Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, June 14, 2026 | Psalm 100 | with Donovan Drake, Guy D. Griffith, Stephanie Boaz, Sarah Bird Kneff, Ashley Higgins, and Will Wellman

Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, June 14, 2026 | Psalm 100 | with Donovan Drake, Guy D. Griffith, Stephanie Boaz, Sarah Bird Kneff, Ashley Higgins, and Will Wellman

Psalm 100

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

2     Serve the Lord with gladness;
    come into his presence with singing.

3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;[a]
    we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him; bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:04

Welcome to another Talking the Text. I'm Donovan. I'm Guy. I'm Will.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

I'm Stephanie. I'm Sarah. I'm Ashley.

SPEAKER_06 0:12

All right. And today I'm doing something very different. Yeah. I'm going to preach on Psalms, and I'm going to preach on the Psalm 100. And familiar, I hope. And let's have a word of prayer. Let's pray. Gracious God, as we head into your word this morning, we pray that your spirit be with us in our conversation and in the words we hear. May we reflect your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 100. Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God, it is he who made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him. Bless his name, for the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Anyone got a different uh reading?

SPEAKER_04 1:15

That's mine's a little different. This is the common English Bible. Shout triumphantly to the Lord all the earth, serve the Lord with celebration, come before him with shouts of joy, know that the Lord is God, he made us, we belong to him. We are his people, the sheep of his own pasture. Enter his gates with thanks, enter his courtyards with praise, thank him, bless his name, because the Lord is good, his loyal love lasts forever, his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

The message which I like as a uh often as a paraphrase, uh, I don't particularly like in the Psalms, because I'm so wedded to traditional readings of the Psalms, but it is on your feet now, applaud God, bring a gift of laughter, send yourselves into his presence. Know this. God is God and God God. He made us, we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep. Enter with the password thank you. Make yourselves at home talking praise, thank him, worship him, for God is sheer beauty, all generous in love, loyal always and ever. The great centering psalm. Yeah. Brigamin talks about psalms of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. This is the orienting psalm.

SPEAKER_06 2:56

Right? Yeah. Nothing else matters. So very commanding, right? Yeah. Um does that work for us?

SPEAKER_04 3:14

I think it's interesting that um make a joyful noise to the Lord is so often used for those who feel like they can't sing very well. Right. Just make a joyful noise.

SPEAKER_06 3:27

Just make a joyful noise.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

But leave my choir.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Do you have you do you normally I mean I know you don't normally preach on this Psalms, but like He hardly ever preaches on the Old Testament.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_06 3:47

Yeah. Oh my god. Oh, is there a guy's just bringing this?

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Someone preached on the Old Testament three weeks ago. Yes. Who was that?

SPEAKER_06 3:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

But why Psalm 100?

SPEAKER_06 3:59

Because it's lectionary.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

Because it's lectionary. There you go. But like there's a lectionary psalm every week, right?

SPEAKER_06 4:05

Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:07

But this one is special.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

It grabbed you this week for some reason.

SPEAKER_06 4:13

Uh, well, you know, after doing this for a long time, and you know, I do like the Genesis passage. The Matthew passage was a little long. And I look at this, you know, probably back in January. Oh, whatever I was feeling in January, I said, well, that sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Mix it up a little. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:37

Maybe I was sad and depressed. Maybe Guy was telling me how much I preach on the New Testament, and I felt abused. And so I thought, here, I'll show Guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

You know, but uh for me, uh one of the gifts here at our congregation is singing the Psalms. And uh singing Old Hundredth uh is such a core part of the reformed tradition, right? And uh so I have to say so much they get mad when we don't do it.

SPEAKER_06 5:10

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Uh but I mean um not just the doxology, but all people on who on earth do dwell. You know, and I I think that that's such a foundational shaping him and my own theological growth, right? That's um so that that to me is one of the reasons I come back to this text. Um, you know, what is it that that Bart said the first commandment is axiomatic for all theology, right? It's that great grounding text that God is God and we are not God. Um so for me it it's it's kind of a comfort and guiding star rather than a uh just kind of a throwaway line.

SPEAKER_05 6:08

Um with that saying God is God and we are not, I I'd never noticed in verse three, I have a note here, it is he who made us and we are his. And it says, or it is he who made us and not we ourselves. Like this idea of especially in our culture of like, I'm I'm a self-made, you know, woman, I'm a self-made man. I I know, you know, this idea that we think that we've done it all, but I I kind of like that alternative reading. It is he who made us and we are gods. Um, or sorry, it is he who made us and not we ourselves. Um, I've been listening to this this song by an artist named Jess Ray, and she has a song called I Am Not God. And it's like, I am not God, what a beautiful relief. I am not God. It's not riding on me. And I'm like, oh, let that wash over me, you know, on the commute. Because I just think that's one of those gifts that we sometimes don't even accept as a gift. We're like, well, we want to be in charge, but that just resonated with me.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Um I have a dear, dear friend in ministry, Rod Stone. He just retired last week from um community press Pinehurst, North Carolina. Um and when we were young pastors in Atlanta, he had a uh poster in his bathroom next to the mirror. So every morning he would go in to shave and it would say, There are two foundational realities of life. There is a God, you are not him. And uh I love that that Rod had that, you know, every morning before him.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

Um I had the word uh Job by verse three. So at some point, I don't know if in a class or something, that was sort of pointed out, like, oh, remember, remember in Job when God kind of finally does speak and is like, well, let's have a conversation about this. Like, who are you? And tell me if you can. You know, who where do they all this? Who do the mountain goats give birth to the flags of the mountain? Uh so uh that's a good um I I hear I'm hearing Job in that.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

One of the things too that I like about this is uh the sheep of the pasture. Um I've got a poster in my office. Some of you have seen it of all these different British sheep breeds.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

And uh that is the most guy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

And it's not everyone, even worse than that, there's no room for me to put it up, so it's just leaning up against a bookcase. Uh but there's such darn variety of sheep, you know, and and yet they're all sheep. And it's it's a reminder, too, of how you know various and different humanity is for me, and yet we're all sheep of his flock. And uh that's um kind of a reminder that we you know don't have to all look the same or you know, act the same, and we're still part of the flock. And I like that here. We're the sheep of his pasture, he's the shepherd.

SPEAKER_06 9:40

What about the imperative in this? I did just uh what is that about?

SPEAKER_01 9:45

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_06 9:47

Make her bless her bless. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

Okay, maybe that's not the way it's being said, though. Maybe it's make. No.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

I don't I don't think so. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:06

Well, I think what's interesting about that imperative is that then in verse five, why are we doing all those things? Because the Lord is good. And his steadfast and didn't you the steadfast love? I heard that last Sunday. So it's like it's it's a response, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Right.

SPEAKER_05 10:25

Not just a command, but like in response to the goodness of God.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

There's something, Stephanie. Your Bible said because the Lord is good.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Yeah. Um it says that, yes, that is a clause at the beginning. Because the Lord is good, his loyal love lasts forever.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

I like the word because better than for. Like in the NRSV, for the Lord is good. It makes it sound just like a statement, you know, like this is just the fact. But something about because the Lord is good makes me think God doesn't have to be, right? Like because God chooses goodness, and because God chooses us, yeah, therefore, God's love endures forever. Like what a what a gift.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

That that feels just like such a such a joy. That's not, you know, like this, it's not a given, right? Like, yeah, man, what a gift.

SPEAKER_06 11:19

So do you switch the station if you're not feeling this?

SPEAKER_04 11:23

You know, it's interesting because I do listen to the contemporary Christian stations, which I know is not always real popular with people. And it is true that sometimes there is a little bit of a hollowness that goes along with some of the theology there. I still have my fave people on there, but often they're saying things like, you can't be sad when you're giving thanks. And I'm like, can't you?

SPEAKER_02 11:54

I'll show you.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Well, I just think we don't often, I think sometimes in our faith traditions, we haven't allowed enough room for more than one feeling to be present. Yeah, you don't have to replace one feeling with another. And so I think in giving thanks and giving praise, there is joy that can come from that. It doesn't necessarily mean you're not still in a pit, but there is joy that can come from that because this is a centering psalm reminding us that God is God. You know, so it's not about I'm just gonna be better now because, you know, if you smile, you send all these little endorphins in your body telling you that you're happy. It's not fake it till you make it. Although there can, you know, there are days that might be really helpful. Um, you know, it's not fake it till you make it with God. It's this is all true about God, even when you're in the pit. And this short psalm that's so to the point and says do these things, it's it's for our good. It helps us to focus on the good of God. And then that is what pulls us through. Otter Creek down here, they have a sign that I drive by all the time. And right now I'm gonna get it quoted wrong, but it says something like it's not faith.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Oh, shoot. Faith doesn't get you through, get you around trouble.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

Faith doesn't get you around trouble, it gets you through trouble. Good job. Good job. Which is so, I mean, that's the point. Trouble is there for all of us, no matter how big our faith is, no matter how well we know God or study scripture. Trouble is always there. It's just part of this world. And God is God.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

I think to your point, Donovan, you know, where I I started before Psalms of Orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, the Psalter gives us uh variety that connects with our existential condition. Right. And one of my friends um that I did Dean Min work with uh wrote a book called Prayer, P-R-A-Y, and each of those represents the first one is psalming, that uh he was encouraging us when you go to pray to choose a psalm that connects where you are. And I find that very, very helpful for me to get a sense of am I centered, am I disoriented, and I'm giving thanks for a reorientation in my life. So I would say that, you know, Psalm 100 is true and always true, but that while that's my true north, I may be driving at a different compass point in any particular way, but I'm trying to give back to that.

SPEAKER_06 14:56

Um and uh So this term is not for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Well, that's up to you, Donovan.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

But I think I think the psalm is for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

You think so? Okay.

SPEAKER_07 15:12

Well, that's up to you.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Tv. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_07 15:15

I I think one thing to point out about the the psalm too is just the the like cultic or like worship element of this. Like this is all about coming from the the widespread creation of God into the temple where God's presence is, and a transition happening there. And in that transition, you're encountering uh the living God. And I think it's this the same thing we do when we come to worship, is is we we come into the body, into the place, into the synagogue, the synagogue, into the sanctuary, um uh to to kind of like re-encounter God in a way, and from there to go back out reminded that God is good, that God loves us, um, and God empowers us to go back out into the world.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Right.

SPEAKER_07 16:05

And in the world, uh, and I mean this is a very Christian reading, but like um the the make a joyful noise, that that's what evangelos is, right? That's sharing the good news. It's it's not a like going and pestering people on the street corner, it's living out that truth in your day-to-day life. And that is like Stephanie was alluding to is like it's not happiness. Happiness is a fleeting emotion. Joy is what's uh what's praise, what's doxology. And that is something that maintains regardless of whatever emotional state you're going through. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

And your point about sort of what's your theology of worship. For me, the high point of worship is singing the doxology with God's people. That's what I come for every Sunday. Uh if I get a decent sermon, nice music, good, but but for me, the the core of my understanding of worship is standing and singing the doxology for God's people.

SPEAKER_04 17:05

And also that when we go out, God's not trapped there. Just in the sanctuary, there are more reminders of who God is and more reminders of who we are together, just even our being in that space together as a community is a reminder. And but God's not trapped there, God goes with us.

SPEAKER_07 17:23

Yeah. Well, I wanted to share too um uh Robert Alter's translation of the first verse is shout out to the Lord all the earth instead of make a joyful noise. Uh I I just like that because when I think of shout, it's like you can't contain it. It just comes out of you. And I think like make a joyful noise is it's almost become like cutesy.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:47

It's like I just think of like Sunday school.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 17:50

And like that, there's a place for that.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

But when I think of this, I think of no, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_07 17:59

It's like make a joyful noise. It's like kind of like Folksey and cutesy, and like there's nothing wrong with that, but like shout out to the Lord all the earth. Like that reminds me of Job. It's like you have no other choice. It it's like a visceral reaction uh when you encounter the living God. It's a it's a response of shout. Let's see. Instead of like, oh, you know, make a joyful noise.

SPEAKER_06 18:24

Is it is it Luke's Palm Sunday, the very stones will shout out? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:29

Yeah, tell them to be quiet. Well, if they're quiet, even the stones will shout.

SPEAKER_07 18:33

Right. And and I it it I I don't know. It's just like such a beautiful way to like encompass like that uh not the distinction, um, but the difference between like uh the encounter of God in creation and the encounter of God uh in church, in the in the place where we come together uh into intentionally uh worship.

SPEAKER_05 18:59

I feel like I'm more comfortable making a joyful noise because that's decent and orderly. I mean, I'm not just gonna distill this into like a lit liturgical differences of worship style, but like I don't know when I if and when I've shouted to the Lord. Like the last time I shouted, it was because Grace was coloring on the wall, you know, like that visceral reaction. But like, where is it that have you felt that before where you've been able to shout to God?

SPEAKER_07 19:29

Oh yeah, every time I'm outdoors. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:32

But you're not doing it literally.

SPEAKER_07 19:33

Yes, I do. I literally like scream out a curse word. I'm like, holy blank, you know, it's just like I get overwhelmed with like the just beauty, and like it's literally like a visceral, like, ah really?

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:49

Like my family jokes with me about it because we'll be like driving in the car and I'll see and I'll I I always curse. I have a terrible, terrible habit of swearing. But I I literally just blurt out like a curse word about how beautiful it is.

SPEAKER_05 20:01

Auden's first word. Yeah, it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_06 20:03

Auden's gonna be a little pirate.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

What about y'all though? Do you feel are do you won't?

SPEAKER_06 20:10

Like when the I don't know, I call it the golden hour. When you know when the sun sets and the you can take fabulous pictures, and I I remember being at a wedding and it was like this person was talking and it's like I mean, look, let's take our shoes off.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Right.

SPEAKER_06 20:34

I mean, that's what it was like.

SPEAKER_07 20:35

It's like, can you not see this? Right. You know? I I've I've had it too. Like, I remember one time at uh at Princeton, uh, it was like beautiful outside during chapel. And I was like, I'm not gonna go to chapel, I'm just gonna sit on the steps and enjoy this. And there was some reason I was like, no, I need to go in because like I'm super introverted, and I was like, it's probably good for me to go. And I went in and we sing How Great Thou Art. And it was like, there was like this pulsing sensation of energy in the chapel. And it wasn't like I got that all the time, but it was like this very distinct, like I just felt like we were all united in that moment. And like I wanted to just shout. You know, it was like almost uncontrollable uh how joyful I was in that time.

SPEAKER_06 21:19

And we had the uh American Guild of Organists here before and they sang that uh uh the Mormon piece um with the water and uh God's so gorgeous. Uh we sing it on um All Saints evening a lot of time. Um anyway, that place was it was just rocking. Um and I mean to the point, you know, it just makes uh makes me weep every time I hear that song. But uh what I wonder about though is do you have in order to write this psalm, psalm, do You have to I mean does it come after what you've just What you've just witnessed, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

I guess in my own theology You know, and I realize I'm so reformed. Uh yes, you are no apologies needed. This is No, I would say that this is this is what I firmly believe, you know, is the truth. Um now the reality is my life doesn't always feel like this, but it doesn't diminish that this is the truth.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Right.

SPEAKER_05 22:44

Well, and coming into a space of worship reminds us of that truth. Like even when you don't feel it, I mean, even when you don't feel like you want to sing the doxology, I don't know if that's ever happened, but even when you don't feel that, then the communion of saints is singing it around you and proclaiming the truth. Right. I mean, yeah, I think about that when we do the Apostles' Creed. Like, if I mean that the Apostles' Creed was really important for me in seminary because I would be going to these classes and I'd be in these precepts and these small groups, and people be questioning some of the things that I held to be like essential and I wasn't sure how to defend it, and blah, blah, blah. And then I'd go to worship and I'm like, I don't know if I believe all of this, but I'm gonna let the communion of saints speak it and like build me up until I can speak it myself again. Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 23:35

Um, you bring in the music this week.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

It's gonna be a good thing. That's a glorious piece of music.

SPEAKER_06 23:49

Yeah, I just we and you had that the place was so packed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

I don't know. I this I'm I'm really struck by the question of do you write this after you've had an encounter? I mean, I think my my what go ahead. I was gonna say, I think I think that my initial thought is, well, of course, but then maybe yes, maybe no. Um for sure in reading it, I can read it and think of those moments when I feel and or have felt or seen God's power displayed before me or experienced it in my spirit. And going back to the imperatives, it is a song that can pull us along as well. Right. That can draw us into a place of praise.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Right. Yeah, I've always um, you know, I had uh well, I I I I think I have to be drawn into giving praise, right? So you go on the morning walk and that, you know, and so I then it's almost like I have to do it mentally, you know. Okay, so oh, this is the day that the Lord has made. So I have to climb the ladder to get there in a sense.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:12

But in order to paint this picture in Psalm 100, I just feel like it's like, man, I've I got it. You know, I'm there, and you all need to shut up and look at this. Yeah. Or whatever it is, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I feel like with like that. This makes me think of parenting, trying to invite our kids to notice.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

So we I I listened to someone recently and they said in their family that they use the word delight. So if something happens or someone sees or experiences something, they'll just put their finger up and say delight. And then everybody's kind of stops and they tell them what the thing was. So we have a big piece of like butcher paper up on our wall for the summer. It's got all the like how we're trying to keep our sanity, right? Like daily rhythms and schedules. But I wrote the word delight in one spot. And that everybody was like, What is that? I was like, We're gonna write. I mean, but it but it's practice, right? Like it does, it isn't necessarily like, oh, I've like, oh, I noticed something. So, you know, one morning Mia, Mia has learned to make uh egg in a basket, you know, the toast with the egg in the middle. And she just got up and made one for me one morning, um, which is a little terrifying that she was in the kitchen by herself and I didn't know. But she brought it, but she brought it to me. And I said, I just said, like, oh my gosh, delight. And I wrote it, it's the only thing that's written. They're not really catching my my vision here. But, you know, or like when the irises start to bloom. When we moved into our house in 2020, it was April, and and we didn't we had no idea what was there. And things started blooming. And one morning we go out and there's our iris near the mailbox. And so I made the girls every morning when we left the house, when we would drive by the mailbox, I made them say, Well, hello, ladies. Just like notice, you know, or like parenting advice. Yeah, right. Force your children to agree to flowers. Or like we got home from two weeks out of town Sunday, and I could not wait to just like see what was happening in my garden after two weeks. They don't care a bit about that, which makes my heart a little bit. But I like I think there's a practice, and I feel that with parenting, like it's not necessarily that we're feeling the things all the time, but like where do we practice noticing? And then I just think we have to practice naming it and inviting other people into that. Because even if I didn't see that joy, when my kid points out something, that brings me joy.

SPEAKER_06 27:53

Right. And that's I think it was last week. I was looking at the Hebrew, the word delight and desire is the same word. And delight is when you got it, and desire is when you want people to get it too. Right. And that's it's like you got it, and you want people to get it too, right? You desire, you delight.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Don and I have been in a season of weddings. Uh, you've had two in two weeks, I've got one this week. Five and six weeks or not. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

You're looking for Donovan on a Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

I've got one every month now until November, I think. And uh but talking with the couples about liturgy, and of course, the old liturgy has that word cherish in it that you know we just don't use anymore. Right. Right. You know, I mean you cherish. And um and so I think you're right, Ashley, about thinking about these words and um and really spending time with them. Um cherish delight, uh you know, live together as heirs of the grace of God. I mean, you know. It's all about me.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

I'm thinking about the ladies now. And flowers can be men. But uh that to me, it's like flower, you know, they go to all this work to make this show. And it's like, yeah, yeah, you better notice. Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:17

And uh, you know, and somebody's saying that of God, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yeah, you better notice.

SPEAKER_06 29:23

You better notice.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

That was a good picture on the uh front cover of the bulletin last Sunday. Yeah. Was that one of your photographs?

SPEAKER_06 29:30

It was of a of a flower here at the church.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Yeah, that's what I thought.

SPEAKER_06 29:35

A male flower.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

It doesn't have the same ring. It doesn't have the same ring.

SPEAKER_06 29:47

Yeah. So joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Know that the Lord is God. Enter, right? Just do this.

SPEAKER_07 29:59

This is taking us in a um Thanks, Will. Uh tangent where probably like 99% of the listenership will zone out. Okay. Um, but there is a uh a famous mystical theologian named um Pseudo-Dionysius. Uh-huh. And he's he's most likely like a fifth-century uh Syrian. I'd go for the real Dionysius. Yeah. Well, he claimed uh the name from Acts. But the point being is he wrote a lot of treaties that were deeply influential in Eastern and Western Christianity. Um, but one of his uh most personally impactful to me, and um uh it's a shorter piece, it's called The Mystical Theology. That's five chapters, it's probably like 10 pages. And he's trying to see how do we actually know God, and he weaves this path between um negative and positive. So the positive is we can say these things about God. The negative is we can't say what God is. There's only that's all we can say about God. And so he's he's bouncing back between these, and then he comes to the final chapter, and his point is neither of those tells us who God is. What tells us who God is is praise. We move past trying to describe who God is or describe who God is not, uh, and we come to a place of just awe and reverence and praise, and that is when we truly know who God is. And I I read a song like this, and I think of um I think of that a lot. Just that sense of like, it's it's like you were saying, Sarah. It's like you're you're in these classrooms going through all this theology that the church has wrestled with for hundreds and hundreds of years, but it's it's truly in worship that we know who God is.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

But then we break and go to Miller Chapel, which is no longer called Miller Chapel, and have worship together.

SPEAKER_07 31:57

Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's where the living God is. Not not that like theology doesn't have its place or purpose, but like we encounter the living God in praise.

SPEAKER_06 32:07

It's not in the fire, not in the wind, but in silence. In the absence.

SPEAKER_07 32:12

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Yeah. Was Christian Becker around when you guys were at seminary? Yes. Chris Becker, I know for you and me, but I don't think so. He wasn't. If it sounds familiar to you, I would. He was a uh Pauline scholar, uh, wrote uh Paul the Apocalyptic. Um I can't remember what it was, but he was um a Dutchman who grew up as a boy during the heart of World War II in Holland, and that scarred him in many ways. Um but I remember the bulletin printed his last sermon, which was on Psalm 103. And I thought to myself, this is really a part of him. I had, you know, everything I always knew was Paul, Paul, Paul. But at the end, um, you know, this is a psalm of praise that he's giving. And I wish that I would have known that, you know, uh about him, but I thought how how wonderful that was to see in the midst of it. I mean, it's one of the reasons that I I love the psalms so much, is they're so rich. And as we said earlier, you know, you can find wherever you are in your life situation in the Psalter. But I I do believe Psalm 1 and Psalm 100 are, you know, some of those great centering psalms about who we are as God's people in the midst of uh the vicissitudes of life, that we are not God. And uh and what does it mean that we're sheep of his pasture and that our orientation is is praise.

SPEAKER_07 34:01

So I went to Holy Cross Monastery, it's an Episcopalian monastery up in um like in New York during seminary, and we had a meeting with some of the the brothers there, the monks, and one of them said something similar to what you just said, guy. He said, Um, every single human emotion is in the psalms. He's like, you can't name one, good or bad, that's not in those those psalms. Um and so when you have a yearning, uh, an anger, a joy, uh, a gratefulness, you can find it articulated in the psalms.

SPEAKER_06 34:44

All right. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_05 34:48

Yeah. Preach more on the psalms.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

Oh, we could do a whole series. That would be awesome. Well, we've actually got a kind of a series of them showing up for me anyway.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Do we?

SPEAKER_06 34:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

Oh, man. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 35:01

I don't know what got into me. I've felt shame, maybe, from Guy.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

No doubt. No doubt.

SPEAKER_05 35:06

The great motivator.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

It's it's such a treasure. It's you know, that uh shame?

SPEAKER_05 35:13

Shame? Shame without a note.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

It's sort of like the antiques roadshow. We don't realize we've got these treasures up in the attic. And you know, the whole Old Testament is filled with these great treasures.

SPEAKER_07 35:27

You know what I think about with that show? Is how many dozens upon dozens of people they don't show that just bring trash in.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Yeah, but when I was on vacation to North Carolina, I watched one where all they showed was the treasure. I I love that show.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

I do too. Did you all know Dean Fuchs? Yes, yes, yes. He was on one time.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Uh-huh. That was fun. Yep. All right. It's cool when you, you know, somebody shows up with something, you know, like that's old Dean. That's okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:56

Now to our one listener.

SPEAKER_04 35:58

Uh would you like to give us pseudo-90s to uh Dean Fuchs? All right. The Lord be with you. Lord God, draw us into praise. Draw us into your sanctuary. Draw us close to the heart of who you are so that we can know who you've created us to be, and we can live into that identity.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

God, you are good.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

And this is always true. Even when things are not good around us, you are good and you are faithful and you are present. Help us in those times of trouble to be drawn to praise, to be drawn into you. Lord, we thank you for these rich and holy words that have been so carefully passed down to us. We pray that you will plant them deep in our hearts so that they are there for us when we are overwhelmed with the beauty around us, or when we feel so overwhelmed by what wants to consume us. Lord, use these words to draw our hearts closer to your heart and make us ready to speak these words of praise out loud for all to hear so that they will know these ancient and beautiful words that can teach them who you are and who they are. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.