DAY 140
Faith in the
Midst of a Pandemic
A series of
daily reflections for people of faith
by Rev. Robert
Bayley, Interim Pastor
Patuxent
Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland
pastorrobert@paxpres.org
Week Twenty –
Saturday 1 August 2020
A Swiss Legacy
Today is Swiss National Day, their Fourth of July. It was
on 1 August 1291, 729 years ago, that the country of Switzerland began with three
cantons or states. Today Switzerland is comprised of 26 cantons, one of which
is Geneva. It was in Geneva in the mid 1500’s that the Reformer John Calvin ruled
a theocratic city state based on the Reformed faith he espoused. It was there the Genevan Psalter of 1561 was
created containing all 150 Psalms set to music. Calvin held forth in St.
Peter’s Cathedral, where a Christian church was first built in the 4th
century, the present edifice having been built beginning in 1160. I have sat in
that church and wondered what it must have been like to hear Calvin preach and
the people singing God’s Word, the Psalms.
Geneva has long since become secular but this Swiss
legacy of singing Psalms has remained a unique part of those churches called
Presbyterian or Reformed. To this day all Presbyterian hymnals contain many of
the Psalms set to music with some of the music from the Genevan Psalter, some
small Presbyterian denominations only sing the Psalms, and the hymnals of
the Christian Reformed Church contain
all 150 Psalms set to music with many of the tunes from the Genevan Psalter. Perhaps
one of the most familiar is Psalm 100, “Old Hundredth.”
Psalm 100 – Old
Hundredth
All people that on
earth do dwell, sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Serve him with
joy, his praises tell, come now before him and rejoice!
Know that the Lord
is God indeed, he formed us all without our aid.
We are the flock
he surely feeds, the sheep who by his hand were made.
O enter then his
gates with joy, within his courts his praise proclaim!
Let thankful songs
your tongues employ. O bless and magnify his name!
Because the Lord
our God is good, his mercy is forever sure.
His faithfulness
at all times stood and shall from age to age endure.
During this time of a protracted global pandemic, we need
the inner support of this timeless text and its original tune – think “The Doxology”
we sing each week, to help us on our way and through the day. God’s gift of
music and of singing is intended to be a source of strength, hope, comfort and
courage. Let’s avail ourselves of it. And ‘Happy Birthday Switzerland!”
Reflective question: Which verse above most speaks to you during
these COVID-19 days? Why?
Reflective Scripture: Read Psalm 100 in
your Bible and then its paraphrase above.
Reflective hymn: Using its original tune –
think “The Doxology,” sing Psalm 100, above.
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