Psalm 96
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
On our honeymoon, Sue and I saw a sunset you cannot describe in words. We've never seen one like it since. Yes, it was our honeymoon, but that added nothing to the splendor we saw that day in June 1972 crossing western Nebraska after a huge thunder storm.
We were young and broke. Our car had been battered by ferocious wind, hail, lightning, and jet black skies for a stretch of miles west of Grand Island, but you could have given us a million bucks, a brand new car, and choirs of angels, I suppose, and it wouldn't have added one iota to the majesty of that sunset on the other side of the storm.
To the southwest it looked like a painting off the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. To the northwest was a "western sky" of radiant, rioting colors you didn't even know existed; and straight ahead of us were, well, towering clouds of unspeakable majesty.
It was like three glorious sunsets in one. We couldn't wait even for an off ramp. Along with other cars here and there, we just pulled over to the side of Interstate-80, got out and gawked.
Looking back to the east a perfectly formed double rainbow of jaw dropping beauty crossed the horizon from tip to tip.
I took some Kodachrome slides with an old Pentax 35mm camera. They didn't touch it.
How much less our capacity to capture God.
How deficient is any description of His splendor and the majesty which exceeds the glory of the heavens. What superlatives can we use to speak of the greatness of the Lord!
The Psalmist sings of God's glory, splendor, majesty, and strength--that He is worthy of praise.
Not just from mankind.
"Let the heavens rejoice." "Let the earth be glad." "Let the sea resound, and all within it." "Let the fields be jubilant." "All the trees of the forest sing for joy." I might add for sunsets and rainbows, let their symphony also declare the greatness of the Lord.
They sure do!
But you and I have a unique privilege beyond the language of roaring seas, jubilant fields, and blazing sunsets. It is ours to "proclaim his salvation day after day." (v. 2).
It might be another 39 years before Sue and I see another sunset like we did in '72. Maybe we'll never see the likes of it this side of heaven. But along with you, God's people of Grace we sing of the salvation of the Lord every single day.
Trees of the forest sing for joy, but no tree (except the tree of the cross) expresses the Gospel the way a Christian can as he confesses the Word of God every day.
We tell of God's salvation in ways that no phenomena in nature can do—no matter how spectacular.
We speak of Christ. We repeat daily the glorious news of sins forgiven. Every morning we rise to life again through Baptism and every evening are granted the Lord's peace and benediction.
The mercies of Christ are spectacular in their equity and truth.
Psalm 96 calls us to worship which is nothing less than to receive the marvelous gifts of the Lord.
The worship of God's people before the Lord is held in the presence of His holiness, His goodness, His charity, and the dignity of His Name. The grandeur is in nothing we bring. No one can improve the perfection of Christ in Word and Sacrament. The Son of Righteousness doesn't need a touch up or some fresh design.
The Divine Service does not need to be reinvented for the 21st century or aired out like an old blanket.
Shame on me if ever I think there isn't enough excitement or appeal in God's means of grace, forgetting from 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 that God uses the lowly and "foolish" things (like ordinary water, bread, and wine) so that no flesh should glory in his presence. Shame also on me if I ever think my own sophistication or elegance—or ritual for its own sake—is enough to paint God.
No. He does all for us through Word and Sacrament of His own accord.
Great is the Lord. Period.
The gods of the nations are idols. This includes all enhancements, add-ons, improvements or supplements man may try to "spice up" the church.
Instead, let's just pull over to the side of the road, get out of the old clunker in which we've been batted around through the week, stand in the fresh air of the Gospel, glory in the Name of Christ, and revel in how magnificently good our God is to us through His Son.
There isn't a solitary thing we can add to the wonder of His salvation.
The storm is past. His promises, like rainbows, stretch from horizon to horizon and there is nothing but beauty ahead.
Aren't we blessed!
