Psalm 97
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Object:
This is it. All bets are off tonight, because somewhere in a feeding trough at the back of an old stable, God decided to make an appearance. God has done a mighty thing and come among us ... as a helpless baby. God shows up all right. But can this be right? God as refugee?
Most of us would prefer this "psalm of enthronement," as scholars call it. We like this. It's time for a party. "Let the earth rejoice!" And so we should. But, a refugee God? A God whose foundation for rule is "righteousness and justice"? Wow.
Maybe it's time to sit down and think this through.
The psalms, of course, cannot be stretched to do our twenty-first-century Christian bidding. Yet much of what we understand of lordship and praise, of the dominion of God comes from these incredible verses. Further, we do believe and trust that the God who is described in this psalm is the self same one who is soon to need a change of diapers in the hay. This creator God, enveloped in clouds and making the very earth to tremble, seems to be trying something new tonight.
Can we see it? Can we ourselves try to grasp what it means for the creator to come among us as a helpless infant? What does this say to us of power? What does this say to us of justice and right action? How are we to be different, now that the Lord of glory has made an entrance like this?
Let this birthing night ask these questions. Let this labor give birth to new understandings and brighter clarity. If God's enthronement can move from mountains melting and heavens proclaiming to a baby with tiny hands that grab around your fingers, can we not also imagine different lives for ourselves?
Could we perhaps open our eyes to the possibility that power lives, not in coercion, but in vulnerability? Might we examine the notion that justice and right action are not only the foundations for God's rule in this psalm, but also the foundation stones for our lives? If God can rule from such a foundation, imagine a church built on those same blocks! If God can come among us in this moment in weakness and vulnerability, can we not go forward in the same way, full of love? Full of hope? Full of new life?
Because God does come like this, we know that the answer to the foregoing questions must be "Yes." And it is this yes, this answer that moves us forward as God's people in a new time.
So Merry Christmas. Let each of us celebrate this day with that same loud "Yes," shouted with rejoicing and with joy.
Most of us would prefer this "psalm of enthronement," as scholars call it. We like this. It's time for a party. "Let the earth rejoice!" And so we should. But, a refugee God? A God whose foundation for rule is "righteousness and justice"? Wow.
Maybe it's time to sit down and think this through.
The psalms, of course, cannot be stretched to do our twenty-first-century Christian bidding. Yet much of what we understand of lordship and praise, of the dominion of God comes from these incredible verses. Further, we do believe and trust that the God who is described in this psalm is the self same one who is soon to need a change of diapers in the hay. This creator God, enveloped in clouds and making the very earth to tremble, seems to be trying something new tonight.
Can we see it? Can we ourselves try to grasp what it means for the creator to come among us as a helpless infant? What does this say to us of power? What does this say to us of justice and right action? How are we to be different, now that the Lord of glory has made an entrance like this?
Let this birthing night ask these questions. Let this labor give birth to new understandings and brighter clarity. If God's enthronement can move from mountains melting and heavens proclaiming to a baby with tiny hands that grab around your fingers, can we not also imagine different lives for ourselves?
Could we perhaps open our eyes to the possibility that power lives, not in coercion, but in vulnerability? Might we examine the notion that justice and right action are not only the foundations for God's rule in this psalm, but also the foundation stones for our lives? If God can rule from such a foundation, imagine a church built on those same blocks! If God can come among us in this moment in weakness and vulnerability, can we not go forward in the same way, full of love? Full of hope? Full of new life?
Because God does come like this, we know that the answer to the foregoing questions must be "Yes." And it is this yes, this answer that moves us forward as God's people in a new time.
So Merry Christmas. Let each of us celebrate this day with that same loud "Yes," shouted with rejoicing and with joy.
