PRAISE?

 

Lilac Field, Cliffside Santa Barbara CA

I've been thinking about the words we Christians use.  Other religions use them too.  Praise is one.  It is in hymns, liturgies, everywhere.  Perhaps my mind is on praise because of the wonders of the season.  I love the transition from overheated summer to clear-headed fall, from browning leaves of late August to autumn leaves of red and gold, from stifling air to a blowsy breeze.  Fall brings no negatives, not mosquitoes, not humidity, nothing I can think of today as I work by an open door with pansies, mums and red-orange nandinas in view.  My beans and kielbasa are in the pot and Basmati rice is simmering. My plum cake is on the counter.  This day is perfect. 

The Bible says, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise."  Hebrews 13:15-16.  As I read this, I note the word sacrifice.  Not all my days are like today.  Perhaps yours isn't perfect at all.  Sometimes sacrifices are forced upon us.  Many times.  We lose a pet, a job, a parent, a spouse, a child.  Or we are stripped of our agency and independence by poverty, war, accident, illness or age. Some days we may feel like our lives are nothing but sacrifice. 

A religious writer asked the question, "How can we offer praise when everything we had and hoped for lies slain at our feet."  How can the Ukranians?  How can the Israelis or Palestinians?  How can the families of another round of ordinary people--this time in Maine--killed by the endless supply of shooters in America?  How has Christianity, or any religion, survived the history of a world marked by wars and marred by those who protect guns over people?

Christian writer Melissa Nussbaum says one way to praise in the face of all things bad (my words) is to remember that praise is not applause (her words). Applause is a way to show approval and appreciation for a mountaintop high.  Our five-year-old spread her arms and spun in circles the first time she saw the ocean. When all is great, we stand up and applaud.  

But in grown-up life, when and where is everything great?  So if we continually offer our praise, as the writer of Hebrews instructs, the offer must be spiritually sacrificial.  We are not extolling our valleys of darkness; we are praising the One who accompanies us through them.  Biblically, sacrifice means to give to the Lord what He requires.  A burnt offering; a lamb; our very selves.  When we do that in the face of all that is wrong in the world, it surely is sacrificial praise.  And what is returned to us?  Somehow when we praise God in all situations we receive joy, peace, love and faith in return.  Praise keeps us in His presence, and we cannot be in God's presence without feeling the peace of God that passes all understanding. 

I should stop writing here because I've butted up against the inexplicable.  But something more:  an inexplicable Truth.  

                                                                       In peace, Nina Naomi