Bethany Presbyterian Church recently issued the following announcement.
To the Church in Exile,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s meditation is from Lynne Baab:
God’s peace to you in this wonderful Easter season,
Back in the 1990s, I used to teach for a program called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. I was assigned one of the 15 lessons, and I travelled to different churches around the Northwest to teach my lesson. When I would tell friends the title of my lesson – “the biblical basis of mission in the Old Testament” – they would often say, “What? There’s mission in the Old Testament?”
To help my students get beyond that perspective, I would begin the class session by reading them Psalm 96, asking them to count the references to the whole world. They came up with different numbers, but this psalm of 13 verses has at least 13 references to the peoples and nations of the world. A biblical basis for mission in the Old Testament begins with God’s concern for the whole world, and God’s invitation to all peoples to worship and honor God.
I want to encourage you to use this psalm as a call to prayer for one or two places on earth beyond the United States, maybe somewhere you seldom pray for. Covid-19 is spreading in Africa, South and Central America, South Asia including India, and the Middle East, where medical facilities are often stretched even without a pandemic. God’s help is urgently needed. I’m going to sign off, then give you the whole psalm to read and ponder as a call to prayer.
God’s peace to you today,
–Lynne
Psalm 96
O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, ‘The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.’ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
Original source can be found here.
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