Psalm 150 - Let Everything Praise the Lord!

    Now that it is Easter season, I have moved from Psalm 51, the penitent psalm, to Psalm 150, one of the praise psalms.  I love the Easter season, the time of celebration and praise.  The “alleluias” are proclaimed once again after the long Lenten season of somberness.  There is a time for mourning and a time for rejoicing, and Easter season is the time for rejoicing.  Alleluia!!!  Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!!  Alleluia!!!

    I like all the instruments which are mentioned in Psalm 150.  My husband plays the loud clanging cymbals which are mentioned, and I play the banjo.  Since stringed instruments are mentioned, the banjo would be included, though I know it isn’t a traditional church instrument.  However, our small local church has allowed me to join the music team with the banjo, and for this I am grateful.  I love playing the songs during the services, and praising God with a stringed instrument.  After all, God is the One who made it possible for me to learn to play well enough to join the music team.  I want to give it back to him by entering into praise with this gift.  I am filled with gratitude for this gift of music He has bestowed upon me. 

    I brought a banjo along with me to East Africa the two times we went to live in Mwanza, Tanzania.   We attended the English Congregation at St. Nicholas Cathedral in downtown Mwanza, near the southern shore of Lake Victoria.  Our Tanzanian pastor invited our family to share our music during the services we attended at St. Nicholas Cathedral in 2013, and then in 2015, their church council agreed to let us lead some of the songs for each of the services.  They even got a microphone stand for the banjo because the sound didn’t reach the back of the cathedral.  Each week I would choose two or three songs and call the music leader to let her know which songs we would lead, and then I would practice the songs all week.   It really was a privilege to be allowed to lead the congregation in music.   I enjoyed sharing some of our songs from our Kentucky church with the African church.    

     One memory that really stands out is teaching the church the song which starts out, “I rejoiced when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”  Our church in Kentucky sings this song every Palm Sunday as we walk together into the church waving palm branches.  It was so fun to teach this song to the African church; after they learned the tune, the whole congregation sang it as they marched around the inside of the cathedral, waving the palm branches they had brought to church with them.  This memory always brings a smile to my face. 

    I also taught some songs to my English students at the Bible School in Nyakato, where we lived.  It was so fun to hear my students sing with such enthusiasm the English songs we practiced.  The song they liked the best was “Amazing Grace”, and when my husband heard them singing from our house, he told me they sounded like an English choir. 

    What pleasant memories of praising God with instruments and song!   God is worthy of all our praise, as Psalm 150 expresses so vibrantly:

Psalm 150 

Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!  Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!  Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!  Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

Zaburi 150

Haleluya!  Msifuni Mungu katika patakatifu pake; Msifuni katika anga la uweza wake.  Msifuni kwa matendo yake makuu.  Msifuni kwa kadiri ya wingi wa ukuu wake.

Msifuni kwa mvumo wa baragumu; Msifuni kwa kinanda na kinubi; Msifuni kwa matari na kucheza; Msifuni kwa zeze na filimbi; Msifuni kwa matoazi yaliayo; Msifuni kwa matoazi yavumayo sana.

Kila mwenye pumzi na amsifu Bwana.  Haleluya!

  

Psalm 51 - A Song of God's Mercy

    We are in the season of Lent, a time of self-examination and recognition of our need for God’s mercy in our lives.  As I read recently in Pope Francis’ book, The Name of God is Mercy, copyright 2016, we are sinners, but we are not corrupt.  As we confess our sins, God forgives us and cleanses us of all unrighteousness.  Pope Francis points out that only if we think we are righteous in ourselves, we are corrupt.  As long as we earnestly and sincerely seek God to understand our errors and unrighteousness, humbly confess our iniquity, and ask God to forgive us, then God always welcomes us, the penitent sinners.  Christ Jesus came for us sinners, to shower upon us His love.  No matter how many times we fall, God always welcomes us back.  He is always ready to help us stand again.  It is all a matter of humbly asking God’s forgiveness and mercy.  His love is eternal.

Psalm 51: 1-3  

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to the multitude of Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my inquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Zaburi 51: 1-3

Ee Mungu, unirehemu; sawasawa na fadhili zako, kiasi cha wingi wa rehema zako, uyafuta makosa yangu. Unioshe kabisa na uovu wangu. Unitakase dhambi zangu. Maana nimejua mimi makosa yangu, na dhambi yangu i mbele za yangu daima.              

    Psalm 51 is a song that expresses God’s steadfast mercy in the face of our sinfulness.  The good news is that God’s love triumphs over our carnal nature.  The good news is that God’s love also transforms us into His likeness as we diligently seek Him.  Praise the Lord for His infinite kindness!

               May God’s mercy fill you with His peace this Lenten season and always,

               Mama Anna

Note:  I will include some Swahili for the sake of those in East Africa who may read this post.  Also, since I got used to being called “Mama Anna”, this is how I will sign out.  In East Africa, adults who are married are addressed by their relationships with their children, most commonly the oldest child in the family.  They rarely use their first name.

I Will Praise Him

    Yesterday, my husband introduced our family to a hymn from the nineteenth century by Margaret J. Harris titled, “I Will Praise Him”.   Our life is to be full of praise to Jesus Christ for setting us free from sin, for cleansing our hearts within.   All praise to God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three in One God.  My prayer is that our life be lived to the praise and honor of God.

    I am thankful for the life God has granted us in Christ Jesus.  I am thankful for the Father’s love as He gently leads us in ways of righteousness and truth.  I am thankful for the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, who counsels us and comforts us during our earthly sojourn.  Our life in Christ is full of God’s purpose, to shed the love of God to those God brings into our life.  What a privilege to be a vessel for God to work in and through to spread His love to people everywhere.  We can be vessels for honor if we stay connected to Christ, the King; God can make the soil of our heart fruitful as we abide in Christ.  Without Christ, we are empty and useless, but with Christ, our lives take on a noble purpose.  All praise be unto God!

    How do we daily praise God?  We praise Him through thanksgiving for all He gives us, which includes every breath He grants.  And even when our breathing ceases, we can go to God in confidence of His everlasting love and kindness.  We thank Him for the hope of life eternal with Him.  We thank Him for this earthly sojourn, and the work He grants to us.  We thank Him for the people He brings into our life to love and be loved.  We thank Him for the ability to share love through Jesus Christ working in our hearts.  We thank God for the lessons He teaches us as we walk in the Light of the Lord.  How can we ever stop thanking Him?  Every good thing we experience comes from the Father of Light.  Thanksgiving and praise go hand in hand.  So let us proceed to give God all praise from the depths of our hearts!

   I love the Psalms, and I also love the people from East Africa with whom we lived among for a year and a half.  So this month I thought of a way to combine these two loves by committing to memory some of the Psalms in Swahili and English.  By learning the Psalms in Swahili, I am enabled to remember the national language of our loved ones.  I am able to identify with our East African family by continuing to use their language in praising the Lord.   I started this endeavor with the most familiar and shorter Psalms – Psalms 113, 117, and 121.  I love these three Psalms.  The first two I learned are all about praise to God.  And Psalm 121 reminds us that God is our helper, our keeper; He shall preserve us from all evil.  We are safe in His hands.

Praise the Lord, all you nations; laud Him, all you peoples. For His His merciful kindness toward us is great, and the truth of the Lord endures forevermore. Psalm 117

Enyi mataifa yote, msifuni Bwana; enyi watu wote mhimidini. Maana fadhili zake kwetu sisi ni kuu,  na uaminifu wa Bwana ni wa milele.  Zaburi 117

                                          

Psalm 28: 6-7

Blessed be the Lord, blessed be the Lord,
For He has heard my supplications.
The Lord is my strength; the Lord is my shield.
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart rejoices in Him,
And with my song I will praise the Lord.

Blessed be the Lord, blessed be the Lord,
To Thee I cry, O Lord, my Rock.
Hear my voice when I cry to Thee.
My heart trusts in Thee, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart rejoices in Thee,
And with my song I will praise Thy name.

Psalm 136:1

O give thanks unto the Lord,
For He is good,
And His mercy endureth forever. (2 times)

Come, see the goodness of God,
He loves you.
Njoo, tazama Mungu wetu.  (2 times)

Mshukuruni Bwana,
Kwa kuwa ni mwema,
Kwa maana fadhili zake
ni za milele na milele.

Come, see the goodness of God,
He loves you.
Njoo, tazama Mungu wetu.  (2 times)

O give thanks unto the Lord,
For He is good,
For His mercy endureth forever. (2 times)

Note:  Last Saturday morning I asked the Lord for a song, and since I had been studying Psalm 136 in Swahili earlier that morning, the Lord gave me a tune to go with the first verse of this Psalm, incorporating both English and Swahili.  I found this encouraging to my spirit as I sing thanksgiving to God for His infinite goodness, blessing us on this journey to our heavenly home.  God has blessed us with family in East Africa and in rural Kentucky.  Our life in Tanzania is limited to only a few more months, and this limitation is a vivid reminder of the shortness of life here on earth.  Our days are numbered, and it is our heavenly home where there will be no more painful partings.  For now, our task is to love God with all of our being, and give Him our thanksgiving as the psalmist wrote in this psalm and many other psalms.  I love to hear the Africans sing choruses of thanksgiving to God.  They sing with so much energy and enthusiasm.  I thank the Lord for this time he has allowed us to join our brothers and sisters here in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Hilariter

The whole bright world rejoices now,
       Hilariter, Hilariter;
The birds do sing on every bough,
       Alleluya, Alleluya.

Then shout beneath the racing skies,
       Hilariter, Hilariter;
To Him who rose that we might rise,
       Alleluya, Alleluya.

And all ye living things make praise,
       Hilariter, Hilariter;
He guideth you on all your ways,
       Alleluya, Alleluya.

He, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost -
       Hilariter, Hilariter;
Our God most high, our joy and boast,
       Alleluya, Alleluya!

A German Carol - 1623
Oxford Book of Carols

The Servant King

Lord, you laid aside your Cloak of Glory,
   And wrapped Yourself in a towel of humility,
Placed the basin of Your love at our feet,
   Knelt before us on Your knees.

Lord, wash my feet.  Lord, wash my feet.
   Lord, wash my feet.
    I would be a part of Thee.
Let me wash Your feet.  Let me wash Your feet.
   Let me wash Your feet.
    I want to be like Thee.

Lord, You laid aside Your Throne of Glory,
   And took upon Yourself the form of a servant,
Walked the path of obedience to death,
   Even death upon the Cross.

Lord, wash my feet.  Lord, wash my feet.
   Lord, wash my feet.
   I would be a part of Thee.
Let me walk with Thee.  Let me walk with Thee.
   Let me walk with Thee.
   I want to be like Thee.

by Nathan Dunlap, 12-08-2000
John 13: 3-15, Phil. 2:5-11

Note:  Yesterday evening, we sang this song before our foot washing at the Maundy Thursday service.  Since there were only about a dozen people present, we all were encouraged to get our feet washed.  We all went forward and sat on two benches in the front of the church, and our priest and deacon knelt down to wash each of our feet. The deacon said a prayer for each individual as they were washing the person's feet.  I noticed that the water was getting browner with each person, illustrating why Jesus told Peter that if one has bathed, only the feet need to be washed.  We all had cleaned up before church, but just getting to church makes the feet dirty.  The roads are mostly dry and dusty, or muddy if we just had a rain.  So upon entering a house, our feet are always in a need of being washed.  Jesus gave an example for us to follow.  Here in Africa, my husband has washed my feet in the evening, and I have washed my son's feet.  Our feet are always in need of being washed.  Let us serve one another cheerfully!!!