The Great Procession – Psalm 100

A text – Psalm 100

¹ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
² Serve the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

³ Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.

A reflection:

This psalm, like so many, has been used for worship for more than 2,000 years. It calls all people together, and not just humans but all the earth. The joyful shouting it calls for will come from nature as well. And over time it has called for millions of us to shout our praise to the Lord, knowing that God made us, we belong to God, and he is good, and faithful, and his steadfast love lasts forever.

When we say this psalm aloud (or even maybe shout it with joy), we join a thousands of years-long parade of people doing the same, across the planet. This of the procession we join when we worship with this psalm. Think of the long line of us, praising God. We may feel alone in our beliefs, in our privatized bubble of faith. But we belong to the vast procession of believers who have been chanting these lines almost forever. The sheer numbers of us, making a joyful noise to God our creator and our shepherd, over time and space, are overwhelming.

Never forget that, as the writer of Hebrews declares, we belong to a great cloud of witnesses. If we can remember it, we can allow ourselves to feel surrounded by all those faithful people who also worship the Lord. We have an identity, our most basic identity, as a creation of God. We belong to God, and the Lord is our shepherd; we shall not want. We can enter God’s gates with praise and thanksgiving.

We are never alone or completely abandoned, even if we’ve been left out by friends or ignored by family. We are part of the great procession of worshipers from ages and ages past, who praise the Lord’s goodness and steadfast love.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for the great cloud of witnesses we are a part of. Help us always to remember that you made us and sustain us; help us always join in praising you. Amen.