Aliveness

Over the past couple of days we’ve been reflecting on Psalm 98: Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth! Break forth into songs and sing praises!

Sometime back I heard the Benedictine monk, David Steindl-Rast speak in an interview. And I went back to listen to his TED Talk, “Want to be Happy? Be Grateful.” You don’t usually think about a monk giving TED talks, but his talk has had more than 9 million views.  It’s powerful.

In any case, he says while we can’t be grateful for all things, we can be grateful through all things. And he spoke about the word “spirituality,” which comes from the Latin, “spiritus”, meaning “life,” “breath,” “aliveness.” He said that spirituality is aliveness on all levels. It has to start with our bodily aliveness – being alert and aware of all that is around us.  He continued: 

“… of course, when we say ‘spirituality,’ we also mean aliveness to our relationships with others, aliveness to our confrontation with that great divine mystery with which we are confronted as human beings, and which we can look away from, or forget, or be dead to. We come alive to it. And all this coming alive — that is spirituality. And what science has discovered is that when people are grateful, they come alive.” 

It really is no wonder the community of faith held on to this ancient song. It’s really no wonder that it became so valuable as to find its way into the heart of our scriptures, to be sung and prayed and chanted for thousands of years. And sung, and prayed and chanted, not only in times when things were going well but also and even through the dark passages of history. 

We praise you, O God, for we know that you hold us close, even when we don’t feel it.  We remember how you have carried us through in past times, how you have walked with us through the wilderness and carried us through the desert. You are a God of salvation, a God who saves. Hear us as we make a joyful noise to you along with all creation. Hear us as we break forth into joyous songs of praise. 

May it be so. Amen.