ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
October 8, 2022
Psalm 98 begins with the words, “Sing to the LORD a new song because he has done wonderful things!” The Israelites will sing a new song as they gather and ponder the “wonderful things” the Lord has done. It’s interesting how the “wonderful things” appear, at least as I read the entire Psalm, to be those things that happened in the past. In fact, I would suggest the “wonderful things” might have occurred generations earlier. Why would you want to sing about something you have personally never experienced?
In the Civil Rights Movement, the songs that people sang as they marched or stood in protest often drew upon imagery from the past, including the story of God saving an enslaved people from the hand of Pharaoh. Or maybe they would echo songs sung under the brutality of slavery in this country, but songs that were in fact subversive, communicating an alternative vision of life. The power of a song can guide a person into a future that might not necessarily be visible in the moment. It can have someone finding power in the “wonderful things” of the past and believing that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is always working on behalf of those who are enslaved, marginalized, broken, lost, mistreated, sick and afraid. Because God works within history, it is not always simple or fast, but God never gives up. That’s a song you can sing!
Continue to place a song in my heart, O God—a song that will inspire, empower and have me believe even when the moment might not look good at all. Amen.
