Hymns and Hymnwriting     •     Echoes of Creation

Text

Psalm 97 is in some ways a companion-piece to Psalm 98¹. But why is this psalm so neglected?

The original falls naturally into three strophes, the first one somewhat longer than the others. I abbreviated to three symmetric stanzas:

GOD'S RULE IN NATURE

Nature rejoices

God's power in action

GOD ALONE IS GOD

Universal praise from society

Universal praise from nature

GOD'S RULE IN SOCIETY

God's power in action

Society rejoices

The psalm has much to say to modern times. As God is naturalized (and nature deified) in modern philosophical thought, humanity is left with nothing personal to adore. We will try to fill that need with artificial gods if we don't recognize the real One. And so it is still important to see God in nature.

Sometimes I think our songs leave the impression that we by our worship bring Nature to praise God.² This notion disturbs me. Instead, I want to sing, "Nature exists to praise God, and accomplishes its purpose. Whether or not we join in the praise, whether or not we even hear it, Nature rejoices in its Creator!"

So far, the deist happily concurs with us. However, humanity has more to hear than Nature's voice, and more to sing about than Nature can. Nature knows nothing of justice or of obedience. But compared to the psalms, our own songs say almost nothing of justice.³ In the end, we must all recognize God's justice: it is not too soon to start practicing.

The recognition of God's present reign -- not so much prophecied as proclaimed by all the prophets -- is another neglected emphasis. Perhaps, in our eagerness to reject a literal king with literal body parts requiring the support of a literal chair in a literal palace built by humans, we've neglected the terminology itself, reducing the whole concept to a mere spiritualized shadow.

The aweful reality, God's control of Nature and sovereignty in human affairs, is not dependent on his literal seat on a literal fancy chair. The biblical King is no passive spectator in a chair, he is active--striding across what would have been a battlefield, riding a chariot above the terrifying cherubim through the thick blackness of a storm, appearing suddenly in the most remote parts of his realm to pronounce and execute justice.

Biblical language is not merely Hebrew or Medieval English vocabulary, neither of which are inherently biblical! The Biblical writers used mere human words (in whatever language) but using metaphor and reasoning to communicate transcendent realities. If we will simply learn, teach, and use that biblical language, then we'll be able to correctly handle these scriptures also.

Use

When is praise out of place? It is, perhaps, almost needed at the beginning of a service. I suspect we over-use hymns like Holy, holy, holy! because our songbook editor have offered so few effective songs of praise.

Music

While the meter is not unusual, the text doesn't suit the standard Gospel Song tempo. This folkish-tune, not widely used in our books, seemed to fit the text well. Ralph Vaughan Williams arranged many folk tunes as humn tunes; this is one of a handful of original tunes he wrote. It reflects his continuing study of folk music, but is perhaps more musically complex than the folk tunes he arranged.⁴

Vaughan Williams designed it as a unison tune, in keeping with his belief that the congregation should sing the melody only⁵ The harmony was written as a light organ accompaniment. I don't know whether it is at all suitable for part singing. The tune is perhaps not "beautiful" and certainly not "familiar" But it wears well. Of all his original tunes, perhaps only Sine Nomine is more widely sung.

This tune is still in copyright. Please respect copyright law and remain within the bounds of "fair use."

Notes

¹Justly famous in Isaac Watts's magnificent rendition; well represented by Erik Routley's fine modern version.

²The well-known contemporary hymn "When in man's music God is glorified ... it is as though the whole creation cried..." merely makes explicit what we seem to think.

³Why is this? Are we "crypto-deists" with faux-christian masks? Or is justice simply not a quality that matters to us?

⁴See the author indexes at the CCEH or CyberHymnal.

⁵Cf. the Preface to the English Hymnal, at CCEL.

This text, © Stephen Hutcheson, 2005, and offered freely for use under a Creative Commons License. These studies are created by members of the West Allen Church of Christ in Allen, Texas