Our 15th Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols

All are invited to join us
for our 15th annual Lessons and Carols service
on Sunday, December 12, at 5:00 pm
at the Capitol Hill Adventist Church, where we hold our Sunday Services.

Since our founding in 2007, Christ Reformed Church has celebrated the Advent season with a traditional “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols,” which is patterned very closely on the annual service held at King’s College Chapel in Cambridge since 1918. We read the same nine texts, but substitute congregational singing instead of choral performance.

Over the course of the next five Sundays, we will be preaching through the nine traditional scripture readings from this service in a series called “Why Lessons and Carols”? In this series we’ll explore not only the rich pattern of promise and fulfillment that these Old and New Testament lessons illustrate, but also consider how the Reformed tradition exhibits a unique grasp of the unity of the scriptures around the covenantal promises fulfilled in the birth of Christ. We’ll also spend a bit of time considering the unique view of the church calendar held by the continental Reformed tradition, and defend it as a via media between the extremes of Puritanism and superstition.

A number of years ago I wrote an article at The Federalist in which I described this service in greater detail and explained its value called, “Keeping Christmas in Christianity: A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols”:

The Lessons and Carols service reminds us of a basic interpretive key: Jesus is the center of the whole Bible, and that truth should guide how we read and apply these texts. Promise and fulfillment is the basic pattern of the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. Jesus and his apostles viewed his coming as the fulfillment of centuries of promises delivered to the people of God, and the New Testament was written in support of this case. In an age of biblical illiteracy, we mustn’t underestimate the value of this simple lesson.

Lessons and Carols is a service of nine scripture readings, or “lessons,” interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols. (You can get more background and examples here). The carols typically vary each year, but the nine readings are fairly well fixed, with some small variety. The first four are drawn from the Old Testament, the last five from the New.

Each reading is prefaced with a brief explanatory rubric, something which we desperately need in our current dark age of Bible reading. Thus we begin by reading Genesis 3, with this introduction: “God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed [offspring] will bruise the serpent’s head.” The lessons proceed to speak of this promise of a coming “Seed” as it was extended to Abraham in Genesis 22, with the expansion that “in this Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

In the final two Old Testament readings, we are reminded that the basic outlines of the Christmas story derive in the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah (drawn from chapters 7, 9, or 11), that a coming Savior would be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem, and would bring in his train a universal peace not just for the people of Israel, but for all the earth.

New Testament lessons focus on how these Old Testament promises of a coming redeemer are fulfilled in the birth narratives of Christ, with readings drawn from Luke 1 and 2 and Matthew 2. Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, and wise men, all of these are not merely random characters in the Christmas play. They each are instrumental to teaching us that in the birth of this human child, Jesus, God has fulfilled his promise of the ages and “saved his people from their sins.”

Finally, the closing reading is always drawn from John 1, reflecting on the theological significance of the eternal Word becoming flesh. The famous prologue makes explicit the deep theological truth implicit through the prophecies: This is no ordinary child, this is the divine Word made flesh. (read more)

The reception after our Lessons and Carols service has always been something of our annual Christmas party and celebration, and we have welcomed may wonderful visitors and guests over the years. We hope you will join us on December 12th. Click here for more information.

Top Nine Reasons for Christmas "Lessons & Carols"

You are invited to join us for our
Lessons & Carols service on

Sunday, December 13th

5:00 pm.

In years past I have written about the importance of keeping Christmas in Christianity. For those who don’t aren’t interested in reading the full article at The Federalist, I have distilled below the Top Nine Reasons for celebrating a “Lessons & Carols” service this holiday season, in countdown style à la Letterman.

9. Lessons & Carols reminds us that the story of Jesus is at the center of the Bible.

8. Because due to COVID the public can’t attend Lessons & Carols at Kings College, Cambridge.

7. You can’t understand the Christmas story apart from the Old Testament prophecies of Christ.

6. Where else do you get to sing the fourth stanza of “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”:

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

5. The best carols remind us that Jesus was born to die:

Good Christian, fear; for sinners here
the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear, shall pierce him through;
the cross be borne for me, for you;
hail, hail the Word made flesh,
the babe, the son of Mary.

4. To remind romantics and moralists that Christmas is not about our charity, but God’s work of salvation

3. Eggnog.

(Not technically a part of the Lessons & Carols liturgy.)

2. To brush up on your Latin by singing “Adeste, Fideles.”

And, the Number 1 reason to celebrate “Lessons & Carols” this Christmas:

1. To annoy the puritans among us.

(I’m joking… some of my best friends are puritans.)

Themes in Psalm 119

IntroDUCTION

At Christ Reformed in DC we have been studying Psalm 119 together on Wednesday nights via Skype. It’s been beneficial to take a deep dive together on an often neglected song cycle. We’ve been listening to a series of chapel messages from Hywell Jones at Westminster Seminary California (my Alma Mater). As our church’s resident Hebraist I have also been reading the Psalm in Hebrew as we have gone through it. I also spent some time reflecting on the vocabulary of these 22 stanzas to produce a small reference for our members for the synonyms for legal words, as well as some others in Psalm 119. This extended time with the Psalm has caused me to see it in a new and better light after some reflection. This has inspired this post, which is a broader summary of the themes which are prevalent in the Psalm. 

One of the ways we can grow in our understanding of the Psalm is to look at semantic domains. A semantic domain is a way to group words which relate to one another. For example, a recliner, stool, and a barstool all belong in a broader domain of “single person seats.” That “single person seats” category is a domain with other words underneath it. They all share the commonality that they are words for single person seats, but they also have distinct attributes that make them differ for one another. One of the ways Hebrew poetry works is to use these domains to expand on the meaning of the poem and cause the reader or listener to meditate.

When we see the Psalm through these prevalent word domains we see that God’s word to us in Psalm 119 is bigger than we probably realize. The themes of Psalm 119 can be explored by looking at the words which occur and how they occur in the Psalm.

Word and Law

This is the first and perhaps most dominant set of words that define the poems of Psalm 119. This domain can negatively influence our perception of this poetic cycle. Our thoughts of Psalm 119 are often of an idealized life; or of someone who loves something that we find burdensome. I think our impression of these poems are often entirely law based. We think the message is only “do this and live.” And this conception has kept us from seeing the gospel in the Psalm. We find instead when we read the Psalm that the Word of God is not only law, but also gospel:

On two occasions, (vv. 18 & 27) we find the word niplāɂôt translated as “wondrous works” or “wondrous things.” In the first instance the wondrous things are in the Torah, the law as we often translate it. And in the latter it is parallel to the “precepts.” Now these wondrous works are things like the miraculous plagues on Egypt (Ex. 3:20) or to the exodus itself, (Judges 6:13, Micah 7:15, & Neh. 9:17). 

Now why would I mention these wondrous works? Well the first thing to note is that the Word of the Lord in Psalm 119 is not just a list of rules. But also recounting the miraculous deliverance that God makes for his people. The declaration and praise God’s word is not only praise of requirements. 

Another way we see this is the word ɂimrāh translated as “promise” or “word.” Half of the occurrences of this word are in Psalm 119. It is not the usual way to say “word.” It mostly refers to God’s word in the bible with only a handful of exceptions. In Psalm 119 it is always God’s word. 

We see it in three ways, in some verses it isn’t clear from context if requirement or promise is in view, and perhaps one can view these as just invoking revelation in general (vv. 11, 38, 123, 140, 148, & 162). In other places it is very clear that this word is “kept” by behaving correctly, (vv. 67, 133, 158, & 172). In these verses it is often translated “word” instead of “promise.” Lastly, there are the verses where one see that God’s word is the object of trust, or petition, (vv. 41, 50, 58, 76, 82, 116, 154, & 170). In these uses God’s word is a comfort, it gives life, it is something to which the Psalmist can cling; to which we can cling. 

These words about God’s revelation fit together in covenant. On the first level, a covenant with God, imposed by God and his messengers, is revelation of God. In the Mosaic covenant we see God’s standard revealed. We see the standard to which he holds all men in the Ten commandments.

But also, in this covenant the beginning and the end is God’s saving action. This parallels the history of Israel, God saves his people in the Exodus, and this is the people whom he brings to Sinai. He first reveals himself as their saving God, then he gives them another covenant, with requirements and sanctions (as a type of the covenant of works). And the works aspect of the covenant is not something his people can keep, so in that covenant he promises a second Exodus (cf. Deut. 30:1-10), 

If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

DEUT. 30:4-6

This is only an excerpt, but we see that the Exodus and the conquest form the pattern for future action of God to deliver his people again. 

Recently when teaching on the covenant of works, I used the metaphor of Adam and Israel’s story rhyming. Israel is given the land, not salvation itself but types of it, conditionally. A condition they can’t keep. This is why there is need for a second Exodus, because the covenant is breakable. You can think about Jeremiah 31, the difference in that passage between the New Covenant and the Old (Mosaic) covenant is conditionality. The Mosaic gift of the Land is conditioned on Israel’s obedience, the gift of Salvation in Christ is a free gift (Rom. 5) based on Christ keeping the conditions of the law (Gal. 4:4).   

Covenant put in proper perspective that God’s revelation comes to us as both Law and Gospel. Covenant theology also shows us how Law and Gospel relate. The law drives us to Christ, to God’s action to save us. We cannot save ourselves. The Psalmist recognizes this and finishes his cycle, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments” v. 176. It is the action of the God who seeks that he hopes in, that God will seek out his servants according to his promise. 

At the same time the “good life” is firmly for the Psalmist the life of following God’s law. This aspect is what we will discuss in the next section. 

Path and Way

The idea of law and rules have an associated metaphor; the idea of being on a road. That our behavior is a road on which we travel. Or even broader, that our lives have a direction and a path that we set them on by our choices. Another way to say this is that we are pilgrims, travelers. Jesus himself uses this imagery in Matthew 7,

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

MATT. 7:13-14

Psalm 119 reminds us that we are on a way. One way or the other. Every morning we wake up and out feet take us somewhere. Jesus reminds us that the path is difficult and small that leads in the direction of life. Psalm 119 reminds us that our path is illuminated by God’s word (v.105). The way of life, the way of following Jesus, is hard but we can see it clearly in God’s word. It points us to Jesus. 

There are three roads in Psalm 119, God’s (v. 3), the psalmist’s (v. 5), and false roads (v. 29). The psalmist reminds us that he is torn between the false way and the way of God (vv.37 & 101). Surely here is an image with which we can sympathize. We certainly feel the pull between mortification and vivification, between the way of the flesh and that of the Spirit. We may be uncomfortable with the language of the law being “the way.” After all isn’t Jesus the way? My old Seminary professor J. V. Fesko might be able to square this circle for us, 

The law in its normative use is not the actual road upon which we travel, but the guardrails on either side of the road. The road on which we travel is Christ. Like guardrails, the law shows us where the path of righteousness lies and keeps us traveling on it.

J. V. FESKO, GALATIANS, LECTIO CONTINUA COMMENTARY SERIES, ON GAL. 3:19-22.  

Christians know that ultimately the “word” which is a lamp is Christ. Christ who is the way in which we walk. Christ is the one who gives us his righteousness as a new creation, a new man (Col. 3; 2 Cor. 5:16-21). One of the ways we see Christ in the Psalm is that he is the Word, he is the sinless savior who perfectly loved and kept God’s law for us. The law shows us what it looks like to conform to Christ. The “guardrails” of the law show us the edges of the way which is Christ, who perfectly kept the law. 

When we see the way of God in Psalm 119 we know that we are seeing Christ concealed in the Old Testament. He kept the law, he did not stray like the Psalmist. In another manner when the Psalmist struggles or desires to follow one path and not the other we are seeing the fight between the dying old man and the life of the new man in Christ. 

Lament and Persecution

Perhaps most surprising to those of us who have an idealized picture of Psalm 119 is to see the language of lament and persecution in Psalm 119. We can remove the humanity from the Psalmist if we think that the Psalm is solely, only, a praise of God’s Law. We disconnect it from our human experience. We will be surprised to find that often the Psalmist praises and petitions God from the standpoint of affliction and persecution. Often for the Psalmist’s love for God’s word, he is persecuted.

The Psalmist loves God’s word in the midst of affliction. In fact it is the promises and word of God that is a comfort to the Psalmist. Think about vv. 114-116,

You are my hiding place and my shield;

I hope in your word.

Depart from me, you evildoers,

that I may keep the commandments of my God.

Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,

and let me not be put to shame in my hope!

PS. 119:114-116

Evildoers are around the Psalmist and he hopes in God’s word, God’s words of promise and comfort. The Psalmist finds God’s word a hiding place, and fortress protecting him from evildoers. He finds the promise of God as a shield that protects him from assaults of the world. That is why he loves God’s word, it comforts him in the midst of the turbulence of life. In a world that seems to not work as it should, in a broken world the Psalmist understands that a promise from God is firm. That he can bank his whole well being on the foundation of God’s word. 

Or consider these verses from Psalm 119,

The wicked ones set a snare for me

And from your precepts I have not strayed.

I inherited your testimonies forever

for they are joy for my heart

PS. 119:110-111—(translation mine)

We see that the Psalmist is being hunted, they’ve set a snare. They are luring him into danger. But he sees clearly the path he should take, he doesn’t stray. The way is hard, persecution is making it harder, but he knows the way to go. 

These verses remind me of the story of Daniel. Daniel was trapped by other officials. They exploited his convictions against idolatry. They set a snare by making Daniel choose between faithfulness to his God and to the country he served. Ultimately Daniel is sentenced to the lions den for not committing idolatry. God preserves Daniel in this story. Ultimately, we know that even if God does not shut the mouth of the lions in this world, the fangs of death have been removed by Christ (Isa. 25, 1 Cor. 15). 

Returning to the Psalmist, his love for God’s word isn’t conditioned by blessing but refined by trials and persecutions. He isn’t living in some unreal world where he gets everything he wants because of his love for God’s word. Instead, he lives in a dangerous world, with the world, the flesh, and the devil trying to lead him down the path that ends in destruction. This is the real world, our world, and in this world we too have the joy of the testimonies, the word of God’s salvation. 

These testimonies, refer to the stipulations of a covenant. The psalmist inherits an eternal relationship with his creator. This document, these provisions, though they may seem distant, are a joy to the Psalmist. These testimonies are written down and they are the Psalmist joy in the midst of trials. We too can point to God’s work in Christ, to the new covenant and our place in it in Christ as our source of comfort and joy, and this new covenant has testimonies written for us in a New Testament (or another translation, a new covenant). 

Priesthood and Ritual

One of the things we discussed a bit in our study of Psalm 119, was the lack of any priestly language. Instead of seeing the psalmist write about keeping the temple, in his Psalm the laws and word of God are kept. Instead of bringing offerings of rams and sheep, there are freewill offerings of words:

Please accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Yahweh

and your judgements, teach me.

PS. 119:108—(translation mine)

The offerings that the Psalmist offers God are words. In response to the sure words of God the Psalmist offers his words. A freewill offering is something you offer as thankful praise, after freely fulfilling an obligation like a vow. It is gratefulness to the Lord for his care and provision. Out of the thankfulness of the Psalmist’s heart words overflow in praise. 

Another time we see such praises is in the final stanza, 

My lips will gush Psalms 

for you teach me your statutes

My tongue will sing your word

for all your commandments are right.

PS. 119:171-172—(translation mine)

Ultimately the Psalmist’s thankfulness overflows with singing and declaring God’s word. Because the Lord taught him, for the Lord taught him commandment which are right.

Some translations obscure the force of these verses, in v. 171 the word is the same as the title for the “Psalms.” And in 172, the tongue sings God’s word. There is no indication that the Psalmist is singing “about” God’s word, or “of” God’s word. These Psalms where made to be used in the Old Covenant people of God and they continue to have their home in the worship of God’s new covenant people. These Psalms are our words of prayer, praise, lament, confession words that we, like the Psalmist, can sing back to God. 

Instead of the sacrificial system, the psalm is focused on the word. Surely God’s word contains instructions for the temple and sacrificial system; the sacrifices are a crucial part of the teaching of that word. But, it is not the focus here, the Psalmist is appealing directly to God to keep him from straying, the Psalmist understands that the temple, and the sacrifices pointed him to his relationship with the God of Israel. 

This song cycle of Psalm 119 is placed between two collections that are focused on sacrifice and temple. Before Psalm 119 there are the Hallel Psalms (113-118), associated with Passover. After Psalm 119 begin the Psalms of Ascent (120-134). Passover features the sacrifice of a Lamb, and a meal remembering God’s salvation in the Exodus. The Psalms of ascent are pilgrimage Psalms for approaching the temple. 

Yet, Psalm 119 at very best has allusions to these realities. One possibility is that this Psalm was written when the types were taken away, the temple destroyed, and Judah was exiled. There is great comfort in a record, a contract, with the true God. How much more would someone exiled cling to the word, when the types were taken away. In fact from history we know that synagogues developed as places for study of the Hebrew Scriptures. The word was a great comfort and source of identity for the Psalmist. As it should be to us, we have the much fuller word in Christ. We should cling to the pages in which Christ speaks to us, and speaks “Do not be afraid.” 

Zacharias Ursinus, one of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism once commented on Q&A 1,

The design is, that we may be led to the attainment of sure and solid comfort, both in life and death. On this account, all divine truth has been revealed by God, and is especially to be studied by us.

URSINUS, ZACHARIUS, COMMENTARY ON THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM. LORD’S DAY 1, QUESTION 1.

Conclusion

This word of comfort is plentifully contained in Psalm 119, we see it revealed to us in the Word. We see the path our savior walked, the narrow way, in the words of the law. We see that in the midst of persecution, we can lament this persecution but also trust in the promise of God to deliver us in Christ. This promise is a great comfort in the midst of our own broken lives, full of lament. God is always near to us in his word, even as we live as “elect exiles” in this world (1 Peter 1:1). On our pilgrim journeys to a better country we can trust that Christ is near to us in his word, and that it testifies to us no one loves us more than he (Belgic Confession 26). Nothing else could motivate us towards clinging to this word and following Christ but gratefulness for such a great savior. 

Preaching the Psalms Sequentially: 8 Practical Benefits

This article was originally published at Christian Renewal Magazine.

The Psalms series referenced in this article is available in our sermon archive.

I became a Calvinist in the Religious Studies Department at Stanford University. That’s my favorite proof for the sovereignty of God… and also one of my excuses for why at age 46 I’m still learning anew many of the remarkable contours of my adopted theological tradition. Most notably, the power and beauty of the Psalms in Christian worship.

Baptized and educated as a Roman Catholic, I migrated with my family out of the Roman church when I was about twelve years old, into the wild west of evangelical Christianity. By the time I reached college my interest in the philosophy and theology of Søren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth left me wondering what the boundaries of evangelical faith were, or if there even were any. A related interest in questions about free will and predestination led my undergraduate thesis adviser to direct me to Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will and John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. I never looked back.

At the time this remarkable transformation in my faith was taking place, I knew very little about the Psalms. To my mind, Reformed theology was roughly identical to the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God. Gradually I discovered the means of grace, ecclesiology, and catechesis. I suppose I had read the psalms as much as any part of the Bible, probably more because of their bite-sized beauty. But they held no special place in either my old evangelical faith and worship or my newly adopted Reformed faith. 

I learned in seminary as a matter of church history that psalms had a special place in the worship of the Reformed churches, and I learned to love the close study of Hebrew poetry. But it was only as a minister and worship leader over the last eleven years that I have finally begun to appreciate the power of the Psalms to shape Christian prayer and worship; the prominence of the Psalms in the Reformed tradition; and as a result, the extent to which the Psalms have shaped the Reformed tradition in particular. 

Early in my ministry, I preached a series of 20 sermons through the Psalms. The idea was to introduce my congregation to the Psalter, preaching on psalms from each of the five books and illustrating the various forms of praise, confession, lament. Naturally, I preached on many of the best-known psalms, 1, 22, 23, 32, 110, 119, 150. 

A few years later, I was struck by the idea of preaching through all 150 Psalms sequentially, and in January of 2013, I began doing so. Obviously, one downside of preaching all 150 Psalms in order is that the series can run to three years in length — or more if you take your time with Psalm 119. While there’s nothing wrong with a long sermon series, lack of variety in the sermon diet can be challenging for some congregants. 

Thus, I decided to preach an annual set of about 10 – 15 sermons. This year I preached Psalms 42–51 over the summer months, the opening of Book II. Lord willing, I’ll finish preaching through the psalter in about another decade or so. It’s one of my small personal goals in ministry. 

I have no data to back this up, but I suspect that preaching through the psalms in order is fairly rare. The longer I do it, however, the more I’m convinced that this should be a more common practice. Here are a few advantages I have found:

1. Preaching the whole Psalter teaches us how to Praise God. The Hebrew title for the Psalter is “The Book of Praises,” despite the fact that we find more songs of lament and confession than songs of praise in the Psalter. In fact, as you read through the Psalter, you see a progression from more lament to more praise, with a climax of Praise in Psalms 146 – 150. In a sense, the Psalter teaches us how we can move from lament to praise in our own lives, how we can Praise God in the midst of life’s struggles. 

2. Understanding the argument of the whole Psalter deepens our knowledge of God’s word. Recent decades have seen a flowering of both academic and lay literature that views the psalter as a unified collection with an argument that progresses from Introduction (Psalm1-2) to Conclusion (Psalm145-150) through each of its five books. Understanding this unity and flow add greatly to the understanding of individual psalms, and can bring great pleasure to even the most experienced psalm readers. This summer, we accompanied our series with a mid-week study through W. Robert Godfrey’s Learning to Love the Psalms, which our congregation thoroughly enjoyed. 

3. Reading Psalms in their individual context enlarges our appreciation for each psalm. Most Christians read each psalm as an isolated unit. However, when you begin to read the Psalter as a carefully structured collection, you see that there are often interesting relationships between neighboring psalms. This summer, I noted that Psalm 42-43 (I agree with those who believe they are originally a single composition) and Psalm 44 deal with dark seasons in Israel’s history, first individually then corporately. Then Psalm 45 was a royal marriage song, shifting our attention to the beauty and glory of the Lord’s anointed — quite an answer to Israel’s darkness. Likewise, Psalm 49 is a wisdom psalm warning the rich and powerful of their pride, and Psalm 50 was a song of God’s coming judgment. This pair is followed of course by Psalm 51, David’s great song of confession following his sin with Bathsheba, made all the more poignant when you see that the King had as it were been warned by the preceding psalms.

4. Preaching rare, unfamiliar, or difficult Psalms broadens our perspective on the Psalter. It’s natural for preachers to gravitate to more familiar, more beautiful, or more “important” Psalms when selecting texts to preach. But in preaching the psalms selectively we tend not to preach the whole counsel of God, and we overlook many psalms we’re just not very familiar with. Often in wrestling with these unfamiliar psalms you can see beautiful facets of God’s revelation.

5. Preaching the entire psalter connects us with the people of God through history. Reading through the entire Psalter in a regular cycle (weekly for many monastics, or monthly) has been a regular practice in Synagogue and church. It is a discipline that, if practiced regularly, deeply enriches our vocabulary for prayer and song in church and home. Modeling this through a consecutive sermon series is a great way to introduce the practice to God’s people. 

6. Preaching the whole Psalter helps us sing the Psalter with understanding. When I preach a psalm, we always try to sing that psalm. Some are more difficult to sing, with unfamiliar music than others. But gradually we are exposed to more psalm tunes and broaden our selection of familiar psalms to sing. And when we return to them in subsequent services, we can sing them with a deeper anchor to their main points, which ultimately makes the sung worship of God’s people more significant for them. 

7. Preaching the Psalter sequentially improves our prayer life. The psalms are inspired prayers, and the more of them we are familiar with, the better. As a pastor and a student of God’s word, I often don’t “get” a psalm until I take the time to study it deeply and preach it to God’s people. Likewise, God’s people may not get the thrust or logic of many of these prayers without hearing a well-constructed sermon. Our prayer language is weak, and we can always use more biblical instruction in how to pray. 

8. Preaching the whole Psalter lends balance to our view of the Christian life.  The preponderance of laments in the Psalter reminds us that the life of the faithful in this world is a life of pilgrims and sojourners, often filled with difficulty and struggle. Modern Christians are often drawn to the cheerful and upbeat; we desire optimistic sermons, even if we’re not listening to Joel Osteen teach us how to have “Our Best Life Now.” If we preach the Psalter selectively, we may naturally gravitate to preaching more positive, upbeat Psalms. The discipline of preaching the entire Psalter selectively, however, ensures that we cover the whole inspired range of emotions in the psalms, and serves as a corrective to the view that the church is full of “shiny, happy people.” 

I’m sure there are more benefits to be found in preaching through the entire psalter, and I’m sure that after another 99 sermons (including Psalm 119) I’ll have unearthed a few more of them. The Psalter is a rich resource, too often neglected in the Christian church. Thankfully, its place has been well preserved in our Reformed tradition, and I believe we should do a better job of proclaiming this part of God’s word to those who have largely forgotten it.

A Review of The Museum of the Bible

This article was originally published in Christian Renewal Magazine.

Do You Know The Story of the Bible?

Do you know the story of the Bible? I’m afraid most people don’t.

Not only its content, the broad plot, the redemptive thread running from Genesis to Revelation, but the story of its origin. The story of its sources, its peoples, its cultures. The story of its transmission and impact in the world. 

The Museum of the Bible aims to tell that story, and on the whole, it does a remarkable job. It is, of course, a big story, spanning thousands of years and millions of artifacts. And the Museum of the Bible is a big museum, spanning 450,000 square feet over seven floors and sparing no expense, reportedly costing upwards of $500 million. It is a beautiful museum.

Of course, the vast majority of people don’t know the story of the Bible. Educated citizens today are told a very bigoted, dismissive version of the Bible’s story, and on the whole believe the Bible is a hodgepodge of myths with no grounding whatsoever in history. 

And herein, I believe, lies the greatest value of the museum: It brings visitors face to face with the Bible as a cultural artifact. The museum reminds us of the historical character of the events the Bible recounts, and of the Bible’s tremendous role in shaping the world in which we live. The museum successfully avoids outright evangelism, but it does engage in what I would characterize as pre-apologetics, preparing the soil for an otherwise secular visitor to pick up the Bible and read it in a new light. As familiarity with the Bible in our culture continues to fade — both inside and outside the church — I think this will be of increasing value.

Of course, while I believe the Bible is inspired, this museum isn’t. There is a critical word to say about the Museum of the Bible, but I’ll reserve it to the end of this review so it doesn’t drown out all the good that can be said.

What’s Inside? An Overview

I repeat, this is a large museum. I failed to view all its exhibits over the course of two visits and five total hours. While the museum has a suggested donation of $15, entrance is free of charge, which is remarkable given this is a private museum with a large price tag. What follows is a quick overview from top to bottom. 

The sixth floor has a glass-enclosed gallery with beautiful views of the Capitol, as well as the biblically themed fast-casual “Manna Restaurant” and a biblical garden. I didn’t sample the food, but heard it is excellent. The fifth floor contains a theater, currently hosting “Amazing Grace,” a Broadway musical telling the story of John Newton and the writing of the famous hymn. There are also a collection of smaller galleries. An archeology exhibit from the Israeli Antiquities Authority sets the context of ancient life in Canaan, while there is an art exhibit showing how themes of Ecclesiastes were demonstrated in early modern art. It appears as though these galleries may rotate exhibits over time.

Explanatory videos, computer reconstructions, and live action documentary films throughout the museum are of extremely high quality and production value. There is a bit of History Channel-esque “Edu-tainment” aspect to many of the videos, but no more than you will find in many mainstream museums today. On the whole, I was impressed that the museum avoided the cheesy or smarmy factor that sometimes imbues religiously themed productions. It seems to be aimed, successfully, at the mid-level visitor and at families, avoiding both elitism and populism in its presentation. Scholars will no doubt find nits to pick, as they always do (more on that later). 

The fourth floor is dedicated to the History of the Bible. This is the heart of the museum, and attempts to trace the story of the text of the Bible from early oral traditions, manuscripts, the transmission of the text, and finally modern translations. It covers everything from the Dead Sea Scrolls to medieval manuscripts to renaissance and reformation flowering of translations and editions. There is a large section dedicated to Torah scrolls, describing their production and use in synagogues. This is a large and impressive collection of texts, richly displayed and described. 

The third floor attempts to tell the stories of the Bible. I didn’t have time view the New Testament story, which is told via an animated short. The Hebrew Bible story is told via a narrated “experience” whereby walk from room to room, hear narration, see video and various other multimedia experiences. It is not a bad attempt to condense the Old Testament into a thirty minute narrative. The other element on this floor is “The World of Jesus of Nazareth,” a reproduction of a Galilean village. This type of thing is not exactly my cup of tea — it felt a bit more like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbeanthan a museum exhibit. But it did give my daughter a very concrete feel for a biblical setting, not unlike other living history exhibits.

The second floor covers the impact of the Bible, both in America and in the world. It is of much more mixed value than the history of the Bible section, though there is a very interesting mock-up of a Gutenberg Press where demonstrations are regularly conducted. I worried that the “Bible in America” might tell a narrow story of a Christian America, but was pleased to find that it mostly avoided that. What you do get here is an impressive set of mostly historic texts that illustrate the role the Bible played in our nation’s European settlement, founding, and development. The great awakening, slavery, civil rights movement each receive some treatment. Obviously, this is not a comprehensive history, and historians will find room to quibble, but the thread of Scripture’s role through phases of America’s development is clearly presented. 

A series of video presentations demonstrate the museum’s effort to strive for balance. Actors are presented on stage reading the founders presenting diverse views on Scripture on topics ranging from revolution to government to the Bible: Jefferson vs. Adams, Seabury vs. Franklin, Washington vs. Rush. These displays effectively teach that there were a diversity of views on religion in our founding, which was far from monolithic in its approach to Christianity.

One of the kitschier elements of the entire museum is the “Washington Revelations Flyboard Ride” ($8 fee). This is the type of thing I’d never do in a museum, but for the sake of this review my daughter insisted I give it a try (there were only a few other people who joined me, so I doubt this will be very popular). The ride transports you in magic carpet fashion around the Washington, D.C., identifying the prominent places where scripture and scriptural themes are on display, from the Supreme Court to the Capitol building to the Washington Monument.   

There are a handful of smaller temporary galleries on the main lobby level, including a collection of mostly reproductions from the Vatican Museums and Vatican Library, as well as an exhibit from the Jewish Historical Museum. Along with the involvement of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, these efforts clearly represent the museum’s desire to appear to be ecumenical in its presentation. There’s also a Children’s Gallery, basically a play room for kids to blow off steam.

Finally, there is a basement level, with three smaller galleries. One of the galleries traces the story of John Newton and the writing of “Amazing Grace,” while another presents an art exhibit of sculptures of stations of the cross. Finally, an archeological exhibit “In the Valley of David & Goliath” can be accessed for an additional charge of $8. This is a fairly small traveling exhibit of artifacts from an architectural dig near the believed historic site of the biblical battle between David and Goliath. This significance of this dig is that it purports to demonstrate an early, literate, monarchic culture at approximately 1,000 BC, near the time of King David, which is much earlier than many scholars have argued for. Clearly, this exhibit purports to make a case for a historic setting as presented in Scripture.

Reaction and Critique

As the length of this very cursory review indicates, there is something for everybody at the Museum of the Bible. But does it work? Is it worth the time and effort, especially when there are so many other remarkable attractions to see during a short stay in Washington, D.C.?

On the whole, I believe the museum does work, and I could see the value of adding it to a week-long itinerary in DC. It is, in itself, a remarkable project, in scale, in quality, and in scope. Some parts of the museum feel more like filler than museum exhibits — bright, shiny objects designed to fill space and entertain, rather than educate. Some of the press at the opening suggested that criticism and stumbles in development of the museum led to a shift in focus during development, and the unevenness of the exhibits bears this out. 

Finally, not to be taken lightly is the aforementioned matter of scholarly criticism, detailed in many articles at the museum’s launch and in a book length treatment, “Bible Nation: The United States of Hobby Lobby.” The Green Family, the Hobby Lobby billionaires behind the museum, have been criticized for their acquisition of items of questionable provenance. It further appears that they shipped materials from the Middle East to the United States without appropriately declaring the items, and have entered into a multi-million settlement with the U.S. Government. Additional criticisms include the enforcement of non-disclosure agreements with scholars, whereby you are prohibited from saying anything negative about the museum if you study their materials or artifacts. There are other issues of concern as well, including claims that artifacts that don’t support the argument of the museum are excluded and kept out of circulation and scholarly examination.

Bottom line, critics allege that the story of the Bible told at the museum is not comprehensive, but selective. It is not the consensus story of academic scholars, but the believing story of faithful adherents, people who are committed to an broadly orthodox and traditional portrayal of the Bible’s development. Because critical voices are excluded, the claim is that the Bible museum isn’t so much educational as it is propagandistic. It tells a particular story of the Bible, and not necessarily the whole story. 

This is a serious charge, and it should be taken seriously. There is of course no such thing as an entirely neutral take on the Bible. The question Satan puts to Eve in Genesis, “Has God really said?” rings in the ear of every student of the Bible. But in my view, an orthodox view of Scripture should stand up to the most rigorous of scholarly cross-examination. A Christian view of history should be a historical view of history. I hope the Museum of the Bible pursues the highest standards of scholarly integrity in all of its efforts going forward, and recognizes that shortcuts which call that integrity into question will only undercut its apologetic value.

Here’s an analogy:

Across the mall from the Museum of the Bible is the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, in which there is an exhibit of human origins that most decidedly excludes a theistic understanding of Creation ex nihilo. It is a most engaging exhibit, and you can get your picture taken and find out what you would have looked like as a Neanderthal. The exhibit has an agenda, to make the case for a strictly naturalistic and materialistic development of human life on earth. Likewise, the Museum of the Bible has an agenda, to make the case for the Bible as an utterly unique holy book. 

Caveat visitor!