Call to Praise

After Gustav Holst, “Psalm 148: Lord, Who Has Made Us for Thine Own”

 

His glory is above earth and heaven:

            and he has lifted high the horn of his people.

                        (Psalm 148:14)

Listen:
what begins small soon grows…

Let our voices rise –
            the voices
of His children,
            singing in
a gentle sea of hopeful praise

            and soon,
beneath, the day will dawn

upon each shore, upon
each hill, each cloud,
upon each flying wing.

Watch hail hurling! See
the clouds ablaze! the wind
casting waves!

Listen:
what begins small soon
erupts in hopeful praise.
                                    O Lord

who made us for thine own, we rise
in chorus, rising with
the coming day, this
            feast of plenty
                        on the wings
            of dawn, all flying,
green and singing,
fresh in morning,
wild in
                        its daily praising.

Listen, souls who turn aside
and greet the harvest with
your clutching hands:

O praise Him, all you mighty ones,
you weakling ones,
you dying, drifting, quaking ones

and praise Him
from the skies, from soil
within the toil of anxious day.
            

            Arise,
                        awake,
arise and praise:

His horn is lifted high…