Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. – Psalm 95:2

Today's Scripture Reading (May 30, 2022):  Psalm 95 & 96

Let me start by saying that I know that I am old. And I have a memory of the church that I grew up in that was very different from the one I attend today. Growing up, the church was a solemn place. There was a fairly serious atmosphere in the church from the moment that you stepped inside the building. The organ played "prelude hymns" in the sanctuary for about twenty minutes before the service started. When the time came for the service to begin, the pastor and other dignitaries walked out onto the platform area along with the choir, often kneeling before what we called "The Throne Chairs" in prayer before they sat in them.

The church service itself was a time of solemn singing of hymns, prayers, and then listening to the pastor's teaching. As for the me that was a kid, I played a game. The idea behind the game was to guess when a minute was up without looking at my watch. (I only ever wore a watch as a kid; it was a practice that I gave up early in my adult years.) I gave myself three tries to guess when a minute had elapsed, and if I was to win, the third guess had to happen in the last five seconds of the minute. It helped me pass the time in my own solemn way.

I don't remember much laughing in church. Or even smiling. It was as if by being solemn, we were somehow serving God in a better way. The Bible says that "Jesus wept" (John 11:35), but it never says that Jesus laughed or even smiled. So, I guess we had better not laugh or smile when engaging in worship.

David says that we are to come into God's presence with thanksgiving and praise him with music and song. But I have a problem with that. To be really filled with thanksgiving, doesn't a smile have to pass our lips or a little giggle escape our breath. If we are truly thankful, shouldn't we also be happy?

The King James Version of the Psalm reads, "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms" (Psalm 95:2, KJV). Our command is to make a  joyful noise, not a serious one, and Psalm 95:2 is the second time that David commands a joyful noise in the Psalm. It is a repeat of a comment that he made in Psalm 95:1, "let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation." The stress of these verses seems to be that it is joy that is to be present in our worship and not on the solemnity of our worship. Charles Spurgeon makes this comment about this aspect of our worship.

One can imagine David in earnest tones persuading his people to go up with him to the worship of Jehovah with sound of harp and hymn, and holy delight. The happiness of his exhortation is noteworthy, the noise is to be joyful. This quality he insists upon twice. It is to be feared that this is too much overlooked in ordinary services, people are so impressed with the idea that they ought to be serious that they put on the aspect of misery, and quite forget that joy is as much a characteristic of true worship as solemnity itself.

Modern worship has lost a little of the seriousness that characterized the worship that I remember as a child. And I admit, sometimes I miss the pomp and circumstance of the worship services in which I grew up. But, maybe at the same time, the loss of solemnity is a good thing, especially if we can replace it with a double dose of joy, mixed with some smiles and just a little holy laughter.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 105