1 Sing to the Lord: Joy Rev. Kara Markell Lake Washington Christian Church 2015_08_02 Pentecost 10‐B Psalm 98 Sing to the LORD a new song because he has done wonderful things! His own strong hand and his own holy arm have won the victory! The LORD has made his salvation widely known; he has revealed his righteousness in the eyes of all the nations. God has remembered his loyal love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; every corner of the earth has seen our God’s salvation. Shout triumphantly to the LORD, all the earth! Be happy! Rejoice out loud! Sing your praises! Sing your praises to the LORD with the lyre— with the lyre and the sound of music. With trumpets and a horn blast, shout triumphantly before the LORD, the king! Let the sea and everything in it roar; the world and all its inhabitants too. Let all the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains rejoice out loud altogether before the LORD because he is coming to establish justice on the earth! He will establish justice in the world rightly; he will establish justice among all people fairly. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Teillhard de Chardin wrote that “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” Wherever there is joy, there is God. Today’s psalm encourages us to express that joy in praise and song! Someone asked me recently why we sing in church. Chardin might say that one of the reasons we sing is because we experience the presence of God in worship, it is an outward expression of the inner joy of God’s presence. The writer of psalm 98 would concur and add that when we experience joy, we instinctively sing; the whole creation sings. But joy is a difficult thing to define. The Yale Center for Faith and Culture has an 2 ongoing project called “Theology of Joy”. It has brought together theologians and psychologists and scientists from varied denominations and disciplines to wrestle with this idea of “joy”. The project aims to first articulate a Christian theology of Joy, and then to build a transformative movement rooted in that theology. The idea is that if we can identify what the bible and tradition say about joy, then we can go out and make it a reality. You can find information on the Yale Center for Faith and Culture website, but the scale of that kind of investigation gives us some insight into how important this concept of Joy is in the life of the church and the individual. Psalm 98 begins to give an answer to the question “What is joy?” This psalm is perhaps one of the better known psalms. One of the most beloved hymns in the Christian church is based on psalm 98 – Isaac Watt’s “Joy to the World”. It’s part of a small collection of psalms called Enthronement psalms – describing God as reigning sovereign over creation. In the lectionary this psalm is usually assigned to the seasons of Christmas and Easter, because it celebrates God’s long salvation history and the reality that God is doing a new thing in Jesus. The newness of the song is not necessarily a stylistic novelty, but the newness of the song is because God has done something ‘new’ – a new act of deliverance or grace, of forgiveness or blessing, that requires some new expression. The psalm can be divided into three sections. The first section, vs. 1‐3 are invitation, almost a command, to praise accompanied by a justification for why praise is appropriate. God has flexed God’s muscles and won the victory. It’s a look back to those times when God has come through for God’s people winning freedom and safety and saving them from their enemies. The joy of the psalmist is found God’s saving acts in the past. The psalm begins with God the divine warrior image, whose strong arm has been victorious over some opponent. The cosmic sweep of the text implies not one specific enemy, but the forces of chaos in the world. The scope is universal – the eyes of all nations have seen God; every corner of the earth has seen God’s salvation. The implication is that God can – no matter when or where – deliver all of creation from the forms of oppression that threatens it. The second section is a universal call to praise. Not only are God’s people to express their joy out loud, but the human orchestra is joined by the orchestra of creation – the roaring seas, the clapping rivers, the singing mountains! These images certainly speak to us here in the Pacific Northwest. It’s an eloquent poem about the interconnectedness of creation. One voice in the orchestra is no greater or less than another. God’s salvation isn’t meant just for God’s chosen people, or even limited to humanity. God’s salvation includes all of creation – the oceans, the rivers, the mountains. The brief closing section of the psalm is a look to the future. The hope that comes from belief and trust that God will make good on God’s promises inspires joy with in us, perhaps even more than our experiences of the past. Theologian Jurgen Moltmann suggests that we have a choice as we look to the future: we can have hope in anticipated joy, or the anxiety of anticipated terrors. We have to choose joy, remembering God’s saving acts in the past, joining with the whole of creation in celebrating God’s presence, and looking ahead to the kingdom coming in its fullness. The writer of Psalm 98 believes that God is going to establish justice on the earth, rightly and fairly for all people. The beginning and end of this psalm remind us of the already but not yet kingdom of God. We get glimpses of God’s salvation history, from the scriptures, from the 3 stories of the church, from our own experience. But we know that the kingdom has not fully arrived. We might ask how the righteousness and equity of God play out in the world? What should we be looking for? Well, there are lots of folks who feel they know what God’s judgement looks like: Pat Robertson, Westboro Baptist Church; folks with whom I would strongly disagree. But even in less extreme cases we talk about the religious right or left; social progressives; there are religious super pacs working to influence politics with a vision rooted in their vision of equity. Psalm 98 suggests that until Gods’ kingdom has come fully, we who worship God, who have experienced the joy of God’s presence, embrace God’s message of love and justice and to cooperate in bringing that about. And so while we wait in hope, we work to bring it about as co‐
creators with God of that kingdom of justice. The basic translation of tsedek – righteousness – is to do the right thing, to be in right relationship. But determining what is the right thing is the challenge. This is the cornerstone of God’s justice, as it should be for us – to act, to govern with justice and equity and to do the right thing, so that the whole earth can sing for joy. Buddhist teacher, Tich Naht Hahn writes in his book Peace is Every Step, “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” Sometimes it is easier to see than others. In the hymn “come Thou Fount of Every Blessings’ we sing the words, “Tune my heart to sing thy praise.” Those of you who know how to tune an instrument know that it takes a little work, maybe a little stretching of the string or tightening of the reed, adjusting the slide. In our daily lives we are tuned to seeing God’s presence all around us, in good times and bad, if we take the time to notice what brings us joy. Joy is the natural reaction to the work of God, promised or fulfilled. As Marianne Williamson writes, “Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” Recognizing our blessings by looking back to what God has already done tunes our hearts to gratitude, which then expresses itself in joyful praise or an inner sense of calm and reassurance, so that we can look forward with hope. This is the message of psalm 98. This song of praise offers, in some ways, an alternate reality. It acknowledges that God is creator of heaven and earth, of all life and all people. Bishop N.T. Wright suggests that as disciples are learning to live in a narrative that most people can’t see. We recognize the divine authority in the world as self‐giving love. When we see it, it inspires gratitude and hope. We can join in the joy‐filled expression of praise arising from the whole of creation in our amazement at God and God’s greatness, God’s tender presence and mysterious transcendence. We can learn to choose, in any situation, to see God at work and to praise God for God’s presence and love. That is the beginning of joy. Amen. 4 Communion Meditation Henri Nouwen wrote “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” I’ve always found this quote inspiring, but it took on new relevance when our friend Peggy started a blog about her cancer journey. The title of the blog was “Choosing Joy – One moment at a time.” Each day she found something to be joyful about and she shared it with others. About a year ago in her blog she wrote this: “when I list my joys, I am not trying to seem stronger than I am and I am not trying to say that all I see in life is happiness. I list my joys to remind me to trust that God loves me and that His love is enough. I list my joys to invite you to take this journey with me. I list my joys in surrender of wanting to look strong. I list my joys as I ask for help. And the crazy thing is that as I do this, as I think I am doing something that will make me look weak, others keep telling me I am strong. As I ask for help, I see this community building up around me and I see what the world could be like if we spent more time choosing to journey with others and choosing to see the light instead of the darkness. I want to learn to embrace each moment of every day ‐ both good and bad and that is why I choose joy.” At her memorial service the family gave Joy jars to everyone who attended, so they could take that practice home. And today I invite you to choose joy. To find some joy in your life today and write it on the colored slip of paper. Bring it up with you when you come up for communion. And maybe take this practice home with you so that you can choose joy, one day at a time. [Communion Song]