God My King, thy Might Confessing (Proper 13A)

God, My King, thy Might Confessing

31 July 2011

Note on Today's Psalm

Proper 13A

Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
Beijing, China 

God, my King, thy might confessing,
ever will I bless thy Name;
day by day thy throne addressing,
still will I thy praise proclaim.

Honor great our God befitteth;
who his majesty can reach?
Age to age his works transmitteth,
age to age his power shall teach.

They shall talk of all thy glory,
on thy might and greatness dwell,
speak of thy dread acts the story,
and thy deeds of wonder tell.

Nor shall fail from memory's treasure
works by love and mercy wrought,
works of love surpassing measure,
works of mercy passing thought.

Full of kindness and compassion,
slow to anger, vast in love,
God is good to all creation;
all his works his goodness prove.

All thy works, O Lord, shall bless thee:
thee shall thy saints adore:
King supreme shall they confess thee,
and proclaim thy sovereign power.

Richard Mant (1776-1848)

Paraphrase of Psalm 145:1-12

Here is a personal story about the Psalm appointed for today, Psalm 145. 

When I was in graduate school at the Catholic University of America, I attended a Mass at the opening of term for faculty and students celebrated at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.   I had gone to watch and show solidarity with my colleagues, still being somewhat firm follower of the very low-church denomination of my childhood. 

The opening hymn was Richard Mant’s metrical paraphrase of Psalm 145, God, My King, thy Might Confessing.      Other than schamlzy versions of Psalm 23 we had sung occasionally in my childhood church, I had never sung the Psalter. 

I was overwhelmed by the sense of wonder, awe, and praise in how we, a congregation, sang that hymn.  I was no longer a mere observer.  This metrical psalm, sung to the majestic tune setting Stuttgart,  carried me away.  I worshipped in communion with all my colleagues there. 

Though this was perhaps not the start of the long process of coming into the Church from the religion of my youth, it was a milestone, since it marked first when I worshiped by means of a traditional Christian liturgy rather than just observing one.  

The theological sense that Mant’s paraphrase makes of the Psalm is one of classic “Natural theology”—seeing the character and glory of God through the works of God we see around us.  I know that since Darwin’s vision of Nature red in tooth and claw randomly selecting and molding the natural world through survival of the fittest, natural theology has suffered a bit of a setback in terms of its popularity. I also know that the image of a "Mighty King" as a controlling image for the Deity has been criticized thoroughly from many sides in the last 20 years. 

But I am still moved when I sing this hymn, as we did last week at St. John the Baptist in Seattle. 

The awe with which we must view the natural world, however we conceive of its processes, is still the awe that is at the heart of openness to God.  And God’s “works of love surpassing measure, works of mercy passing thought,” which we experience in our personal lives and are the real heart of coming to faith, are perceived and experienced only through sensitivity to what can be known of God through what God reveals about God’s self in scripture, the sacraments, and the person of Jesus Christ.  

Thanks be to God.