Sermon for June 11

The reading

Psalm 100

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

 Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

 Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations

The message  (this text is very different from today's sermon, I guess the heat is messing with me and I did not record / don't remember what I said exactly)

Over the next 5 weeks, we will be focusing on the Psalms.  The Book of Psalms were the song book or hymnal of the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition that our church originates in.  The  word Psalm literally means a song accompanied by a stringed instrument.  They were composed over the course of five centuries with most of them coming from the Southern Kingdom of Israel during the time of the monarchy. The psalms were part of the worship in the temple in Jerusalem but when and how they were used is unclear Many people have turned to the words of the Psalms to express their religious feelings of frustration, joy and hope (especially when they struggle to or cannot find their own words).   During his life, Martin Luther often turned to the Psalms. In his 1528 preface to a commentary on the Psalms Luther wrote “It could well be called a “little Bible” since it contains, set out in the briefest and most beautiful form, all that’s to be found in the whole Bible” 

The Psalms cover a great range of human experiences and history with honesty and faith.   Around one third of the Psalms are laments.  Those typically follow a pattern: calling on or invoking the name of God, a complaint that describes a particular distress or suffering, an appeal to God for help and a declaration of trust.  Another significant portion of the Book of Psalms are hymns. They offer praise to God and celebrate God’s presence in the world, with a focus on creation and redeeming.  During our time with the Psalms we will meet after church each week for a bible study where we will focus on what the psalmist is saying and rewriting the day’s reading for here and now.   

Over the next five weeks, we will alternate between hymns and laments.  This is the same way we experience the ups and downs of life, the frustrations that come when everything seems fine and things are finally going well, the unexpected help or relief that comes when it seems like everything is falling apart and there is just nothing we can do about it.   

Today we start this journey with a hymn of praise.  I want to ask what does it mean to praise, to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to enter the gate of the Lord with thanksgiving, to know the Lord is God and to proclaim his steadfast love endures forever.   I am often reminded that Steadfast is a word that describes very few people and no one all the time.  It was a word that describes God, whose promises are always good.

All of these things direct us to, in words from John’s Gospel, the Word became flesh that lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. To praise God means putting these things at the center of our lives.  This is praise that changes us, surrounds us with God’s word, reminds us of God’s love, that lets other stuff drift away and reminds us about what matters. 

I want to look at one particular parts of today’s psalm, make a joyful noise to the Lord.  Now, a joyful noise is not necessarily a good noise.  Every 2 weeks, I have a church service at an assisted living home on Woodhaven.  In many ways it’s a shorter version of what we do every Sunday here.  We gather to pray, hear God’s word, listen to a sermon, celebrate communion and sing, usually what a friend we have in Jesus and amazing grace.  Now Pastor Sam usually joins me and leads the singing accompanied with his guitar.  Last week, Sam was not available.  Now don’t worry there are 2 or 3 other people who can lead the songs. That week, one of them was sick with a cold and the others were out.   That means I had to do it and that is never a good thing.  We could laugh at how bad it was, I actually recorded myself under the assumption, its probably not that bad.  It was actually even worse that I thought, but it was fun. Praise is us, as we are, comfortable and comforted by our God, it is a giving back of what we experience, we are invited not to be afraid, to remember it’s not a show and freely express our faith.