My Dear Shepherds,

In my circles it used to be the custom on Sunday mornings that the pastor would sit on the platform as the pianist played a prelude and the saints found their seats. I’d watch them, nodding and smiling, and wondering what was really going on.

I knew they were like people who’d spent their week making the round of carnival rides—the Tilt-a-Whirl, roller coaster, and maybe the not-so-merry-go-round. Too noisy, too much cotton candy, too much wasted money. A week in the world does that.

We’re right there with them—often frazzled, distracted, and weary. Plus, for us Sunday morning is (if you’ll pardon the expression) showtime! The pressure is on. It’s a wonder we don’t all end up in a dizzy heap in the foyer!

That’s one reason God gave us the Sabbath, gloriously upgraded now through Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the week. It’s our God-given day for head-clearing. Pastors often carve out personal Sabbath times away from the holy hubbub of our Sunday morning work, but we also need those Sunday services together with our brothers and sisters for our own souls’ sake.

Psalm 92 is the only psalm specifically designated, “For the Sabbath day.” It is traditionally recited at the beginning of every Jewish Shabbat service. It doesn’t seem very Sabbath-y. Nothing about resting, at least not the Sunday afternoon nap kind. But Psalm 92 is God-given Dramamine for woozy saints. It’s a song with a compass in it, an open sanctuary door to rest for our souls.

It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High,

proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,

to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. (Ps. 92:1-3)

It’s always good to praise the LORD, of course, but it’s different on Sunday mornings. It’s different when we sing together with musicians, regardless of what instruments they’re playing. Praising God together in song, prayer, Communion, and preaching gives us a repertoire for our weekdays, and our weak days.

We’re reminded of songs and scriptures we need in order to wake up on Monday assured of the steadfast love of the LORD and to switch off the light at night having seen his faithfulness through the day.

For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;

I sing for joy at what your hands have done. (v. 4)

Sometimes we pastors are so immersed in study and meetings, in the heartaches and headaches of ministry, that we forget to push the Glad button. We forgot that we’re regularly seeing God’s handiwork, his divine fingerprints on the work we do and the saints we serve. So, one last thing to check before we walk out of our studies on Sunday mornings is to get glad!

This Sabbath psalm tells us to sing for joy—joyful gratitude, joyful astonishment, joyful hope! “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.” (If you can’t hear each other singing, the band’s too loud.) Singing, for the Christian, lets truth expand in our souls like a sponge absorbing water.

Pastors work hard on Sundays. No way around it. But it is also our Sabbath, God-given time and fellowship where we give voice to worship and feed our world-weary souls. Singing for joy separates Christians from all the world’s other worshippers. No other religions have hallelujahs and praises like we do. No others have such a theme as our Lord Jesus Christ! And no others will sing forever!

Be ye glad!

Lee Eclov recently retired after 40 years of local pastoral ministry and now focuses on ministry among pastors. He writes a weekly devotional for preachers on Preaching Today.