What a Wonderful World

What do you like about the World? Is it birds?

Or flowers

Or animals

King David King David lived a long time ago . At the beginning of his life he wasn’t a king at all. He grew up to be a shepherd spending most of his day outside looking after sheep. Then God called him to be a King. However David never forgot about being a Shepherd. He imagined God was like a Shepherd looking after people the way he used to look after his sheep.

One night David looked up at the sky One night David looked up at the sky. Now when he lived there were no electric lights so the sky was really clear. What do think he saw? He saw the moon and the stars shinning really clearly and brightly

The next day he woke up and saw the sun shining so brightly over the mountains He thought all of it was amazing. He wanted to thank God and praise God for the wonderful things he saw

Psalms To try and put his thoughts into words, David wrote a special poem praising God. This is called a Psalm. A psalm is a special poem praising God. David wrote many of these poems. There was so much in his life that he wanted to thank God for. Here are some of his poems

Psalm 148 Praise God sun and moon Praise him all you shining stars Praise him you highest heavens Praise the Lord

Psalm 19 The heavens are telling the glory of God All the world reveals God to us Stars cannot sing and the sky has no voice But still they show us how wonderful God is

Some times we put the Psalms to music One really famous Psalm is called the Lord’s my shepherd. David wrote this remembering the time when he looked after the sheep. He knew how important it was that someone cared for the sheep and protected them. David imagined that God was like a shepherd looking after us, always caring for us. Lets listen to this

What would you like to praise God for? A person who writes a Psalm is called a Psalmist. Can you be a Psalmist?

What is God like? What do you think God is like? The people who wrote the psalms knew they could never describe God but they wanted to try and say what God meant to them. They used lots of images to try and do this. They said God is like a Shepherd.

Take care of their Sheep Rescue them if they get into trouble Shepherds Take care of their Sheep Rescue them if they get into trouble Protect them Guide them

So they thought God guides us and keeps us safe just like a Shepherd

They also said God is like a Rock A Rock is Strong not easily shaken A place to stay safe

God is like a mother Our mothers Take care of us Teach us Protect us LOVE us They believed that God cares for us in the same way

Let’s think about this Psalm

Psalm 139 The psalmist also thanked God for their lives. The believed that every person was important Every one was called into life by God and loved by God Everyone has a special purpose- this is called a VOCATION God knows all about us but no matter what we do never stops loving us

Psalm 139 You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me. 2 You know when I am resting or when I am working,

You notice everything I do and everywhere I go  You notice everything I do  and everywhere I go. 4 Before I even speak a word, you know what I will say, 5 and with your powerful arm you protect me from every side.  

You are the one who put me together inside my mother’s body, 14 and I praise you because of the wonderful way  you created me. Everything you do is marvellous! Of this I have no doubt.

Using the Psalms today People still read the psalms today. They help us think about God and they remind us how other people long ago also wanted to praise and thank God We use some of the psalms at mass. After we have listened to the word of God in the first reading we pause for a moment to think about it and then we respond to it by singing or saying a Psalm. This is called a Responsorial Psalm Can you find out what psalm was used on Sunday in Church?