I am presently sitting outside in our backyard listening to Sandra McCraken’s live album “Steadfast Live” and hoping that the Thermacell Lamp I just lit will start chasing away the mosquitoes quickly. Seriously, Thermacell is great – I attract mosquitoes like I’m a free steak dinner and two lamps pretty much keep our whole patio free of these stupid little creatures, even when I am around. I just reached the point in the album where she stops singing into her mic and everyone there sings the doxology. It reminded that my favorite part of gathering with the “threads” of Tapestry each week is when we sing the doxology together as our ending prayer (well that and setup – I really like setup too. It is pretty awesome and fun). I’ve written before concerning why ending the doxology is so meaningful to me.
The sound of us singing the Doxology is one of the things that I have missed with us gathering at the IDEA Center during the Summer. Though I am very thankful for the IDEA Center letting us meet there during the Summer and I will continue to support Create Portage County because it is a great organization, the acoustics in the IDEA Center aren’t as amazing for the a cappella singing of the Doxology each week. I love it when the words “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow” echo around the hardwood basketball court and mason brick walls of the gym. That floor and those walls may make hearing the rest of our gatherings pretty difficult sometimes but they make the Doxology sound amazing. “Praise God” bounces around and around on all those hard surfaces.
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
While I sit here watching the fire burn down, enjoying the fact that the Thermacell is now working to the point that I haven’t been bitten by a mosquito in a while, and sadly not seeing any flying squirrels because I ran out of corn Thursday and apparently I am nothing more than a free meal to these cute flying rodents, I am also smiling while thinking about singing the Doxology with my friends and family. Today’s message was about Jesus being raised on the 1st day of the week, the 8th day, a new 1st day of the New Creation. If you are bored or need some good sleep producing reading material you can find the written version of the message here (typos and all). In my opinion, remembering the Doxology and living it out is a pretty good way to live out the joy and hope that are a part of the dawn of the 8th day, the 1st day of the New Creation that we will continue to live in till Jesus makes the day finally break and we live in God’s Kingdom face to face and no longer see His Kingdom through a glass darkly. When people who proclaim Jesus to be Lord live the Doxolgy we will remember the rules of the 8th day, the 1st day of the New Creation, (the Beatitudes). We will live hope instead of fear, love instead of hate, we forgive instead of judging, we welcome the other instead of despising the stranger, we welcome in our neighbor instead of turning our backs to needs both big and small, etc., etc.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. May it echo through my, and your, week.