A CHOIR OF WORSHIPPERS!

 

Sunday, November 24, 2024

A Thanksgiving Classic

 

A CHOIR OF WORSHIPPERS!

 

Ps 100

100 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

 

          Today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day. It is a big deal at our church. Tonight, we will enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal together as a church family. For many, the church is their family.

 

          Psalm 100 is a perennial favorite at this time of year. We obey the command of verse 4 and we enter the gates or the doors of the church with the purpose of offering thanks for God’s innumerable blessings. Most blessed are those that are people and not things. These are the blessings with familiar names. Oh, how we love them – warts and all.

 

          The Hebrew word for “thanksgiving” in verse 4 is towdah and means “an extension of the hand but also a choir of worshippers.” In a day when the stage of many churches is covered with well-lit wooden pallets, ours still has a choir loft and a choir. To the Jews – and to us – singing is both a spontaneous and appropriate form of thanksgiving.

 

2 Sam 22:50

50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.