We had two birthdays to celebrate in retrospect tonight – one for November and one for December.

At the Cherry Tree Court carol service this morning, Garry spoke on the subject of ‘Advent Peace‘, focussing on the announcement of the good news to the shepherds (Luke 2:8-16). It must have been a terrifying sight to be dazzled and blinded by the light of the angels when the shepherds were minding their flocks in the darkest night, but the angels brought reassurance and good news, including the proclamation of ‘peace to those on whom [God’s] favour rests.’

Many would question the peace that Jesus brought, declaring that ‘if Jesus came to bring peace, that was one spectacular failure’, citing the wars between countries, civil wars, terrorism and school shootings which still abound today. This year has seen the centenary of the end of the First World War, during which 20 million people were killed. (On Armistice Day alone, 11,000 troops were killed.) Peace seems to be wishful thinking, another children’s fairytale with the promise of a happy ending which seems unlikely to be found in reality.

The Hebrew word for peace (‘shalom’) signifies much more than the absence of hostilities, indicating contentment, wellbeing, wholeness and harmony. Ultimately, Jesus came to be the peacemaker between humanity and God, for people have resolutely refused to live by God’s rules and ignored Him, being scattered like sheep on the hillside, all determined to go our own ways. Jesus came to reconcile us to God and give us full peace, a peace that will be eternal. This peace enables us to become peacemakers with other people, helping us to live in restored relationships. Jesus was not a spectacularfailure, but a resounding success, being the bridge or pathway to lasting peace with God and with other people. At Christmas time, we celebrate God with us (‘Immanuel’) and the fact that the Prince of Peace came to earth. His coming has made all the difference to life.

Thiis morning is the carol service at Cherry Tree Court (10.30 a.m.), looking at the Advent theme of hope. Do join us if you can. Our evening service on the same theme is at 6 p.m. at Market Street and will feature a children’s story.

On Friday 14th December we have our Parent & Toddler Christmas party in the morning, so we’re really looking forward to that! This will be the last session of the Parent & Toddler group in 2018; we will restart on Friday 11th January 2019.

Next Saturday (15th December) is our ‘Churches Together’ Sheep Service between 2 and 4 p.m. at the Salvation Army. Come along for craft activities, bun decorating, stories and carols, plus a guest appearance from some animal puppets to help us tell the Christmas story! Please bring your completed Advent Sheep Trail leaflets for a chance to win a lovely Christmas hamper, donated by the Co-op in Bolton-on-Dearne.

On Sunday 23rd December at 6 p.m. we’re having our carol service on the theme ‘Love Came Down.’ Do join us for that, with free refreshments served after the service.

We will also be holding a short service on Christmas Day at 10.30 a.m. to celebrate the birth of our Saviour!

In the week after Christmas, there will be no midweek meeting at church, but there will be a fellowship evening at Garry and Julie’s on Thursday 27th December between 5 and 8 p.m. There will also be no coffee morning on Saturday 29th December.
Don’t forget also our New Year’s Day party on Tuesday 1st January at 4 p.m!

Ps 149 reminds us also that praise is part of our spiritual warfare: equipped with God’s praises in our mouths and a double-edged sword in our hands (see Heb 4:12, Eph 6:17), we can take part in carrying out God’s plans in the earth. Although this psalm has been taken literally at some periods of history to justify violence and bloodshed (the Peasants’ Revolt in the 16th century, the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century, for example), Paul makes it plain that the weapons of our warfare are spiritual (see 2 Cor 10:3-5). As believers under a new covenant, we don’t battle flesh and blood enemies (Ephesians 6:12-18), yet we have the responsibility to be not only worshippers, but warriors in a spiritual warfare that at times is difficult and costly. In a spiritual sense, we are to execute vengeance on everything that would oppose Jesus Christ and the work of His kingdom in our life.

Praise is warfare because through it we declare God’s sovereignty to all; in the words of the Rend Collective song, ‘Sing Hallelujah for all hell to hear.’ (‘Marching On’) They say, ‘When we worship in the face of adversity and struggle, when we count our blessings, we declare war on the brokenness of this world. We put our trust in the kingdom of God that will never fade and in Jesus as the king of everything.’ Our songs declare God’s truth and God’s word; we are equipped with the sword of the Spirit which has the power to cut into man’s sinfulness and declare the hope of God for all who will turn to Him. For those who refuse to bow the knee, God’s judgment will come (see Ps 2:8-9, Is 60:12, Rev 19:11-16). Far better to bow the knee now and of our own volition!

Spurgeon said of God’s word as sword, “The word of God is all edge; whichever way we turn it, it strikes deadly blows at falsehood and wickedness. If we do not praise we shall grow sad in our conflict; and if we do not fight we shall become presumptuous in our song. The verse indicates a happy blending of the chorister and the crusader.”  May we learn to be both chorister and crusader, worshipper and warrior and see God’s glory shine over all the earth.

Many may feel we have spent too long in recent weeks and months looking at reasons to praise God. I make no apology for returning to this theme, however – not simply because as we study the Bible, we have to look at what it actually says (and these final psalms say a lot about praise!), but also because our praise is often so lacklustre and uninspiring that it is worth asking why that should be the case. Certainly, in the psalms we find no lack of enthusiasm or zeal when it comes to praising God. They abound with exhortations to praise (e.g. Ps 95:1, Ps 5:11, Ps 33:1, 3 – see also Is 12:6), and that praise is clearly meant to be whole-hearted and exuberant (Ps 71:23, Ps 81:1).

Ps 149:4 gives us yet another reason to praise God: ‘For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.’ It’s an amazing thought that God delights in us, but this is a theme developed in other parts of the Bible (Zeph 3:17, Deut 30:8-10, Ps 18:19, Prov 11:20, Is 62:4). The word ‘crowns’ in other versions is rendered ‘beautifies’ or ‘adorns with splendour’, and all these translations show us something of what it means to bring pleasure to God’s heart. Meyer says, “Not only does God take a personal interest in each step of the obedient soul, but He makes it beautiful, and leads it from victory to victory.” There are hints too in Ps 149:7-8 that God’s people will also be involved in carrying out God’s decrees (see Rev 19:15). The fact that we who were once enemies of God (Eph 2:1-3) have now been reconciled to Him through Christ (2 Cor 5:19-21, Rom 5:8) and are counted as heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ (Rom 8:17) give us so many reasons to praise that we cannot remain silent!

In our Bible study on Thursday night, we looked at Psalm 149, another of the five ‘Hallelujah’ psalms which conclude the Psalter. In Ps 148 we saw that all of creation (including angels and the natural creation as well as mankind, from the highest to the lowest) is commanded to praise God and here in Ps 149, we see different ways to praise explored. Praise can, it seems, be both verbal and non-verbal, and in this psalm, dancing and music through instruments (in addition to singing) are both mentioned as being appropriate ways to praise. (Ps 149:3)

Dancing is mentioned in many places in the Bible, from Miriam leading the Israelites in joyful praise after God’s great deliverance from Egypt (Ex 15:20-21) to David dancing before the Lord with all his might on the ark’s return to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:14, 16). Earlier in the book of Psalms, we have been reminded that the Lord is the One who turns our wailing into dancing (Ps 30:11) and in the conclusion to the Psalter, we are again urged to praise God with tambourine and dancing. (Ps 150:4)

Musical instruments are also mentioned in many places in the Bible, from Jubal’s pipes and stringed instruments (Gen 4:21) to the many instruments listed in Ps 150. Ps 33 urges us to ‘play skilfully’ on a variety of instruments and trumpets, harps, timbrels, tambourines, lyre and ram’s horns all mentioned in different places (Ps 98:4-6, Ps 144:9, Ps 150:3). In the New Testament, making music is continued to be seen as a valid way of expressing praise to God (Eph 5:19-20) and in that great revelation of heaven, we see angelic harps and singing (Rev 5:7-10), perhaps the origin of the notion that angels live on clouds and play harps all the time!

It seems there really are no ‘set’ ways to praise God. We may prefer the simplicity of antiphonal chanting (as in some Catholic and Anglican churches), the vigour of charismatic worship (with a band of instruments and choirs of singers), the familiarity of the old or the challenge of the new, but as long as there is breath in us, we can all find ways to praise our amazing and holy God.