Bible Reading (Psalm 136:1-9, 25-26)
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures for ever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures for ever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures for ever.
4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures for ever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures for ever. 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures for ever. 7 who made the great lights – His love endures for ever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures for ever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures for ever.
25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures for ever.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures for ever.
Thought
I wonder if you suffer from earworms? I must admit that they sound rather unpleasant and some may feel that they are, but an earworm is simply a catchy song or tune that runs continually through your mind. I have them a lot, especially when it is quiet. If I am out walking I will often find that a song is running through my head, and usually it’s not the whole of the song that I have, it will be just one line or a phrase and it keeps repeating over and over again.
I have come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to create your own earworms. Rather than leaving it to chance, I make sure that I listen to songs that I want to run through my head. I remember that at one of the Taize services Helen led, she explained to us that a reason Taize chants are so short and are repeated so many times is to fix them in your head, so that later in the day you can recall them and get strength and comfort from the words.
Hymn writers across the centuries have also known this to be true. If we look at Psalm 136, the beginning and end of which I have used for our reading today, we can see that the writer of the psalm has one main point that he wants to get over to the Israelites, quite simply that God’s love endures for ever, so he repeats it at the end of all 26 verses in the psalm. Many a hymn has a catchy chorus as part of it and in modern contemporary worship you will often hear the same phrase repeated over and over again.
In these challenging times that we find ourselves in, we need to remind ourselves throughout the day that we have God with us and what an amazing God he is. As we choose to listen to hymns and songs based on scripture we can take them with us through the day as earworms to help, support and strengthen us in whatever circumstances come our way. If you start each day listening to a hymn based on scripture then you can create for yourself your own earworm, so that during the day you can be reminded of the greatness of our God.
Prayer
Father God,
We thank you that your love endures for ever. You were there at the beginning of creation and you will be there at the end of time. We praise you for the amazing God that you are. We ask that you be with us throughout this day and every day.
Amen
Song: Forever