The psalm which we just read together was paraphrased many years ago by Archbishop Cranmer as a great hymn of praise, used for generations in the Church of England. Its Latin name is "Benedicite omnia opera": "Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord". This hymn is a long recitation of many of God’s creations, every one of which is addressed and urged to praise and magnify God. It includes some strange and wonderful things in its list of the works of the Lord.
While you might expect lines like, "All ye children of men, bless ye the Lord"; while it causes no great stir to sing, "All ye servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord"; and while we can certainly identify with the line, "All ye holy and humble men of heart, bless ye the Lord" – all these references to persons praising the Lord make sense to us – yet some of the other lines may sound peculiar to you.
How about "Oh ye sun and moon, bless ye the Lord"? How about "Oh ye fire and heat, bless ye the Lord."? "0 ye winds of God, bless ye the Lord; 0 ye winter and summer, bless ye the Lord; 0 ye dews and frosts, ye frost and cold, ye ice and snow, bless ye the Lord." When did you last think of ice and snow as blessing the Lord? If you get stuck in it the words you mutter under your icy breath are not usually words of blessing!
And it goes on, this hymn that exhorts all things to bless and praise the Lord. "All the mountains and hills, bless the Lord; all ye seas and floods, praise ye the Lord; all the whales and all that move in the waters, praise and bless ye the Lord."
You’ve got the idea by now. Just as the psalmist did some 25 centuries ago, the good archbishop did four centuries ago: they called on all nature, all things, all the created order, to praise God. Not just you and me, not just the church, not just Christians, but all things are summoned to give blessing and praise to our God. All things.
And all things, it would appear, might include some very peculiar items. All things includes some stuff you and I would be reluctant to mention in our very prescribed, cut and dried, and sometimes self-centered worship and prayer:
"All ye sea monsters and all deeps, praise the Lord" "All ye wild animals and all cattle, bless the Lord" "All mountains and hills, all fire and hail, snow and frost, all stormy winds fulfilling his command, praise and bless ye the Lord." That’s quite a catalog, isn’t it? It makes you wonder what else should be included in the list of those of God’s works which are to bless and praise Him.
One of my grandmother’s contemporaries, Virginia Carey Winston, wrote a little book a number of years ago, describing her childhood in old Kentucky, in the central bluegrass region. Her intent was to give you the flavor of what it was like to grow up in a land of beauty and genteel ways at the turn of the century. Bear in mind, folks, that the land of which she speaks is a land of unsurpassed beauty. Bear well in mind that this is a land where the grass is greener, or bluer, as the case may be, than anywhere else in creation; bear especially well in mind that when spring comes in Kentucky and the horses foal and the lambs are born, that there is a sweetness unlike any other on earth. The reason why West Virginia is almost heaven is that it is next to Kentucky, which is heaven.
And so Virginia Carey Winston reports that when she was a little girl growing up in the bluegrass country, attending a prim and proper school for girls, chapel services every day included the recitation of this very hymn, "All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord". One glorious Kentucky morning, with a gentle haze rising from behind the hills, with the bleating of young lambs just outside the window, with the excitement of racing season building, the chapel service had finished exhorting fire and ice and snow and hail and mountains and monsters and whales and fruit trees to praise the Lord. Young Virginia just could not contain herself. She blurted out, all by herself, a very unorthodox addition to the psalm, "All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord."
What do you think? Might it be that a Kentucky-bred clogging dance praise the Lord? Might it be that a very non-Baptist drink made of rum, sugar, water, and a sprig of mint also praise the Lord? "All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord." Might it be that a little girl’s enthusiastic outburst, in fact, is a clue to something at the heart of the coming of Christ?
Bless the Lord, all ye works of the Lord; praise God, sun and moon and earth, wild animals and all cattle: that’s in the Bible. All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord: that’s not, but it’s close!
You see, when Christ came, He came to redeem all of God’s creation. Because He is the word made flesh, that is a sign to us that all things are ultimately intended to contribute to the great creator’s praise. Because Christmas marks the coming of the word made flesh, pitching his tent and dwelling among us, that is a sign that God takes seriously this world and all that is in it. He loves it all. And it is all intended to bless and praise Him.
That means that He loves all humanity, of course. But He also loves earth’s fields and forests, He loves its valleys and streams, He cherishes its creatures great and small. And in the Christ who came to this world as a real human life, a real human body, God summons all creation to praise Him. Dr. Watts knew it when he penned our carol, "Joy to the earth! The savior reigns; let men their songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy. "
Think with me for a few moments about what it can mean to us to know that ultimately all things, all the works of the Lord praise the Lord. I know I cannot do justice to this theme today, but at least let’s allow something of the grandeur of God’s plan to wash over us and be good news for us.
I
First, know that nature itself is pointed toward the praise of God. Recognize how the glory and majesty of God’s works witness to His own glory and majesty. Our problem is that we don’t see it. We’ve become blinded to it. The beauty of creation is being shut out by too many of us.
Part of the issue is that we live in the city. In the city we· have learned to keep our heads down and our eyes concentrated on business and work and survival. We have concreted over most of what God has made; we have cut it down and gotten it out of our way so that we could have progress, and we urban dwellers no longer let the beauty of the Father’s world lead us to glorify Him. When the developers scalp a woods in order to build rows of cookie-cutter houses, something that nourishes the human spirit gets destroyed. You and I as city folks are in danger of missing a vital part of the praise of God. The wonders of God’s love in nature are hidden from most of us.
If you want a kind of symbol for modern life, I suggest you think about the subway. Now the subway is fine, as far as it goes. It gets us where we need to go quickly, efficiently, safely; but it’s in a dark hole in the ground where we can see nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing of the majesty of God’s world. They won’t even let you taste anything on the subway! It’s a symbol of modern urban life: it’s efficient, but it’s sterile. Contrast the feeling you get when you ride the subway with the sheer pleasure of walking through the park or the forest on a crisp, sunny day. The joy of riding the subway is that it’s over pretty soon; the joy of hiking through the fields is that it’s not over when it’s over. The eyes and the ears and the nostrils are treated to all kinds of pleasures, and the heart soon begins to sing, "All nature sings, and round me rings, the music of the spheres." "While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy." "All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord." I cannot imagine anyone singing, "All ye Metros, praise the Lord."
I’m trying to say that when God’s anointed comes as a real human being and is born into recorded human history out among the cattle and the sheep and all the rest, it is a sign that He loves all of this world, and that ultimately it will all praise and bless Him. The world of beauty points to the creator, and you and I are cutting off a vital part of our spiritual development if we do not find ways to share in it.
Maybe this is the real reason that at Advent time we bring trees and wreathes and poinsettias and the holly and the ivy into our homes, just to let these works of God help us praise God.
Take a retreat into the countryside sane time. Select a place painted with God’s own palette and decorated by His good taste, and you will find the heart lifted and the spirits soaring. You will remember that the Scripture speaks of a day when the hills clapped their hands and the very morning stars sang together for joy. "All ye works of the Lord, praise the Lord." “All mountains and hills, all fruit trees and cedars." "All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord."
II
But second, let’s think about the fact that the human heart can celebrate. That also points toward the praise of God. Human hearts laugh and smile and celebrate, and that in itself blesses the lord God.
Did you notice that joy is the key word in our theme carol? "Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Joy to the earth, the savior reigns". Joy is the key word in Advent. Joy is the focus of Christmas. And authentic joy blesses and praises God. "Jigs and juleps", dancing and merrymaking, or, as the psalmist counts them, "all angels and his host, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and women alike, old and young together, let them praise the name of the Lord.”
Folks, have we forgotten how to laugh? If so, we’ve also forgotten how to praise God. Has your sense of humor dried up, have you forgotten how to see the ridiculous everywhere? Oh, don’t forget that human celebration praises God. Have we forgotten the Jesus who poured more wine at a wedding feast and who told stories about a God who throws big, big parties?
Somewhere along the way some of our Christian forebears decided that to be spiritual you had to be stuffy and sober and grim. Many of them started wearing dark and plain clothes and affecting a somber air. Why, you know, even today you can enter a meeting of pastors and feel as though you’ve wandered into a wartime blackout zone: the grim clothes, the long faces, the quivering voices. Who decided that Christian music should be slow and mournful, a little like the sound of an elephant waltzing? What do you think of those Puritans in colonial New England who decided to take away Christmas? Did you know that the Puritans in New England would not celebrate Christmas, and made it a point to work especially hard on Christmas Day? No celebrations for these folks!
Oh, but I tell you the human heart wants to celebrate, and that very celebration is the praise of God. The human spirit was made to soar like an eagle and to sing like a nightingale. And when we turn loose that something in us that wants to celebrate, we bless and praise our God.
One day after Christmas, if the schedule will allow it, I hope to go down to the National Gallery, and walk through the special exhibits of the paintings of Titian and of Van Dyck. I expect them to touch me, and I will come away singing the praises not only of Titian and of Van Dyck, but of the God who gave them their marvelous talents and who inspired them to use light and color and texture to show me His world. The human heart was made to celebrate, and its celebration praises God. All things beautiful and glorious praise the Lord.
If I go to a Christmas music presentation – and there’s no if about that one at all, because we’ll have one here next week – and if I go not to be a music critic or to grumble about how it’s not my style of music – if I go to a Christmas music presentation with an open heart and a spirit of joy, I’ll end up praising not only the composer and the performers, I’ll end up praising and blessing the God who lavished on us a heavenly host to sing "Glory" on that special night. The human spirit was made to sing, and its very celebration blesses the creator. "Joy to the earth, the savior reigns; let men their songs employ".
I hope you’ll cut loose and take some time for celebration during these days. I know that some of you work at a fearful pace: eight, ten, twelve, and more, hours, long days of work, and then you come home to face more work. For you Advent and Christmas could become just one more job, one more task to get done. I ask you, for once in your life, do something for yourself, and find a time to celebrate.
Others of you spend a lot of time and energy just trying to do what you think is best for you and for yours, just trying to do what is right. Financial survival, dealing with the emotions, working on the marriage, struggling with the kids, looking for meaning in the job: all of that takes its toll. For you Advent and Christmas could become an overwhelming extra burden, because now there are new expectations, new responsibilities… got to measure up! And to you I would say, for once in your life do something for someone else; find someone else whose life and needs and spirit you can celebrate. And praise God for those who need you. Do not dwell on how much you’ve been short-changed; do not focus on how tough it is for you. Remember that there is always someone else whose life is more disturbed and more shattered than yours, someone else who needs to discover the spirit of celebration. And when you do that, you will find a reason to sing and bless our God.
It’s Advent! Lift up your hearts! It’s nearly Christmas! Raise your spirits! There’s a world out there, the handiwork of God; enter it, see it, feel it, smell it, touch it, and know that it is the Father’s world, and praise Him. There’s a party going on all around you; laugh and sing and dance and shout. Christ has come, Christ is coming, Christ will come again.
And hear again our old friend Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news … to provide the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit."
Hear too the song of the angels, "I bring you good news of a great joy, which shall be to all peoples, that unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Yes, hear and echo the song of the Psalmist, "Praise the Lord, sun and
moon; praise him, all you shining stars; praise the Lord, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and cedars, wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds; praise the Lord, Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and women alike, old and young together."
Hear and sing the words of Dr. Watts, "Joy to the earth, the savior reigns. Let men their songs employ; while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy".
And by all means, come on. Just cut loose, and lose some inhibitions. Forget about dignity. Don’t worry about propriety. Blurt out the hymn of a little Kentucky schoolgirl, "All ye jigs and juleps, praise the Lord."
