¹Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright.
² Praise the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.
³ Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴ For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
⁵ He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

 (Psalm 33:1-5)

 

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

There are strong Biblical correlations between praise, righteousness, joy, justice, love, and faithfulness. Witnessed throughout many of the Psalms, worship is an expression of that correlation. Worship is where we intersect with living faith. Worship is not intended to stand alone in our lives or be separate from our lives. It is an opportunity to express our faith, hear God’s Word, and be strengthened for our daily journeys.

Luther’s explanation to the 3^rd article of the Apostles’ Creed includes the oft memorized line, “I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.” The primary function of the Holy Spirit is to call, gather, enlighten, and make holy (aka sanctify) the whole Christian Church on earth. The Holy Spirit calls and gathers us together to praise God.

Worship is best accomplished in community. We join our voices in praise and lift them to God. We draw strength from the voices around us. We proclaim God’s Word to one another. We listen and discern God’s promises together.

While personal devotions and prayer time are well and good, they cannot offer satisfactory replacement communal worship. One does not sing songs of praise in 4-part harmony alone. Responsive readings do not work well with one person. One does not experience the magnitude of communing with the whole Body of Christ in isolation.

What we take for granted – the opportunity to join our praises with others – is often the most lamented aspect of being homebound. They miss the chance to sing together, even if their voices are weak. They miss the sense of being surrounded by other believers as they pray. They have to make a conscious effort to maintain a sense of connection to other believers at Holy Communion.

Even flawed communities (which all earthly communities are) are better than isolation. Human beings were created to be in community. They were created to give praise in community. They were created to be in relationship with God and with one another. They were created to experience the love of God together.

There are many times when we rely on the faith of others. During personal times of lament, we rely on the voices of others to praise God. When our faith is weak, we lean on the faith of other believers. When our voices feel weak and tired, we draw from the strength and energy of the worshippers around us. When we are feeling strong, energetic, and at the tumult of faith, we emanate that strength to those who are not. Together our voices praise God for the whole of His everlasting love and faithfulness shown to us in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 33 begins with an exhortation to the people to worship. The psalmist then moves through a lengthy explanation of how to go about that worship and lists many and various reasons why to worship. It concludes with a communal confession of faith and trust in Him. The Psalmist moves from exhortation to accomplishment of that very command. The Psalmist moves from telling the people to worship to actually worshipping with the people. Tens of centuries later, Psalm 33 demonstrates worship to us. It does exactly what it sets out to do – praise the Lord. We add our voices to the mix as we express our faith in song and spoken word, prayer and praise – praise the Lord.

The grace and peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Carla

²⁰Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and shield.
²¹ Our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
²² Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:20-22)