Psalm 100

Proper 6 (11) - Year A
"Reign of Christ" - Year A
Thanksgiving - Year C


Laughter and Joy exemplify the presence of G*D.

We have been cared for so well it is hard to know how to respond. Sometimes we are grateful worms. Sometimes we are entitled princes and princesses. Our response to the generosity of G*D for even a moment's breath and awareness is a measure of our soul.

Eugene Peterson suggests that the response that gets us out of the extremes of being of no account or of royalty is a "password" - "Thank you!"

To have these words of "Thank you!" lived through our words and deeds, our thoughts and interactions, opens us to the overwhelming nature of generosity. In their simplicity the beauty of G*D's love and loyalty shine the brighter. In their simplicity the beauty of our response to live that same love and loyalty shines the brighter.

What other response would open us to the presence of G*D as quickly and widely and deeply as does the "Open, Sesame" of "Thank you!"?

Faster than a creed, more powerful than rules of constraint, able to leap wildernesses in a single bound - Look, up in the sky! A bird? A plane? It's the beauty of "Thank you!"

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/june2002.html

 


 

"Bring a gift of laughter."
"Enter with the password: 'Thank you!'"
"For GOD is ... all-generous in love...."

These lines from The Message summarize what Kairos CoMotion has been about.

A significant part of the value people received from coming to the first Kairos CoMotion celebration was the amount of laughter that went into the planning. In fact, I am convinced that the results of events are in direct proportion to the amount of laughter that went into their planning. Reflect on this idea in your experience. If you don't find evidence to the contrary, try it the next time you are involved in a planning event from "what should I eat tonight" to your inauguration.

Laughing leads to lauding. The largest praise is "Thank You!" Even Betsy Bernard, President-elect of AT&T, has this among her "Seven Golden Rules of Leadership."

Lauding leads to a better recognition of love. From the Opening Statement of Kairos CoMotion 2002 we heard Amy say, "All I know is that we are faithful people committed to living out that faith, committed to being in solidarity with one another, committed to embodying the expansive, lavish love of God - now."

Laughing, Thanking, Loving - what a great description of Life.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/november2002.html

 


 

Psalm 100 or Psalm 95:1-7a

In the midst of life as usual there comes a choice about how to respond to the  variety of experiences we have.

In the midst of whatever the disaster-of-the-day might be we can choose to see the hand of an avenging, punishing God at work or an opportunity in which the steadfast love of a God might be revealed through our response.

These Psalms push us to praise G*D. The choice here is whether we find some appropriate genuflection (an external response relationship directed toward G*D that we might be noticed and G*D might sometime or other come do us some good) or some communal interaction (an internal response relationship directed toward revealing G*D's presence right here, right now).

Question of the day: What in the world does it mean to "praise" G*D? How much of this is G*D inflation and how much is G*D application?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/november2005.html

 


 

Psalm 100 or Psalm 95:1-7a
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

With the eyes of your heart enlightened, hope lives in you.

Hope that you will be unscattered and hope that you can help return folks who have been pushed out. Such hope rises to the surface, becoming conscious. From there it is but a matter of applying courage to implement it.

And so, at the end of a long year, we are left with hope. After all the disappointments, we are left with hope. Even in the presence of current and in the anticipation of judgments now and yet, we are left with hope.

- - -

hope revealed
shyly and boldly
pokes its head out
to reveal its heart
in deeds of loving kindness

a bit of feast here
a tun of fun there
a goodwill stop also
a visit when all seemed lost
so hope travels

as we have been done unto
we are thankful
thankful enough
to hope to do well
to do well unto

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html


 

(The Message – non-holy-pronoun version)
1-2 On your feet now – applaud God!
     Bring a gift of laughter,
     sing yourselves into God's presence.
3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
     God made us; we didn't make God.
     We're God's people, God's well-tended sheep.
4 Enter with the password: "Thank you!"
     Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
     Thank God. Worship God.
5 For God is sheer beauty,
     all-generous in love,
     loyal always and ever.

When we get past the judgment, the wrath, the division in our life together there is another picture to be seen, another reality in which to dance. This Psalm is a balance point to many of these end-of-year passages.

For those who respond better to avoiding risks, listen to the threat of a final accounting and change your ways.

For those who respond better to attracting hope, listen to the laughter of already being at home and change your ways.

However you arrive, may you find yourself better than you were.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

 


 

Hooray, I’m a sheep in G*D’s pasture, lying down in good green pastures.

But then I have to consider; am I a fat sheep (boo hiss) or a lean sheep (ta da). Well, what day is it and what time in such a day. It seems my constancy as a sheep is not as constant in its sheepness - sometimes acting fat and sometimes lean.

And then I have to consider whether I might also be a goat in G*D’s pasture, also enjoying a green pasture instead of a sandy one with only patches of dry grass. And what of being a snake in G*D’s garden, with or without legs?

Oops, too many thoughts twirling around. I may have started to respond to a different issue and now can’t get out of the rut of this one.

Perhaps, with all the other talk of judgment, it may be important to simply remember the last line:

For good,
steadfast love enures forever, and 
faithfulness generates for all.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/11/psalm-100.html

 


 

Knowing any claim to the present being a culmination of intent (G*D's and mine), we can't simply declare things are all wrapped up. Obviously they are not and any claim to the contrary is simply fantasy and a usurpation of power.

Nonetheless, we can continue without a neat wrap-up. We can even continue with a sense of joy filling our next attempt to climb a step beyond our present. Try the psalm backward.

First, presume G*D is good, creation is good.
Also First, hold to an understanding that love endures—not only all things, but forever.
Add yet another First, mutual trust is what rolls the generations along.

Second, enter these with thanksgiving for all that has given evidence that these Firsts last.
Secondly, let praise loose that it might beckon a shy future to peek out and bless what is happening and secure this connection.

Thirdly, all of this is to be bone-deep. Know maker and made encourage and entice one another further together.

Fourthly, gladness is a sign of worthy work going on—so whistle while you work.

Fifthly and finally, so live that all the earth is joyful—so joyful that noise goes beyond cacophony, to harmony rich and connected beyond theory and experience.

= = = = = = =

For a musical adaption of Psalm 100, try Ann Reed's "Where the Earth is Round". Don't forget to note the bones of Indigenous Peoples who have claimed the goodness of creation even as they were massacred.

http://youtu.be/4Bil_EpuKOQ

What other non-hymn music might well be a hymn if our ears were better tuned?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/11/psalm-100.html