September 30, 2023 — Psalm 150

“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty  firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!

Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”

We are to give the Lord praise — with worship and with music. The importance of music in the liturgy of the Lutheran church cannot be overstated. Martin Luther wrote hymns — the modern Lutheran church has produced at least five new hymnals since I have been keeping track — trying to modernize and renew the music in our worship lives.

The list in verses 3–5 seems intended to include all the instruments that could be used in the performance of worship. Tambourine and dance are there — as are the trumpet, harp and cymbals. This emphasis on music in the final psalm reminds us that our words in worship are important, but so are our musical performances and the fact that even these psalms were set to music. It is a witness to the power of music, its amazing potential for evoking beauty and feeling and for supporting the idea that words spoken and sung take us into the act of offering up prayer, praise  and thanksgiving to the Lord.

That we sing the praise of G-d is no accidental custom. Music performed, sung, enacted is so much a dimension of praise that words of praise without music often are spoken in rhythm. The very poetry of the psalms is musical in quality and has been easily set to music throughout the ages. Whether we speak the name of the Lord, or set our praise to music — well, we are doing what has been done for thousands of years — we join the great cloud of witnesses giving praise to the Lord.

Let us Pray:

Great and glorious God, unite our praise with the praise of all creation: singing your mighty acts with every breath, playing music to your name with all our instruments, joining the dance of stars and planets with our whole bodies; for you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High—Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

Pastor Dave

September 29, 2023 — Psalm 149

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

Psalm 149 is the fourth in a series of concluding Psalms that focus on the Praise of the Lord. The location of Psalm 149 in the book adds two perspectives on its interpretation. It clearly continues the preceding hymn, Psalm 148 which speaks of Israel as the chosen people of G-d. Psalm 149 as the sequel then discloses how praise of and giving glory to G-d falls on the faithful ones. In Psalm 148, the kings and princes and all peoples are part of the universal choir that praises the Lord, while in Psalm 149 kings and princes are the powers to be overthrown in praise of the Lord.

Psalm 149, the next to last Psalm corresponds to and should be held in comparison to Psalm 2, the second Psalm. Psalm 2 announces that it is through his anointed king that the Lord will claim kings and nations for his rule. In Psalm 149, it is the assembly of the faithful, the faithful Christin community through whom the Lord achieves G-d’s ultimate purpose — the rule of Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is a particular reason why we sing psalms and hymns in the congregation — because we are called to be like-minded and in that like-mindedness we should “with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans). This is the main purpose of the church of Jesus Christ. This is the great end for which the church exists and will exist throughout eternity.

Of course, in this world we have too many kings and dictators, like the dictator in North Korea who do not recognize the Lord as their king. These human tyrants require parades in their own honor every other week or so, where everybody dutifully shows up to parrot the mantras of praise. Should anybody be absent, they know they will be summarily executed for disloyalty. G-d’s people, on the other hand, find great joy in our worship of G-d because we are the people of G-d, our Lord Jesus Christ is our king.  

Let us Pray:

God our maker, you crown the humble with honor and exalt the faithful who gather in your name. Because you have favored us with life, we dance before you in our joy and praise you with unending song for the victory of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Dave