…Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…
Psalm 149
Sing praise in the congregation
149:1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
149:2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
149:5 Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
149:7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
149:8 to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,
149:9 to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!
I was in fourth grade when the Fab Four of Liverpool made their initial appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday night. The next day in school, this is all anyone could talk about. The girls in my class were totally ga-ga over the mop-haired songsters, with each one already having picked a “favorite.” The boys, while certainly jealous of the attention Ringo, Paul, George, and John were getting, talked about both the music (which we liked) and the eccentricities of each Beatle. Ringo wore all those rings, and kept a nasty beat on the trap set; Paul played his bass guitar “backwards” (he’s left handed); George seemed quiet, distant, but certainly played a mean lead guitar; and John seemed “out of place,” kind of like the proverbial science nerd among football players (probably due to his being almost blind without his glasses, which he did NOT wear on the Beatles’ American TV debut). It was clear from the outset that these guys had captured the attention of the country’s “youth,” including those of us who were still in “grammar school.”
“She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,” they sang, as their “Beatle cut” hair bounced all over. The lyrics certainly weren’t Shakespeare (or even Weird Al Yankovic, for that matter), but there was something “catchy” about the music. And BOY, did we catch it! Their “stock” started out high on Ed Sullivan, and just kept rising. By the time the “simple” band from England with the silly name of the “Beatles” broke up and went their separate ways, they had conquered the music world. They had made a handful of entertaining films, including “A Hard Day’s Night,” which was critically acclaimed, and holds up royally, to this day. It is still one of my favorite films, and I’m a “movie buff.” Their music DID become the “Shakespeare” of the recording room and stage. Everybody tried to copy it, but no one succeeded. Oh, other great bands (the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, et. al.) made it big, for sure, but no one and no-thing could ever eclipse the phenomenon called “Beatlemania.” I’ve often said that two reasons I have lived a great life, are the Beatles, and being around for the Apollo Moon landing. I do believe what the Beatles accomplished at least equals that “one small step” made by Neil Armstrong.
Here we are today, a long way from “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.” The world’s great orchestras have all played some arrangement of a Beatles tune. Their music has been translated into every language on earth. And even “elevator music” features songs written by Lennon and McCartney, gone “Mantovani.” As we know, one of the Fab Four—John Lennon—died tragically, having been assassinated by Mark David Chapman outside Lennon’s apartment building, the Dakota. George Harrison died way too young, of causes possibly exacerbated by his alternative life style choices. Ringo is still with us, and still happily married to Barbara Bach, the actress, for over 45 years! Paul McCartney? He’s a living legend. Still performing, still churning hearts at first sight, and still with that unique sparkle in his eyes that have not gone dim at all at 84 years of age. “She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,” indeed.
Of course, most of their music went galaxies beyond that, and “I want to hold your haaaa-nd.” “Give Peace a Chance,” “Let It Be,” “Hey, Jude,” and iconoclastic albums like “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” are masterpieces that have cemented “the boys” into the history of music into the next several millennia, or as someone has said, “As long as humans survive on Earth.” I expect to be around, though, when the last Beatle shuffles off this mortal coil, and it will be a very sad day for something I was around to see its beginning. Why such a giant “introduction” to a sermon about a text from Psalm 149? You’ll see. One more part of the back story, though. Way back in 1975, I was hired by Grace United Methodist Church in Rocky Grove, PA to be a part-time staff person working with their Youth Club program, AND to be involved in their impressive radio ministry. Their Senior Pastor, the Rev. Lloyd Sturtz, was truly a forward-thinking religious visionary, having built a growing church around a vivacious music ministry, a powerful preaching/teaching ministry, and a daily, 15 minute radio show on WFRA, Franklin’s radio station. Rev. Sturtz truly had a “way” with radio, recording a week’s worth of “Faith for Today” daily broadcasts in one weekly recording session. “Preach,” as we called him, was a kind of “Paul Harvey” of the Christian set, spinning yarns of religious history, and exciting, yet simple testimonies of faith. His knack for making “religion” and the Bible practical and timely made these daily programs the most popular 15 minutes on local radio. He also had a vision for a weekly, half-hour radio program that could speak to young people, and that’s where I came in. I had a background and experience in both radio AND journalism, so the church sponsored my show, which we called “Resurrection.” The first two programs I devoted to a “Beatles” special wherein I played important Beatles’ songs that addressed some of humanity’s ills, and I juxtaposed these “secular” songs with tunes from the brand new world of Christian rock and roll that seemed to be attempting to answer the questions the Beatles were “asking” in some of their music. It was a successful “launch” of a program that aired on Friday nights in Franklin for several years, at least until I went off to seminary.
So, for these two “related” reasons, Psalm 149, that opens with “Sing to the Lord a new song,” seemed a natural to be set alongside the band that made “new” a watchword in the music realm! I like that the ancient author of this psalm is thinking “new” in a faith that too often gets bogged down in trying to “stay the same.” “New” is a good thing, and this psalmist knew it, even when he was talking about worshipping God, which is both one of the oldest things humanity attempts to do, AND the one thing the church has generally fought against making “new,” in any way.
Historically, worship could best be summed up in the “Spoonerism” of the old hymn “My Faith Still Holds,” which is convoluted by some into “My Faith Holds Still.” Worship traditions generally like to “hold still.” Most of you know that J.S. Bach was rejected by the church for daring to write religious music for the pipe organ, which had been dubbed an “instrument of the devil,” due to its popular debut in secular society. Sound familiar? When I was a teen, any kind of guitar or drum was anathema in the church. I remember when a “long-haired band” made up of students from our one our Methodist theological seminaries came to my home church to play a concert on a Sunday evening. There were four of them, and they played and sang religious rock to guitar, bass, and drum accompaniment. You see where they got the idea! They were fantastic; us youth LOVED them; and the “old people” in our church ignited a proverbial “fire storm” over it, proclaiming that they would “never let something like that” happen in their church again. Where was the Psalm 149 guy with his “new song to the Lord” then? Do you know which Christian sect first embraced “contemporary” music in the sanctuary? It was the Roman Catholics, who, after the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, were allowed to offer services in “the language of the people,” rather than just in Latin. Young, progressive priests like Father John Santor in Oil City, PA took this occasion to launch “Folk Masses” that featured “new” music and drums and guitars! It would be YEARS before this happened in most Protestant churches! (Father John Santor, the “Beatles” of priests, in my book, died in Erie, PA in December of 2025.)
Bringing up the subject of Christian worship and how it tends to be resistant to change, begs another question: what IS worship, and why do we think God “needs” it? We currently are experiencing political figures who seem to want allegiance and “bowing down” to them in a kind of worship, so I have a hard time equating the God whom I believe loves ME enough to have sent his Son into the world to redeem me with these characters! Does God really “groove” on having us “worship” the Divine? I know I’ve gone over this ground before in countless other sermons, but it bears repeating. Why does God desire God’s people to worship? My life and study have led me to believe worship serves two primary needs:
First, it is a common focus that breeds “community.” The Bible makes clear that God desires God’s people to live together “in community,” not as scattered (diaspora) individuals. In community, we offer mutual support, care for those who are hurting and marginalized, and provide a gathered forum for various kinds of “mission work” the Holy Spirit may call us into. “Mission” might include heralding the Good News of Jesus Christ, or as John Wesley would say, “Offer them Christ.” Mission might include benevolent acts such as feeding the hungry, building homes for shelter (or fixing up existing ones), or building schools and clinics in developing societies. And for some of us, “mission” may mean working for social justice, ranging from protesting INJUSTICES, to seeking to install just leaders, governments, and pass laws that offer justice to all of God’s people, not just the well-heeled, or “abled.” There are quite a variety of creative, community-enabled tasks that could qualify as “mission.” In one church, a group of folk collected used prom dresses and opened a free “shop” where economically-challenged young women could choose a nice dress for their high school prom. In another church, a group of seamstresses made “prayer quilts” for persons who were ill.
Secondly, worship provides the individual believer a way to make deep, inner connections “happen” between themselves and God. Diverse ways of doing this may still happen in the gathered, worshipping community. Some enjoy the silent moments of communal worship, while others revel in the music and praise. Others still, may appreciate the times of guided prayer and meditation, or be particularly “connected” through the celebration of the sacraments. That which makes this spiritual connection between God and persons may be highly individualistic, yet be juxtaposed with group worship. The old chestnut, “I don’t have to go to church to worship God” does not pass muster in the Judeo-Christian tradition. One may certainly praise God in private, or enjoy meditation in solitude, but the kind of worship God desires happens in a gathered community, even a small one. Remember this: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in the midst of them?” And do you remember who said it?
Regarding our individual preferences in worship, I do believe the Holy Spirit has led our religious communities to a wide variety of worship experiences, liturgy, and musical “styles.” I, for one, like the verbiage of the hymns, even though many of them need “reinterpreted on the fly” like the latter words of Psalm 149, while some of the newer ones exhibit profound theological viewpoints. One of my favorite services we held at St. Paul’s was a choreographed “Jazz Worship Service,” wherein we had a professional jazz combo lead us musically, mixed with readings and liturgy that mirrored some of the improvisational element of jazz music. My point here is that gathered worship may be of all varieties, touching the hearts of diverse persons, who may purpose to gather as one people. This will be what the “endpoint” of the Kingdom of God will look like, in my opinion—a kind of religious e pluribus unum—out of many, one.
God “desires” God’s people to worship together because God wants us to find common ground and “partners” to act in Christian mission. God desires worship to be a place where God’s people come together to “enjoy” a worship experience and be edified by it. Overall, I believe, God LOVES it when God’s people get together in a kind of regular, “family reunion.” In this, as I’ve said before, God sits like one of those beaming, proud grandmothers at earthly family reunions, so happy to see her family putting aside their differences and being blessed by each other’s presence and “catching up.” Is this not precisely what the language of Psalm 149 is about?
Oh, I know that some of this Psalm sounds like “Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war,” but again we have to put it in historical context. The “warring” language can be seen as justice seeking, which can get very messy, indeed. The goal is to build a just, gathered, and God-fearing community. (I realize that one must stretch the “battle” language of this Psalm to see this, but held up against the rest of scripture, I do believe it is appropriate to do so.)
And this all brings us back to the Beatles, with a Divine twist: “GOD loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you know you should be glad!” And being “glad” is both a highly individualized AND inherently “corporate” thing, in the unfolding Kingdom of God! Yeah, yeah, yeah! (How the Beatles might say, “Amen!”)
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