Revelation in the Psalms
Text: Psalm 111
It is not that often that I get the chance to preach on the Psalms. Normally, the Psalms are simply a responsive reading that happens in the service before the children’s story. We read it responsively, maybe more out of practice than devotion. We’ve always done it that way! Yet the Psalms are every bit a part of scripture as any of the other texts that we read this morning. If anything there are even more part of our worship life than any other part of scripture. After all, we may not read from the Gospel of Mark or from Deuteronomy every Sunday, but it is only on very rare occasions that we skip the reading from the Psalms.
Why is that anyway? Why do we read Psalms every Sunday, and yet us preacher types seem to ignore them every week? Our repeated use of them every Sunday morning has to say something about their impact upon our expression of faith, and yet we seem to take these responsive readings for granted. In fact, when we had our congregational focus group back in June of last year, someone voiced the question as to why we read the Psalm every Sunday. It didn’t really seem to make all that much sense to the service. In keeping with the theme of Epiphany, maybe it’s worth a look at something we take for routine, and again seeing something new.
There was a time in Reformed Church traditions where the only “music” allowed were those the Psalms. The music and the hymns that we sing today were what developed after those rules were relaxed over time. As Presbyterians, in theory, the Psalms form a core part of our own spirituality.
In many respects, it is best to think of the Book of Psalms in the Bible in the same way as you might the Book of Praise… the hymn book that we use every Sunday. Tradition tells us that the Psalms were written by King David, some 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. More realistically, all 150 Psalms come from a variety of sources, written in light of dozens of circumstances… all of which are a response to God in the experience of human life. If we are to consider much of the Bible as the means by which God speaks to us, the Psalms have that added dimension of giving our voice back to God.
Within our own worship services, the Psalms symbolize our voice back to God. Normally, they come immediately after the reading of Hebrew Scripture. They are intended to be our response to God in the story shared from the Old Testament. It’s one of the reasons why last fall we pulled the Old Testament reading from where it was in the service, and returned it to its rightful spot paired with the Psalm… so that the Psalm can serve the purpose it is supposed to… as a response to God’s grace.
In giving our voice back to God, the Psalms allow us to do all kinds of things within our faith. Through the Psalms we can express our thanks and gratitude. Through the Psalms we can express our feelings of anxiety, of loneliness, of feeling abandoned. Through the Psalms we can express sorrow, and even get angry with God. It’s all there… the full range of human emotion. When we can’t find the words of what to say, the Psalms can do it for us.
Psalm 111 is one of these Psalms of exclamation… of a sudden outpouring of praise for God, most likely from a moment of personal epiphany:
1Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. 2Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. 3Full of honour and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. 4He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the Lord is gracious and merciful. 5He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. 7The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. 9He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.
Something like this might be found in the “worship” portion of a hymn book. The composer of this Psalm writes this as a song of praise, not simply on general terms, but with an authentic outpouring of gratitude… with this sudden realization of where God has been. Much of this comes together with the often used line “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Yet while the word “fear” is a literal translation, it’s not the kind of bone-chilling creepy terror we usually associate with the word. It’s more akin to a sense of awe and reverence that is so powerful, it can bring one to their knees. It is a response to the revelation of God in one’s own life… and it’s not just something that happened back then. Each of us have moments like this.
Tell my experience of Peggy’s Cove… of feeling so small, so insignificant, and yet in the face of such awesome forces, having that sense that I matter to God.
ü Trip to Nova Scotia 1997, shortly after I was ordained and began serving in Cornwall.
ü Peggy’s Cove, south of Halifax.
o Barren piece of rock thrust out into the North Atlantic
o Signs on the rocks, don’t go past here. People with the job of telling people to not get too close.
o Rolling waves of the north Atlantic.
o I could be snatched away in an instant, crushed and then washed out to sea, never to be seen again.
o Even in the sight of the stars on the prairies I never felt so small, so fragile, and so insignificant.
o Yet there was this overwhelming sense that in spite of this, I mattered to God.
o When I was doing the initial reading of Psalm 111, and trying to imagine the composer’s original experience that generated this kind of awe-filled response, this was one of a handful of personal experiences that I could relate to.
o Think of some of your own experiences where you have stood in awe of the world around you. Where we have seen or experienced something. How did you respond to God’s revelation? To your own Epiphany moment?
It is this kind of awe, suddenly realizing and seeing the hand of God in creation that inspires Psalm 111. It is this kind of awe, of realizing how intimately connected we are with creation that is the beginning of wisdom. That kind of reverence shapes and moulds who we are as people, and gives us a sense of purpose in life. The composer of Psalm 111 is able to give us that voice to respond with gratitude, awe, and thanksgiving for those moments of epiphany that we can and do have in life. Everything springs forth from this.
The Psalms are a powerful devotional tool that allows us to give voice to God, even when we are not capable of doing it ourselves. They are not to be overlooked, or simply to be taken as that “responsive thing” that we do at the beginning of the service. It’s funny that we call it a “Responsive Psalm” in that the reader reads one line, and the congregation responds by reading the next line. Psalms by their very nature are responsive in that they give us expression in response to God, and can be helpful as we live out our faith. Everything starts with God, everything that we do as a part of our faith is by nature a response to what God has already done or where God has already been in our lives. Psalm 111 is an expression of that moment when we suddenly realize that’s what’s really going on… and realize that no matter how insignificant we might feel…we matter to God… and that is truly a powerful revelation in the Psalms.
Amen.
Note: I preached the original version of this sermon on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 under the title "the Beginning of Wisdom." I revised it and updated it, as it seemed appropriate for addressing issues of Spirituality in the midst of Epiphany. The above text is what I had in front of me, I made some additional modifications "on the fly" that are not reflected in this text. -JC
It is not that often that I get the chance to preach on the Psalms. Normally, the Psalms are simply a responsive reading that happens in the service before the children’s story. We read it responsively, maybe more out of practice than devotion. We’ve always done it that way! Yet the Psalms are every bit a part of scripture as any of the other texts that we read this morning. If anything there are even more part of our worship life than any other part of scripture. After all, we may not read from the Gospel of Mark or from Deuteronomy every Sunday, but it is only on very rare occasions that we skip the reading from the Psalms.
Why is that anyway? Why do we read Psalms every Sunday, and yet us preacher types seem to ignore them every week? Our repeated use of them every Sunday morning has to say something about their impact upon our expression of faith, and yet we seem to take these responsive readings for granted. In fact, when we had our congregational focus group back in June of last year, someone voiced the question as to why we read the Psalm every Sunday. It didn’t really seem to make all that much sense to the service. In keeping with the theme of Epiphany, maybe it’s worth a look at something we take for routine, and again seeing something new.
There was a time in Reformed Church traditions where the only “music” allowed were those the Psalms. The music and the hymns that we sing today were what developed after those rules were relaxed over time. As Presbyterians, in theory, the Psalms form a core part of our own spirituality.
In many respects, it is best to think of the Book of Psalms in the Bible in the same way as you might the Book of Praise… the hymn book that we use every Sunday. Tradition tells us that the Psalms were written by King David, some 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. More realistically, all 150 Psalms come from a variety of sources, written in light of dozens of circumstances… all of which are a response to God in the experience of human life. If we are to consider much of the Bible as the means by which God speaks to us, the Psalms have that added dimension of giving our voice back to God.
Within our own worship services, the Psalms symbolize our voice back to God. Normally, they come immediately after the reading of Hebrew Scripture. They are intended to be our response to God in the story shared from the Old Testament. It’s one of the reasons why last fall we pulled the Old Testament reading from where it was in the service, and returned it to its rightful spot paired with the Psalm… so that the Psalm can serve the purpose it is supposed to… as a response to God’s grace.
In giving our voice back to God, the Psalms allow us to do all kinds of things within our faith. Through the Psalms we can express our thanks and gratitude. Through the Psalms we can express our feelings of anxiety, of loneliness, of feeling abandoned. Through the Psalms we can express sorrow, and even get angry with God. It’s all there… the full range of human emotion. When we can’t find the words of what to say, the Psalms can do it for us.
Psalm 111 is one of these Psalms of exclamation… of a sudden outpouring of praise for God, most likely from a moment of personal epiphany:
1Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. 2Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. 3Full of honour and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. 4He has gained renown by his wonderful deeds; the Lord is gracious and merciful. 5He provides food for those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. 7The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. 8They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. 9He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.
Something like this might be found in the “worship” portion of a hymn book. The composer of this Psalm writes this as a song of praise, not simply on general terms, but with an authentic outpouring of gratitude… with this sudden realization of where God has been. Much of this comes together with the often used line “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Yet while the word “fear” is a literal translation, it’s not the kind of bone-chilling creepy terror we usually associate with the word. It’s more akin to a sense of awe and reverence that is so powerful, it can bring one to their knees. It is a response to the revelation of God in one’s own life… and it’s not just something that happened back then. Each of us have moments like this.
Tell my experience of Peggy’s Cove… of feeling so small, so insignificant, and yet in the face of such awesome forces, having that sense that I matter to God.
ü Trip to Nova Scotia 1997, shortly after I was ordained and began serving in Cornwall.
ü Peggy’s Cove, south of Halifax.
o Barren piece of rock thrust out into the North Atlantic
o Signs on the rocks, don’t go past here. People with the job of telling people to not get too close.
o Rolling waves of the north Atlantic.
o I could be snatched away in an instant, crushed and then washed out to sea, never to be seen again.
o Even in the sight of the stars on the prairies I never felt so small, so fragile, and so insignificant.
o Yet there was this overwhelming sense that in spite of this, I mattered to God.
o When I was doing the initial reading of Psalm 111, and trying to imagine the composer’s original experience that generated this kind of awe-filled response, this was one of a handful of personal experiences that I could relate to.
o Think of some of your own experiences where you have stood in awe of the world around you. Where we have seen or experienced something. How did you respond to God’s revelation? To your own Epiphany moment?
It is this kind of awe, suddenly realizing and seeing the hand of God in creation that inspires Psalm 111. It is this kind of awe, of realizing how intimately connected we are with creation that is the beginning of wisdom. That kind of reverence shapes and moulds who we are as people, and gives us a sense of purpose in life. The composer of Psalm 111 is able to give us that voice to respond with gratitude, awe, and thanksgiving for those moments of epiphany that we can and do have in life. Everything springs forth from this.
The Psalms are a powerful devotional tool that allows us to give voice to God, even when we are not capable of doing it ourselves. They are not to be overlooked, or simply to be taken as that “responsive thing” that we do at the beginning of the service. It’s funny that we call it a “Responsive Psalm” in that the reader reads one line, and the congregation responds by reading the next line. Psalms by their very nature are responsive in that they give us expression in response to God, and can be helpful as we live out our faith. Everything starts with God, everything that we do as a part of our faith is by nature a response to what God has already done or where God has already been in our lives. Psalm 111 is an expression of that moment when we suddenly realize that’s what’s really going on… and realize that no matter how insignificant we might feel…we matter to God… and that is truly a powerful revelation in the Psalms.
Amen.
Note: I preached the original version of this sermon on Sunday, January 29th, 2006 under the title "the Beginning of Wisdom." I revised it and updated it, as it seemed appropriate for addressing issues of Spirituality in the midst of Epiphany. The above text is what I had in front of me, I made some additional modifications "on the fly" that are not reflected in this text. -JC
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