The image was inspired by the poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” (click here for text and analysis), which Romans 5:5 brought to my mind.

Imagine that you were born and raised in ancient Israel. The time for yet another major religious observance has arrived, and you must make the required pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. You leave home focused and determined; but then… the journey is long, and the sun is hot, the path is unyielding, the animal that you are bringing to sacrifice is burdensome, and the caravan is noisy. You begin to question why you must do this, time and time again. This situation isn’t so different from our own attempts to foster any kind of spiritual discipline. We all question, from time to time, why we continue to offer “our sacrifice, of praise and thanksgiving” communally or individually. In tough times, we might resent doing so, and when life is easy – we might simply forget. 

But have you ever noticed that your delight in anything in the world – an exciting trip, great food, amazing book or concert, the genius of your kid – gets magnified a thousand times during the time you are describing it to someone else? So it is with the praise and thanksgiving we express to God, and about him. In CS Lewis’ words, “praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment… Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” Would you say that you “enjoy” God? Or at least his/her gifts? Well, one ancient Israelite poet certainly did; and he has also managed to “complete his enjoyment” by composing the words which we now know as Ps 100. In fact, he did it so successfully that it resonated not only with his own people, who made it into a processional chant to recite on the way to the temple, but also with the generations of Christians who have subsequently used it, similarly, as an invitation to worship in the traditional liturgy of morning prayer. It has been set to some really beautiful music by so many composers – Purcell, Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Britton – and paraphrased as many hymns. Today, psalm 100 is among the most well-known and beloved psalms, second only to 23 or 95. What a text to usher in a new day!

Only 5 verses long, but brilliant in simplicity. It has two sections, which mirror each other. Each gives 3-4 instructions on expressing praise, followed by a rationale to make it clear why praise is to be offered. First, we have 4 instructions: “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; Come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God,” and a rationale: “It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” Then, we have the second group of 3 instructions: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and bless his name,” followed by the second rationale: “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”.

The structure is simple. But these, highly active, words are very meaningful: shout (Hebrew rua – a battle cry! … impossible to do with your hands in the pockets and one eye on the phone!); worship (a word that reflects a blend of praise and service); come, know and enter (implying the true intimacy without fear); give thanks and bless (barak related to berak – kneel). Of course, these would all be empty commands, of which we would soon tire, if we didn’t have the two rationales. The structure is like a mirror, but the rationales are not redundant. They are quite different. The first one is relational: God both makes and sustains us. The second one is ontological: s/he is hesed (i.e., lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness) who endures forever. 

The most remarkable, prophetic aspect of this psalm is that it extends the invitation to worship towards all the nations, and does so centuries before St Paul stated explicitly that in God “there is no Jew or Gentile”. It may be difficult for us to appreciate how deeply these words would have challenged the worldview of the Israelites, whose whole national identity was based on the distinctiveness of their covenant relationship with God. However, we have our biases, and we too, at times, might be tempted to create spiritual and physical walls to restrict our own openness only to people most similar to us. Let this psalm remind us that the entire earth belongs to God, and our ability and desire to worship him are a gift to all. But consider taking a moment also to look around the nave now and appreciate the wonderful diversity among ourselves that is not necessarily always visible, yet is always present.  

To summarize, I believe that to complete our enjoyment” of God and each other is a very good reason for us to continue to “show up” – each time we gather on Sunday, pray alone, or we acknowledge even in the briefest of ways our gratitude for things big and small. Found a good parking spot – you could say “thank God” and mean it! Caught yourself saying “OMG” rather emphatically – why not take this opportunity to really call on God for help? Any such moment may serve as a gateway to worship. Finally, next time you wake in the morning and do not feel particularly thankful, why not begin your day by re-reading our good-old Jubilate. Many of us grab our phones first thing in the morning – well, we could set it up as a lock-screen or wallpaper, save a shortcut or bookmark it, or have it sent to your inbox each day. There are many options – anything to enable quick and automatic access to it. You could also try writing a paraphrase of it, or even your own psalm from scratch (and share these with us!). In doing so, may we imitate God in his creativity, and complete our delight in his/her work. Thanks be to God.

For further thought:

1. Do CS Lewis’ words “praise not merely expresses, but completes the
   enjoyment” resonate with you? How so — can you think of an instance when you shared your delight about something and thereby, “completed” or re-lived your enjoyment of that experience?
2. Ps 100 uses the metaphor of “the sheep of God’s pasture” to
   acknowledge God’s creation and providence. What other metaphor(s) would you use for yourself, especially if being compared to a sheep doesn’t seem very flattering?
3. Why not compose, by yourself or together with your family members, a morning dedication song of your own, similar to Psalm 100? What
   sections do you think it should have: an acknowledgement of God’s
   power and providence, or at least creation; thanksgiving; maybe a
   request for strength; other items? If you are willing to share, it
   would be wonderful to compile our “psalms of praise” for mutual
   encouragement.