Friends, this morning we have the pleasure of hearing 4 Psalms. These are the “favorite” scriptures of our own June Waters.
These Psalms are all different from each other but contain similar themes. One of the themes common in all of the Psalms we will read is the universality of our faith – it is for all people. We are called to share our faith with all the people of the world. Our faith is not something we keep to ourselves, as individuals, but is for all of the people of the earth – the Jewish people and the non-Jewish people…the Christians and everyone else. All people are welcome and encouraged to worship our God and understand that our God is the true God.
I will first read two psalms that are missional – they remind us that God’s grace isn’t just for us but is for all people. And, God loves all people…equally…. the good people and the bad people…the faithful people and the people who are working to be faithful.
Listen to our first Psalm, Psalm 67:
Psalm 67: For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
Amen
Our second Psalm is the shortest of all the Psalms, Psalm 117. It is also missional in its focus…God extends God’s love to us, and therefore we must encourage others to know God and experience God’s love. Listen now to our next Psalm, Psalm 117:
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Psalms were written to be sung – not read. They are the poetry we find in hymns, not at Poetry Slams. The next Psalm we read is a soundtrack to go with our invitation to the nations – a song to celebrate that God isn’t just for believers now, but believers to-be. This psalm inspired Isaac Watts to write the words to “Joy to the World.” Verse 4 of this Psalm: “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,burst into jubilant song with music” inspired Watts to write: “Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing, ” ….Listen now to our next Psalm, a singing Psalm, Psalm 98:
Psalm 98 A psalm.
1 Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
Amen.
In the ancient world, a judge wasn’t someone who punished – a judge was someone who set things right. In Psalm 98, God’s coming judgment is a cause for joy because it means the end to brokenness and injustice – God was coming to the earth to extend righteousness and bring about equity for all people. In Jesus, God fulfilled this promise!
For our final Psalm of the day, we are turning to Psalm 118. This Psalm will sound familiar to us; we hear parts of it quoted a lot in the New Testament Gospels and Letters. Psalm 118 is a triumphant song of thanksgiving – we hear it echoed in the New Testament in the words people proclaimed on the original Psalm Sunday – and in the words the disciples and Jesus said on the night of Jesus’ last supper.
This Psalm was read at the Last Supper because it is a Passover song – it recalls the flight from Egypt, when the Jewish people were besieged by enemies, but ultimately triumphed.
Psalm 118 was written as a call and response – a song leader would have read one line and the gathered worshippers the next. They were probably not actually reading it; in the ancient world, the Jewish people would have memorized the words of the Psalms just as we now memorize the words to our favorite hymns and the songs we listen to on the radio.
We don’t have these Psalms memorized. And, we can only guess the melody they were written to be sung with…. But, please indulge me and pull out your pew Bibles. Let us all turn to Psalm 118 and read it out-loud together. We will alternate – I will read the odd numbered lines and you will read the even numbered lines. We will praise God together as we proclaim the words of Psalm 118.
Psalm 118
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
“His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
10 All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
11 They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
12 They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the Lord I cut them down.
13 I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[a];
he has become my salvation.
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.[b]
27 The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up[c] to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Amen.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen
Let us pray….
The Message "Let the Nations Be Glad"
Americans are very individualistic…we are independent. We like to live on our own or with a partner who is our equal…. Many of us loved moving out of mom and dad’s house to be on our own. We like to be the drivers of our cars much more than we enjoy being passengers in other people’s cars. We like working at jobs that allow us to do our work without the hovering supervision of a manager. We aspire to be in control of our health care, what we eat, where we live, and how we spend our time.
We transfer our individualism to our faith. When it comes to God, we want to be like sponges, soaking up God’s blessings. We want God’s peace in our lives, God’s favor in our hearts, God’s Holy Spirit to fill us and surround us. We talk to others about our personal salvation – when we were saved….when we decided to be Christians for ourselves. When we turned our lives over to Jesus. We often look at our faith as something we believe to enrich our own lives.
But, the message of the Psalms we read this morning is different. Instead of keeping our faith to ourselves, and having our relationship with Jesus be a one-on-one experience, we are called to share our faith with others. It is not only about us – instead, we believe the lives of everyone in the world will improve if we all have faith in our God.
When sunlight hits a clear glass prism, it doesn’t hold the light inside of itself. It bends the light, and the light shines out across the room as a rainbow in every direction. God shines God’s face upon our lives, but not so we can absorb the light in secret, but so that we can shine it out to every one we meet. We receive blessings from God – we are called in turn to bring blessings into the lives of other people.
God designed us to praise God….to praise God with song, to praise God with prayer, to praise God with worship. And, God means for our faith to extend beyond ourselves…..to extend beyond the walls of our church, so extend beyond the walls of our homes, to extend beyond the walls of our hearts.
In our society, it is natural for us to worry about ourselves first. We don’t have a lot of safety nets that will catch us when things fall apart. We don’t all live in government housing. We don’t have standardized medicine. We don’t have a guaranteed income that will help us eat and pay our mortgages or rent. We have to worry about providing our basic needs ourselves.
But, our faith is in a different category of our lives. It is not something we have to do for ourselves or keep for ourselves. God has infinite love to share with us. God has infinite blessings to share with the people of the earth. God has infinite patience for us to work on getting things right. And, God appreciates different types of worship and praise. We can wholeheartedly sing our traditional hymns and worship in our UCC way and God will appreciate our worship. Or we could sing contemporary praise music and beat a drum and worship in the park across the street and speak in tongues and God will appreciate our worship. We don’t have the market cornered on how to worship and how to be Christians. God wants us to share our faith with others, in a genuine and sincere way, and then God, and we, can welcome the new ways the people we evangelize to will express their love and praise for God.
God’s love is for everyone. So, we can’t hide God’s light under a bushel basket – we have to let it shine.
Sometimes, we don’t appreciate our gifts….I am just one person, without power and influence, how can I make a difference? How can I reach others for God?
But, our demeanor and attitude as we are out and about in the world will make a difference. If we greet other people with kind words and unjudgmental reactions, we are living out God’s love. If we are tolerant of meandering people in the aisles of the grocery store and wait patiently when we come across people who don’t know how to drive through 4-way-stops, we are living out God’s love. If we listen to a story we have heard already and make sure to call an old friend on their birthday, we are living out God’s love. And, if we tell other people that we went to church on Sunday and it felt good to be part of a group of people working together to praise God, and maybe they would like to join us next Sunday, we are living out God’s love.
God’s love extends to the ends of the earth! God’s love extends to all people. God’s praise can be said in any language. God’s songs can be sung to any melody and with any instruments. God’s love and faith in God is for everyone.
Let us praise God and remember to share the story of God’s love with everyone we meet. Amen.
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