Sharing from our Congregation – Sue Biggerstaff
The following quotes come from A Case for the Psalms by N.T. Wright.
-Sing these songs and they will renew you from head to toe, from heart to mind. Pray these poems, and they will sustain you on the long, hard but exhilarating road of Christian discipleship.
-The psalms offer us a way of joining in a chorus of praise and prayer that have been going on for millennia and across all cultures.
-The psalms were there long before us, and they will sustain generations yet to come. They are, in that respect as in many others, a reflection of the faithfulness of the God of whom they speak.
As we read through the psalms, we are taken from laments and mourning to high exultation and thanksgiving. We recall the creation story and Israel's history. There are hallelujah and ascent psalms that tell us how man praises God. But some of the most joyous psalms are how nature praised the Creator.
-Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad, let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees will sing for joy. (Psalm 96)
-Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing for joy. (Psalm 98)
- The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge (Psalm 19)
Maltbie Babcock must have had some of these verses in mind when he penned his famous hymn.
This is my father's world, and to my list'ning ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres.
Gracefully Submitted,
Sue Biggerstaff