Greetings to you Trinity brothers and sisters in Christ!

A Reflection based on Luke 19: 28-40

Before there was music, there was praise.  Before there was worship, there was praise.  Before there were preachers, there was praise.  Before there were liturgies and hymnals; before there were sanctuaries and pulpits; before there were prayers and creeds and theologies, there was praise.

When Catie, our daughter was a baby, I believe she knew this.   Lying there, in her crib, some time before we were fully awake, Catie would get up with the first rays of the morning light. She really didn’t know her own name, yet; she didn’t know the name of God; she couldn’t walk and she was just starting to be more verbal; but she knows even at that early age that-- with the beginning of dawn-- the only appropriate thing to do is to sing a baby song of praise! The memory of this brings a smile to my heart.

Before anything else, there is praise.  Scripture says so, too.

As early as the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, there is that soaring poetry about creation.  Of light and darkness, of earth and sky, of waters and plants and animals and finally people.  And, at the end of all of this creative activity, as a kind of epilogue to it all, there is attributed to God’s very self nothing other than a burst of praise.  “God saw everything that God/he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”

In Exodus, when the people of Israel made their way out of Pharaoh’s pursuit, beyond the armies and oppression of Egypt and through the Red Sea to the other side; when they were finally safe, before they did anything else, they paused to praise God. “I will sing to the Lord,” they sang, Moses and Miriam, all of them, “for God has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider God has thrown into the sea.”  it was praise!

The prophet Isaiah heard singing like that once.  He was in the temple to worship; and while there, he saw a vision of god and hear the seraphim singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God’s glory.”

It’s there, all through scripture, too, as if to suggest that praise lies beneath everything else as nothing less than the vigorous intentionality of God.  God means for us to be stewards of nothing if not praise, because nothing is more appropriate or more timely than praise.

That’s part, at least, of what’s being said about praise in the texts we will hear, beginning with the readings of Passion/Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week and Easter. Throughout Lent, Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem.  that same road that you and I are called to travel.   It’s not the conquest of that city, nothing like that; but it’s the vision of it at least.  In Luke’s telling of this moment, the disciples did what came naturally, “As he was not approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, “Luke writes, “the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen.”   They sensed, somewhere in their guts, that nothing was more appropriate or timely than praise.

But the Pharisees in this story were not so sure about that. Maybe they felt that the praise was premature. Maybe they were afraid that the praise would get out of hand; attracting too much attention and alert Herod and the authorities, who were laying in wait for Jesus anyway.  Or maybe they just didn’t believe it. Whatever it was, there was a demand to stop.

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Recall, in Luke’s gospel the statement by Jesus:  “I tell you, if these were silent, the stone would shout out!”

There it is again! The praise that lies deep down beneath everything else! The fundamental praise that creation itself takes part in!  The praise which will find voice even when it’s not our voice; which begs for our attention and is expressed when we gather for fellowship, worship and yes, even community coffee or G.I.F.T.  Praise lives by the confidence that ---if we were silent-- the very structure of this building would shout out!  Because there is nothing more appropriate and timely than praise!

April is a month of activity, in the community, in the church, in school, in our homes, our gardens/lawns, our fields and hog facilities- everything springs into life and in it’s own way sings it’s praise! Yes, we do experience the heaviness of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but even in these darker moments, there is reason for praise…because of what God has done through Jesus Christ, we can sing PRAISE.  May you have a blessed month and find the sacredness of life, and God’s awesomeness in your life as Lent comes to a close, and we celebrate the RESURRECTION on Sunday, April 20th and every Sunday/Day!

Pastor Carol Mapa