Slideshow image

Some Quick Thoughts on "Giving Thanks and Praise"

By Vicar Lisa Rygiel

The following message is from Pr. Nadia Bolz-Weber’s June 24 Substack blog. It really resonated with me, I hope it will with you. God bless.

Anyone who has read my work can assure you that I am not native to the land of “give thanks and praise to God”. 

Even though for the last 1,800 years or so Christians have said these words when gathering around the table:

Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Leader: "It is indeed right, our duty and our delight,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,

through our Savior Jesus Christ..."

I mean, I do arrive there eventually, to the Land of Giving Thanks, but not before taking detours through Self-Centeredness River, Disappointment Forest and a quick meander through Control-Freak Village.

I eventually get to gratitude, but I always have to travel there. (Though as the years go on, the journey takes less time and effort!).

But for most of my life I was not even sure what it meant to “praise” God. It seems odd that God would somehow need us to sycophantically stroke his ego.

If you have struggled with these inelegant thoughts, please know you are not alone.

We are the GEYSER

Nestled between the protests and violence of last weekend and the bombings of this past weekend, I and five of my wild & holy friends, slipped away for a six-day Icelandic retreat together; a much needed “pause button” amidst the fast-moving devastation of current news cycles and the non-stop demands of ministry.

This is why last Wednesday the six of us were standing around with others from all over the globe, waiting for water to spurt up from the earth.

We knew it would happen, it was why we were all stupidly staring at a hole in the ground, but the thing is, when it DID happen, when the water erupted from the ground, so did our utterances: ooohs and ahhhs and squeals and laughter. They were not planned nor measured. They just happened, and they just happened because humans are wired for wonder.

What shall we name the chorus of awe and delight that emerged from all those humans, every time the geyser just sort of did what geysers do? We shall name it praise. Praising God without even meaning to.

Lowering the bar, once again.

I don’t know why religion has a penchant for making things so complicated and always just slightly out of reach.

I bet you have praised God this last week without even being aware of it. In that moment you gazed with wonder upon a newborn, or the sunset, or a plate of food prepared by someone else; In that moment you laughed at something your grandkid did or teared up realizing you’ve finally forgiven someone. Praise flows from us when beholding that which we could not earn, manipulate or manufacture. The fact is, true praise cannot be helped or hindered, it erupts unbidden from within us like a geyser.

Delight, when it gushes up from within us is, I believe, praise to the one who created us to experience such wonder.

Example: the squeals and laughter when I, as a 56-year-old woman, jumped on a trampoline in Iceland last week. Every utterance, a form of praise of the One who made me.

July 2, -- 4th Sunday After Pentecost

10 a.m. Sunday Worship with Communion

Announcements

  • First Sunday Potluck & Cookout: Our First Sunday Potluck will take on a summer flare on July 6, when we heat up the grill for a cookout. We are grateful to Jim Schatzman (Vicar Lisa’s father) for the donation of the grill, and to Terri Watson and Keeliey O’Hara who are providing the entrée. Please join us after worship for food and fellowship. All are welcome.
  • Fellowship Hall Guests: A group of scouts will use the Fellowship Hall on Wednesday, July 9, when four scouts and their adult chaperones from a troop sponsored by Christ the King Lutheran in Bellevue, Nebraska, will spend the night on their way to Philmont scout camp. If you would like to donate snacks for the scouts, they would be appreciated!
  • Flower Chart: The flower chart is posted on the door to the robing room in the back of the Sanctuary. A gift of $35 is suggested for flower donations.
  • Zion’s Newsletter: The July issue of Zion’s newsletter Connections was sent this week via email. It also will be available on the Zion’s website, with hard copies available in the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall.
  • Zion’s Garage Sale: This year’s annual garage sale will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2. If you are able to help or to donate items to the sale, your generosity will be appreciated. Donations can be brought for the sale during the week of July 27. While Zion’s can accept most items for the sale we cannot accept electronic items of any kind and we do not accept clothing. Save the Date: Vicar Lisa’s installation and ordination will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 10.

E-formation – 4th Sunday After Pentecost, July 6

In the gospel reading for this coming Sunday, Jesus sends out seventy disciples to spread the word of salvation. Come to worship to hear the story; gather at the feet of Jesus; and then be sent out as an emissary for Christ in your daily life.

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

This excerpt, an expansion on the sending of the twelve (Luke 9:1-6), fits better in the early church’s missionary movement, when Luke wrote in the 80s, than during the lifetime of Jesus. However, in Luke’s gospel, the seventy join Jesus in his journey. Some manuscripts read seventy-two, some seventy: both numbers carry several symbolic references. Not carrying a purse and not returning greetings suggest the urgency of the missionary task. Jewish dietary laws no longer have force (v. 9). The book of Acts continues Luke’s theme that the disciples now have Jesus’ power to heal and exorcize. The reference to the legend of the fall of Satan (see Rev. 12:9) both indicates Jesus’ eternal knowledge and offers a religious framework to explain the exorcizing powers in the missionary movement.

Isaiah 66:10-14

In the last chapter of third Isaiah is a lush poetic description of the future Jerusalem, rebuilt after its destruction. Common in ancient Near Eastern literature is the sexual image of the city as the female into which the male god enters. (See for example Psalm 46:5.) Here, in a passage begun in 66:7, the city is instead a nursing mother, and in verse 13, the mother image is applied also Israel’s God, who will comfort the returning remnant, although still being enraged at the enemy. The perception of the danger of the neighboring goddess cults probably accounts for the rarity of female imagery for YHWH.

Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16

The optional verses 1-6, near the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia composed in the early 50s, include the contradictory messages that Christians are to bear one another’s burdens and that all must carry their own loads. Paul continues his use of the categories of flesh and spirit. The harvest time refers to Paul’s belief in the imminent eschaton. The Christian freedom which this letter has described, perhaps ironically called “the law of Christ,” is centered in the cross and the new creation, rather than in religious obligations such as circumcision required by the Torah. Yet in Christian freedom we are to attend to the needs of others. Paul’s mention of his handwriting implies he usually used a scribe.

Zion's Lutheran Church

A Reconciling in Christ Community

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785