G. Archer Frierson
Chair, Austin Seminary Board of Trustees
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Advent Devotional for December 8
• Psalm 98
O sing to the Lord … break forth into joyous song … sing praises to the Lord with the lyre … with trumpets and the sound of the horn … let the sea roar … let the floods clap their hands … let the hills sing together …
Psalm 98 is appointed every year in the Revised Common Lectionary for December 24 and 25. It begins as a paean to God’s victory and goes on to invite the whole creation into song—real song, actual sound. The psalmist summons instruments—lyre, trumpet, horn—as well as the tumultuous praises of creation: seas roar, floods clap hands, hills sing. This psalm is not a silent night.
Perhaps there was stillness outside an inn, as parents sang to a Child to sleep. But we know how noisy most of it was: the rude jostling of census takers and registrants, frantic fists pounding on doors and pleading for shelter, the screams of childbirth—as well as the surrounding cries of injustice and the taunt-songs of the principalities and powers.
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007 for a remarkable book on twentieth-century music. The chapters describe the wonders of the music. The title describes everything else: The Rest Is Noise. The world is full of audible poison: insult and invective, taunt and tweet, commercials, machines, bombs. We are being killed all day long by those sounds—oh, for silent nights or days. But there are voices that are too often silenced: discounted stories that need our hearing and justice songs that need our singing. Perhaps Psalm 98 is among our Christmas texts because the rest is indeed noise; because only these holy sounds can heal our ears; because only these cosmic singers can summon our earthly, trembling voices.
By the way — you already know Psalm 98 at Christmas—in a 1719 paraphrase by Isaac Watts. Hear it now: Joy to the world! the Lord is come! Let earth receive its King …
May our hearts sing out with joy as we await the birth of the messiah! Amen.
Eric Wall
Assistant Professor of Sacred Music
Dean of the Chapel
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.We hope that you are preparing the way for the Lord in your life as you read these meditations and prayers. And, we hope this Advent season is a meaningful one for you. Please know that Austin Seminary’s dedicated, diverse, and loving community of faith is not complete without you. Did you know?
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