Living Clamorously Foolish?

 Thoughts on Psalm 148

Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter and the appointed Psalm is 148.

This is a familiar praise psalm, one of the ones in which the writer calls on all of nature both animate and inanimate to praise God. It is a fairly straight forward message, so looking to understand it a bit more, I looked up what Hebrew word was used for praise. I’m not at all familiar with Hebrew, but this is what I found. The word used for praise was  hallal and it could have several intentions; to boast, to shine, to celebrate are a few. We simply use the word praise which brings to mind participating in some type of corporate worship. I think that this can create in us a sense of compartmentalizing our relationship to God. But, hallal , for me anyway, broadens what that means. Look at the psalm, the writer urges all of God’s creation to praise, to shine (reflect God?) to celebrate, to boast, I think to reflect the joy and the goodness of God. This is not confined to a corporate worship moment, but it strikes me as a way of existing in God. Our lives are not compartmentalized into secular and spirit; we exist either living (joyfully) within the realm of God or living in tension with God within the realm of God. That tension is always rooted in my self-interest, putting my interests for my well-being before God and before others. 

In Psalm 148 the writer invites us let down our self-interest guard, to let go of the tension and exist in the realm of God in joy. One use of hallal that I found interesting is “to be clamorously foolish”. I think that would be what people would think of us if we lived lives of joyful God-interest and other-interest; joyfully putting the interests of others before my own interests. In Romans 12 Paul describes characteristics of living as Christians and the section revolves around love. I like one particular passage in that section in which he says “Outdo one another in showing honor (love).”  What a world that would be! What a world it is as we shine within the realm of God living clamorously foolish lives.