Singing and Laughing Praise
By Valerie DeBenedette
Readings for February 26, 2024: Reflecting on the First Sunday in Lent
Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45
God promises life to Abraham.
Genesis 21:1-7
God gives Abraham and Sarah a son.
Hebrews 1:8-12
The Son whose years will never end.
The first two words that stood out for me from the readings assigned for this day are Sing and Laugh. Sing? Laugh? These are not the usual words to describe Lent, are they? But maybe singing and laughing are not that out of place when you consider that we should be praising God at all times of the year, with no exception for Lent.
The Psalm reading for today tells us to sing praises to God and tell of God’s wondrous works. The Psalm, which basically recaps the story of Exodus, reminds us how God helped the people of Israel leave Egypt. They were brought out with joy and singing, and the Psalm says that not one of them stumbled on the way. (No one stumbled in 40 years of wandering around the Middle East? This Psalm doesn’t mention that time when Moses was away and the people built a golden calf to worship, a major stumble that angered God, but I digress.)
The Psalm tells us to sing and praise God. We continue this singing and praising at St. Stephen’s with four or five hymns and other music at our services.
The reading from Genesis concerns the birth of Isaac, in the extreme old age of both Sarah and Abraham. Sarah is laughing with joy at the birth of a healthy son after decades of infertility. It is a second time the Bible notes that Sarah laughed. The first time, in Chapter 18 when the representative of God tells Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son, she overhears and laughs derisively at the idea. But this second laughter is the laughter of joy. She is holding her newborn son and marveling at the fact that she has this baby and is nursing him.
Again, this is a reading about joy, not an emotion commonly connected to Lent. Even as we look forward to Holy Week, with its somberness and concentration on the coming execution of Christ, we need to remember that the week ends with the joy of Easter.
We are to glory in God’s holy name and seek his presence continually. These readings tell us to do that with singing and laughter in our hearts; to do that with joy. Even in Lent.
