How Can I Keep From Singing?

Today's daily UCC prayer has that title.  It is the song that Chuck sings at the beginning of one of our services. (Click on the link in the prayer ).  It should also be my moto since I love to sing.  I am very upset when I have a cold and can't sing well.  I come to church to sing and I have learned a lot of scripture by singing it.  I have been that way since I was a child and have sung in senior church choirs since I was sixteen.  So here is the prayer. 
As advent turns into Christmas keep on singing the praises of our Lord and all through the year.


"How Can I Keep From Singing?"

Psalm 89
"I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever."

Reflection by Talitha J. Arnold

"My life flows on in endless song," affirms an old hymn, "above earth's lamentation. . . .
I hear the real, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul—how can I keep from singing?

 - Gelineau

"The Christian faith was born singing," Joseph Gelineau wrote, "and it has never ceased to sing." That is never more true than in Advent. When pregnant old Elizabeth greeted her pregnant young cousin Mary, she threw back her head and sang, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." When the angel announced to the shepherds the birth of that child, a heavenly chorus joined in on "Glory to God!" Our carols, from "Joy to the World" to "Good Christian Folk, Rejoice!" echo those songs of joy. 

But as Psalm 89 reminds us, we are called to sing of God's steadfast love forever- --in good times and hard.  So with our joy, we also sing our longing, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and our wondering "What Child is This?"

Like the Psalmist, we sing our faith in the One whose love is steadfast, in every season, every time, every joy, every sorrow. The One born "in the bleak midwinter long ago." Born into the "hopes and fears of all the years." "Born today"—and every day.

How indeed can we keep from singing? 

Prayer

In this season and every season, O God, help us to sing your steadfast love forever. Amen.

About the Author Talitha J. Arnold is the Pastor of the United Church of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Copied from the UCC daily prayer e-mail.

Jeannette Brown
Choir member
UCC Representative.