Exodus 12

Again, the reading in Morning Prayer draws our attention to the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The OT reading concerns the deliverance of Israel through the blood of the Passover Lamb. A few details of the account are especially interesting.

Exodus 12:21ff Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

At Jesus’ crucifixion St. John notes: 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, *said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Of the four gospels St. John alone mentions Jesus’ statement, “I am thirsty.” John draws our attention to a hyssop branch used to give Jesus the drink of sour wine. This is not incidental. The hyssop branch has special significance.

• A hyssop branch was used when the first Passover Lamb was sacrificed to smear the blood of the sacrifice on the lintel and door posts. It was under the protection of this sign that the firstborn sons residing inside the house and eating the roasted lamb were saved. ** The blood applied from the threshold (Exodus 12:22) to the lintel and to each doorpost made the sign of the cross.

• In the ratification of the Sinai Covenant Moses symbolically united God and the people by using a hyssop branch to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the altar, which represented Jehovah, and then on the people, creating a bond in blood between them, uniting them in the "blood of the covenant” (Hebrews 9:18-20) — the same words Jesus used in the Last Supper when He offered those assembled His Blessed Blood (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; and Luke 22:20).

• Numbers 19:18 records the use of hyssop in the ritual purification for those who were contaminated by a dead body, contamination which rendered the covenant member "dead" to the covenant community. Purification of the contaminated occurred on the third and seventh days — a kind of double resurrection — with hyssop and holy water and restored the contaminated to the life of the covenant community.

The reference to the hyssop branch in John 19 reminds us that:

• The blood of Jesus purifies us and saves us from death which no longer has dominion over us. We are saved by the blood of the New Covenant, the blood of the Lamb which takes away the sin of the world.

• In the Sacrament of Holy Baptism we partake of a first resurrection to life through the washing of regeneration in water and the Spirit. For the baptized, a second resurrection occurs at the Second Coming when we are raised body and soul. We have been saved from the curse of the double-death in Genesis 2:17. … In the Fall man was “dis-graced" resulting not only in physical death, but also spiritual death (the "second death" in Revelation 2:11; 20:6; 21:8).

• Jesus' Precious Blood is the cleansing agent, which the hyssop and holy water of the Old Covenant symbolized. It is His Precious Blood that purifies us from all sins: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow (Psalm 51:7).

God so loves the world that He did not spare His only Son. In His sufferings on the cross, Jesus teaches us that in the mysterious depths of suffering, God’s eternal Laws are kind and break the heart of stone. How else but through a broken heart may Lord Jesus enter in? In the depths of suffering, God is at His most merciful.

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people: that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

JSH+

Zechariah’s Song

Psalm 45:1 My heart overfloweth with a good matter; I speak the things which I have made concerning the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

What a wonderful metaphor! My tongue is the pen of a ready writer! In Psalm 45 David’s divinely-inspired heart overflows with a good matter. Such was the abundance of his heart that his tongue was as the pen of a ready writer — that is, a pen quick to perform, willingly disposed to write. As the hand guides and directs the pen, so David’s heart readily guides and directs his tongue.

Whenever I read Zechariah’s Song, Benedictus (St. Luke 1:68ff, BCP p. 14) in Morning Prayer I am reminded of Psalm 45:1. Zechariah, whose name also is the name of one of the last of the OT prophets, is a priest in the Jerusalem Temple. According to the custom of the priesthood, Zechariah, now an old man, is burning incense in the Temple when the angel Gabriel appears to him and tells him that his aged wife will bear a son. Zechariah is skeptical: “I am an old man, and my wife is well stricken in years.” As a reward for his skepticism, Zechariah is struck dumb. His silence continues until his son is born and he consents to name his son, John, a wholly unexpected and unprecedented family name. Suddenly, Zechariah’s heart full to overflowing, his tongue becomes the pen of a ready writer.

In St Luke 1 we read:

60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called 63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; * for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, * in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, * which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us.
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: * for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; * whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The Benedictus begins with blessing God Who has “visited and redeemed his people.” In Holy Scripture to “visit” does not mean merely to look in on; it means to relieve, to deliver from distress. God “visited” Israel to deliver Israel from Egypt. In James 1:27 we are admonished - in a timely fashion - that “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress …” God has visited his people by “raising up a mighty salvation” In Jesus Christ. The rest of the Benedictus praises God Who keeps his promises and gives “light to those who sit in darkness.”

Morning Prayer nurtures in us a heart overflowing with praise and thanksgiving to God, gives us the tongue of a ready writer when we often feel at a loss for words. MP is an ever present reminder that God has visited us in our distress; God has redeemed his Church. MP is an ancient and seminal part of the cure of our souls.

For Guidance.

O GOD, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly; Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of Wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

JSH+

Today's Reflections

Soon we will proclaim: The Lord is risen!   In the midst of this life's tribulations, our attention is focused on this joyous refrain. In today's Epistle we read:

I Corinthians 15:20ff

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. ...

St. Paul asserts, with triumphant certainty, the reality of Christ's bodily resurrection and the significance for those who are members incorporate in Christ's mystical body (cf. BCP p.83).  Christ is the "firstfruits" of the resurrection. In the OT, the first fruits were the portion of the harvest offered in thanksgiving to the Lord, and represented the consecration of the entire harvest (Lev 23:10-21; Dt 26:1-11). Christ's resurrection is the firstfruits of  the harvest of His Body, the Church. At Christ's return, all humanity will arise bodily, the just to an eternity with Christ in His heavenly kingdom (Mt 13:39b-43; 1 Thes 4:16; Rev 20:11-15).

Adam and Christ, death and life ... 

In Christ "all will be made alive" through Jesus' death and resurrection:  For since death came through man [Adam], the resurrection of the dead came also through a man [Christ]. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be made alive. The Church Fathers saw many parallels between Adam and Christ, and especially between the creation of the woman and the Church.  The Church Fathers interpreted the creation of woman from Adam's side in Genesis 2 (bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, Gen 2:23) as a foreshadowing of the creation of the Church, the Bride of Christ, created from the blood and water that flowed from Christ's side at the crucifixion (John 19:34).  St. John Chrysostom writes: "I said that water and blood symbolized baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments, the Church is born ... As God then took a rib from Adam's side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way, Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own sleep of death" (Baptismal Instruction, 3.17).  Jesus' death and resurrection gives life to the His Body. 

This theme is echoed in the great hymn, The Church's One Foundation: "The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.  She is His new creation by water and the Word.  From heaven He came and sought her  to be His Holy Bride.  With His own blood he bought her, and for her life He died."

The Lord is risen!  Death no longer has dominion.  In Romans 5:12 St. Paul writes: Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men ... . Death is the ultimate enemy. Christ defeats death through His death, and the destruction of death is the "coming to life" of those who belong to Christ.  The Resurrection of the dead is the ultimate triumph of Jesus to whom God the Father gave all authority  as King of kings and Lord of lords (Dan 7:13-14; Rev 19:16). 

What does Christ's death and resurrection mean for us?

Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

In the Morning.

O GOD, the King eternal, who dividest the day from the darkness, and turnest the shadow of death into the morning; Drive far off from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep thy law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that having done thy will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when the night cometh, rejoice to give thee thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

ALMIGHTY God, who alone gavest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We beseech thee, for thy compassion's sake, to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours; that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing. And grant that, having the eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

JSH+

Unprecedented!

Unprecedented.   I have heard this word used a great deal over the past few weeks.  "Unprecedented" is usually followed by something unsettling - infection rates, unemployment numbers, social-distancing and isolation mandates, economic impact.  It's a word that is used when there are no other words, no other contemporary point of reference to describe the environment in which we now find ourselves.

Unprecedented.  Certainly in my twenty-five years as an Anglican priest I have not seen social mandates which have virtually shut down the assembling of the faithful for worship and the partaking of the Blessed Sacrament, which have made neighbors suspicious and fearful at the prospect of getting close to one another.   In my lifetime's experiences these are indeed unprecedented times.

Unprecedented. The present opportunity to re-center our life and attention on the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord.   As Easter Sunday approaches we are summoned once again to fix our hope on what is truly unprecedented: Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection.   For Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and we are partakers of His Death to this world and His Resurrection to newness of life.  We are not as those without hope, who in the midst of trial and tribulation can only say: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.  As St Paul notes in today's MP reading:

I Corinthians 15:12-19

Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 

At the end of chapter 15 we read:

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 

Unprecedented. We have been given a unique opportunity to restore the priority of Morning and Evening Prayer in our daily lives.   This world will pass away, but the Word of God abides forever.  Our confidence in God who hears our prayers remains fixed, inviolable, immoveable.  Today's reading in Exodus 3 reminds us that God hears the cries of His people:

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them ...  

So we pray:

From all evil and mischief; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh, and the devil,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From lightning and tempest; from earthquake, fire, and flood; from plague, pestilence, and famine; from battle and murder, and from sudden death,

Good Lord, deliver us.

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion; from all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word and Commandment,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By the mystery of thy holy Incarnation; by thy holy Nativity and Circumcision; by thy Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation,

Good Lord, deliver us.

By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat; by thy Cross and Passion; by thy precious Death and Burial; by thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost,

Good Lord, deliver us.

In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our prosperity; in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment,

Good Lord, deliver us.

Unprecedented.  In these uncertain times we have an unprecedented occasion to show forth the compassion and love of Jesus Christ for one another.  Pray for one another; seek an opportunity to do good to those in need.   There have been some wonderful examples of compassion during this epidemic.  A young woman in Brooklyn, who lived in a neighborhood with a significant number of older residents, bought cardboard posters and put her name, phone number and email address on them and then posted them throughout the neighborhood.   Written on the posters was the message: If you need someone to purchase and deliver groceries I can help. Contact me by phone or email.  The older residents were able to transfer money to her to buy groceries which she picked up and delivered to their front doors.  There are now seventy volunteers helping her in this Brooklyn neighborhood.

Unprecedented.  Yes, even in a time such as this we have reason to give unprecedented thanks to God!

JSH+

O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

"O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded" — the importance of our daily, regular prayers

The Sources of our Faith and Practice in the Book of Common Prayer

1. The BCP is grounded in patristic and monastic theology and method

• The BCP: the Eucharist and Daily Offices

1. The BCP's liturgy is an integral system of the Church's gathering for prayer

2. The BCP cultivates a habitual sense of the presence of God ... fosters an approach to living the Christian life that encourages us to live out our baptismal vows in our daily lives

3. The elements of repetition/recollection in the BCP become a continuous, even a second nature, awareness of and confidence in the divine presence in our lives

2. The BCP and the sanctification of time — our participation in the life of Christ’s Church ... the liturgy sanctifies time in three aspects:

• The Propers (the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for each Sunday) treat of salvation history through the seasons of the Church Year returning us each and every Sunday to the eternal truths of our life and salvation

• The BCP in its various rites treats the passage of each human being through the stages of life from birth to burial (7 stages of life and 7 sacraments)

• Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer partake of the created rhythm of everyday life through the morning and evening cycle

Singing The TE DEUM ... O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

The TE DEUM is one of the two great canticles (along with the GLORIA IN EXCELSIS) appointed for use in the BCP not taken directly from Holy Scripture. Both canticles were written in the fourth century. Part I is a hymn to the Holy Trinity recalling the praise of God by His heavenly hosts in their unceasing Sanctus (Isaiah 6:3) and the praise of God by the Church and the saints.

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud; the Heavens, and all the Powers therein;
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee;
The Father, of an infinite Majesty;
Thine adorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

Part II is a hymn to Christ very similar to the Creed: His eternal existence, His Incarnation and His passion,His exaltation, and second coming to judge the world. The final three verses in Part II are the Church's response to Jesus' person and work.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst humble thyself to be born of a Virgin.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou
hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

Part III is a series of the Church's petitions for deliverance and mercy.

O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name ever, world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

JSH+

Morning Prayer — The Venite: O come let us sing unto the Lord!

Morning Prayer — The Venite (BCP p.9)

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD; * let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; * and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God; * and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth; * and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it; * and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down, * and kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God; * and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; * let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; * and with righteousness to judge the world, and the peoples with his truth.

What a way to begin every day, through good times and bad, in times of blessedness or trial: O come, let us sing unto the Lord! We are taught daily, throughout all the vicissitudes of our mortal existence, to give thanks to God.

Having confessed our sin before Almighty God in "A General Confession" (p. 6), we are then assured of God's pardon and absolution to all those "who truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel (the good news of the remission of sin in Jesus Christ our Lord). We are reminded of God's favor and goodness to those who have been forgiven by addressing God as "Our Father" in the Lord's prayer. Now God opens our lips to show forth his praise, first in the Gloria Patri, and then in the Venite's jubilant summons to worship God with joy and thanksgiving. The Venite is well suited for worship because the worship of God consists primarily of praise and thanksgiving.

• "O come, let us sing" reminds us that MP is not just an act of individual devotion ... we raise our voices with the Church throughout the world.

• We come into God's presence– literally, to come before God's face – with songs of praise and thanksgiving, in the beauty and awe of holiness.

• With consummate art the Venite takes us up in the principal themes of worship: the majesty and glory of God manifest in creation; the providential and tender care of God, the good Shepherd, for His people; the just demands of righteousness and truth.

• "O come, let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker" ... worship is not simply a matter of the heart, of inward devotion; we worship God in body and soul, by an outward as well as inward profession of godliness. Bishop Royal Grote once told me that worship should begin with, "assume the position," that is, prostrate oneself before Lord. "Now," Bishop Grote noted, "we are ready to worship."

In today's Living Lent:

Remorse for our sins... "is part of our spiritual growth as witnessed by many of the saints who saw this as instrumental in their growing awareness and closeness to God." ... This is particularly evident in the life of St Paul. In drawing closer to God, he apprehended with greater clarity the holiness of God, and his own sinfulness. Accordingly, the progression in his spiritual growth was marked by: I am the least of the Apostles (I Cor. 15:9), to I am the least of the saints (Eph 3:8), to I am the chief of all sinners (I Tim 1:15).

"However it is a feature of our Christian life, if it grows out of proportion to other aspects, it makes us gloomy and morbid Christians." How true this is! The Church does talk about acknowledging our guilt and shame before God not so that we may wallow in it, but that we might deal with it and move beyond it. Too often many have placed too much emphasis on guilt and shame before God rather than Christian forgiveness, grace, joy and boldness in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to end man's guilt and shame before God by reconciliation through Jesus' sacrifice. Jesus came to give deliverance, to the captives, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Luke 4): "I am come that they may have life, and they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). We are not masochists in search of self-atonement; we are those set at liberty in Jesus Christ; we are those who rejoice in the Lamb of God that takest away the sin of the world. In a sense, every confession and absolution is a kind of resurrection.

As a reminder ... in the Sacrament of Penance we are to be mindful that true confession consists of:

• Contrition: true sorrow for our sins; by careful examination, we know what our sins are and the extent to which we have offended God’s love and goodness.

• Confession: we own up to our sins, simply, honestly, and completely. We make our confession to a Priest as a minister of God and Christ’s representative to you of His Holy Church.

• Absolution: God washes away the stain of our sin from our souls and gives us strength to resist sin in the future.

• Amendment: we commit ourselves, by God’s grace, to fight manfully against those sins we have committed, striving to be faithful to God’s holy will and resolving not to sin again.

And at the end of every confession we hear: The Lord has put away all thy sins ... Go in peace

JSH+

Joy in the Morning

In Morning Prayer (BCP p 9) we sing with joy ... O Come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

Psalm 104:33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will praise my God while I have my being.

Psalm singing ... THE VENITE

First, we sing Psalms above all because it is well-pleasing to God. God requires Psalm-singing. "Sing and make melody in your heart, in Psalms, and hymns and spirit-songs," St Paul writes. The Psalms are God's own hymns which He commands us to sing. Moreover, the Psalms are not only commanded by God, they are also PLEASING to Him. He delights in our praises, and He particularly delights when we praise Him with the songs He has given.

Second, we sing the Psalms because our Psalms provoke God to act for us. God does not forget; His throne in heaven is surrounded by the rainbow (**see Genesis 9 and Revelation 4). Just as God acts in response to prayer, He also responds to our "Psalm-singing". In the Psalms, we remind God to act in accord with His promise. The book of Chronicles tells us that song is a memorial before the Lord, and as we sing of God's great acts, we are calling on Him to remember to act on our behalf again. The Psalms celebrate the gift of manna in the wilderness, and we remind God to provide for our daily bread in the same way; we sing of David's many dangers and many deliverances, and we remind God of His promise to deliver us from evil.

** Genesis 9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: ... 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth ...

** Revelation 4:4 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. 2 And immediately I was in spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. 3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne ...

Third, the Psalms prepare us for spiritual battle. It is simply a fact that vigorous singing heightens our spirits, increases our energy, makes us ready for action. Armies throughout the centuries have known this, and every great army has had fight songs, sports teams know this principle too. SINCE THE SIXTH CENTURY, the Venite has been the Church's fight song!

Fourth, Yahweh urges Israel to “go forth from Babylon” and “flee from the Chaldeans,” He exhorts them to sing and shout (Isaiah 48:20). The songs of deliverance are not merely expressions of joy, though they are obviously that. They are also declarations of Yahweh’s redemption. The text in Isaiah uses three verbs to describe what Israel's singing is to accomplish. By singing, Israel is to:

• announce (nagad),

• “cause to hear” (hiphil of shama), and

• “cause to go forth” (hiphil of yatza’).

The message of deliverance announced, heard, going forth, is that “Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob.” In other words, singing is evangelism.

In today's reading in Living Lent:

Isaiah 49:13 Sing O heavens and be joyful.

Caroline Divine Anthony Farindon writes: If love be the sun, joy and delight are the beams which stream forth from it. If love be as the voice, joy is the echo; for joy is but love in the reflection. ... Worship is indeed a time to be full of joy. Lancelot Andrewes saw each major festival as expressing this joy. For example, Christmas "is news of joy", Good Friday is "the joy of our salvation" and Easter is the day of "joyful tidings." ... Our joy should abound in recognition of His birth, death and resurrection. ... When the priest says to the penitent, "Go in peace, the Lord has taken away your sins", there is always an overwhelming joy. ... Of course every day brings its own joy if we but choose it ... Being joyful in our worship, faith, attitude and work starves inertia and disappointment. Without joy our souls will wither ...

JSH+

Songs of Thankfulness and Praise!

I woke up early this morning singing the words of Psalm 51: O Lord, open thou our lips. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise! (BCP p2 in Morning Prayer)

The Book of Common Prayer was first published in English in 1549, but its pages did not produce a new way of worship. Its forms and words have guided the Church through the ages, from the time of Christ to this very moment. In the Prayer Book I am connected to the Apostles and early Church, the Coliseum, the catacombs, the Church Fathers and the Councils. I am walking in the footprints of St. Paul, St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Martha, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, St. Columba, St Bernard and Lancelot Andrews.

On days when my faith is weak and prayer is difficult, the Prayer Book leads me to the throne of grace. On days when my thoughts are clouded by care and sorrow, the Prayer Book leads me to the mercy seat. On days when I am close to God and rejoice to seek and praise Him, the Prayer Book leads me to the glorious throne of God’s kingdom. In each and every situation the Prayer Book leads me to worship God in Spirit and in truth because the Prayer Book prays the Holy Scripture. The more I use it, pray it, and worship by it, the more the truths of Holy Scripture lay hold of our souls.

Now, back to Psalm 51: O Lord open thou our lips, and our mouth shall show forth thy praise ... In MP we begin with Confession, Absolution and the gracious words, "Our Father," in the Lord's Prayer ... Now we are ready to sing, to show forth God's praise.

In Psalm 51 ... David had refused to confess his sins ... God, through Nathan, brought David to repentance. Despite the overwhelming sense of his sin and guilt — David said that God had crushed his bones — David is brought to praise the God who forgiveth all our sin, for his mercy endureth forever! After David confesses his sin, he is fit to receive the good graces of God ... it is then that his “heart overfloweth with a good matter .... His tongue the pen of a ready writer” Psalm 45

When David's unconfessed sins had taken hold of his soul, he was unable to sing.

THE SINS OF ISRAEL AND THE LACK OF SINGING

When Israel’s sins were such that God finally had them exiled from Sion ... they wept bitter tears:
Psalm 137 ... By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion ... For there our captors demanded of us songs, and tormenters mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Sion.” But how can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”

REMOVED FROM GOD’S PRESENCE IN THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM THEY WERE RENDERED SILENT

The world glorifies God, sings its praises to its creator. But God is not enthroned on the praises of creation, but on the praises of his people ... who gather together to render thanks for the great benefits we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise. Man is created “Homo adorans.”
God’s greatness, our sin, God’s mercy .... When we open our lips we sing: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost ....As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end, amen, BCP p.3.
Often called the lesser doxology ... In this one-sentence prayer, time and eternity are combined in a compressed expression of doxology, praise of God. In the Ancient Church, as in the BCP, the Gloria Patri was always sung at the end of each Psalm.

Sola Deo gloria ... It is from this principle: that glory belongs to God alone, that we offer up this prayer and praise. Glory be to the father ...

After confession, absolution and the "Our Father," we are ready to sing ... O Come let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation!

This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

JSH+