Today’s devotional author is Debbie Jorgens, Prince of Peace’s Director of Congregational Care and Visitation.
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!
Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Last Tuesday, a group of 28 people from Prince of Peace boarded a bus and headed north to Saint John’s University to learn about the creation of the Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten, hand-illuminated Bible in over 500 years. British calligrapher Donald Jackson, who is also the official scribe to the Crown Office of the United Kingdom, was the artistic director of the project. He and his team of fellow scribes and artists crafted a masterpiece, encompassing all 73 books of the Old and New Testaments which are presented in seven volumes of approximately 1,150 pages.
It was fascinating to hear Tim Ternes, the director of the Saint John’s Bible, describe this enormous undertaking (which took 11 years to complete, once the first words were penned in March 2000). But to see the exhibit, which features a selection of the actual pages from the Bible, was an absolutely amazing experience.
The entire book of Psalms makes up one of the seven volumes of the Saint John’s Bible. I was curious to see Psalm 150 because I knew it was one of the selected readings for our worship on Sunday. Since it was not on display in the gallery, I went to the interactive kiosk where one can browse through every single page of the Saint John’s Bible. I searched for the book of Psalms and paged through them until coming to Psalm 150. It is stunningly beautiful, and I took note of how artistically unique it is as compared to the other psalms. In her commentary on Psalm 150, theologian Shauna Hannan put it this way when she referenced the Saint John’s Bible:
“The book on Psalms contains fewer bold iconographic illustrations than some of their work, but the intricacies are stunning. All subtleties are thrown aside, however, for Psalm 150. This is the only Psalm that is illuminated in all gold leaf, making the text dance right off the page. Indeed, Psalm 150 visually explodes off the page in praise.”
I think the psalmist would agree that Donald Jackson and his team got it right. This psalm should “explode off the page in praise!” It is, after all, the very last of the psalms. And there could not be a more fitting conclusion than to offer our deepest praise to Almighty God, the One who has given us the breath of life itself.
We praise you, O God, for who you are and all that you have done. Amen.