Sermon by the Rev. Bernadette Hartsough
May 22, 2022
“Let the peoples praise you o God let ALL the peoples praise you.”
Psalm 67 also echoes the words of a priestly blessing from the Book of Numbers, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Num 6:24-26. I learned this blessing as an Irish blessing. I use it often. If we look at the whole psalm, we see that the refrain of the psalm is composed of one sentence, “Let the peoples praise You o God let ALL the peoples praise You.” Notice the emphasize here on ALL. Sharing Yahweh, the God of Hebrew scriptures and our God was God’s plan from the beginning. We have examples of it throughout scripture. I think of Jonah being sent to Nineveh. Nineveh was part of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were enemies of Judah and Israel, yet Jonah was sent by Yahweh to warn them. Then they repented and God spared them.
“Let the peoples praise You o God let ALL the peoples praise You.”
Psalm 67 is an Eastertide psalm because it speaks of All people and of a harvest. Psalm 67 like most psalms had a historical meaning for the time period that they were written in. The ancient Israelites lived close to the earth. Their lives were entwined with the weather, the crops, and the health of the land. They saw an abundant harvest as a blessing from God and as being favored by God. A harvest was God’s work, God’s gift to them. They saw it as a confirmation of God’s continual relationship and presence among them. Psalm 67 was most likely written as a song to sing in the temple to celebrate a good harvest.
You might wonder what does a harvest have to do with Easter?
When you harvest crops. You cut them down. Some you kill, some you cut back. You prepare them for next year, for a new crop, a new beginning. Easter is always a new beginning for us. Jesus changed the way humans relate to God.
The relationship with God and humans has a new beginning. It is based on reconciliation. Jesus came to reconcile ALL creation, all nations, and the earth to God. To reconcile means your relationship is put right.
Today’s psalm reiterates what is happening in the story of Acts. Last week we heard how Peter preached to non-Jews and they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. The readings emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit to go where it will. We are not to hinder it. Today we have Paul being urged to go to Macedonia. He baptizes Lydia and her household. These were the first Christians in the new Church of Philippi. Paul writes a letter to this congregation some years later in what we call The letter to the Philippians.
The post resurrection narratives in the New Testament are meant to show us how the church functions being reconciled with God and each other. We are being shown how the good news of Jesus is being shared to All people and how all people are reconciled and blessed.
We continue that work today. The mission of the church according to the catechism of the Episcopal Church found in the Book of Common Prayer is:
“To restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” We do this by promoting justice and reconciliation. We promote reconciliation by honoring the faith of others. We do not just tolerate them. We honor other persons and love them because they too are reflections of our God.
We promote justice by being sure that there is a fair court of law-equitable justice. All people and nations are held accountable. Our talk of being Christians needs to be experienced by peoples of other faiths and peoples of other nations. We start with our church here in Plymouth Indiana. As I wrote this, I realized there are no other faiths here in Marshall County. There are no mosques, synagogues, or temples. The closest are in South Bend. So that means we must start to reconcile with other Christian denominations.
This doesn’t mean that others will worship like us, have communion like us, or interpret scripture like us. The earliest churches in New Testament times were all different. They were started in different areas with different languages and traditions. In the third and fourth century, various church leaders wrote creeds, doctrine, and decided who was a heretic. This went on for many years. Frequently a church leader was a heretic for a few years and then a great church father. The church did not start like that. It started as small diverse house churches that believed in the resurrection of Jesus. The church remembered Jesus’s story through word and sacrament and shared it with others.
So our work is to continue the reconciling work of God.
Then we get out of the way and let God do God’s work. When we need reminders, we hear the words of the psalmist. I want you to listen to it again and hear the echoes of unity and the harvest of Eastertide.
Psalm: Psalm 67
1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *
your saving health among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.
7 May God give us his blessing, *
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.