“A Song of Praise, Lyrics of Earth” 8-19-18

Rev. Jody Clegg, preaching.

The Psalmist in Psalm 34 expresses not only a song of thanksgiving for God’s goodness but also an expression of his experience of God’s goodness in the things of earth and with the Psalmist’s senses:  “Taste and see how good the Lord is!”  With these metaphors, the Psalmist praises God for meeting him in the midst of earthly experience, something the church has called a “sacrament”.   This is also expressed in the Gospel passage, as Jesus speaks one of the I AM statements (“I am the bread of life”), which is a statement of the Incarnation-  in Jesus, God has revealed itself and met us in the things of earth.  Having “tasted and seen” the goodness of the Lord, our hunger and vision are transformed from this experience to crave and desire the things of God to be made known in the things of earth (“Do you love life? . . . Do good!  Seek peace and go after it!”)   Our lives become a sacrament!