Sermon 06.16.2024: Bless the Lord

We often think of the word "bless" in the context of God blessing us. But Psalm 103 tells us five times to "Bless the Lord." What does it mean to bless God? 

On this Father's Day, as we look at a psalm that describes God as a father who has compassion for his children, we acknowledge that not all human fathers are this way. And we remember that God is described as much more than just a "father" in the Psalms and in scripture. Join us as we continue our sermon series on the Psalms and what they might reveal to us about God, humanity, and our relationships.

Scripture

Psalm 139

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—

who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.

For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,

to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word.

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.

Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Sermon Text

We are currently in a sermon series on the Book of Psalms. I don’t think there is any book in the Bible that more honestly expresses the human condition and the range of emotion we experience throughout our lives. 

Psalm 103 is a classic “hymn of praise” in that it calls us to praise God and then is supported by reasons to praise God. There are several other psalms that follow this pattern, but none like Psalm 103 which is unique in that (1) it calls us to “Bless the Lord” multiple times, more than any other psalm, and (2) it highlights the wideness and depth of God’s mercy and grace. 

I remember one of the first times I heard verse 12 read in worship as an assurance of pardon: “as far as the east is from the west, so far does God remove our transgressions from us.” As far as the east is from the west - what an image of forgiveness and grace! 

Some would say that we are blessed because of God’s mercy and grace. And the idea of God blessing us is a familiar one. Usually we mean that God is giving us something, and that thing is considered a blessing. It could be material things or wealth, but it could also be things like good health or relationships or a peace that surpasses all understanding, or as mentioned before God’s mercy and grace. 

We are a culture that often speaks of God blessing us, both as individuals, and, as problematic as it may be, as a nation. We ask God to bless us, assume that God will bless America, and we pray for blessings for others. There’s even a trending hashtag that simply reads: #blessed. 

Admittedly, we sometimes mistake good luck or good genetics or good happenstance as blessings from God which, again, can be problematic. After all, God isn’t a vending machine who dispenses blessings to those who pay with prayer or holiness or some kind of sacrifice. 

The truth is, God blesses us, even when we don’t deserve it, and perhaps in ways we don’t always immediately recognize. 

It is also true that there are con-men among us pretending to be faith leaders who call their second private jet a blessing from God when really, it’s a product of their exploitation of people’s fears. But I digress. Back to the psalms! 

So, a common song that our ancestors sang were about how God blesses us. But, what does it mean for us to bless God? “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.”

Now, God isn’t really lacking in anything, so there’s nothing God really needs from us. We’re not blessing God with any material things or physical needs. We don’t have to bless God because God is deficient in some way or in need of anything that we could give. 

But we bless God because we need to do it. Humanity is created to be in relationship with God, and blessing God is one way we participate in that relationship. 

So what exactly are we doing when we say to bless the Lord? One catechism defines it as, “adoration and surrender to the Creator in thanksgiving.” [1] 

Ashley Crane, a Catholic scholar writes that: 

the kind of blessing we are called upon to offer to God is fundamentally different from the kind of blessing God bestows on us. God’s blessing is something outside of ourselves that God gives to us. [However] when we “bless the Lord” we offer something from within ourselves to God in response. We use the same word to refer to two distinct (but related) actions. [2] 

Baptism which we celebrated today is actually a way we bless the Lord. It is a response to God’s grace and love that invites us into God’s family of faith, even before we fully understand it. 

The Hebrew word for bless is barak, yes, as in Barak Obama, but this is not a political sermon. That’s just what his name means. Barak means to bless, but it quite literally means, to kneel, to bend the knee in an act of adoration or praise. 

In Presbyterian tradition, we don’t kneel in the context of worship, like our Catholic or Episcopalian siblings do. But a bowed head or a moment of silence are ways that we might bless the Lord. Or when our sister Tosca claps her hands or says “Amen,” that is a way we bless the Lord. The images included on our bulletin cover today, from the hymnal and choir to the raised hands in front of a screen, are all ways that humanity might bless the Lord. 

Anytime we acknowledge God, in the context of worship or in the context of our everyday lives, is a way we bless the Lord. 

It doesn’t have to be fancy or formal; it doesn’t have to be ritualized or at a specific time. Anytime, we notice God and give thanks to God, is a way we bless the Lord. 

We also bless the Lord when we name God’s attributes and share with one another the ways we have experienced God. There is something communal about blessing the Lord. 

It connects us with others, but it also connects us with the earth and the universe and all creation which also sings God’s praise. 

Over Memorial Day weekend, for the first time in years, Calvary went on a church retreat. There were fifty of us. It was our first time together at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Conference Center which sits right on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe. The beauty surrounding us was awe-some, as in it filled us with awe. 

Every time I looked at the water or the mountains or the trees, I could not help but bless the Lord for the work of creation. And to be able to do so with other Calvary folks was such a gift. We hope more of you will join us next year, as we hope to make this an annual thing, an opportunity to bless the Lord together. 

Now the Book of Psalms details so many reasons to bless the Lord. And Psalm 103, especially, offers some of the best: 

A God who works for justice; a God who is merciful and gracious; a God whose steadfast love is everlasting and eternal. And perhaps quite fitting for today, a God who is like a father who has compassion for his children. 

What’s interesting about this verb is that my study bible says, “One could read the clause, ‘As a father shows motherly compassion for his children’ because “in popular usage, the verb for ‘have compassion’ was associated with motherly love.” [3] 

So here is a God who is both like a father and a mother: God, the original they/them! 

And on this day, when our country celebrates Father’s Day, and we give thanks to all the fathering figures in our life, pray for those who are grieving the loss of fathers, and remember those for whom this day is complicated, scripture tells us that God loves us, even more than a parent could. 

As a parent myself, I know that my heart was broken open in ways I did not think possible when my children were born. And my love for them is greater than any love I have been able to offer anyone else. 

But I also know that the love I have for them, no matter how great, is still incomparable to the love God holds for each and every Child of God born into this world. 

That’s why seeing children suffer should break our hearts and move us to action whether it be in Gaza, on our nation’s southern border, or in states here in the U.S. that deny gender-affirming care to trans-kids. Afterall, verse six says, “The Lord works for vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.” 

So another way we bless the Lord is through working for justice alongside God. 

When we speak out against injustice, when we seek refuge and shelter to the unhoused, when we feed those who are hungry, when we work for peace in the word, we bless the Lord. 

So, dear people of God, bless the Lord. For that is our call. 

No matter what our profession may be, no matter what stage of life we are in, the call remains the same: to bless the Lord with our whole heart, soul, and mind, and to bless the Lord with our words and with our actions. 

So go into the world; notice God in creation and in one another, and let us bless the Lord. 

Amen. 

1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1078. 

2 Crane, Ashley. https://sjvlaydivision.org/bless-the-lord/ 

3 Craven, Toni & Walter Harrelson. The New Interpreter’s Bible: NRSV with Apocrypha. Abingdon Press, 2003, 846.