Now I Want to Sing!

You guys are absolutely wonderful!!! I'm really sorry I couldn't get the podcasting to work (clearly I have a little learning to do over the summer!), but I promise to keep at it once this semester is over and try to get something running in the next month or so. I'll let you know when that happens!

You all wrote some really wonderful comments (it always makes me happy and a little unsettled that you guys naturally seem to see a lot more in scripture than the girl who's going to seminary -- guess that's what makes these projects so useful!). I saw two big themes in your comments that I wanted to follow up with. I'll tackle God as Victor in the next post, and Nature as Celebration in the post following that.

Also, I've responded to some of your specific questions on the earlier post if you'd like to go back and see what I was able to dig up. Just scroll to your comment, and you'll see my comment attached.

And quick trivia: James Luther Mays from the Interpretation Bible Commentary on Psalms says that Psalm 98 was the Old Testament text that Isaac Watt's used to write "Joy to the World!" Who knew!

Before getting into the themes you uncovered, I want to share an interpretation of Psalm 98 written by Walter Brueggemann in 1999. Walter Brueggemann is an old testament scholar and minister who has published a wonderful book of prayers (Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth) he used to open class when he taught the Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. Here is his response to Psalm 98:

We will not keep silent

We are people who must sing you,
for the sake of our very lives.

You are a God who must be sung by us,
for the sake of your majesty and honor.

And so we thank you,
for the lyrics that push us past our reasons,
for melodies that break open our givens,
for cadences that locate us home,
beyond all our safe places,
for tones and tunes that open our lives beyond control
and our futures beyond despair.

We thank you for the long parade of mothers and fathers
who have sung you deep and true;

We thank you for the good company

of artists, poets, musicians, cantors, and instruments
that sing for us and with us, toward you.

We are witnesses to your mercy and splendor;
We will not keep silent ... ever again. Amen.

For Brueggemann, Psalm 98 is about the journey of a people and the union of our lives across time -- the past was brought into the present for us; now we carry this present for the sake of the future. I find true beauty and an awesome responsibility in that.

Love you,

Becky