For those who want a change from the Gospel

Christmas Eve – Psalm 96

This Sunday is both Christmas Eve and Advent 4, so I have randomly picked one of the possible Psalms set for Christmas services, Psalm 96. Just as Christmas has so many possible themes to spur on our celebrations, so does this Psalm. Scholars would mostly agree that this is one of a genre called ‘Enthronement Psalms’, a celebration of the Kingship of Yahweh and an invitation to the whole world to come and worship him. It may well have been used at the Feast of Tabernacles, which was also the New Year festival, and it has been suggested that Israel held an annual Enthronement Ceremony at which Yahweh was ‘crowned’ once again while the people worshipped him as King, although there is no evidence, apart from these kinds of Psalm, that such ceremonies ever actually happened. The language of the nothingness of idols (v.5), the created world as a witness to God’s greatness (v.11-13) and the universal worship of God (v.7-10) are all reminiscent of themes from Isaiah 40 – 55, so the Psalm might have a post-exilic date, although it is equally possible that Isaiah used the language of the existing liturgy to shape his prophetic words, so once again, we just don’t know. But as the Church celebrates the incarnation of Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, it is easy to see how this text could help us in our worship.

The psalm falls neatly into two halves, with introductions in v.1-3 and 7-9, and the main sections in v.4-6 (the greatness of Yahweh and his superiority to idols) and 10-13 (a call to all creation and all nations to worship him). But for our purposes what is most significant are the reasons for this worship, and the purposes and activities of the King as he comes. Just have a look at the verbs of which the King is the subject. In no particular order …

He comes to reign. Reassurance in given that in an uncertain and violent world there is nothing going on over which God does not reign, nothing which is taking him by surprise or which is beyond his control. What that means for a captive Israel which needs ransoming from its addiction to revenge and ethnic cleansing, or a little town which lies anything but still this Christmas is something for our prayers and pondering, and I hope that worship-leaders this Christmas will not allow us just to sing the familiar words as though the war in the Holy Land is not happening. But even the atrocities being committed there are within the scope of God’s reign, and like so many before us we continue to cry out ‘How long, O Lord?’

He comes in glory. The splendour and majesty of our King far outweigh the worldly pomp of our idols, whether they are carved images, ideologies, or good old-fashioned Black Friday stuff. I hope that our worship reflects this splendour. I usually go to the Cathedral for Christmas Midnight Mass – that kind of service is what they do best.

He comes to save. For the last couple of weeks we have reflected on how God’s action in the past can fuel our faith for the future, and whether as non-Christians paying our annual visit to church for ‘the atmosphere’[1] and needing to come to faith, or whether those who feel that our nation and world are in greater need of salvation than ever before, we need to celebrate that fact that God, and God alone, can sort out our troubled lives and our disastrous world.

He comes to judge. Part of that reign and that salvation means that we have a King who confronts and defeats all that is evil, who destroys all that is destructive. We don’t tend to like the idea of judgement, although for Christians our Day of Judgement has already happened, on the day we knelt at the foot of the cross, turned from our sins and began to follow Christ, however imperfectly. But the idea of God casting down the Hitlers, Putins and Bin Ladens of this world and healing all the evil done in their names is one which resonates more strongly, and against which few would vote. This Christmas we are very conscious of the evil and helplessness of our world, but we have a God who alone is capable of bringing his anger against all who have deliberately set their hearts on what is destructive and cruel.

He comes to be worshipped. The one thing we can sing with a clear conscience this Christmas is ‘O come let us adore him’, a phrase which sums up this Psalm neatly. We may do so through teeth gritted with our own pain or the pain of the world, and we may do so whilst agonising over that ‘How long?’ question, but we need to sing it anyway, since we believe by faith that our God will come, and that he has come. His reign has already begun, but will come in all its fulness when the Father decides that the time is right. Until then we may worship with many many questions in our minds, but worship and celebrate we must. Have a happy and blessed Christmas.

---

[1] You might be interested in my Grove book How to Create Atmosphere in Worship which came out of the desire among non-churchgoers to come at Christmas because of the ‘atmosphere’. (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2020) www.grovebooks.co.uk