Psalm 103:1-8

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.

2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

3 He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;

4 He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;

5 He satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's.

6 The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.

7 He made his ways known to Moses and his works to the children of Israel.

8 The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.

(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)

A memory from Y2K. (For youngsters, at the turn of the century, anxiety was high with concern that computers would crash as they were not programmed for a date that began with the number 2, i.e., 2000.) For some folks, the anxiety prompted reflection on the spiritual life. A young man came to my office at church. He said that he had not been interested in things religious. But he had been walking on the street, had sneezed loudly, and a passerby said: God bless you. It triggered something for him, amid Y2K anticipation. He asked me: What does it mean for God to bless? Our conversation was his first step into deeper commitment to the church and the Christian path.

We hear a lot about blessings in scripture. Most often it is God who does the blessing. When we offer gifts in church, we praise God from whom all blessings flow. We close liturgies with blessings in God’s name. And there are places, especially in the psalms, when we are the ones who do the blessing. What does it mean to bless the Lord (as in the psalm reprinted in this email, one you may have heard in church yesterday)?

I wasn’t sure, so I wondered if it would help to look at the original language. In Hebrew, the word bless (barak) suggests praise or adoration. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the word bless (eulogein) literally means to speak well of. Let’s work with those and think about what it might mean for us to bless the Lord this week.

To bless the Lord is to note the character of God, leading to praise and adoration as suggested by the Hebrew meaning of the word. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in the complex beauty of nature, which seems to rise above all that we might inflict on this fragile earth, our island home. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in the gift of life, the amazing ways our bodies work. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in unconditional love, the grace and mercy of God’s care for us. We offer praise for the character of God revealed in defense of those who are oppressed. That seems especially praiseworthy in our current season of politics of cruelty. We praise the character of a God who cares for those who are ill treated (e.g., these days we are mindful of immigrants, refugees, the unhoused, hungry children nearby and far away, those vilified for their sexuality). How amazing, how praiseworthy that the God we praise and adore came to live among us as refugee, unhoused, finally done in by religious and political powers!

Praise leads to gratitude, related to praise. We bless the Lord when we look in the spiritual rear view mirror and see how God has acted in our lives in the past. We tell stories of scripture to hear how God has been gracious over the generations. In the eucharist, we give thanks for all the good things God has done. Gratitude in the attitude is one way to bless the Lord.

Then going with the Greek meaning, when we bless the Lord, we speak well of the Lord. We do that in community when we worship, a reminder that worship is not a spectator sport. In the vision of Soren Kierkegaard, worship is a drama in which clergy and musicians are prompters, congregants are actors and God is the audience. 

When we’re not in church, we bless the Lord by fulfilling the baptismal promise to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. To proclaim good news by word means we speak well of the Lord. That’s not always the most comfortable thing for Episcopalians to do, partly because so many of us have been on the receiving end of disrespectful, heavy handed proselytizing. (As Dave Barry asked: Why is that people who want to tell me about their religion never want to hear about mine?) I learned from one of my youth groups that an effective way to talk about our faith is to speak of God-sightings: I-statements about where we have seen God at work in our lives. Can't argue with that.

We also bless the Lord by example, living into St. Francis’ maxim that we should preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words. We bless the Lord when we act in service to those who have been marginalized, those who are being oppressed. We're told that's what God does, and imitation is the highest form of flatter (a.k.a. praise).

All of which is to invite readers to think this week about what it means to bless the Lord. Offer praise for the marvel and mystery of creation. Give thanks to the one from whom all blessings flow. Proclaim good news, especially to those who need to hear it. those on the edges. Offer that good news not only with our lips but with our lives.

-Jay Sidebotham

PS: I totally understand if life's circumstances make blessing, praise, adoration, gratitude difficult to offer. Perhaps the topic for another Monday morning. Meanwhile, I commend to you two books: Uncommon Gratitude: Alleluia For All That Is, by Rowan Williams and Joan Chittister, and Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott.