“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”  Psalm 95:6

“To the king of the ages, immortal invisible, the only God be honor and glory forever and ever.”  1 Timothy 1:17

We are “news people” … morning paper, evening TV.  Weather is a big item … please God, let it rain; please God, make it stop; please God, break this heat; please God, it’s too cold.  But not today.  Today my morning news is waking up to see God’s blessings outside my window.  God deserves more than our begging for better treatment.  God deserves to hear our praise and thanksgiving for the gifts we are given.  

We have been fortunate to travel and marvel at ancient ruins of Mayans and Romans, centuries old grand cathedrals.  How did they build that we wonder, with the technology and tools of the time?  Marvelous indeed but none could have built mountains; made soil and sea; put into place the sun, moon and stars.  Farmers plant and tend seedlings trusting nature’s process will bring forth produce.  Yet wildflowers sprout up in the desert; lichen and moss spread across rock.  

After all this, why would God care about human beings?  Yet, God is mindful of us; knit us together in our mother’s womb.  Though aged we may be, decades ago, wonderfully made, we became walkers and talkers, learned to read; became artists, musicians, teachers, woodworkers, masons, electricians, plumbers.   

Psalm 95 was part of the liturgy in the church where I grew up.  The chant went on:  “For he is our God.  And we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.”  Today I will give thanks and praise for all the good I have been given, by God’s grace.      

Praise and thanksgiving we offer today to you, our gracious God.  While we pray for eyes to see the suffering and needs of others, we pray for eyes to see the goodness you have so richly given – the earth and her bounty, food and water; the love of family and friends; not least of all your grace.  We pray for love and compassion to share all these, your gifts to us, with others who so need them.  Amen  

Verla Olson