We continue with Walter Brueggemann on praise. Tomorrow I will add what is here to what follows so as to develop a more complete reflection.
As praise is appropriate to human community, so praise is appropriate to the character of God, for our praise is a response to God's power and mercy. Nothing more can be said to God. Nothing more can be added to God. Nonetheless God must be addressed.
When we turn to God, we turn to something beyond ourselves. Praise is not offered to God because this is the way we are able to make God do something for our benefit. We praise God because we are reminded in story and in the community of faith, that God is already the source of life and the power that brings life even in the face of threatening moments that cause us to worry and fret and become less than the children God calls us to be. God is addressed and in that address, we are already placing ourselves within the realm of God's power and mercy. The praise of God is that "already" action that shows that we are not so tied up in ourselves that we cannot see this power for life that pulls us into something more than we think we can be. In some ways, I see praise as the way we throw ourselves up in the air not expecting anything but to simply demonstrate to God that we do see God's impact on our lives. Praise is a liberating action. Praise is a grand exercise in letting go of our lives and receiving them back again - reshaped and revitalized.
Connection: Sometimes, the best we can do in the worst situations in our day is to praise God. The day may begin to look differently...or maybe we will look differently...or maybe the way we move next in the day will take on a new shape.
Come, Lord of New Life...come and tickle our hearts and remind us of the power for life that comes from you alone...even when we are grasped by the darkness of the world around. us. Amen.
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