lifting the cup

Good evening brothers and sisters,
On Sunday Carl will preach about meeting the risen Christ at the communion table. Today's reading isn't about communion exactly, but it is a beautiful psalm of trust and challenge. The psalmist reflects on God's presence in hard times. These are critical themes in our communion worship as we remember Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection for us. God is always with us; our life and ministry is how we say thanks.

God bless,
Sam


Psalm 116
¹I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
²Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
³The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, save my life!”
⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

⁶The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
⁷Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
⁸For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
⁹I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
¹⁰I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹I said in my consternation, “Everyone is a liar.”

¹²What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?
¹³I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,
¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.
¹⁶O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!