ON MAKING A JOYFUL NOISE
A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon
First Baptist Church, Palo Alto, CA
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Texts: Psalm 100, 150
When I was a boy, around the age of Clara and Oscar, every summer I looked forward to going to church camp at Cathedral Pines, the Baptist camp in Idaho. Cathedral Pines is 13 miles from Sun Valley, the world famous ski resort and home of celebrities in the Sawtooth Mountains. It is beautiful place, sitting on the banks of the Little Wood River, directly across from majestic Mt. Boulder. If you hike up the road on the back side of the mountain, you can see where fortune hunters panned for gold in the 19th century. The wildflowers are gorgeous and the air is fresh and clear as the wind blows off the mountain top.
Most of you will remember Don Ownbey, who was a member of our church and a chaplain at the Veteran’s Hospital. A fellow Idahoan, Don and I used to have great chats, reminiscing about the wonderful years we spent at Cathedral Pines – though at different times – swimming in the natural hot water pool at Easley Springs, hiking the mountain, praying in the chapel, singing around the campfire. Do some of you have fond memories of summer camp, maybe down the road at Redwood Glen or up in the mountains at Sierra Pines? What were some of the songs we sang around the campfire? “Kum Ba Yah,” “How Great Thou Art,” “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” “El Shaddai.” I hope each one of our children will one day know the joy of summer church camp.
The reason I am reminiscing about my camping days in Idaho is that, as I was preparing for today’s service, I was thinking of a sad but also amusing story involving our camp cook. Mildred cooked the meals at Cathedral Pines for many years. She was a solid, working woman, loyal to her profession, to the children and adults she fed every summer, to her church and to her faith. I remember Mildred telling about learning the old gospel song, “We’re Marching to Zion” and how it was a sort of text of terror for her. Some of the older folk here no doubt know that song – “Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known; join in a song of sweet accord, join in a song of sweet accord and thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne. We’re marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion; we’re marching upwards to Zion, the beautiful city of God.” It’s a lively song that makes you want to get up and march around the room, especially when you come to the chorus. It is a song of joy, a song of hope, a song of promise of what awaits those who love God and follow Jesus.
So why would such a song of joy bring fear to a faithful soul like Mildred? Well, when she was a girl and first began to understand the things the song lifts up, everything was fine until she came to the second verse. “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God; but children of the heavenly King, but children of the heavenly King, may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad.” The problem was Mildred could not carry a tune in a bucket. In her young mind she was afraid that her inability to sing represented a refusal to sing. She was worried that she might not be a child of the heavenly King. How would she ever join the joyful procession to Zion if she could not sing? It was a real dilemma for a young Mildred. Did you ever feel like that, like you’re not good enough because you couldn’t do something that others could? It makes you feel sad, defeated, ashamed. You come to believe that your just not good enough. These are not very nice feelings, are they?
Now I will say that by the time I knew Mildred she had come to realize her fears were unfounded, that it wasn’t the inability to sing that was a problem; the difficulty is for anyone who refuses to join in the happy chorus because they don’t know the joy of being a child of God and following Jesus. That was not Mildred. By the time I knew her as the camp cook, she understood that she was a loved child of God. In fact, God loved her just as much as the best-trained soloist in the heavenly choir. Clearly, Mildred had become a person of deep faith who lived her commitment by feeding hungry campers at Cathedral Pines year after year. Maybe she couldn’t carry a tune but she knew how to make joyful noise (along with a delicious, filling breakfast,) and, perhaps more importantly, she helped the rest of us keep up our strength so we could make joyful noises to God.
Today’s text, Psalm 100, does not demand that we sing with purity, perfect pitch, elegant line or stylish phrasing. It simply says, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.” Make a noise that will bring praise to God. What do we know about noise? What are some noises that drive you crazy? The loud and constant hum of the air conditioner in our back hallway. The horns that are being blown at the World Cup games. The blare of car horns in traffic. A chair dragged across the floor or finger nails scraping a black board. What about noises that you find pleasing? A bird’s song in the morning. The surf kissing the beach. The sounds of children at play. Handel’s music. Are any of these noises you would consider “joyful noise,” noise that brings praise to God?
Today we are singing songs and hymns from around the world. Some of them are familiar to us. We’ve sung them before. Others are brand new and may sound strange in our ears. Yet each in its own way was written to praise God, to worship God with gladness, to help us come before God with singing and to enter God’s presence with thanksgiving. Sometimes, when we hear strange songs or unfamiliar music, we judge it as noise. Last night I watched the re-run of Saturday Night Live with Betty White. The musical guest was Jay-Z. How many of you are Jay-Z fans? Well, I will confess that I hit the mute button. That music is not for me, but I realize that it speaks to you and I honor that difference as I hope you will do for me. Some music seems like unpleasant and unwanted noise to our particular ears, but it is important for us to remember that there are many, many ways to bring our worship God, from Handel to hip-hop.
In fact, the Psalm says that the whole earth, all of creation is making joyful noise to God. How many different noises could that possibly be? Bird songs and wind that blows through the trees; children at play and the roars of lions and tigers and bears (oh my!); choirs that sing, bands that play, orchestras that inspire, rappers who rap, mariachi music right along with mothers who sing at kitchen sinks, fathers who whistle while they work, kids who practice their violins, their clarinets and their trumpets; mighty organs and crashing waves, the whir of a life-saving machine and the distant rumble of thunder.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” Or as another Psalm sings:
“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
Let everything that breathes” yes, even you and me “praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” Amen.
1Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
2Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm150
1Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!
2Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
3Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
4Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
5Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!