Monday 27 January 2020

'Sing to the Lord' A sermon for Be A Boy Chorister for the Day


Preached as a sermon for the annual 'Be a Boy Chorister for the Day' event at Croydon Minster on Sunday 26 January

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‘Sing to the Lord a new song: sing praises lustily unto him with a good courage’ (Psalm 33.3)

Those are words that our choristers, and aspiring choristers, sang earlier. It’s from the Book of Psalms, which is sometimes known as the hymn book of the Bible.

Psalms were traditionally composed by King David and Christians share them with the Jewish people. In Islam the Psalms, known as Zabur, are understood to be, along with the Gospels, as one of the texts revealed by God.

The psalms are rooted in the human experience of God. They express lots of different moods and emotions: sadness and lament; joy and celebration; adoration, worship and praise; some tell the stories of God’s people and some of individuals. There is a psalm for all occasions.

Jesus knew the psalms well. The psalms are his most quoted book of the Bible. Even as he died on the cross Jesus’ spoke words from Psalm 22, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’

I love singing the psalms, which are the backbone of the daily prayer of the Church. Sometimes they are sung to the ancient tones of plainsong; sometimes, like tonight, in what is known as Anglican Chant, a particular style in the Church of England for some five centuries now; sometimes they are sung by a worship band; sometimes they are whispered quietly.

When a choir sings the psalm we have a chance to engage with the text in a different way from when we say it ourselves. But always remember that everyone present makes up the choir of a Church: we all sing praises to God. The singers we call the choir are like yeast in dough or the fizz in a drink, they use their God-given skills of singing and making music to lift us all in our praise of God.

The psalm that we sang tonight reminds us why we sing and make music to God. First of all, it is just plain good to sing praises to God who made us, loves us and saves us! As the beautiful language of the Book of Common Prayer puts it, ‘it becometh well the just to be thankful’ (Psalm 33.1).

As it continues the psalm encourages us again, ‘Sing to the Lord a new song: sing praises lustily unto him with a good courage’ (Psalm 33.3) and then it gives the second reason why we sing psalms: ‘For the word of the Lord is true: and all his works are faithful. He loveth righteousness and judgement: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.’ (Psalm 33.4,5)

That is why we sing to God and praise God’s Holy Name: because he is our hope and our salvation.

As St Paul writes, ‘sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God, making melody to the Lord in your hearts’ (Ephesians 5.19).

Amen.

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