Last week I was able to get away to sunny California (thanks to the prompting of my lovely wife). I was wiped out, discouraged, and had forgotten who I was a little bit. My world was colored grey even though there was so much brightness all around, and I needed to push the eject button and get my self right.
While I was there, I had a chance to rest, pray, eat lots of In-N-Out, look at the ocean, read, and spend time with my aunt and uncle, and even my cousin. It was a gift, and I come back with a renewed vision of what the Good Life looks like, and how I am going to choose joy over discouragement.
One of the other things I figured out is I need to get back to writing in this blog. I think the creative outlet and place to download my thoughts will be useful. So even though my last entry was 2008, thank the Google powers that be for saving my stuff. A little updating and I am back on line!
This morning, I am starting to think about this week's sermon at SPC. Our topic for this month is worship (see www.spconline.org for more details) with the series called
Worship Like It Matters, and our specific theme this week is "How We Are To Worship", specifically what is the content of our message and what we are to be about when we enter into God's presence.
The text this week is Psalm 96. Here it is...
1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, "The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity." 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(In case you are wondering, I've highlighted certain parts that seem to go together and repeat a theme.)
It is really interesting to me that the first line is about singing new songs. When I was in 7th Grade, I liked this girl who I found out was really into this band U2. I can't remember the girl's name now, but her introducing me to this great band will not be forgotten!
War was their album at the time, and the song 40 became one of my favorites. I wait, God hears, I sing a new song. Up until that point, I'm not sure if I'd ever heard a band (and especially a rock band) take a piece of Scripture and set it to music as a prayer. But that is exactly what they did, and it became a prayer for the troubles in Northern Ireland, and a prayer for all of us who need to be reminded that waiting on the Lord and singing a new song in a new day is power.
Historians believe that Psalm 96 was written after the Babylonian Captivity, after the Israelites are freed and return to their homeland after 50 years of captivity. They come out of darkness and into the light of freedom. Sing to the Lord a new song, the Psalmist writes. For their God is higher, more powerful, and more beautiful than any god of the earth. And in this new song, the people are to not just keep it to themselves but to shout it to the nations, "The Lord is King!" Even the entire planet gets into the praising--the fields, the heavens, the waters, the fields. Everything points to the hope of the new song. For God has not stayed away, but has come close and will come again to rescue his people and judge with righteousness.
When I come into worship, I'm not sure how often I come ready to sing new songs. Literally, we are actually pretty careful in our worship planning as to how many "new songs" we introduce at once to our congregation. We don't want them to feel like they can't sing because they don't know the words. But I'm not sure if that is what the Psalmist is talking about. Because singing new songs is about mentally, spiritually, and physically working to create a new space for the beauty of God bending through our being. Singing happens when vocal chords align with air and brain waves form words and sounds. It involves us, it engages us. But it also requires that we open our mouths and sing. To sing new songs means that we need to open our lives and sing.
Sometimes those songs we sing are triumphant. Sometimes those songs we sing are filled with sorrow. But it makes no difference, God wants us to do it.
I'm not sure I do that so well. I often come into worship tired, worried, and focused on myself. How will people like what I am going to say? Will I mess it up? The song my life is singing is more mumbling something that I've sung before, rather than proclaiming a new fresh song. Creating beauty, seeing beauty, expressing beauty--what if I saw my worship experience as one where I am called to express the beauty I see of God in the world and in my life?
And that is how we need to approach our worship of the living god. We need to open up and let ourselves sing. God wants to sing beautiful new songs in us. Will we let him?
Labels: psalm 96, u2, worship
