Friday, 18 September 2015

Psalm 24 Re-imagined for the Second Space Age


The entire cosmos is the Lord's and everything in it; every particle of matter both observable and hidden; the earth’s resources and living creatures entrusted to humans, and living beings of planets far beyond our reach.

For it was founded to inhabit the deep realm of space and on earth given the window of night, that in time we might better comprehend it.

Who shall travel beyond, into the eternal presence of The Lord, or who shall dare to approach that holy place? Even those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who love righteousness and Godly justice and who abhor greed and iniquity: they will receive blessings from The Lord and be welcomed into his kingdom of love.

This can become a renewed generation of those who revere God, who stand in awe at the unfolding of the magnificence of his creation.

Lift up your heads you galaxies and make a dazzling pathway you nebulae, that the King of Glory may pass among you.

Who is this King of Glory? It is The Lord, the mighty Creator whose Word brought forth this nurturing universe.

Lift up your heads you galaxies and make a dazzling pathway you nebulae, that the King of Glory may pass among you.

Who is this King of Glory? It is The Lord, the Almighty, our compassionate Creator, Redeemer and Great Sustainer.




Note to Psalm 24 version C21st
Psalm 24 has to be one of the great Psalms, with its imaginative sweep of the understandings of the cosmos of its age and the place of humanity within it. It therefore felt to be a very special text to try and re-imagine in light of today’s scientific understandings and cosmology. Some of it barely changes: other parts of this interpretation have a new immensity that reverberates the majesty of the God of the entire cosmos.
Bro Guy Consolmagno, newly appointed Director of the Vatican Observatory and current holder of the Carl Sagan medal for public communication of the planetary sciences has written of this post ‘I do love your Psalm 24’

By clicking on the image at the top of this post you can obtain a printable version of the re-imagined Psalm against a background Cosmic Ikon (acrylic) entitled ‘Starburst’. You are welcome to use this for discussion or workshops. It presents best on photopaper.

These themes are further explored in the hymn on this blogsite, Stars and Planets Sing Your Glory
and if this re-imagined Psalm resonates with your ideas of God, you might also like to read ‘I Imagine the God Who Created The Cosmos’ also on this blog. Click Here