Rejoicing and thanksgiving
by Maria Rudolph
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The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad (Psalm 118:24).
Read Psalm 118:1,2,19–29
Every day has its own reasons for rejoicing. St Paul reminds us to ‘give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). If we give up trying to find joy within us but rather allow for ‘the joy of the Lord [to] be our strength’ (Nehemiah 8:10b), we can hand any and every situation over to God and still praise him with thankful hearts.
Sometimes, we might join poor old Job at rock bottom in our lives, where so much seems lost and in ruins, and where we sit with tear-filled eyes and broken hearts. Sometimes, we are exuberant like the psalmist today and break out in joyful jubilation as we are filled to overflow with happiness.
WA District Bishop Peter Hage wrote two additional verses for a well-known song in our church: ‘This is the day that the Lord has made.’ They remind us of the reason for all the rejoicing, the foundation of the thanksgiving and gratitude we carry in our hearts in all life circumstances: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead! As we are about to enter Holy Week with the celebration of Palm/Passion Sunday tomorrow, I invite you to sing or speak the well-known verse along with these two additional verses in your own rejoicing on this day and in the days to come:
This is the day, this is the day
that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made!
We will rejoice, we will rejoice
and be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made!
We will rejoice and be glad in it!
This is the day, this is the day
that the Lord has made!
Christ is alive, Christ is alive!
Risen from the grave, risen from the grave!
Tell of his love, tell of his love,
Rose, the world to save, rose, the world to save.
Christ is alive, risen from the grave!
Tell of his love, rose, the world to save!
This is the day, this is the day,
that the Lord has made.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
New life has begun, new life has begun!
Come celebrate, come celebrate,
Christ the risen one, Christ the risen one.
Alleluia! New life has begun,
Come celebrate, Christ the risen one!
This is the day, this is the day,
that the Lord has made.
Amen.
Maria will be ordained as a pastor of the LCANZ on Palm Sunday on 13 April at 2pm at Concordia College Chapel in Highgate SA. She would love to see many Daily Devotion readers there! She has been assigned to serve St John’s Lutheran Church in Perth WA. She also supports the ministry of her pastor husband, Michael. They will be the first pastor couple of our church, but she hopes not the last. They are parents to three children, who are kept busy in their primary and secondary schools. Maria also serves the church on the Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations.
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