Proper 6: a reflection on Psalm 100 (& Matthew 9: 35-38)
Praising when our hearts are heavy
At Joyce’s funeral next week we will hear the 23rd Psalm – the Lord is my shepherd. I read it at the commital for Mary the week before last, too. It contains that amazing phrase..
even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.
Psalm 23 might be the first psalm we turn to in times of trouble: it is enormously comforting.
We might feel like we need comfort right now – the news has been so unsettling – with attacks in the streets in Northern Ireland following a stabbing incident; yet more attacks on Iran by the US; Israeli strikes against Lebanon; and violent protests against the police in Southampton. In our family and church lives, too, it sometimes feels there is more bad news than good. Life can really feel like a shady valley, in which surely we need the guidance of the Lord, our shepherd.
So I confess that at first my heart sank when I read the Psalm chosen for today – Psalm 100, ‘a psalm of thanksgiving’ with its starting exhortation “Make a joyful noise to God”.
I wondered whether reading this psalm would feel like the part of the musical “The King & I” where Anna teaches the children to “whistle a happy tune.. then no-one will suspect I’m afraid”.
The last thing we need when life is hard is someone telling us to act as though we’re OK – whether that’s a teacher or a psalmist.
Can “make a joyful noise to God” really help us? But if we look again at that 100th Psalm we find there’s a bit more to it than just telling us to try to look or sound happy in the middle of adversity.
The psalm deals with joy and with thanks – and in each of those things it tells us what to do and why.
Let’s look at the psalm section by section:
(R&S 712 – read together)
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
Him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell;
come ye before him and rejoice.
What does the psalmist tell people to do?
To sing out, shout out to God.
And all people are told to do this. All nations, all ages, all phases of life. Black, white, young, old, happy or troubled… all people are told that they should sing out their praise of God.
We are also reminded that we are called to serve God – our lives have purpose and meaning because we belong to God. So we are called to love as God loves, to serve God and to come before him, to come into God’s presence and rejoice that God is with us.
But why do we do this?
The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make;
we are his folk, he doth us feed;
and for his sheep he doth us take.
The Psalm reminds us that God is our creator.
God made us - that was God’s initiative alone. Out of love God created everything that is and everyone of us.
And, without actually using the word shepherd, this psalm takes us right back to Psalm 23. God ‘feeds us and takes us for his sheep’. God is our shepherd, with all the care and love and guidance that implies.
All of this takes us to a place of thanks to God.
O enter then his gates with praise,
approach with joy his courts unto;
praise, laud and bless his name always,
for it is seemly so to do.
The Psalm describes going through God’s gates and into God’s courts with praise and thanks.
It is easy to imagine this to means going to a place of worship – a church or chapel for us, the temple or a synagogue for the people of God of the Hebrew scriptures. It’s a great hymn to start an act of worship!
But as we’ve just been reminded that all the earth should rejoice, because all the earth belongs to God, then we shouldn’t restrict our thanks to God to those times when we gather for worship. All gates are God’s gates, all courts are God’s courts – wherever we go and whatever we do we can give thanks to God for where we are and who we meet – always.
For why: the Lord our God is good,
his mercy is for ever sure;
his truth at all times firmly stood.
and shall from age to age endure.
We return to the ‘why’ of our joy and praise and thanks to God.
The Lord is good, merciful, steadfast. God’s love endures at all time and from age to age.
Whatever we are going through, God’s love surrounds us.
When we naturally feel joyful – God is there.
When we feel we’re in the darkness – God is there.
In a resounding act of collective praise or in a whispered cry for help in our bed – God is there.
As a US writer, Sarah Callen, recently put it:
God’s consistency is one of the aspects of his character that I am most grateful for. He has chosen us to be His people, His sheep, and He’s not going to change His mind. Praise God for that! He won’t rescind His promises or turn His back on us. God’s beautiful and generous love endures forever. His affection for us is deeper and lasts longer than I think any of us can fathom.
If all this “praising God because he is our shepherd and he loves us, whatever happens” seems a bit vague, we need a grounded example of God’s love to help us.
We see this beautiful and generous love of God most clearly in Jesus Christ.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus went all about, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming God’s kingdom, healing the sick wherever he saw them.
Jesus had compassion on the people, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus will declare himself to be the good shepherd – the one come from heaven to earth to live and die for the flock that he loves.
When we walk through the dark shadow, Jesus is the shepherd who walks beside us, the one who knows what life and death are all about, and the one who guides us through all parts of this life to the life of eternity which he promises us.
And so – with all God’s people who dwell on earth – although we might have good reason for our hearts to feel heavy, nevertheless we dare to sing our praise this day, as we trust in the God who is with us – as Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Amen.
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