psalm 98, news songs for new rescues,monday 3rd week

Today we reflect on Psalm 98.  This psalm like 4 other psalms begin with an exhortation to sing a new song.  We prefer to sing old songs, songs that we already know by heart.  But this time psalm 98 wants us to sing new songs.  Why is this so?

Because old songs were inspired by past graces.  Old songs came out from God's past interventions.  But we need to sing new songs because new songs are appropriate for new rescues, they are suitable for new manifestations of God's love and grace, they are proper for new interventions showing God's constant care and support.

This is not to say that we compose new songs, though we can and we should from time to time.  But psalm 98 reminds us to sing new songs less our gatherings and commemorations of God's intervention are all situated in the long gone past, less our celebrations become celebrations of history.  Instead Psalm 98 wants us to be constantly aware that the good God has done in the past, God continues to do even now; that the power God has so gloriously manifested in the past, God continues to manifest even now.

Our rituals might be very old, and our beliefs might be even older, but they make us remember and celebrate not just the graces of the past, not just the savings works of the past, but God's work among us in the here and now.  It is the consciousness that needs updating, it is the awareness that needs to be always sensitive to God daily interventions in our lives.  So sing a new song to the Lord for God's new manifestations of grace and love in our lives deserve new songs.