I recently heard about a man whose mother had passed away. He’s Jewish and he went to the traditional prayer service at which they say something called the Kaddish. The Kaddish is the prayer recited in memory of the dead. However, the man whose mother had passed said that while participating in the service he noticed that the Kaddish made no mention of the dead. In fact, much of the Kaddish was spent praising God.
“Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored,
adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He…”
He found himself annoyed that this is what they have you say when your mom dies. He said he sat there at the Kaddish thinking- “why am I praising God when I’ve just lost my mother. Why does God need to hear my praise at a time like this? Why does God want me to give him thanks when I’m mourning the loss of my mother?” And yet, he went on to state that, despite his frustration with the Kaddish, he found that over the course of the service he was strangely comforted as he focused not on his own grief but on the act of praise. He found something unusually peaceful as he practiced praise in the midst of his sadness and loss. It gave him a sense of comfort in the present moment as well as a hope for the future.
One of this week’s readings is Psalm 113. It’s a Psalm of Praise-
Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time on and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The psalmist gives God a lot of credit for doing some really great stuff, and yet we know we live in a world of some not so great stuff. Why should we praise God when we experience some of this not so great stuff; when we receive challenging news; when a family member experiences injury, illness or even death; when family or friends let us down; when we’re angry with a colleague. Perhaps the Psalm is calling us to praise because we have such a natural human tendency to focus on the negatives of life. Perhaps the Kaddish is such a smart way to memorialize someone because it takes the focus from the grief and moves us toward looking forward with hopefulness. It seems as though there is something good and right about lifting up praise to God even when, especially when, we’re not in the mood for praise.
This week I invite you to join me as together we work on our praise. Perhaps we can discover that finding a reason to be thankful might help us overcome our tendencies towards anger, resentment, frustration and self-pity. And perhaps by being thankful, even in the midst of our sadness and grief, we might find a sense of comfort and peace; a renewed sense of hope and healing.
