Psalm 103 begins with a well known encouragement to prayer and praise, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” As I sat reflecting on this psalm during my Lenten prayer time, I was struck by that simple phrase – all that is within me – and couldn’t help but wonder if I have ever praised God in such an inclusive and exuberant manner. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if I know what the phrase means.
It might be understood to suggest giving it all I’ve got, or as so many are fond of saying, giving it 110%, whatever that means. In this case, such praise would involve an exuberance of emotion: singing with the loudest voice, generating the most energy and intensity, or even losing myself in the moment. To be honest, I find it hard to imagine that such all inclusive praise refers to the form, style, and manner of worship. At least I hope it doesn’t, because the praise to which I am drawn is not so much an act of worship as an act of living.
I have a sense that abandoning myself to God’s praise at its heart means honoring God in the way I live my life …all of my life. This begins with the clay vessel God has molded; my body. The flesh, to use Biblical language, is often thought of as incidental at best or evil at worst. Either it has no bearing on things spiritual, or it is a detriment to the spiritual life that must be overcome. But we are not living souls waiting to escape the earthen shells in which they have been imprisoned. Rather, we are living beings – body, mind, and soul molded as one – and as Barbara Brown Taylor has said, matter matters to God. More times than not, God is present to us through the physical – through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch – and not despite it.
So if I really want to bless God with all that is within me, I should begin by reverencing my own body, which God cared enough to create, and the bodies of others as well. God cares for my health, and I should honor God by caring for the health of others as well as my own. God cares for my hunger, and I should honor God by caring for the hunger of others as well as my own. God cares for my personal well being, and I should honor God by caring for the personal well being of others as well as my own.
There are, of course, other aspects of blessing God with all that is within me; but if I can learn to honor and attend to life in the flesh, and attune myself to the presence of God in and through it; that might be a good start.
May 22, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Amen.