Can You Count The Stars?: Planned Song Service

Reading 2: Let there be Light

Gen 1: ³And God said, "Let there be light:" and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good: and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light "Day," and the darkness he called "Night." And there was evening and morning, one day. ⁶And God said, "Let there be a firmament between the waters,
and let it separate water from water." ⁷And God made the firmament, and separated the water below the firmament from the water above the firmament: and so it was. ⁸And God called the firmament "Heaven."
¹⁴And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament to separate day from night, And let them serve as signs of seasons and days and years, And let them be lights in the firmament to give light on the earth." And so it was. ¹⁶God made two great lights--the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
Gen 15: ⁵God took Abraham outside, and said, "Look at the heavens, and count the stars, if you can. So shall your descendants be."
Job 38: ¹The LORD answered Job out of the storm, saying:; ⁴"Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?...; ⁶On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone--; ⁷while the morning stars sang together; and all the sons of God shouted for joy?; ¹²Have you ever given orders to the morning,; or shown the dawn its place,; ¹³that it might take the earth by the edges; and shake the wicked out of it?; ¹⁴The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;; its features stand out like those of a garment.; ¹⁹What is the way to the abode of light?; And where does darkness reside?; ²⁰Can you take them to their places?; Do you know the paths to their dwellings?; ³¹Can you bind the Pleiades cluster?; Can you loose the belt of Orion?; ³²Can you bring out the constellations in their seasons,; Or lead out the Bear with its cubs?; ³³Do you know the laws of the heavens?; Can you establish dominion over the earth?"
Job 9: ⁴God's wisdom is profound, his power is vast.; Who has resisted him with impunity?; ⁵He moves mountains without their knowing it; and overturns them in his anger.; ⁶He shakes the earth from its place; and makes its pillars tremble.; ⁷He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;; He seals off the light of the stars.; ⁸He alone stretches out the heavens; and treads on the waves of the sea.; ⁹He made the Bear and Orion,; the Pleiades, and the constellations of the south.; ¹⁰He performs unfathomable wonders, innumerable marvels.

Reading 3: Infinite Love

Ps 8: ¹O LORD, our Lord,; how glorious is your name in all the earth!; You set your glory above the heavens.; ²By the mouth of children and infants you ordained strength; because of your enemies,; to silence the enemy and the avenger.; ³When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,; the moon and the stars, which you set in place;; ⁴What is man, that you remember him?; and the son of man, that you care for him?; ⁵For you made him a little lower than the angels,; and crowned him with glory and honor.; ⁶You gave him dominion over the works of your hands;; you put all things under his feet:; ⁷All sheep and cattle, even the the wild beasts;; ⁸The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,; and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.; ⁹O LORD our Lord,; how glorious is your name in all the earth!
Ps 147: ¹Praise the LORD:; for it is good to sing praises unto our God;; for it is pleasant; and praise is fitting.; ²The LORD establishes Jerusalem:; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.; ³He heals the brokenhearted,; and binds up their wounds.; ⁴He counts the number of the stars;; he calls them all by name.; ⁵Great is our Lord, and powerful:; his understanding has no limit.; ⁶The LORD supports the oppressed:; and overthrows the wicked.; ⁷Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;; sing praise upon the harp to our God!
Ps 136: ¹Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.; For His love endures forever.; ²Give thanks to the God of gods.; ³Give thanks to the Lord of lords.; For His love endures forever.; ⁴To him who alone does great wonders.; For His love endures forever.; ⁵Who by his understanding made the heavens; ⁶Who spread out the earth upon the waters,; For His love endures forever.; ⁷Who made the great lights--; ⁸the sun to govern the day,; ⁹the moon and stars to govern the night.; For His love endures forever.; ²³Who remembered us in our low condition; ²⁴and freed us from our enemies,; For His love endures forever.; ²⁵and who gives food to every creature; For His love endures forever.; ²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven; For His love endures forever.

Reading 4: God's Other Revelation

Ps 19: ¹The heavens declare the glory of God;; and the firmament displays his handiwork.; ²Day after day utters speech;; Night after night reveals knowledge--; ³Without speech, or language, or any audible sound!--; ⁴Their voice goes out through all the earth,; and their words to the end of the world.; In the heavens he placed a tent for the sun,; ⁵Like a bridegroom, it comes out of its pavilion:; Like a champion, it runs its course with joy.; ⁶It rises at one end of the heavens,; and runs its circuit to the other:; nothing is hidden from its heat.; ⁷The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul;; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.; ⁸The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;; the commands of the LORD are clear, enlightening the eyes.; ⁹The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever;; The judgments of the LORD are true and altogether righteous.; ¹⁰They are more precious than gold,; yes, than much fine gold:; sweeter even than honey and the honeycomb.; ¹¹Moreover, by them is your servant warned:; in keeping them there is great reward.
Ps 119: ¹⁰³How sweet are your words to my taste,; sweeter than honey to my mouth!; ¹⁰⁴I gain understanding from your precepts;; therefore I hate every wrong path.; ¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp for my feet; and a light for my path.
Mk 13: ³¹Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away: but my words will not pass away."

Reading 5: When the Stars fall like Autumn Leaves

Isa 34: ¹Come near, you nations, and listen;; pay attention, you peoples!; Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,; the world, and all that comes out of it!; ²The LORD is angry with all nations;; his wrath is upon all their armies.; He will totally destroy them,; he will give them over to slaughter.; ³Their slain will be thrown out,; their dead bodies will send up a stench;; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.; ⁴All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved; and the sky rolled up like a scroll;; all the starry host will fall; like withered leaves from the vine,; like shriveled figs from the fig tree.
Rev 6: ¹²I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.; ¹⁵Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
Ps 102: ²⁴So I said:; "Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days;; Your years go on through all generations.; ²⁵In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,; and the heavens are your handiwork.; ²⁶They will perish, but you remain;; they will all wear out like a garment.; Like clothing you will change them; and they will be discarded.; ²⁷But you remain the same, and your years will never end.; ²⁸The children of your servants will live in your presence;; their descendants will be established before you."
Amos 5: ⁶Seek the LORD and live ...; ⁸(he who made the Pleiades and Orion,; who turns blackness into dawn and darkens day into night,...; Jehovah is his name)

Reading 6: Invitation

Certainly, how great and worthy of praise God must be; how amazing and how thankworthy was His choice to imbue men with significance and give them loving care; how valuable must be His self-revelation through His words from the prophets; and how certain and inescapable must be His vengeance on those who harm the people He chose to love.
Of course, not all men have understood this. There is an idea that the size and complexity of the universe disproves the existance of God, or at least proves that man is too insignificant to be of interest to Him. Almost two thousand years ago, Peter warned:
2 Pet 3: ³First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires, ⁴saying, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."; ⁵But they deliberately forget: that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, ⁶and by these waters the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.; ⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
In recent years, this idea has been very popular; and so it may said (by those who are ignorant of both science and history) the Bible has been disproven or made obsolete by modern science. But what in all that we have read could be contradicted by observation?
Science is based on the idea that many phenomena react to their environment in ways that by observation we may learn to predict. Now, some people assume that anything that exists can be subjected to this kind of systematic observation. That is a philosophical assumption: not a scientific conclusion, and not based on any possible observation. But even they must admit that the universe itself testifies that it must have had a beginning and must have an end.
So others, like the psalmists, find it absurd to account for a finite universe in terms of itself. They conclude that its existance requires belief in a divine Creator. For them, a new marvel only makes the universe--and its creator--more marvelous. Expanding the size of the universe only makes God's love more amazing. Science's failure to answer the fundamental questions of life, ethics, or eternity--so different from its great physical achievements--suggests that naturalistic explanations of human nature are inadequate, and reminds us of our need for divine guidance.
This isn't everything the heavens would reveal to the thoughtful observer; but it is certainly enough to justify Paul's summary:
Rom 2: ²⁰Since the creation of the world, God's invisible nature (that is, his eternal power and deity,) have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made,
so that each of us has no excuse for failing to honor and thank God as God.
2 Pet 3: ¹¹Therefore what kind of people ought we to be? We ought to live holy and godly lives, ¹²looking forward to the day of God and speeding its coming: when the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and the elements will melt in intense heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. ¹⁴So then, beloved brothers, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
Truly, as the Bible challenges us to see God in His creation, creation challenges us to seek God in the Bible. And for all who are willing to see, the glory of the heavens gives more reasons to praise the Lord of Life, hear His effective Word, and walk in the light of the Light of the World.
If by God's word you know what you need to do: now is the time to take advantage of His patience for your salvation: come, while we stand and sing.

Notes

Sequence of Services

This started out as one service, but was broken up because of its size, importance, and complexity. The full projected series consists of:

Can You Count the Stars?
Visions of Glory
The Bright and Morning Star (projected)

An outline imposed by the Psalm texts replaced my initial outline. I considered this as evidence that I had learned something.

Song Choices

It might seem that there are many good, well-known songs based on (or closely related to) Psalm 19; but hardly any of them do justice to its full line of thought. The theme of universal praise is important for its own sake (as in other psalms), and so such songs are valuable, but they do not contribute to into this study. The chosen alternatives at least allude to the psalm in a metaphor referring to God's word.

The deservedly popular metric version, 'The Heavens Declare Thy Glory', by Isaac Watts, is not found in any of our standard hymnals except Great Songs of the Church, Revised: nor do they include any other song that so closely follows the whole psalm, or that makes the point so well. (This is a truly sad commentary on our hymnals, and justifies the departure from my usual practice of only suggesting songs from common books.) It was written when "proper" tunes were fairly rare: in fact, I have seen only two books that use the same tune. It's an easy tune, so I included it for a handout. (Sheet music is included in Psalms in Our Time.) Our repertoire of praise is seriously deficient without this theme or this psalm.

Psalm 8 is little better served: most songs do not contain its full reasoning either. I had only found two alternatives: one of them is a deservedly obscure, crude metrification of the psalm only appearing in Hymns for Worship as "filler" words without printed music. (The other is included in Psalms in Our Time.) There has to be something better out there: some research along these lines might be profitable.

Psalm 148 is better represented, with several fine alternatives. Choose one to balance the service between familiar, neglected, and new songs.