Give Me a "P"

The letter “P” is a very nice letter. Connect her with the right combination of other letter and she can pray, she can make promises and she can look pretty. But she can’t do it by herself.

The letter “R” is a good letter. I’m very fond of the letter “R.” I even have him monogrammed on a bathrobe. He can read, ‘rite and do ‘rithmetic if you ignore some spelling rules and hook him up with some good friends. But try to stand him alone, and there’s not much there.

What about “A”? That’s a lovely letter. It’s even stitched on my wife’s bathrobe. I wonder, how did “A” get to be the first one in line? Why not “L” or “W” or one of the others? Now, you can use “A” all by itself, but it’ll usually leave you hanging, unless it shows up on your report card. “A” what? You can’t even use it as a word by itself in Scrabble. It needs something to define. It needs help from the others.

Then there’s “I.” The letter “I” has always been a pretty self-centered letter. He thinks he’s just about it. He thinks he doesn’t need anybody else. “I can stand alone,” says I, “just me, myself and I.” But even “I” sounds pretty foolish all by himself. The other letters quickly tire of “I” and his pride, and even he realizes soon enough that he’s really doesn’t have much to say without the help of others.

Now the letter “S” can make a lot of noise and even put quite a fright into many, especially if you’re out in the garden and hear its hiss coming from somewhere around your heel. Hopefully that wouldn’t make you say another “S” word! Despite all the hissing, “S” has such a limited vocabulary.

I do like “E.” My middle initial is “E.” “E” is a very popular letter. Everyone wants to buy an “E” on Wheel of Fortune, but she can only help to solve the bigger picture puzzle. She can’t do it alone.

Letters have to work together in order to form the words we use to communicate effectively with one another. They’re not meant to stand on islands all by themselves. They belong with each other. They need each other. Only together with each other in proper spelling and grammatical relationships can they find fulfillment in their purposes.

When you take the P and the R and A and I and S and the E and join them together, you get the word “praise.” They have to be willing to come together to make such a beautiful expression.

Then they need further help from their friends to define their intentions. It takes other letters and spaces and punctuation to know whether or not “praise” wants to commend the worth of someone or something (such as the call to “Praise the Lord”), or to denote the offering of gratitude or admiration (such as “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise”).

Do you see how they all must come together and work together in proper relationships in order to become meaningful? Isn’t that how it is with us? Don’t we need to come together and work together in proper relationships to achieve the greatest purposes for which we were created? We’re not meant to try to live on our own. We need each other.

The writer in Psalm 95 understood the joy of coming together with God’s people to offer praise to the great King above all gods, the One who created them, chose them, and formed them for His own glory. In the first two verses look at the way he issues the call to the assembly of the righteous. “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

If you say you’re a follower of Christ but don’t think you need the church, let me urge to join with God’s people in worship and discover that together we’ll make a much more joyful noise, a more beautiful expression of “praise”, than you ever will alone. Together in proper relationships with each other we’ll find greater fulfillment in our purpose. See you Sunday!