Gratitude – Or Psalm 8 Part Deux -  Windowpanes

            It is a hot summer day – the kind that fills a room with bright sunshine and highlights the verdant greens outside the window.  It is one of those kinds of days when the heart is full of gratitude.  The creation spills over into all parts of life.  For a moment in time the political dialogue is on mute.  The “to do” list is on hold.  The gift that is our planet, the creation that is around us and includes us, holds sway.

            Yesterday I chose Psalm 8 as my text for preaching on Trinity Sunday.  This morning I am still held by the attention we gave to the Mystery of God in all creation.  The Literary Bible, An Original Translation, David Rosenberg (Counterpoint, Berkeley, 2009) provides a contemporary translation from Hebrew of Psalm 8.  The verses italicized are from this translation.

My Lord Most High

your name shines

on the page of the world

from behind the lights

covering the heavens –

            My musings for the day include window views – and the practice of gratitude for those glimpses of the world we get beyond our shielded panes of glass.  What follows is a Litany of Joy and Gratitude expressed through window moments from my photo collection and David Rosenberg’s translation of the Psalm 8.

My Lord Most High

your names shines

on the page of the world

from behind the lights

covering the heavens-

my lips like infants

held to the breast

grow

to stun the darkest thoughts

when I look up

from the work of my fingers

I see the moon and stars

your hand set there

The sunsets and sunrises,

                                       

the flowers and the changing seasons enter into my busy life and tell me to “Be Still”.

                                                       

                                                                 

and I can barely think

what is a man

how did you spare a thought for him

care to remember

his line

descending through death

yet you let him rise

above himself, toward you

The windows pointing to the Christ Story remind me always of how God cares for us…

From the birth of Jesus…

                                                              

Though the sacrament of baptism….

                                                       

And the Sacrament of Holy Communion where we remember with thanksgiving the sacrifice of the cross and the reality of the Resurrection.

                                    

                                                              

held by music of words…

you set his mind in power

to follow the work of your hand

laying the world at his  feet

all that is nameable

all that changes through time

Stained glass windows tell the story of Jesus for all to see and read and show me the work of God’s hand, the vision of God’s kin-dom.

                                                                 

[St. Stephen’s UCC, Harrisonburg, VA]

[St. Paul’s UCC, Woodstock, VA]

[Mt. Calvary UCC, Woodstock, VA]

from canyons to the stars

to starfish

at bottom of the sea

all that moves blazing a path

in air or water

or deep space of imagination on paper

My Lord Most High

your name shines

on the pages of the world.

How might you illustrate a Psalm of Gratitude?

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Clara