"The Lord is Good"

By Vicar Shaw

            “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Psalm 100

            June 14 was the first time in almost three months that we have had Sunday morning worship services at Trinity. It has been such a blessing to see many of you at church since then and I thank the Lord that we will continue to have opportunities to be at church in the weeks to come.

            Psalm 100 was the Psalm appointed for June 14, our first Sunday back at church, and what a fitting Psalm it is for us as we begin our gradual return to worship at Trinity! We’ve been unable to make a joyful noise to the Lord in His house for so long because of this pandemic and have anxiously awaited the time when it would be safe to do once again. Thankfully, we are now able to come into His presence with singing just as the Psalm declares! It’s true that our worship services look very different than before with all the safety precautions we have to take, but we want to be as safe as we possibly can out of love for one another. It will take some time for us to adjust and even more time yet before we can safely have church services as we did before this pandemic, but I thank the Lord that we can once again enter His house of worship safely and grow in our faith together through the hearing of His Word and receiving of His gifts.

            Psalm 100 ends with these words, “Give thanks to [God]; bless His name! For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). Together, we thank the Lord because He is good to us and His love endures forever. This was true for us before we were able to come to church, is true now, and this truth will remain into the future too. The Lord has been with us before we could come back to church, is with us now, and He will continue to be with us for all time. God has always been faithful to us, is faithful to us now, and will continue to be faithful to us in the future even though we don’t deserve it.

            This is what the good news of the cross and empty tomb are all about. For God sent His Son to live, die, and rise again even while we were weak, sinners, and enemies of God (Romans 5:6-8). We do not deserve the Lord’s goodness, steadfast love, and faithfulness, yet He is all of these things and gives them to us because He loves us.

            We thank the Lord for guiding us and keeping us safe as we return to worship at Trinity. Our Lord has truly been helping us through this pandemic by strengthening our faith with His Word and promises. He continues to do the same even now as we worship Him in His house. And no matter what happens, we can be confident that the Lord will continue to be good to us because that is simply what our God is. The Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.