1)  Praise the Lord.  Praise God in his sanctuary:  praise him in the firmament of his power.  

2)  Praise him for his mighty acts:  praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3)  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:  praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4)  Praise him with the timbral and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5)  Praise him upon the loud cymbals:  praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals.

6)  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise ye the Lord.

Everyone is fed (spiritually) in different ways.  Some love and desire a deep and meaningful sermon.  Some can get recharged by getting next to nature.  Some find their reward in a great Sunday school class while others love missions and volunteerism.  I, like probably some of you, find my soul is recharged by music.  Not just church music, but different kinds of music.  I particularly love orchestra and instrumental music.  I understand and appreciate the time and effort and self-sacrifice it takes to learn how to play the instrument and then learn the music as it is written and then, in many cases, to memorize that music. 

You can probably tell that I’m a self-avowed band geek from way back.  I still tear up a little bit when I see band kids and watch their half time shows at football games.  They’re often the weird kid, the un-athletic kid (which is a really crazy notion), or the kid chosen last for team events, but they sure make us proud under those Friday night lights!

I love this Psalm because it gives me permission to praise God, even at a marching contest or at a halftime show.  Why wait until I’m at church, where you rarely hear a cymbal (what’s up with that?!?) and you hardly ever see people dancing?  I like being able to worship and praise the Lord in all things—and while I have breath, I WILL praise the Lord.

I knew it all along. God loves marching bands.  I just KNEW it! Praise Ye The Lord!

Kathy Huffman is the North District Superintendent Spouse in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (Houston area) and resides in Texarkana, Texas.

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