Written for my college fellowship's weekly devotional
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One week
while I was abroad, I went to a Taizé-style worship service. I’d been to Taizé services in the US and expected to know a lot of the
songs despite my very poor Hungarian. At the beginning, though, I recognized none of the music
until people began singing this tune. The words they sang were in Hungarian,
but I recognized them as the translation of the English lyrics I knew:
Bless
the LORD, my soul, and bless God’s holy name.
Bless
the LORD, my soul, who leads me into life.
Those
two lines, based off the beginning of Psalm 103, still echo in my mind in
moments of stillness. What does it look like for our souls to bless the Eternal
God and God’s holy name? What does it mean that the LORD is leading us into
life? With the Spirit’s help each day we can abide (1) more and more in Christ and in Christ’s relationship with the Father, and so we
grow more and more in relationship with the One who redeems and creates, the
source of all life, the One who does not treat us according to our sins but has
mercy on us and distances us from our transgressions (2).
We pray.
We read. We listen. We fast. We sing. We share bread and cup. And the “we” is
essential; faith is not personal alone but also corporate. As the Trinity is in
relationship, so should we be in relationship with each other. And through
these things God’s grace works in us, entirely perfecting us and leading us
into life, teaching our souls to bless the LORD in any language we speak.
Áldott légy Uram, szent neved áldja lelkem.
Áldott légy Uram, mert megváltottál már.
(1) John 15:4-5, Jesus speaking to his disciples at the Last Supper: “Remain in me, and I will
remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the
vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the
branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit.
Without me, you can’t do anything.”
(2) Various bits of Psalm 103
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