Saturday, June 30, 2012

Saturday, June 30, 2012


A Healing Journey: Transforming Mourning Into Dancing

Scripture:  Psalm 30

Our passage today introduces us to a song. It’s David’s song of thanksgiving. He has faced some life-threatening situation, perhaps a serious illness (v. 3), that God has delivered him from, and his tongue has been loosened in praise. What David learned on the healing journey changes his perspective of life. He realized that it was the favor of God that made his life secure, not his prosperity. He couldn’t be certain that his difficulties were a sign of God’s anger, but he could be sure that joy would return after a night of weeping—because of the inescapable grace of God. With this realization he allowed God to dump his mourning clothes and wrap him with garments of joy. David declared that he would give God thanks forever. 

Today David invites us to sing to the Lord (v. 4). Reflect on your healing journey and write your own psalm of thanksgiving: 
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have ____ [fill in the blank]
and did not let _____ [fill in the blank].
                O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you _____ [fill in the blank].
O Lord you ____ [fill in the blank]; you ____ [fill in the blank].
To you, oh Lord, I cried. You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy! 

A common expression for joy in Scripture is dancing. So put on your dancing shoes, download “Wailing to Dancing” from Donn Thomas’s CD, Psalms Alive, and dance, dance, dance!

Prayer:  Lord I thank you for causing all the walls in my life to tumble down.

 
The Reverend Joanne Browne Jennings

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/