Difference between revisions of "Sermon for July 7th, 2019"

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Our scripture reading today is Psalm 149, but before we begin, I'd like to recognize a few milestones: Tomorrow is July 8th, which is the seventh anniversary of the day you voted to elect me as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church. I can always remember that date, because it also happens to be my wedding anniversary -- tomorrow Amy and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage. I am grateful for both of these relationships that are so central to my life and my identity. ALSO...it just so happens that the sermon I'm about to preach (and yes, I do keep track of these things) is the 300th sermon I have had the honor of preaching to this congregation over the past ten years (since I was fortunate enough to preach a few sermons for you as a seminary student, before I came here to be your pastor).

So thank you for listening to all those sermons, for taking such good care of me and my family, and for being our church family these past seven years and more.

Psalm 149:1-9

1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
    his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
    let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
    making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
    he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
    let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
    and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
    and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters
    and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed.
    This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!

Psummer of Psalms - 149

A shipwreck survivor washes up on the beach of an island and is immediately surrounded by a group of native warriors, armed to the teeth with sharp spears, jagged knives, and grim expressions. "I'm done for", the man cries out in despair. At this, a booming voice sounds from the heavens, "No, you are not done for." None of the natives seem to hear this heavenly voice, which continues, saying, "Listen carefully, and do exactly as I say." Relieved, the man waits for his instructions. "Grab the spear from the one who is nearest you, and shove it through the heart of the chief." The man does so, and the remainder of the natives stare in disbelief. "Now, what?" the man asks the heavens.

"Now, you are done for."

I love that joke because no one sees or anticipates the dark ending. That's what makes it wickedly funny. A lot of good jokes use that technique. But it's a little bit less funny when it happens in one of our beloved Psalms, and Psalm 149 definitely ends with a violent twist. It starts off with such beautiful language about praising God, singing and dancing and making joyful melodies with instruments...and then it moves rather quickly and unexpectedly to language about brandishing double edged swords, executing vengeance and punishment, enslaving people with shackles and chains and decrees of judgement. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 149 is the penultimate, or second to last Psalm in the book of Psalms. It's probably a good thing the Book doesn't end on this note. Psalm 150, the last Psalm is happy and joyful right to the end. In fact, the last five Psalms in the book of Psalms all belong to the category known as the Hallel Psalms, because they all begin AND end with the Hebrew word "Hallelujah" which translates as "Praise the Lord." For the most part, they are all upbeat, uplifting Psalms--exactly what you'd expect for a "Hallelujah" Psalm, and a fitting grand finale for Israel's ancient worship book.

And then there's Psalm 149. It, too, begins and ends with a Hallelujah, but there's that dark, vindictive twist in the second half. It would be tempting to skip over this Psalm, or ignore the second half of it, but we're not going to do that. As Presbyterians, we take the Bible seriously. All of it. Even the parts we don't really know what to do with, the parts we have to struggle to understand.

So let's jump in. Remembering that the Psalms are intended for worship, Verse 1 comes right out of the gate with three important instructions for worship. Verse 1 is the "who," the "what" and the "how" of worship.

Who do we worship? The Lord. With what? With a new song. That's important, let me pause there for a minute. The world keeps on changing; God keeps doing new things in our lives; and our songs should reflect that. Old favorite songs are important too, and we don't throw them out the window, but we shouldn't freeze dry our worship and get stuck there, either. God, in our worship, wants us to sing new songs that reflect new experiences and new circumstances.

Next (but still in verse 1) is the "how" we are to worship: "Sing to the Lord a new song, sing his praise in the assembly of the faithful." In other words, community is important. You can certainly worship God all by yourself, in the privacy of your bedroom or home, but if that's the only way you worship God, you're missing something important. Also note that the instructions don't say "listen to other people singing his praise in the assembly of the faithful." And it doesn't say "sing his praise in the assembly of the faithful, but only if you are good enough and can carry a tune." Nope. The idea is that when everyone participates, that's when worship is most pleasing to God.

Verses 2 and 3, in the characteristic style of Hebrew poetry, repeat and expand these instructions with more specifics: Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. That's who and what. Who now includes God's people (the ones worshiping) and their Maker, their King (the object of worship). And "praise" is also expanded now to include being glad and rejoicing.

In verse 3, the "how" is