March 28, 2014

“Come let us sing to the Lord; *

let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *

and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.”

You know the rest, right?  

The text of Psalm 95 is surely familiar to most Episcopalians as the Venite, which is derived from the Latin for “Oh come.”  The canticle is used as a call to worship, so I hope you’ll forgive the pun if I say that the tune should ‘ring a bell.’  If you need a little help though, click this link: http://www.missionstclare.com/music/service_music/Venite/venite.mid  The file which downloads should be playable in most media players.

What strikes me about Psalm 95 is the frequent use of the word ‘us.’  Let us sing to the Lord.  Let us shout for joy.  Let us worship and bow down.  Psalm 95 clearly emphasizes the plurality, the commonality, the communion of worship.  As Christians we are often taught that our personal relationship with God through Christ is our salvation.  That God knows us personally and receives our silent thoughts and prayers even if we share them with none of our brothers and sisters.  I’m sure this is true, but it doesn’t mean that worship should be a solitary pursuit, or that there is no benefit to praying together.  

This is why we attend Church in the first place.  Not because we believe that it’s the only place where we can find God, but because we recognize that there is value in praying together, learning together, and growing together.  

And so we come.  We come from numerous different towns.  We come from different backgrounds and experiences.  We come from different personalities and skills.  We come from different economic circumstances, different political paradigms, different ages and different life philosophies.  We come to sing the Venite… to sing to the Lord together.

-Brion