"Worship: Jubilant:"
So…
Joy is such an amazing gift!
There is nothing more exciting than seeing our grandson Noah out in the yard riding the little toboggan down the sliding hill and yelling his head off!
That feeling of excitement and complete satisfaction that you are doing something so cool that your heart grows three sizes in one day.
It’s just thrilling!
And the Psalmist here is inviting us to think of God in the same way. To see God’s provision for us as something that should make us want to sing and shout, dance and prance, shake in anticipation of the God of the universe noticing us and so providing for us.
You ever see a dog so excited to see their owner that not only the tail goes wild, but so does the whole body. They dance, prance, spin in circles, they have their tongue hanging out of their mouth and they very often are barking with every bit of their crazy energy.
Is it so hard to imagine that our response ought to be the same!
Like the bride at the airport when her beloved comes home from a deployment!
When a child or children see mommy in her uniform come home from far away after a long time away!
Is it so hard to consider the possibility that God delights in having his own children rush into his arms every time they see the blessings God has brought with him to delight our hearts.
Jubilant!
It is such a good word!
It just gives us something that describes, I think, the emotional tsunami of love and gratitude that can well up in our hearts when we finally open our eyes and hearts to God’s presence among us!
We are so freaking blessed!
And the Psalmists image of us not only being God’s people, but also the sheep in his pasture.
We are precious. We are wonderful and intentionally made. Even our flaws, places in us where God can shine, places God uses us to see even more clearly God’s grace!
Fearfully and wonderfully made, broken, and yet glued back together not because we are to be perfect, but because we, you and I, are beloved by a God who sees beyond our flaws.
And loves us because of them. Because they make us the perfect vessels to carry God’s love to this broken world.
When I hear that there are some people in this world that place clergy on a pedestal as if they are holier than thou, and therefore can be torn down when they screw up just make me laugh.
There is no such thing as a “holy” pastor or minister. Paul says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.
There is no one who is holy in any way because of their profession, their work, their ministry, their good deeds. Nah.
All of those things are fine things for God’s people to be doing. But so is being a grain miller at a Gold Medal factory in Buffalo NY, making grain into flour.
It is not ever that you are holy because of anything other than God’s grace and God’s love. And that is exactly the starting place for us to be jubilant. Because God loves, you and me.
That’s why we sing and shout!
That’s why we are always looking for new ways to express our joy.
But it also why we are always looking for others who have finally come to the realization that God’s them too, and they want to join a community of faith that is all about being jubilant!
Maybe we Presbyterians are a little quiet about it.
Derrick tries so hard to get us to clap on the off beat like good worshippers should!
And Sue and Mike, and the Contemporary Choir, and Phil Yohe, and Voices Three, and Glory Bound, and the Otisville Dixieland Band, and Danielle Giordano, and Dave Green, and Penny Antona, and even the teenagers learning how to play instruments, and all those children who sing on Easter and Christmas, all work so hard to help you get your praise on.
Even that lone trumpet player sometimes gets a few to say “Amen” - even if it is kind of under your breath.
We have reason to be jubilant as the sheepish folks in God’s pasture!
But we will only be jubilant if we choose to be!
Because in order to be jubilant, you have to see the blessings.
It is the coolest of invitations – to see, to count, to remember, even to recite our blessings and to come to worship in order to share them.
So…
What you plan?
How are you going to make sure you don’t miss a single opportunity to declare the glory of God!
And all of it in Jesus’ name!
Amen.