Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from Psalm 19 verse 8, “The commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes,” (NRSVB). The psalmist, David, praises the Lord in this psalm and tells how the creation declares God’s glory. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork, Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge,” Psalm 19 verses 1 and 2. Like the psalmist we can also marvel at the handiwork of the Lord. When we look at his handiwork we are prone to look away from the works of humans and fix our eyes on the glories of God. He created the day that follows the night, and so it has been for ages and ages, each new day teaches of God’s goodness and his steadfast love. God created the stars that shine as guides each night, for centuries upon centuries, travellers have looked up to the night sky and taken their directions from the star constellations to guide them safely home. David praises God and states that God’s laws are as perfect as the day-light and the star-lights are, guiding us on our daily walk of life. God’s laws restore us to wholeness and make us wise. It is as if it shines the light of understanding in the darkness, to light up the eyes of our understanding to clearly follow in the pathways of the Lord, his paths of righteousness. Psalm 19 has inspired the pastor and poet, Gellert to write a paraphrase called, “Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur,” which has been transcribed by Beethoven to the beautiful song, “The Heavens Declare.” This is an ode that joyously sings of God’s amazing creation that praises him, and through this praise song of nature, humans behold the glorious works of God.
The Apostle Paul picks up on this theme of singing to God in his Letter to the Colossians, Chapter 3 verse 16, “Let the words spoken by Christ, the Messiah, have its home in your hearts and minds, and dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things, as you sing psalm and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts,” (Amplified Bible). Paul teaches in this letter that the Christian life is a new life, a life where we have shared in the resurrection of Jesus. We have thus laid down our earthly lives with him, so that we can focus on, and seek the riches and treasures of heaven. We have put away from us the ways and manners of the world, and instead of living with anger and rage, and with bad feelings towards others, we seek their good and forgive their wrongs and aim for harmony and peace. The only manner in which we can rise above being subjected to the feelings of anger and strife is to dress ourselves with the garment of love. This is given to us through Christ, who is the personification of love. When we love God above all, Christ dwells in us and we have his Spirit in us that enables us to love our neighbour as ourselves. When we are clothed with this new garment of love we are eager to share among each other the words of Christ and his love. As an expression of our joy and unity we sing in many voices to the Lord and make music to him like the stars in the sky, the trees clapping their hands, and the birds rejoicing, for he has made us glad. These days we have not been able to sing joyfully to the Lord in our services and assemblies, and have had to quietly mouth the words of the songs. Despite this temporary quieting of the singing voices our hearts and minds still sing to the Lord as our voices are transported through the songs of the stars and the universe, singing praises to our Lord. Martin Luther said in Table Talks, “Music is one of the best arts. The notes give life to the text.” Let us praise the Lord with the music he gave us in our hearts.
Father, may our voices, meditations and music be pleasing to you, Amen.