Wednesday, February 20, 2008I’m afraid that in order to describe the emotion, power, and celebration behind the Hymn of Praise and its place in a worship service, I’m afraid I can’t simply tell you about a particularly stirring moment when I was singing the Hymn of Praise in a past worship service.
I’m afraid I can only tell you that the Hymn of Praise should be somewhat like an emotional, powerful celebration that I experienced in a completely different setting.
October 18, 1997. Ryan Field on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Susan and I had graduated and were back for Homecoming and a big football game against Michigan State. [On the screens, you can see a picture of my ticket from the game]. After two seasons that ended with bowl games, the Northwestern Wildcats were fighting an uphill battle in the fall of 1997, so perhaps we weren’t really expecting to win.But we were with old friends, standing among the current students, cheering every play, wishing we were still on the field with the marching band, and singing the fight songs with gusto.
Then unbelievably Northwestern took the lead in the fourth quarter, 19-17. Yet, the lead seemed like it would be quickly erased as Michigan State marched down the field, time running out, and our defense seeming to just let them come right down into field goal territory.
But the defense held them until the only thing the Spartans could do was attempt a kick on the final play of the game. By this point, everyone’s not just standing, but standing on the bleachers. In our hearts, we “expect victory,” as our sports slogan said, but really, it wasn’t a long field goal, and so could we really expect anything but defeat in the final second?
Well, time seemed to slow down as we sang one more chorus of the fight song, the teams lined up, we all screamed as loud as we could with the play right in front of the student section. The ball was snapped, the ball placed, the kicker kicked—AND IT WAS BLOCKED!!
We erupted in the biggest cheer, sigh of relief, astounded, dumbfounded, bewildered, “I can’t believe what I just saw” noise, and we were all jumping up and down on those bleachers, falling onto each other, hugging, high fiving, amazed at what we just saw.
That moment of being caught up in the air, jumping up and down, singing the fight song, asking each other if what happed had really happened, that moment, that’s why I kept my ticket all these years, and that, I’m here to tell you, is more of what the Hymn of Praise is supposed to be like than anything I usually think we achieve with a worship service.
Think about it. The Confession of sins in a worship should be a suspenseful moment, because really according to our own understanding, according to what we can see, according to the way we’d run the world if we were in charge, when we come to admit that we’re completely sinful, ignoring what the Creator and Ruler of the Universe has said, we should be defeated. There should be no hope of winning or even surviving that contest.
But then like a blocked field goal at the last second, linebacker Jesus reaches up with His big paw, knocks that ball down, and saves the game. Jesus knocks down eternal judgment, so that we can have eternal salvation.
And because of Absolution, because Jesus forgives all of our sins, the Hymn of Praise is meant to be our immediate, emotional, powerful, celebratory response to the victory that the Lord just made happen.
The Hymn of Praise is when we erupt in the biggest cheer, sigh of relief, astounded, dumbfounded, bewildered, “I can’t believe what I just saw” noise, and we are all jumping up and down on those bleachers—I mean, pews—, falling onto each other, hugging, high fiving, amazed at what we just heard from God’s Word.
Back at that Northwestern game we burst into the fight song, “Go U Northwestern!,” but in worship, we burst into the Hymn of Praise, a song meant to capture that unbelievable amazement about the forgiveness that God offers us.
That’s what’s going on with Psalm 103—a psalm of praise, a song of rejoicing, a fight song cheering on our Lord. Psalm 103 sounds better shouted out.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (NKJV)
The Hymn of Praise should be shouted out, or as we’ve been doing each week during this Lenten Midweek series, the Hymn of Praise should be sung out with full gusto. We’ve been using “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” based on Psalm 103, and I’ve been hoping that by using the same hymn each week, that every week you’ll feel more and more comfortable with it until it becomes like a school fight song that has power and energy every time you strike up the band and the crowd sings along.
Because every time I find this old ticket from that Homecoming game, I can remember the ecstatic rush I felt when that ball got knocked down and victory was ours. And really, why should the Hymn of Praise be any different? I know someone will say that it loses its punch because we repeat the same thing every week, or at least the same order of service, that the Hymn of Praise can’t be like a game-winning moment because every week we know we’ll be forgiven and we know we’ll sing the Hymn of Praise.
But I’m telling you, that if an 11-year old ticket stub from a football game from a victory during a losing season can still cause me to remember that emotional, powerful celebration, then certainly when we hear that Jesus Christ forgives all of our sins, certainly that could bring up such a response, too.
Now, I know that Lenten tradition says that we tone down the Hymn of Praise, or maybe even omit it during this season, but I kept it in for a few reasons. One, I wanted to teach about the order of worship during this series, and I’ve always felt that the Hymn of Praise was an essential piece in the drama, the movement and energy of worship. But I also kept it in because even though we spend these weeks of Lent repenting, having sorrow over our sins, and contemplating our need for a Savior, still there isn’t a day that goes by when we forget that Jesus forgives our sins. And I can’t think about Jesus forgiving all of my sins without saying some kind of Hymn of Praise in my mind, shouting or singing about how thrilled and amazed I am that Jesus would forgive me.
So now that I’ve kept the Hymn of Praise in the service for Lent, and now that we’re talking about comparing the Hymn of Praise to that game-winning moment when the crowd goes wild and there’s complete pandemonium, now I’m going to ask you to do something that will completely take you out of your Lenten, traditional, Lutheran element. Some of you won’t want to go there with me, and that’s OK, but if some of you are ready, I want to try the Hymn of Praise again, this time as a cheer.
You see, a lot of times I hold myself back when I’m leading worship, because sometimes what I really want to do is scream and shout and jump up and down and push and pull and wave my arms and say, “Come on! Speak up, sing louder, smile, celebrate!” I hold myself back, because I know I’m not supposed to act like a cheerleader up here, but a lot of times I want to act like a cheerleader, anything to just get us to speak and sing and listen and stand and sit in a way that matches the most incredible things that we’re talking about here.
And this is how it should work.
Go back to that moment of silent reflection during the Confession, the time when you were thinking about your personal sins. Go back to that moment in the service, because that’s the place where the opposing team—sin, death, and the devil—were about to boot that kick through the uprights and win the game. Go back to that moment, stand there with anticipation, suspense, worry, fear, dread, a sense that it is inevitable that you’re going to lose, and then I say:
You wait for the Lord, because his love for you will never run out,
and because he has the power to set you free;
Only he will save you from your sins,
Only he has sent his son to die for you and rise again to give you new life.
Your sins are forgiven in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And then you jump up and join in this cheer:
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!
The cheer is on the screens. The Lord just batted down that ball, stopped the game-winning play by sin, death, and the devil. Jesus just forgave all of your sins, won victory on the cross, conquered death, and has given you the victory over sin and death. Cheer with me!
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!
The Lord’s done so much for us. We can’t forget to give Him all praise, glory, and honor. Praise His Holy Name, because He has not forgotten His people. He came to our rescue, He came to save us, He came to keep us from going down in defeat forever. So let’s cheer for Him.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!
Our team here could be called the Eagles, because like Psalm 103 says, God gives us the youth and strength of eagles. What a mascot for our spiritual condition! We should be considered like small, puny, mutant, ugly, rat-like birds that are barely alive, but God takes us, raises us up above all the others, makes us majestic, strong, sharp-sighted, fearless, and holy in His sight. Let’s go Eagles, let’s go! Let’s go, Eagles, let’s go! Let’s go and praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!
Again Psalm 103 shows us the reason for praising God with a Hymn of Praise or a Cheer of Praise. The psalm says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Think again about that defensive back reaching up to knock down the ball, blocking the kick, and saving the game. Well, Jesus reached up and knocked that ball clear to the other horizon, knocked away our sinfulness so far from us that it will never accuse us again, never be the cause of our judgment and death. So one more time, let’s praise Him, you Eagles! Stand on up!
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!