Thanksgiving & Service
Session 9.18
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Introduction
The hymn for this session seems to invite us into a private moment of confession and worship for one who is overwhelmed by the way God has provided in his life. How do we express our gratitude for God’s work in our lives?
Scripture: Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, save my life!”
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Nikki’s Notes
Thanksgiving & Service
When it comes to the lectionary, today’s text is an interesting one. It is read as often on Maundy Thursday for the lectionary text as it is in the season of Easter, as it is for us this year. It is also a text that is often read at the Jewish passover. There is a sense that no matter the time of year, this particular hymn will speak to the occasion.
In this hymn it feels like we are being invited into a private moment of confession and worship for this person who is overwhelmed by the way God has provided in his life. He has been ill and is now well and he knows God has participated in that experience. He is understandably moved to a place of wanting to act in some way that shows his loyalty and service.
If I were leading this session, I’d encourage my group to tell or write about a time when God showed up to them in a way that really mattered to them. They can share these with the whole group or just with a partner. After that, I’d ask them to share about their response to the experience. Did they respond in a similar way? Did something change for them in their relationship with God? If they didn’t have a response, ask what their response would be now.
Sharing stories of how God moves in our lives is always a good thing for the community of faith to do with one another. It reminds us that God is still moving and working, even if we don’t see it in the present moment.
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Nikki’s Video Script
Thanksgiving & Service
Today we will look together at the book of Psalms. We are in chapter 116 and will focus on verses 1-4 and 12-19. In this book there are many varieties of Psalms and they were used for different purposes. Today’s psalm is an individual psalm, as opposed to a congregational psalm. That simply means it uses singular pronouns and was written from the point of view of one person—the author.
Additionally, it is a hymn of thanksgiving. This simply means that overall the expression of the hymn is one of gratitude and thanksgiving for all God has done in the life of the person.
In the first part of the text we learn what the gratitude is for. It seems that the author has experienced some kind of great illness or perhaps even a near death experience and is now well.
In the later part of the hymn, the author expresses what his response to his feelings of gratitude will be, and that is to be a servant of God. The author will do all he can to serve the Lord because he is so grateful for all that God has done for him.
The Psalms are there for us to use in our own daily devotional lives and in the life of collective worship. Often, once we understand the context of a particular hymn – there are not always hidden nuggets to mine out of it. Rather, the text is there for us to use as a guide in how we can express our own gratitude to God. They are there to remind us of ways God has worked in the past. And they are there for us to see how others have related to and connected to God in the past. Sometimes, a really good question to ask when reading each psalm is, “Who in today’s world or in my community today would be praying this particular Psalm?” or another question is, “When could I have been praying this Psalm in my own life?”
Now, verse 15 is a little funny sounding to our ears. It sounds as if God wants the faithful to die. Yet, we know that is not the right expression of what we read of God in scripture. When I read this verse, I think of Maline in that great Southern movie, Steel Magnolias. At the end, after her daughter Shelby has died she says, “I was there when that precious life came into this world and I was there when she drifted out and it was the most precious moment of my life.” There was nothing about Maline’s character that wanted Shelby to die. In fact, she goes from that moment directly to the moment where she is expressing raging anger in cemetery. However, she also recognized that since Shelby had to die, it was a gift to be with her. I imagine God sees us all in the same way. When our time comes, I think that God is present and counts it as a precious moment to be near us as we pass.
This psalm in general is a good one for us to read over and over and that is because we live in a culture that calls us to get all we can and to not serve others. Serving is often seen as an sign of weakness or less than in our culture. But the message of the Gospel is that living life as one who serves others is the greatest thing we can do. And taking time to express gratitude for all that we have reminds us that we do not get where we are on our own and it calls us to humility.