8th Sunday after Pentecost
(Year B - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, July 6, and Monday, July 7, 2008
I put up cards with each letter printed on them. I began by explaining that Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, although we are only looking at a portion of the verses—and since Hebrew only has 22 letters, an English equivalent must drop a few letters. Here K is dropped.
Before the text of the sermon, I have placed my compendium version that was used in our liturgy. The bibliography is at the end of the sermon.
Psalm 145:1-14: The Squires Compendium Version
Allworthy God, I honor you as my king,
and as long as I have breath it will praise your name—forever and for evermore;
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you,
I will heap praise on You, I will praise your name forever and evermore.
Can anyone overpraise the Lord—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise,
can anyone exaggerate his greatness?
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told,
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad.
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness,
Your justice makes them joyfully sing.
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness!
Indeed, the Lord is good to all,
his love available to all his beloved creatures.
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord;
those in faith bless You, glory in You.
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory,
spreading the tale of Your power,
Making known what You made, what You did,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Never will Your kingdom have an end;
down through the generations Your rule shall endure.
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable;
how holy in all his works.
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life.
The Alphabet of Praise (sermon)
A
Allworthy God, I honor you as my king,
and as long as I have breath
it will praise your name—forever and for evermore;
Allworthy God,
Almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-everywhere,
Always, above all, all there, all that,
That One, He’s my King.
And as long as I have breath,
As long as I am alive,
As long as air is flowing to my lungs and my brain,
I will lift up my voice,
Lift up my voice,
Great
is the Lord,
Allworthy God.
Forever and for evermore.
Eternal.
No beginning, no end.
Ever anon, ever so, everlasting to everlasting,
When God brings me to His forever kingdom,
There I’ll forever be
Singing praises to thee,
I will lift up my voice,
Lift up my voice,
Great
is the Lord,
Allworthy God.
B
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you,
I will heap praise on You,
I will praise your name forever and for evermore.
Be in my life, Lord, be in my life,
and may I bless You, honor You as holy,
raise up Your Name
like the most holy thing I’ve ever said, seen, touched, felt, or thought.
Be in my life now,
be in my life for eternity,
be in my words of praise
and may those words pile up like a room filled with treasures,
a room filled with bright, beautiful, brilliant words about You, Lord.
C
Can anyone overpraise the Lord—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise,
can anyone exaggerate his greatness?
Because great is the LORD and worthy of praise; (Michael W. Smith)
No one can possibly understand, define, describe, explain his greatness.
Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty,
can any thought wrap itself around His greatness? (RK alt.)
Because great is the LORD and worthy of praise;
No one can possibly understand, define, describe, explain his greatness.
D
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told,
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad.
Oh, we’ve got plenty of stories of our triumphs, victories, and inventions,
We celebrate our ingenuity and congratulate our success,
We let all the world know that we are the champions. . .
Don’t let us fool ourselves, though,
There ain’t nothing here that you didn’t make, approve, and rearrange,
Don’t let us think we’ve done all of this good stuff through the years,
When really our tale is just your tale,
Our victories are your victories,
Our good fortune is not luck—
It’s all what You made, what You did, Lord.
E
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
Each generation speaks of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tells of your wondrous works. (CBBA)
It’s sort of like what we do with the Fourth of July, Lord,
We celebrate the forefathers, the founders,
the ones who made this country great,
Parades, fireworks, speeches, flags, parties, picnics,
All to commemorate the Constitution and freedom and independence,
Down through the ages, the story of our country is told.
In that same way, generation after generation tell Your tale, Lord,
In the same way, and really, I hope much more than that,
We celebrate our Father in heaven, our Creator,
We celebrate our brother Jesus, our Redeemer,
We celebrate the Spirit, our Sanctifier, Holymaker,
Worship, songs, hymns, prayers, churches, candles,
All to commemorate the Gospel and freedom and forgiveness,
Down through the ages, the story of Your deeds is told.
They say Your beauty glows.
I say You work marvels. (FS)
F
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
Your marvelous doings are headline news;
I could write a book full of the details of your greatness. (Message)
Some call it fear, as in afraid,
in the sense that Your deeds are terrible and powerful
causing us to shudder.
But it’s not that kind of fear that we’re talking about.
The headlines don’t say, “God has done great things; be afraid!”
No, our headlines say, “God has done great things; praise Him as Lord!”
Praise Him, fear Him, respect Him, honor Him,
A profitable fear that make us realize just who God is—
What He has made, what He has done,
A profitable fear that causes us to turn to Him
asking for Him to help, save, comfort, and defend us.
Famous is our Lord,
He sent His only Son to die for us,
Famous is our Lord,
He raised His Son from the dead,
Famous is our Lord,
He gives us the Resurrection through Baptism,
Famous is our Lord,
He gives us His Son’s body and blood,
Famous is our Lord,
because His grace, mercy, and love
doesn’t match anything anyone else does.
G
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness,
Your justice makes them joyfully sing.
Grateful for Your goodness, God,
Grateful for Your grace, Your gift, Your good, gracious gifts.
God is so good, He’s so good to me.
H
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness!
How gracious, how considerate,
how patient, how kind beyond compare; (GJ)
How slow to anger and rich in love. (NIV)
How loving, how forgiving, how great, how wonderful, how beautiful,
How everything.
How fill-in-the-blank with any positive thing and you’ve got an idea of our God,
Every positive quality you can imagine,
how much more is God each one of those things,
How complete is God in all of those characteristics,
So that you can’t even imagine
how He could be any more positive than all of that combined.
How, indeed!
I
Indeed, the Lord is good to all,
his love available to all his beloved creatures.
The whole world is included, invited, incorporated, involved.
The whole world is in.
His love is a 24 hour ATM with no fees.
His love is an equal opportunity, non-discrimination protected service.
His love is available in every state and every country.
His love is a toll-free number, a free download.
His love has no time limit, unlimited texting, free incoming and outgoing calls.
Indeed, the Lord is good to all.
The whole world is in.
J
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord;
those in faith bless You, glory in You.
All God’s creatures got a place in the choir.
I’d like to teach the world to sing
about Jesus Christ our Lord.
Joy to the world.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful.
Join together, now, let us sing to our Lord.
Join our voices and sing.
Join together and joyfully sing
while jumping up,
jazzed about the Lord,
doing a jig of joy while jamming out on a song about Jesus.
L
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory,
spreading the tale of Your power,
Let them publish the glory of Your kingdom.
Newspapers, books, magazines, billboards, songs, plays, and blogs.
Line after line of words about You and Your glory, Lord.
Line after line of words that all seem inadequate,
not enough, not big enough, specific enough, great enough
to talk about Your kingdom.
We’ll need new words, big words, great, big, beautiful, bold words,
We’ll need more words, lots of words, great, big, beautiful lists of words,
We’ll need more letters in this alphabet of praise,
We’ll need a whole new language in order to fully describe Your glory, Lord.
M
Making known what You made, what You did,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Make known.
Make a movie.
Make a message board.
Make music.
Make it all about what the Lord has done
and make it matter to all the world.
N
Never will Your kingdom have an end;
down through the generations Your rule shall endure.
Never will that feeling have to end,
that feeling of bliss, joy, excitement,
peace, comfort, love, warmth,
Never-ending, that feeling, in His kingdom.
Now God rules,
Then God rules,
Never will there be a time when God doesn’t rule,
So never will you have to be afraid or alone again.
Now you are safe,
Then you are safe,
Never will there be a time when you aren’t safe in God’s kingdom through Jesus.
O
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable;
how holy in all his works.
O how true the Lord is to all his promises, o how gracious in all his dealings!
(RK alt.)
Oh, how loving, oh, how forgiving, oh, how great,
Oh, how everything our Lord is.
Once He has given a promise then count on it being fulfilled. (GJ alt)
P
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life.
Perhaps you will trip, maybe fall, he will help you up;
perhaps be depressed, he will help you get out of it. (GJ)
Picking us up,
Pulling us up,
Propping us up,
Pushing us out,
Prying us out,
So that we’re no longer down, out, fallen, lost, trapped, hidden, buried.
Putting us out of our misery
as in packing us up and sending us to Paradise.
The Lord picks us up
and because of that
We have this alphabet praise.
Key to the Squires Compendium Version of Psalm 145
Allworthy God, I honor you as my king, (GJ)
and as long as I have breath it will praise your name—forever and forevermore; (GJ—RK)
Be my days many or few, each one will bless you, (GJ)
I will heap praise on You, (FS) I will praise your name— forever and forevermore. (CBAA—RK)
Can anyone overpraise the Lord (GJ)—the Matchless, limitless God, beyond praise, (FS)
can anyone exaggerate his greatness? (GJ)
Down through the ages the story of Your deeds is told, (RK alt)
what You made, what You did, to spread Your name abroad. (FS)
Each speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works. (CBAA)
Famous are your powerful works which fill us with profitable fear, (Squires, NIV, GJ alt)
and I will proclaim your great deeds. (NIV)
Grateful hearts celebrate your abundant goodness, (GJ,NIV, alt)
Your justice makes them joyfully sing. (FS,NIV, alt)
How gracious the Lord is, how merciful,
how patient, how rich in kindness! (RK alt.)
Indeed, the Lord is good to all, (Squires, NIV)
his love available to all his beloved creatures. (GJ)
Joining together, all Your works shall give You thanks, O Lord; (RK/Squires, CBAA alt.)
those in faith bless You, glory in You. (FS)
Let them increase their language to talk of your glory, (GJ alt.)
spreading the tale of Your power, (GJ alt.)
Making known what You made, what You did, (CBAA/FS)
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. (CBAA)
Never will Your kingdom have an end; (Hubbard, alt.)
down through the generations Your rule shall endure. (RK vs. 4, NIV)
Oh how true to his word he is, how reliable; (GJ)
how holy in all his works. (CBBA alt.)
Picking up all who are falling,
the Lord raises up all who are brought down by life. (CBAA, alt.)
(CBBA)
The Holy Bible: Translated from the Original Languages with Critical Use of All the Ancient Sources by Members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America; The Book of Psalms and the Canticles of the Roman Breviary, St. Anthony Guild Press, Paterson, NJ 1950, Psalm 144 (145), pp. 262-263
(FS)
Lyric Psalms: Half a Psalter, Francis Patrick Sullivan, Pastoral Press, National Association of Pastoral Musicians, Washington, DC, 1983, Psalm 145, pp. 141-142
(GJ)
The Lincoln Psalter, Gordon Jackson
(NIV)
New International Version
(RK)
Ronald Knox, The Psalms: A New Translation Sheed & Ward, New York, 1947, Psalm 144 [Psalm 145], pp. 207-208