By Emma Koop Liechty, a senior art major from Goshen, Indiana
Scripture: Psalm 95 (NRSV)
Hosanna Nkosi phezulu, noba sebelia soze benzento.
If people stop their praising then the stones will shout: Hosanna, praised be God on high!
These lyrics from a traditional South African gospel song are still echoing in my head and heart after having sung them many times on the Women’s World Music Choir tour in Ontario, Canada, two weeks ago. Psalm 95, a piece of scripture that emphasizes the importance of praising the Lord in song and seeing God in all parts of creation, seems especially meaningful and reminiscent of that week to me after having shared in a time of powerful love, sisterhood and praising God.
I often struggle with knowing how to praise God and find it difficult to frequently acknowledge all that the Lord does for me throughout different aspects of my life. Silent prayer often ends with me trailing off into deep thought, and group prayer or discussion often leaves me overwhelmed by all of the varying thoughts and opinions of others. It is when I am unsure of how to compose my thanks to God that I turn to music. Whether it’s joining in song at church, in choir rehearsal, during a concert, or even in a bus full of friends at the end of an exhausting, yet stimulating week, it is when I am in song that I feel closest to God.
Join me in singing your heart out and making it known that God is good and will lead us through all seasons of our lives. Whether it’s through singing or other means, I would encourage you to find your perfect way of letting your voice of praise to God be heard.
Scripture: Psalm 95 (NRSV)
O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
5The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!
8Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.”
11Therefore in my anger I swore, “They shall not enter my rest.”