Saturday, July 24, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 50 which enjoins us – from sunrise to sunset – to offer God a sacrifice of praise.
A sacrifice of praise!
It’s a phrase and concept
that pops up in scripture several times.
And it intrigues me.
What might that repeated phrase mean
for my life with God?
In our first reading, the Israelites took detailed steps to offer sacrifice to the Lord. Their efforts are summarized in this verse:
We will do everything that the LORD has told us.
But what is the difference between a “sacrifice of praise” and the ritualized blood sacrifice described in Exodus?
I think of a “sacrifice of praise” as that moment in our spiritual lives when our focus shifts
- from “what we do to honor God” to “how God lives in us”
- from practiced ritual to the awe of Sacred Presence
- from my efforts to God’s fidelity
- in other words…..
- from me to God
At that moment, the “sacrifice” is of our natural self-absorption and self-involvement in order to free God’s presence and action through us.
It is a moment of recognition like that of John the Baptist who, busy as he had been establishing his ministry, on seeing Jesus said, “He must increase and I must decrease.”
Our psalm tells us that God is faithfully responsive to such total awareness and commitment:
Offer to God praise as your sacrifice
and fulfill your vows to the Most High;
Then call upon me in time of distress;
I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me.
Our psalm moves me to this prayer:
My intention, hope, and prayer, dear God, is
- to praise You with my life
- to act for You in all things
- to be Mercy in the world as You would be
May these become a sacrifice of praise to You.
Poetry: St. John’s Eve – Malcolm Guite
Midsummer night, and bonfires on the hill
Burn for the man who makes way for the Light:
‘He must increase and I diminish still,
Until his sun illuminates my night.’
So John the Baptist pioneers our path,
Unfolds the essence of the life of prayer,
Unlatches the last doorway into faith,And makes one inner space an everywhere.
Least of the new and greatest of the old,
Orpheus on the threshold with his lyre,
He sets himself aside, and cries “Behold
The One who stands amongst you comes with fire!”
So keep his fires burning through this night,
Beacons and gateways for the child of light.
Music: Praise You – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Lord I come to you today,
With a simple prayer to pray.
In everything I do,
Let my life O Lord praise you.
Praise you, praise you, praise you
Let my life, praise you
Praise you, praise you, praise you
Let my life, O lord praise you
Lord you formed me out of clay,
And for your glory I was made.
Use this vessel as you choose.
Let my life O Lord praise you
Lavish Mercy 