Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth! Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the tops of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the coastlands.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, January 9, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Sea, coastlands, desert, village, mountains: Nature! It’s hubris to think that human beings are the pinnacle of all creation and the only creatures loved and redeemed by God. All the universe—animate and even inanimate—sings the praises of God. If you’re quiet enough you can hear it. In the distant cry of a hawk, in the hissing of the summer rain, in the quaking of aspen leaves, in the babble of a creek, in the chirping of myriad chickadees, the scrabble of squirrel claws on tree bark as they chase one another up and down, in the crunch of autumn leaves beneath your feet, in the reverent hush of the world during a gentle snowfall. We are not above this, but part of it, inextricably interconnected by the fact that God spoke all of us into being, and continues to create, re-create, and co-create with the whole of existence each new day.
Sing to God a new song and praise God from the end of the earth! Lift up your voice with the sea and the desert and the mountains! Exult in God’s love for you!
Do I feel closer to God when I am in nature? Why or why not?
