Shout to God with Joy!
God is good. God created us. God gives us hope. God loves us. God invites us to be part of God’s Big Story. And because of all that God is, we worship God. It’s our response, our way of answering God. How do we worship? Sometimes we worship God in church, with singing and praying and listening and reading the Bible. We can also worship God at home, with our family and even by ourselves. Worshiping God is pretty simple, it’s doing whatever we are doing as a way of saying “thank you” to God. This verse is part of a whole psalm that the Israelites sang together as a way of worshiping God.
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Read It
Psalm 47:1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. -NRSV |
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Do It
1. Make or find some instruments that can be played while moving and singing or chanting. Percussion is great! If you want to make some instruments, have your child color a paper plate. Fold it in half, fill it with beans, staple it closed, and you have a shaker.
2. Make the verse into a chant or make up a tune for it. It works best if you shorten it to, “Clap your hands, all you people, shout to God with joy!” (We add a “Woo!” on the end.) Say it together while you play your instruments and march around the house. After a few repetitions, young talkers will start to get the hang of it, and before you know it, your family will have a new verse to say together. Do this as a way to worship God as a family, and get it back out from time to time as a simple, fun, loud way to praise God.
1. Make or find some instruments that can be played while moving and singing or chanting. Percussion is great! If you want to make some instruments, have your child color a paper plate. Fold it in half, fill it with beans, staple it closed, and you have a shaker.
2. Make the verse into a chant or make up a tune for it. It works best if you shorten it to, “Clap your hands, all you people, shout to God with joy!” (We add a “Woo!” on the end.) Say it together while you play your instruments and march around the house. After a few repetitions, young talkers will start to get the hang of it, and before you know it, your family will have a new verse to say together. Do this as a way to worship God as a family, and get it back out from time to time as a simple, fun, loud way to praise God.
Pray It
God, we praise you for being you. Thank you for creating us and loving us and letting us be part of your story. We love you! Amen.
God, we praise you for being you. Thank you for creating us and loving us and letting us be part of your story. We love you! Amen.
Extras
A blog entry about the purpose of worship:
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/why-do-we-worship#.VE29CfnF8z4
A blog entry about the purpose of worship:
http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/why-do-we-worship#.VE29CfnF8z4
