April 8, 2015--This is the day.....

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!
²Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
³Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
⁴Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”


¹⁴The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
¹⁵There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
¹⁶the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
¹⁷I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
¹⁸The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
²¹I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
²²The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
²³This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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On this Wednesday after Easter, I share the psalm we sang on Easter.  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

I would guess many of us know this psalm not from scripture directly, but from the Rev. Robert Schuller from the Crystal Cathedral, who died April 2 at the age of 88.  I would periodically catch a bit of his show when it was on, usually to hear the guest who was speaking and also the music.  Nothing could compare to the choir at the Crystal Cathedral.  (Side, did you know that he attended Hope College and Western Theological Seminary here in Michigan?)

He was always the positive preacher.  He had a smile on his face.  I struggled sometimes because I know life doesn't always lead us to smile.  Each day at the hospital, which is where I was working when I had time to watch, I probably was part of telling a family that their loved one was dying, that they have been diagnosed with a disease that is radically going to alter their life style, or working with staff that had so much to do they couldn't imagine getting it all done. 

I know life isn't always smiling, Jesus meets us in the cross, where God and humanity come together.  Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, I know that!  God meets us where we are, loves us where we are, and it is in this hope and promise of eternal life with Christ that sustains the days of struggle.

So my challenge this day and every day is to remember and wake each day with "This is the Day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad with him."