Editorial June 12, 2017 Issue

Hallelujah: radical praise

Kim Crooks Korinek

He simply could not hold back. Sitting securely on top of his daddy’s shoulders as we walked through the river’s parkway inspired a jumble of song from our toddler’s lips. “Baby music” we called it—spontaneous, random, and sweet. Before he knew how to say the words, he felt the largeness and wonder of God, of Life, Truth, and Love. And his song of praise for Life was pure joy.

Praise for God, Life, is a powerful force. It is shared throughout the Psalms and opens up many of the Bible’s New Testament letters to the churches. Praise to God has no limit as to how high our thoughts can soar to new heights of inspiration and how deep it can go to drive out adversity. God’s gentle presence is a constant, and that’s worth praising when we feel it and worth praising in order to help us feel it when we don’t think we can. From a toddler’s song to massively prepared oratorios to prisoners singing their praises to God for their freedom—praise for God enriches and empowers our lives.

God fulfills our highest, holiest desire for boundless Love and perfect contentment. God is universal, supreme, spiritual, and infinite. God is omnipresent, leaving no room for anything unlike God. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, author Mary Baker Eddy writes: “The creative Principle—Life, Truth, and Love—is God. The universe reflects God” (p. 502). The universe includes man, and so man is perfect and spiritual as God’s reflection.

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Bible Lens—June 12–18, 2017