Notes on “Enter the Gates”

This week we begin a new 3-week series on gratitude called Our Hymn of Grateful Praise. Through these few weeks, we will explore the essential nature of gratitude in our lives and in our faith.

This first Sunday, we begin with a psalm of thanks (at least according to the heading in my Bible). I think expressing gratitude is essential for us, and sometimes I wonder if we have lost that practice. I’m sure I’ve spoken before about how terrible I am at remembering to write Thank-You cards! I’m trying to do better and I’m trying to teach my kids to do it too. Yet, this is just one expression of gratitude, and there are so many!

I heard a story about a 94-year-old woman named Amy who wakes every day thanking God for the gift of another day. She knows she belongs to God. She reads a daily devotion, she prays, and she looks for ways to share joy. She sings in her choir to “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” She leads a prayer group and a senior exercise ministry. In every way, she “serve[s] the Lord with celebration!” I find her story inspiring, and it reminds me of many people I’ve had the privilege of knowing.

I hope this time inspires us all to show our gratitude, not only as we move toward the annual Thanksgiving celebration, but throughout our lives.

Psalm 100 (CEB)

¹ Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth!
²     Serve the Lord with celebration!
    Come before him with shouts of joy!
³ Know that the Lord is God—
    he made us; we belong to him.
    We are his people,
    the sheep of his own pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanks;
    enter his courtyards with praise!
    Thank him! Bless his name!
⁵ Because the Lord is good,
    his loyal love lasts forever;
    his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.

Consider these questions:

1. What are you thankful for? Perhaps consider this on varying scales… in your home, in your church, in your neighborhood, state, country, the world. Consider what you’re thankful for in all of these areas, and perhaps even more!
2. What does “shout triumphantly to the Lord” mean to you? Should it include actual shouting? What makes this expression triumphant? In what way do you feel right expressing this to God?
3. How might you “serve the Lord with celebration” in your home, work, and neighborhood? Like before, break this up. How do you serve? What makes it different to serve with celebration? Does serving with celebration inspire more ways to serve? Does it feel like it limits your ability to serve? Where do you feel God’s direction in this?