Psalm 98
Sing to God a brand-new song.
We’re part of a world made of wonders!
Shout your praise to God, everyone!
Let loose and sing for joy!
Round up an orchestra to play for God,
with trumpets and big trombones.
Add on a hundred-voice choir
to fill the air with our uncontainable joy!
Let everything living on earth rejoice!
A few weeks ago, I saw something on-line that has had me thinking about it off and on ever since. It was just a statement made by someone I’d never heard of before. His name is Steve Brown and he’s an ordained pastor who now does his ministering by way of a podcast. This is what he said:
That really caught my thoughts, because I‘ve been in that church. The one with no celebration...no laughter...no joy. The one where people sat quietly in their pews, hands folded neatly in their laps, and...were reverent...but never seemed to be enjoying it.
We, here, are a church that laughs – that shares our happiness together, and I am so grateful for that. We share the important things and the silly things. When one has a reason for joy, we all share that joy. It makes us happy to come together every week to share our lives. And to share God’s love.
We are also a church that shares its worries and griefs. We do what we can to help carry each other’s burdens. And that’s not from a sense of duty, but from that sharing and the love that grows from it.
We are called as a church to celebrate that we are blessed by a God who created us in love and joy. Called to rejoice together—to be glad when we are called together in the family of God. Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people filled with joy and totally unafraid to let the world see and share in that joy.
King David led the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem by dancing in joyous abandon before the Ark, and when he was ridiculed for it...he just kept right on dancing. We sometimes sing that the very trees of the fields “clap their hands” with joy at the wonder of God’s grace. Elsewhere, we are told that even the great sea creature, Leviathan, is playing and dancing in the sea of God’s creation.
Why should being in church on Sunday morning be any different?
If you are, indeed, happy about being a part of God’s people – let the world know about it!
Sing to God a brand-new song!
Let everything on earth Rejoice!
- “If there is no laughter in the church, Jesus has gone somewhere else. If there is no joy and freedom, it is not a church: it is simply a crowd of melancholy people basking in a religious neurosis. If there is no celebration, there is no real worship.”
That really caught my thoughts, because I‘ve been in that church. The one with no celebration...no laughter...no joy. The one where people sat quietly in their pews, hands folded neatly in their laps, and...were reverent...but never seemed to be enjoying it.
We, here, are a church that laughs – that shares our happiness together, and I am so grateful for that. We share the important things and the silly things. When one has a reason for joy, we all share that joy. It makes us happy to come together every week to share our lives. And to share God’s love.
We are also a church that shares its worries and griefs. We do what we can to help carry each other’s burdens. And that’s not from a sense of duty, but from that sharing and the love that grows from it.
We are called as a church to celebrate that we are blessed by a God who created us in love and joy. Called to rejoice together—to be glad when we are called together in the family of God. Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people filled with joy and totally unafraid to let the world see and share in that joy.
King David led the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem by dancing in joyous abandon before the Ark, and when he was ridiculed for it...he just kept right on dancing. We sometimes sing that the very trees of the fields “clap their hands” with joy at the wonder of God’s grace. Elsewhere, we are told that even the great sea creature, Leviathan, is playing and dancing in the sea of God’s creation.
Why should being in church on Sunday morning be any different?
- Quoting Steve Brown again: The good news is that Christ frees us from the need to obnoxiously focus on our goodness, our commitment, and our correctness. We are not here to sit in judgment on each other. Religion has made us obsessive almost beyond endurance.
- Jesus invited us to a dance...and we've turned it into a march of soldiers, always checking to see if we're doing it right—to see if we are in step and in line with the other soldiers. We know a dance would be more fun, but some of us believe we must go through hell to get to heaven, so we keep on marching.
If you are, indeed, happy about being a part of God’s people – let the world know about it!
Sing to God a brand-new song!
Let everything on earth Rejoice!
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