“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

The heavens tell of your glory and the firmament proclaims your handiwork. The beauty
of a blue sky on a cold winter morning. Stars in a night sky beyond what anyone can count. A sunset that falls and then breaks open all over the earth’s edge. The fullest of moons rising to offer a night light from above. The moon hanging heavy on one side while the sun sets on the other, as if you could reach and grab both rings, if just for a moment. The heavens tell the glory of your creation, O God.

Our days are so full of words, like background noise that just won’t go away. Our thirst
for knowledge so often carries us through the night. But all the words of a poet can’t begin to describe the gift of creation, the abundance of life, the intricacies of your handiwork. All the knowledge that any scholar can muster, all the wisdom that can collectively rise from here below, even here in a university town, all that can be stored on page after page, shelf after shelf, byte after byte, all of it can’t begin to unpack the mystery of your touch, the beauty of your grace, your holiness so far beyond words, your glory so indescribable. Yet the heavens still sing, Holy One. Creation itself continues to praise you, offering a song that sings throughout the earth.

A hymn of praise that stretches to the very farthest points of the world.Your faithfulness revealed, like that steady journey of the sun, from horizon to horizon,
the gift of one more day. The promise of a new day. The weeping may linger for the night, but dancing can come again in the morning. Your compassion and your mercy, they are fresh every morning, new every day. Let today’s worries be enough for today. Walk these steps only day by day. Let tomorrow take care of itself. You are the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Even the gift of a new day proclaims your presence to us, O God of all creation, God of each new day. If only that were enough, Lord God. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” The psalmist knew it was enough. The awesomeness of creation’s ceiling wasn’t enough. In a song of praise, our eyes at some point turn away from the morning sun. Perfect. Sure. Right. Clear. Pure. True. That’s how the psalmist describes your law. The Word of the Lord at Mt Sinai. The Ten Commandments and all you entrusted to Moses there after you spoke from the burning bush, there when your presence caused his face to shine. The psalmist turned to Sinai.Your covenant. Your promise revealed. Indeed, the Ten that made it to the tablets and then so much more. The Torah. The Law of the Lord. The decrees of the Lord. The precepts of the Lord.

The commandment of the Lord. The ordinances. “More desired are they then gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than the honey, and drippings of the honeycomb”.
The Word of the Lord. The rule of faith. Unique and authoritative in faith and practice.
That’s how the tradition describes it. Both the Old and the New Testaments. The written word of God. The Law. The Prophets. The literature of Wisdom. The Gospels. The Epistles. The Apocalypse. Stories that tell of your people. Prophets that speak for justice and cry out for righteousness, who paint a picture of your reign on earth and in heaven. Psalm after psalm that reflect the devotion and prayer language of more than a generation.
It’s all there to be read, O God of such wisdom and faithfulness. Thou who hast spoken.
The sacred text of our tradition. The canon that tells of your holiness. The proclaims you as Lord of Lords, and God of Gods. Pages waiting to be read not just in a year, but to be read and studied again and again. Verses waiting to be interpreted. Stories crying out to be told again. Book after book just waiting for us as we call upon the Holy Spirit, our God given Counselor and Teacher.

That Spirit that prepares our heart and mind. This Word of yours, Great God of such revelation, it’s waiting there to revive the soul and to make wise the simple and to rejoice the heart and to enlighten the eyes. This written word of yours entrusted to us and our understanding of it.

If only it were all that easy, Holy One. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” So the eye and the heart turn to Jesus. That’s our next move in this song of praise. The turn to Jesus. His ministry. His teaching. His example. Look to Jesus. That’s how we’re taught from an early age around the church. It makes good sense. When you don’t know the answer, it
must be Jesus. Like the child who responds to the pastor’s question in a children’s sermon,
“Well, it sounds like you’re talking about a squirrel, but I know you want me to say Jesus!” After creation, after the Law, the turn is to Jesus. Reading all of the bible through the lens of an encounter with this Jesus; what he said, what he did. A canon within a canon, some call it. “What would Jesus” is how others describe. The priority given to the four gospels. Reading all of scripture, discerning what it means to be faithful, trying to follow your will for life, God, all with an emphasis placed on Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
What Jesus said and did. Feeding the hungry. Touching the outcast. Eating with sinners.
Challenging the powerful. Indicting the religious. Turning the other cheek. Teaching about
forgiveness and giving someone the coat off your back and investing your God given talents for the benefit of the kingdom. Telling a parable about welcoming home a son long considered lost, or the one about who really is your neighbor, or the one about the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep who are safe to go look for the one who was lost.

Convincing his followers that when they feed the hungry and welcome the stranger and cloth the naked and visit the prisoner, that when they do undo the least of these, they are actually serving Jesus himself. Pointing and praising the poor widow who put in the two copper coins in the offering, all the living that she had. And challenging the rich young ruler that he lacked one thing, and to go sell all that he had and give it to the poor and follow Jesus. You can’t serve God and mammon. Where your treasure is there your heart is also. And if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their live will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

Easier? Hardly. The turn to Jesus, the shift of focus when it comes to the hymn of praise
that is our life, merciful God, that turn to Jesus, who among us can adequately sing that song? “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Acceptable. My words. My deeds. My heart. Make them acceptable to you, O God.
Acceptable. Not perfect but acceptable. Not advanced or over achieving but acceptable. Not first rate. Not a cut above. Not the 95th percentile. Not even average. Just acceptable. My words. My heart. Make them acceptable to you. Not arrogant or proud or even particularly self-confident. But acceptable. Don’t make them religious or even overly pious. But acceptable, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Acceptable when it comes to my words and my heart, acceptable only comes from you,
gracious God. It doesn’t come from creation, in all of it’s splendor. Nor does it come from my ability to offer you praise and adoration. No this acceptability. It won’t come from the Law, or from all that is found in the written Word of God. Everything there in the bible that is unique and authoritative, that is finer than gold, much fine gold, even that won’t make me acceptable in your sight, O Lord. And the call to discipleship, the call to participate in the very reign of God, the call to take up a cross and follow.....well, who’s really good enough, up to the task, acceptable this side of glory anyway. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O
Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Acceptable. It comes from you and you alone. Rock and
Redeemer. All that make’s me acceptable in your sight, O God, my words, my deeds, my heart, all that makes me acceptable comes from Jesus and his life giving grace. His self-emptying love.

His death conquering resurrection. Acceptability. It comes not in my ability to live what he
teaches me, but in the mystery of your love revealed in him. That when you look at me, when you hear my words, and see into my heart. You see the face and the teaching and the heart of the one who gave himself for me.

Jesus. You are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You are the Savior, My Rock and MyRedeemer.

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