Psalm 98
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
May 6, 2018
2 God made history with salvation, He showed the world what he could do.
3 He remembered to love us, a bonus To his dear family, Israel —indefatigable [tireless] love. The whole earth comes to attention. Look — God’s work of salvation!
4 Shout your praises to God, everybody! Let loose and sing! Strike up the band!
5 Round up an orchestra to play for God, Add on a hundred-voice choir.
6 Feature trumpets and big trombones, Fill the air with praises to King God.
7 Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause, with everything living on earth joining in.
8 Let ocean breakers call out, “Encore!” And mountains harmonize the finale—
9 A tribute to God when he comes,When he comes to set the earth right. He’ll straighten out the whole world, He’ll put the world right, and everyone in it. - Psalm 98, The Message
A few years ago, two unlikely people were brought together by the intersection of music and The Message.
Bono, the singer of the group U2, sent a video message to Eugene Peterson, editor of The Message. Bono thanked Rev. Peterson for the hard work of interpreting God’s Word in a way that speaks to him in his own language.
Peterson was humbled by the thanks but he had no idea who Bono or U2 were! Peterson soon began to listen to U2’s albums, many of which take me back to my favorite high school memories – all my friends in marching band were in love with Bono and U2.
The more Peterson listened to the music, he heard Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullin create melodies and lyrics that were rich with the undertones of faith and justice. Peterson was equally thankful for the work of U2.
As a result of a simple exchange of gratitude, Bono and Peterson sat down together in a candid conversation about the psalms.
Over the course of his life, Bono has been drawn to the psalms. He shared with Peterson, “They are words and melodies that give a real honesty about the deep joy and confusion of life. The only way we can approach God is if we are honest through metaphor and symbols. And the arts become essential in this.”
Peterson shared, “Psalms reach into the hurt and disappointment and difficulty of being a human being with a language that reaches into the heart of a person – it’s the stuff we all feel but don’t talk about…We serve God with poetry, with arts, with song to find ways to enter into what God is already doing.”
You see, many of the psalms truly embody the arts. They are Hebrew poetry and songs about God’s work in the world.Psalm 98 is actually a metaphor for God’s song.
The psalmist looks into the brokenness of humanity and all of creation. He knows the stories of the high and low points of God’s people. He remembers when God’s people were once enslaved in Egypt and how God liberated them into freedom. The psalmist anticipates the history of God’s salvation is revealed through the sacrificial Lamb of Jesus Christ and yet we are still in need of God’s mercy and peace. The psalmist has taken notice that the Spirit is on the move for all the earth to see the victory of God among us.
The psalmist hears the melody of God’s faithfulness down in his very bones; it is the very air he breathes. He takes the lead to bring all of humanity and creation together join God in the song as a tribute of faith because God’s song is changing the world!
When we live in tune with God’s song we become attentive to the rhythm of God’s amazing grace. It holds our stanzas of joys and sorrows, our experiences of brokenness and injustices, and our confusion and searching.
We lift our voices in celebration with others in our mountaintop moments. We lift our voices in cries that we will only allow God to hear. And within the ebb and flow of life the gift of faith is a foundational space. Within it we discover our joys and sorrows are anchored upon the very rock of our salvation.
That rock is the place where the mystery of God’s presence is revealed as we walk through the wilderness and climb the mountains towards God’s freedom of the Promised Land. That rock is the promise of God’s tireless love. That rock is the blessed assurance we have in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That rock is what upholds us by the strength of God’s Spirit in our faith communities.
When we put our trust in the rock just like the choir sang about Elijah and Moses, then we will see God’s glory. And when we hear that God is in our corner we cannot help but sing with praise, He been a rock and a shelter for me, Hallelujah!!!
I am deeply reminded of Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will renew you with his love, he will rejoice over you with loud singing.”
As we listen to the motif of God’s faithfulness, the song changes us. The song of God’s faithfulness moves us to see God’s intentions for the world. It becomes our heart’s desire to live in tune with the song.
We do just that by being attentive to the notes of the song’s motif; there are 4 notes in Psalm 98: God is creating something new among us and in us; Jesus Christ is redeeming and reshaping us; the Spirit assures us that we are loved beyond measure; and God faithfulness will right the world and everyone in it. The song is played to the metronome of God’s timing.
Through this gift of faith, the motif of God’s faithfulness settles into our hearts and minds and we feel something stirring within us, just like the refrain from Andra Day’s song:
“Rise Up”:
And I'll rise up
I'll rise like the day
I'll rise up
I'll rise unafraid
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousand times again
And I'll rise up
High like the waves
I'll rise up
In spite of the ache
I'll rise up
And I'll do it a thousands times again
For you
For you
For you
For you…..
We rise up and see a new vision of hope for ourselves and the world around us. As we live in tune with the song, we are empowered to proclaim God’s intentions, enact it using our talents and gifts, and keep alive the vision of God’s coming kingdom.[1]
We do this by coming alongside one another to help each other hear God’s song. When we walk side by side and hand in hand it underscores that we are all becoming a part of God’s glorious melody. Entering the song is to enter into what God is doing among us.
When I was a student in seminary in Decatur, Georgia, a group from Metro State Women’s Prison visited our campus. My worship professor, Kim Long, tells about that morning poetically: [2]
The women [came to chapel] not to tell us about the realities of incarceration, but to lead us in worship. They traded their prison khakis for white choir robes and sang as the Voices of Hope Choir. White and black, young and not-so-young, they sang about Jesus and being saved and having hope. They made us cry and they cried too. Then one of them, a young African American woman preached.
“It is God who chooses us,” she said. “God who places us in a unique position within the body of Christ. He chooses one eye with 20/20 vision and places it beside an eye that is half blind. Then he selects an aching hand and attaches it to a powerful arm. He finds a sprained ankle and he strengthens it so it can lift up a leg that was once fractured. Then he searches and searches until he finds a powerful chest and teaches it by example to embrace a broken heart. Then God binds together each part with love and he sends his Holy Spirit coursing through its veins until it is moved and motivated to stand up and step out – step out into the community, into prisons, into the wilderness, to prepare the way for the Word of God.”
Then she looked at us. “Look within you. Look around you. This is the body of Christ,” she proclaimed, sweeping her arm over all of us – all of us in the pews, and all of the women in the choir. “We are the body of Christ.”
I am beyond grateful that you – Lisa Knox and the Indian Land Warrior Choir have joined us today. You have helped us to hear the melody of God’s song of amazing grace. Together we are the body of Christ.
May God’s Spirit stir something within each of us. As we enter into God’s work of changing the world may we rise up for God and live in tune with God’s song.
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
[1] Kimberly Bracken Long, “The Worshipping Body: The Art of Leading Worship” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 36-37.
[2] Long, p. 15.
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