Sing with Joy and Gladness

Sing to God with Joy and gladness,

Hymns and psalms of gratitude;

With the voice of praise discover

That to worship God is good.

These words echo Psalm 147, the psalm appointed for the feast of St. Luke the Physician and Evangelist, that Christian churches will observe this Saturday. This version, offered as a joyful expression of the hope and trust we have in the Holy One, comes from the Wild Goose Worship Group of the Iona Community ©1993.

As we ponder these words, I wonder if you, like I, struggle sometimes to find that Joy and Gladness amid our daily concerns and worries? As years pass and I immerse myself ever deeper into people’s lives, in my role as pastor and priest, I recognize and support people’s struggles and challenges. But there are times when I feel less than joyful myself. I hear about new friends grappling with disabilities or addictions, others in grief, traumatized, excluded or in pain. My job is to listen, offer a supportive, prayerful presence, and to walk together with people on their journey.

This week we observe the feast of a saint of the church who was known as a physician, and healer. The Scripture readings associated with this feast encourage us into hope. We are called to be people who journey with the Holy One and do his work to offer release to the captive, healing to the afflicted and freedom for the oppressed. We hope we can make some difference in the lives of others.

In essence, our hope is to be whole again, even when we have been ripped into shards to the core of our being.

So we hear these words:

Sing to God with Joy and gladness,

Hymns and psalms of gratitude;

With the voice of praise discover

That to worship God is good.

And we wonder, how can God be good when we feel and see so much pain?

Listen further:

God unites his scatter’d people,

Gathers those who wander’d far,

Heals the hurt and broken spirits,

Tending every wound and scar.

Such is God’s great pow’r and wisdom

None can calculate or tell;

Keen is God to ground the wicked

And with humble folk to dwell.

Sing to God with Joy and gladness,

Hymns and psalms of gratitude;

With the voice of praise discover

That to worship God is good.

Some may come to God in humility and pain. Some come grieving loss and all the other brokenness in our daily lives: isolation, ravaged relationships, financial struggles, human failings, loss, anger, pain.

We come with faith that the Holy One will enter into this mess, and redeem us. The Holy One finds us through the Eucharist, and within our community of faith, and dwells in the beauty of creation and in the interaction of friend and neighbour and stranger.

God, with clouds, the sky has curtain’d,

Thus ensuring rain shall fall;

Earth, responding, grows to order

Food for creatures great and small.

God’s discernment never favours

Strength or speed to lift or move;

God delights in those who fear him,

Trusting in his steadfast love.

Sing to God with Joy and gladness,

Hymns and psalms of gratitude;

With the voice of praise discover

That to worship God is good.

Steadfast Love - “Hėsed” in the ancient Hebrew. We cannot resolve our pain and problems alone. We are helped through the redemptive presence of Jesus. The Holy One offers us creation, community, and courage to honour and glorify creation and the whole community of life on Earth.

We try to move through our lives in an open-eyed faith-filled way that enables us to recognize and receive this steadfast love. Such divine love leads us into places of joy, even amid the pain and horror that sometimes shackles our lives.

This is the truth we hold. This is the life we share. A life entwined with who we believe walks with us; one who lived, died and was resurrected by the Holy One to offer life and hope and joy to all.

David

The Rev’d David Burrows is the Incumbent Priest of the Anglican Parish of Kokanee, encompassing Nelson, Kaslo, and the North Shore. This writing is a part of his ‘Mountain Reflections' series.