all things are ultimately intended to contribute to the great Creator’s praise.
Many of us have forgotten to laugh. If so, we also may have forgotten how to praise God. How is our sense of humor? Has our sense of humor dried up, and have we forgotten how to see the ridiculous everywhere? Yes, hear and echo the song of the Psalmist, "Praise the Lord, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars; praise the Lord, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds; praise the Lord, Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and women alike, old and young together."
May The Holy Spirit infuse us with a deep sense of joy and holy humor today
In Christ
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlvb14tiQow
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