Psalm Meditation 1102 Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 1, 2021 Psalm 96 1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.” 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. (NRSV) Most people don’t like new things unless they have some say in it, some power over initiating it, some sense of choice in whether or not they participate in it. So, we can be all gung-ho on reading this psalm with its call to newness, until someone tells us we are going to do something new that you have no say in. It doesn’t even have to be a big thing. Something as simple as singing an unfamiliar hymn in worship can ruin a person’s whole day, week, longer than that even. We like the comfortable and familiar. Every now and then something happens in our lives that requires a new song, a new way of expressing our experience of God. When our faith is challenged and we come out with a deeper, stronger faith, we need a new way to express that faith. When we find that what was once comfortable and fulfilling is now confining and narrow, we need a new expression of our now broader view of God and the world. We need a new song. Our new song may express a deeper sadness, while making room for a more expansive joy. As we expand our experience of God, we will discover that we are open to new ways of expressing the height and depth of the presence of God in our lives and the lives of those who are not like us. It may be an experience akin to watching what is thought of as a children’s show only to discover that there is are layers to the characters and story that escaped us in previous viewings. As we grow and mature in faith, we may discover that an old song takes on a new meaning, that it becomes a new song. “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” July 26, 2021 LCM