Lectionary Readings: Acts 10:44-48; 8:6-7 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17
I am not a huge fan of the Oscars – I can’t think why any society – in this case, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should want such an elaborate event to pat each other on the back – or why I they think I should want to sit through it!
That said, when I saw it on the news, I loved Daniel Kaluuya speech. Daniel won best supporting actor for his performance as Fred Hampton (Black Panthers Leader in the film Judas and the Black Messiah). His acceptance speech was pure joy as he gave thanks for the joy of being alive. Now given that his mother moved from Uganda to the UK and as a single mother, raised Daniel and his sister on a council estate in Camden, you may think that Daniel must have had a hard time of it in his early life and his blessings in life may have been few. Not that there is anything wrong with single mothers or council estates. But I would like to think that someone has had a great influence on this young man which has helped him to count his blessings.
Joy to the world
Many of our great hymns are based in scripture and Psalm 98 is one of those used by Isaac Watts for Joy to the World. I love it, when in May this Psalm appears in the lectionary and congregations are invited to sing this carol. But actually, Isaac Watts didn’t write a Carol, he simply put the words of Psalm 98 into a really good hymn and we have been singing it ever since.
The ancient Hebrews thought back to all the great things that God had done for them, the calling of Abraham, the Exodus, the leading and protection given during the wilderness years. But Isaac Watts moved those great words into a new setting to remind us of the incarnation – how Jesus came to earth as a human being – as the marvellous thing offered by God to us. So, we are called to remember God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, and God’s grace and to sing that new song to the Lord.
Yet it feels like an uncomfortable Psalm when God’s people cannot yet join in physical praise; or when life’s circumstances hit hard and we can only dare to believe in a God who loves us. Perhaps the song written by Keith and Kirstin Getty is more helpful. It begins ‘Come people of the Risen King who delight to bring your praise’. Yet by verse two, there is a reminder that those who are called upon to rejoice and praise God may be those who are weeping through the night and who are struggling with life.
Truthfully though, we don’t always feel like singing, or praising God. But we are invited to live as though God’s steadfast love really does endure forever. Or as the song puts it ‘For God’s perfect love will never change and God’s mercies never cease
but follow us through all our days with the certain hope of peace
It is a reminder that I may not always feel like singing, but divine grace is no less real because I cannot feel it. So, its’ OK not to feel like singing, or praying, because God knows and understands.
Even so, I want to look at the three great verses of this Psalm to help focus on those things that sustain us on life’s journey:
Remember
Well, I‘ve mentioned the first part about memory, and how the act of remembering helps us to praise. It forms part of the communion service when we give thanks for what Christ has done. At this part of the year, that prayer says:
When we wandered from you in our sin your sought us with your steadfast love and did not give up on us. In the fullness of time you sent your Son to be our Saviour and Deliverer. Made of flesh and blood, he lived our life and died our death upon the cross. Death could not hold him and now he reigns at your right hand. (Methodist Worship Book, p 169)
Shout for joy to the Lord
For those who worry about organ versus worship band, this Psalm makes it sound as if we need the whole orchestra or band – or both, plus the organ – to make a joyful noise to the Lord. Whilst I love really well-performed music, whatever its genre, would you please note that worship is only ever a concert in the sense that there is only one audience member and that is God. So, the Psalmist doesn’t say ‘make a well-rehearsed and professionally-sounding anthem before God’; simply make a joyful noise to the Lord. On the other hand, we would not want to offer God less than our best!
Cosmic Praise
The second part of the praising community is the whole world, both living and physical, so the creation in its entirety is joining in this hymn of praise, because God rules the world with truth and grace, and will judge with righteousness.
And when we reach the gospel reading with the beautiful imagery of the vine, we are reminded once more that abiding in God’s love offers a deep sense of contentment and joy, which offers a stability whatever life throws at us.
Jesus invites us to pay attention to what he says, observe his teaching, in order to remain in that place of love where we can experience the gladness and delight in God’s presence. And from this of course, should come and ability to love one another. Remaining in God’s love, is rooted in the greater love Jesus has already shown in giving his life for us, who are his friends. And the ability to demonstrate real concern for one another can been seen in the night we usually know as the last supper. John’s gospel recounts how Jesus stoops to wash the feet of his disciples – usually the servants’ task – to show us what this kind of love looks like.
Corrie Ten Boom lost most of her family in Nazi concentration camps during the last was, as her family had sheltered Jews. Yet she records in The Hiding Place, the moment she came face to face with a former guard, a man who subsequently had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. This man stood before her asking for forgiveness. Corrie describes the struggle she had to greet this man as a brother in Christ. A struggle that ultimately was only resolved through prayer and the love of God. Corrie remarked that it was the work of God to forgive and to love in that moment.
We too, are invited to show this deep sense of love to those around us.
Worship at home 