IT'S SUNDAY - LET'S WORSHIP!

I recently wrote indicating that the book of psalms is not to be treated in the same way other scripture is [this is true of all the books of wisdom].  The psalms are creative – often emotional.  They are artistic! 

Yet they are extremely valuable for what they can teach us through these means! 

I just read #150 – the last of the psalms. It’s short, so here it is from The Voice Bible, with commentary at the beginning and end.

If Psalm 150 is any indication, then the worship of the one True God ought to be full of life and energy. Consider what it must have looked and sounded like in those days: voices lifted, shouting for joy, trumpets blaring, stringed instruments playing, people dancing, pipes humming, tambourines keeping rhythm, cymbals crashing. There are times when worship ought to break out in joy. Is it possible that our worship is too quiet, too reserved, too structured?

 

¹ Praise the Eternal!
Praise the True God inside His temple.
    Praise Him beneath massive skies, under moonlit stars and rising sun.
² Praise Him for His powerful acts, redeeming His people.
    Praise Him for His greatness that surpasses our time and understanding.

^3-4 Praise Him with the blast of trumpets high into the heavens,
    and praise Him with harps and lyres
    and the rhythm of the tambourines skillfully played by those who love and fear the Eternal.
Praise Him with singing and dancing;
    praise Him with flutes and strings of all kinds!
⁵ Praise Him with crashing cymbals,
    loud clashing cymbals!
⁶ No one should be left out;
    Let every man and every beast—
    every creature that has the breath of the Lord—praise the Eternal!
Praise the Eternal!

 

This doxology...closes the entire Book of Psalms. Up until now, the songs in this book have reminded us of all the reasons we should praise God. Some songs have even commanded us to praise Him. But this closing remark takes the command to praise one step further: everything alive—humans, animals, and heaven’s creatures—must praise Him. Praise is what God created us to do; it is one of our highest purposes in life. So it is no wonder that the longest book of the Bible is purely devoted to helping us do just that.

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As a pastor who – for forty-two years – planned and [to some extent] led worship, I had an internal desire that worship should NEVER be boring!  Our God is the source of all creativity; nothing about God is boring!  I led one church for thirteen years with the help of a young woman who served as our youth pastor.  We had a motif that we followed that continually reminded us to plan creatively.  It was Psalm 122:1.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

Worship should be engaging, creative, joyful and fun!  It should appeal to our senses – all of them!  At Easter, I often permeated the air with the scent of myrrh! 

Planning transgenerational worship is challenging!  Trying to reach and engage children, youth and adults – all at the same time – takes the planning of many minds and the preparation of a team! 

I regret the boring and lengthy sermons I sometimes delivered.  Someone recently reminded me that a note was placed on the bulletin board calling me NEVEREND HAIRE!  Shame on me!  It’s evidence that I didn’t always hit the mark! 

My failures aside – we should anticipate worship!  It should be something that we look forward to!  It should be exciting and moving and instructive and fascinating – even mysterious! 

Perhaps if it was – more churches would be growing!  The Word would get out and seekers would investigate!