I.
With this Scripture passage we begin 13 weeks centering on praise.

We will think about forms of praise, the desire to praise, ever hopefully explore where praise arises in us and takes us.

We start today focusing on a passage in Exodus where Moses, Miriam and the Isralite people sing their praise.

As you spend time with this week’s passage, notice what brings the people to this moment of song.

II.
Exodus 15:1-3

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my might,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.

Exodus 15:11-21

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

You stretched out your right hand,
the earth swallowed them.

“In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;
you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

The peoples heard, they trembled;
pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
trembling seized the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.

Terror and dread fell upon them;
by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone
until your people, O Lord, passed by,
until the people whom you acquired passed by.

You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,
the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”

III.
What did you find? Why are the people singing?

Has a day of “victory” brought them to song?

Do they only sing about the victory over their pursuers?

What else do they sing about?

Why?

How would you explain the different things they choose to sing about?

What elements of their singing do you find in your own words and manner of praise?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}