Make a joyful noise unto the Lord

Photo by Joseph Olejak

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord" 
~ Psalm 100:1

I was cleaning out my fathers desk on Saturday.  A task that I have assiduously avoided since he passed nearly 10 years ago.  The desk was filled with special things my father loved like his Montblanc fountain pen and pencil set and a calendar made out of brass that had the months and dates on little cards that could be changed.  I used to love playing with that as a child.  

The truth is I miss my father and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him. His words are still with me. 

A drawer in the desk must have gotten jostled when it was moved months ago and it would not close properly.  I pulled the drawer out and found a ball point pen that must've fallen out and jammed the drawer.  I pushed it back in and it still wouldn't close.  I pulled the drawer out again and stuck my hand in up to my elbow and found a balled up piece of paper crushed into the drawer slide. I pulled it out and immediately noticed the handwriting ... It was my father's penmanship.  Here's what it said: 

Attitude Makes The Difference 

I believe that the ones we love are never far from us even though their physical bodies have moved on.  This was my father speaking to me.  I am sure of it.   The one thing my father was a master at was recontextualizing.  No matter what situation he was faced with he had an uncanny knack of finding the bright side.  One of his favorite aphorisms was "what you think about comes about."  

We are living in a time which could be characterized as dangerous or filled with opportunity.  There are forces that are looking to reshape our way of life.  We can cower or we can speak up.  These forces have always been with us.  They are the forces of might makes right. The forces of money and power. But we have a super power -- we can make a joyful noise and raise up the teachings that make people truly great.  Love.  Dignity.  Acceptance.  Charity.  

This day, the inquiry I invite us to be in is this: 

• What joyful noise can you make?  
• What verse are you going to lend that will be a clear signal above the cacophony of political garbage? 
• What "yawp over the roofs of the world" will you make like Walt Whitman? 

Jesus spoke the truth of the WORD to the ROMANS and the PHARISEES.  In my way of thinking the Sermon on the Mount was the best embodiment of our values.  Let us raise a joyful noise and as John Lewis said "get into some good trouble to redeem the soul of the nation." 
~ Joseph Olejak