Dear Rose Park,
As you know, I’m currently the volunteer chaplain at Camp Geneva this week. It’s been an unbelievable experience to care for the counselors, campers, and staff and to witness their faith come alive and grow. This year’s theme for Geneva is praise; it comes directly from these words from Psalm 148: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His host! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you shining stars! Praise Him, you highest heaves, and you waters above the heaven!
Psalm 148 is clear in its’ call to praise the Lord and it falls within a symphony of praise. Psalm 145-150 are the final psalms in the book and they are known as the ‘Hallelujah Psalms’ because they are filled with praise to the Lord and they call upon everything to give praise; nothing is exempt, not even the rocks or trees can keep silent. So, before I go any further what might it look like for you to join the choir of all creation in praising God with everything you said and everything you did?
But there’s so much more in Psalm 148 as well. If you notice, the first half of Psalm 148 calls all the sky to praise the Lord and the second half calls all the land to praise the Lord (even some pretty scary stuff). This is a direct echo of Genesis 1 and the creation story. But then, in the climatic verses we hear these words: He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all His faithful, for the people of Israel who are close to Him. Praise the Lord! He has raised up a horn? What’s that all about? A raised horn is a common biblical image of victory; it is derived from when a bull wins a battle, he will lift his head high in victory. So, God has lifted up a horn on our behalf. He has claimed victory over death, sin, pain, and the enemy…and this is most certainly a reason to give praise.
So, whether you’re a middle-school student on the Pines campus of Camp Geneva, a parent who is more than ready for their children to be back in school, a 9-to-5 worker who is working for the weekend, or even a retiree who is transitioning to a new season of life, let us celebrate the victory that God has won on our behalf. Let us join the choir of angels, women and men, old and young, rocks, trees, and even sea monsters of the deep in singing a song of praise to our God.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Alex Parkes on Unsplash