Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;
[PSALM 98:5]
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.
| ADVENT DAILY OFFICE READINGS |
|---|
| AM Psalm 63:1-8(9-11), 98; PM Psalm 103 Amos 9:11-15; 2 Thess. 2:1-3,13-17; John 5:30-47 |
Today is the Third Sunday of Advent, the fifteenth day of our season.
As noted in the two previous Sundays, the readings above are from the daily lectionary, not from the Revised Common Lectionary, which are normally read in liturgical congregations on Sunday. So the readings differ.
In church you will light the third candle on the Advent Wreath, the rose-colored candle, symbolic of joy.
Interestingly enough, the daily lectionary psalms are also joyful psalms.
Not only does the focus verse above mention joy, but so does the other morning psalm, Psalm 63:
My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
(Psalm 63:5)
There’s a hymn version of this psalm that I used often to begin worship at planning or strategy meetings.
It’s titled “Oh, Sing to the Lord,” “Cantad al Señor.”
If you haven’t heard it, it’s a joyful, rhythmic tune that will have you clapping your hands almost from the minute you begin singing it.
It also puts people in the right frame of mind for envisioning whatever future project they hope to achieve.
By way of background, commentators agree that this psalm celebrates a victory over something. The psalm itself makes that clear in the second verse. *
Psalm 98 is a refreshing interlude to many of the psalms we’ve been reading this Advent season, in which the predominant theme is lament.
However, it’s a challenge on this Sunday of joy to be joyful, given what we’ve been witnessing in our nation and our world. And you are forgiven if you just aren’t into all the joyfulness this day seems to promote.
But we don’t make a joyful noise on this day in order to ignore what else is happening in real life.
Joy in itself is a form of resistance.
- We are joyful because we serve a God who “has done marvelous things.”
- We are joyful because we serve a God of “mercy and righteousness.”
- We are joyful because we serve a God who will “judge the world and the peoples with equity.”
In light of all the chaos that we are witnessing, Psalm 98 reminds us that we are residents of God’s kingdom, living in a world where God has come to us in human form.
And as residents of God’s kingdom, we are charged with the responsibility of continuing to spread the good news.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.
It’s our holy responsibility to come alongside the weak ones and hurting ones and to point them to a better day, to the fact that our God has come to us in Christ and will come to us again.
That saving, healing work of God will take place not in some far-off world, but in the here and now.
We trust in a God that will keep God’s promises and we will know joy here, and we will be overtaken by gladness here, and will sing our praises to God for all his wonders of creation and redemption here.
One of the books I keep handy around this time of the year is The Mood of Christmas, by Howard Thurman. It contains a poem titled “I Will Sing A New Song,” that I imagine is based on this psalm.
The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out.
It has long ago been learned by heart;
It repeats itself over and over,
Bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit.I will sing a new song.
I must learn the new song for the new needs.
I must fashion new words born of all the new growth
of my life – of my mind – of my spirit.
I must prepare for new melodies that have
never been mine before,
That all that is within me may lift my voice unto God.
Therefore, I shall rejoice with each new day
And delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding.
I will sing, this day, a new song unto the Lord.
Let us pray:
O God our heavenly Father, you have blessed us and given us dominion over all the earth: Increase our reverence before the mystery of life; and give us new insight into your purposes for the human race, and new wisdom and determination in making provision for its future in accordance with your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 828)
*The Psalter in the Book of Common Prayer breaks up the verses into shorter segments for music and chanting purposes.
Walking Together in Faith 