Today's Sermon

 

"A Joyful Noise"

 

Psalm 98
O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things. God’s right hand and God’s holy arm have gained God victory. The Lord has made known God’s victory; the Lord has revealed God’s vindication in the sight of the nations. The Lord has remembered God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it. Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy at the presence of the Lord, for God is coming to judge the earth. God will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

I want you to think for a moment about the last time you sang with a group of people when you weren’t at church.  I know some of you are part of choral groups that get together regularly to sing. But, I would guess that most of you may be having a hard time figuring out when you last sang with others outside of worship.  Perhaps you sang “Happy Birthday” to someone at a birthday party?  Or maybe you sang along to the national anthem at a sporting event?  There really aren’t many opportunities to sing with others in our daily lives.  Worship is a bit counter-cultural in that way … when we gather for worship, we sing!

There are many reasons why singing together is such an important part of worship.  It is a way to praise God, it is a form of prayer, it is unifying, it can express things the spoken word cannot.  The list goes on.  There is also a scriptural call to sing together. Not only do many passages (like the one we heard today) urge us to make a joyful noise or to sing a new song, but in many important moments in the scripture stories, people break into song!

It is tempting to read a passage like Psalm 98 and assume we are meant only to sing when we want to celebrate.  The Psalmist tells us, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.”  That makes a lot of sense during times of joy. However, I think the act of singing together is most powerful when we don’t feel like celebrating. When things are hard.  When we make a joyful noise in those times, our singing becomes a powerful act of resistance.  Our singing dares to proclaim – as our current sermon series declares - that God is holding our lives always.

So many of you have told Rob and me lately how much anxiety, stress, and worry you are holding right now. Our country is in a time of extreme uncertainty on many different levels and it is hard.  It is hard to know what to do.  It is hard to know how best to support the least of these among us, as Jesus calls us to do.  It is hard to know how to make a difference when the issues are so huge and so intense. I am going to make what may sound like an off-the-wall suggestion.  I suggest we start by singing together.  I think back to when Mary found out that she would be the mother of Jesus. How did she respond?  She sang. Yes, part of her song was absolutely rooted in joy – “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.”  But she also sings a challenge to the powers of the world – she sings in resistance to the Roman Empire that has made life so difficult for so many people.  “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly,” she sings.  “God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

That hadn’t actually happened yet.  The Roman Empire was very much in control.  The wealthy and the powerful were in charge and definitely not looking out for the unimportant people like Mary. But Mary knew that God was holding her life and dared to sing of a time she knew was going to come.

Seminary professor Walter Bouzard reminds us that making this kind of joyful noise is not “phony triumphalism.”  Nor is it simply “whistling in the dark.” Back in 2019 he wrote, “The current disjunctions in our lives and world cannot be dismissed lightly; they must be faced, named, and lamented. The work of faith, however, is this: worshipfully shouting and singing to one another that nevertheless, righteousness and equity will surround us, even if we cannot yet quite see it.”[i]

So we sing a new song together because we know God is holding our lives.  By the way, that phrase, “new song,” is used very purposefully on the part of the Psalmist. Scholars of the Psalms believe a “new song” was actually a special genre of songs sung after a particular experience of God’s gracious deliverance. Singing a “new song” doesn’t simply mean creating a new composition in a vacuum. The new song is a song that hasto be new because God has done something new.  It is a specific response to a new act of grace, a new act of forgiveness, a new act of blessing from God.[ii]

But in order to know about these new things that God is doing, we have to be aware.  We have to perceive them in our lives and in the world.  Where and how is that happening for you right now? Even in the midst of anxiety or despair, where has God done a new thing?  How have you noticed God’s presence?  When has God’s light broken into your darkness?  When we sing a new song, we dare to declare that the love of God is stronger than any hate, division, anxiety, or concern.  Does it look that way right now?  Maybe not.  But we continue to make a joyful noise even if we cannot yet quite see it.

I thought long and hard about what I was going to say today, because I don’t want to simply offer hollow words or sound alarmingly out of touch with current realities.  I realize that saying something like, “Life is tough? Let’s sing together!” risks sounding incredibly flippant. I know that singing together is certainly not the end-all, be-all, but it is a starting point. We allow the music to fill us, to offer us just a bit of light and love, to remind us of our togetherness in community, to inspire us to then go out and do God’s work in the world … whatever that may look like.  Making a joyful noise will not solve the world’s problems, but it can offer us a bit of hope, a small way to resist the despair that can threaten to overwhelm us.

With that being said, let’s sing together.  I invite you to open your hymnals to #611 (Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee) as we sing the first two verses.

A classic!  I think this song moves me the most when it is sung at a memorial service.  Talk about a time when one is not feeling joyful.  And yet, when families who are grieving choose to sing this song, it is such a powerful moment.  A moment of trust in God.  Singing this song is like saying to God, “Even in this most difficult time of grieving the death of a loved one, I know that your joy will prevail.  I know that you will fill us with the light of day. Even if I cannot yet quite see it.”

Let’s sing one more - #625 (How Great Thou Art).  We’ll do the first two verses again.

Did you notice the references to creation in both of these hymns?  Psalm 98 talks about that as well.  “Let the seas roar … let the hills sing together for joy,” says the Psalmist. All of creation makes music to God. So, to those of you who are thinking right now, I can’t sing or I don’t sing … even the seas roar.  Even the hills sing together. There are so many ways to make a joyful noise even if you don’t think you’re a singer. May we never hesitate to make a joyful noise together.

[i]https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-33-3/commentary-on-psalm-98-13

[ii]https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/christmas-day-nativity-of-our-lord-iii/commentary-on-psalm-98-10