Psalm 113

1 Hallelujah! Give praise, you servants of the Lord; praise the Name of the Lord.

2 Let the Name of the Lord be blessed, from this time forth for evermore.

3 From the rising of the sun to its going down let the Name of the Lord be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?

6 He takes up the weak out of the dust and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

7 He sets them with the princes, with the princes of his people.

8 He makes the woman of a childless house to be a joyful mother of children.

(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.)

Kid on the New York City corner asks a pedestrian: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Snarky New Yorker answers: Practice, practice, practice. There’s lots of talk in church circles about spiritual practice. I see two dimensions to the word. First, it’s about making life in the spirit practical, putting it to work in the world. Second, it’s about the fact that as we practice, we get better. We go deeper. In both senses of the word, the spiritual life calls for practice.

I noted an important spiritual practice in the psalm you may have heard in church yesterday (reprinted in this email). It includes this line: From the rising of the sun to its setting down, let the name of the Lord be praised. The psalm suggests a practice of letting praise of God suffuse all of life.

I recently picked up a small book (my favorite kind) by Brother Lawrence, a 17th century Carmelite friar. The book is entitled The Practice of the Presence of God. The good friar asks us to think about what it means to live life, all of life in the presence of God. He writes: “If I were a preacher, I would preach nothing but practicing the presence of God. If I were to be responsible for guiding souls in the right direction, I would urge everyone to be aware of God’s constant presence, if for no other reason than because His presence is a delight to our souls and spirits.”

Recently I’d been thinking about that constant presence, prompted by the confession that comes up in the service of Morning Prayer. The confession begins with the words “Merciful God.” One morning, those two words struck me as a profound and transformative frame of mind. It signaled to me that my whole day, my whole life unfolds in the presence of God, thankfully a merciful God. That presence is not limited to time spent in quiet devotion. It's not limited to an hour on a Sunday spent in church. All of life presents opportunity to live in God’s holy presence. As Howard Thurman noted: "If God is the creator of life in its totality, then all things are in candidacy for the achievement of the high and holy end."

It has made me recognize that I spend a good amount of my life as a functional atheist, imagining that I navigate life based solely on my own resources and resilience, my own wit and wisdom. My current spiritual growth edge is to see how I might become more aware that all of my life unfolds in the presence of God, and to practice the faith in that presence.

I imagine that’s what St. Paul was getting at when he said: “Pray without ceasing.” I’ve run across a few folks who seem called to a cloistered life of prayer, devoting all of their waking day to prayer. I’m thankful for them. For the rest of us, not called to that specific vocation, the call to pray without ceasing looks different.

What does that look like for you? Maybe it’s praying for the person who cut you off in traffic. Maybe it’s praying for the person in the back of the ambulance that speeds by you, and for those offering healing ministries to that person. Maybe it’s keeping a list of folks who deal with sickness or with grief and setting aside time each day to pray for them. Maybe it’s praying for our nation, our leaders, instead of fulminating at newscast or social media. And returning to that psalm with a call to let our days be filled with praise, maybe it’s uttering a hearty “wow” when you see the sun rise or set. Maybe it’s remembering to offer thanks and praise for food, shelter, health, friends. You get the idea. There are no limits to the practice of the presence of God.

Let me send you off this morning with a favorite story about practice. Pablo Casals was in his time the greatest cellist on the globe. A documentary about him was produced when he was in his mid-90’s. The interviewer asked: Mr. Casals, in light of your greatness, why is it that you still practice several hours a day? Mr. Casals responded: Because I get better.

The practice of the presence of God involves no finish line. There is no limit to how we might offer praise. How will you sense that presence today?

 -Jay Sidebotham