Step Right This Way

Psalm 66
Walk among the sideshows at the circus or at the fair and you may find yourself enticed by the cries of the carnival barker. A barker, of course, is the person whose job it is to drum up a crowd, to build interest, and to generate as much business for the sideshow as possible. “Hurry, hurry, step right this way. Don’t you dare miss the awesome wonder that is the four-headed cow,” he might say. Or the bearded lady, or the frozen mermaid, or the man-eating geranium. And if we are willing to let ourselves believe the unbelievable, we will pay our money and take a look at what we know cannot be true. For a carnival barker to be effective, he or she must display enough enthusiasm to overcome our natural skepticism, to make us do something that we would not normally do.

Psalm 66:5 has the ring of a carnival barker to it. “Come and see what God has done,” it calls to us. “(H)e is awesome in his deeds among mortals.” There is a great deal of enthusiasm here for what God is doing in the midst of God’s people. “Look here! Step right up! Don’t you dare miss the awesome deeds of God!” What deeds are these? Well for one thing, says the psalmist, God “turned the sea into dry land; (God’s people) passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him, who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations…” (vv. 6-7). And again––later in the psalm––we are told to “come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him… (T)ruly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer” (vv. 16, 19).

Call this evangelism Israelite style. It is a charismatic cry to the people to put aside any doubts they might have harbored and to listen to what God has done, both on a grand scale, and on a personal level. It is the sort of invitation offered by Paul throughout the Roman empire as he called men and women to hear and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the sort of invitation offered by countless saints throughout the generations as they shared their own stories and called others to believe as well. It is the sort of invitation that we, too, are called on to offer to the world, baptizing and making disciples, working to overcome the skepticism the confronts our message.

The invitation of the psalmist, and of Paul, and of the church in all generations is an invitation to praise the living God. “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth,” we read, “sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds” (vv. 1-3a). When we can respond to God with praise, when we can marvel at God’s awesome works in our midst, then for us the skepticism is less acute. When our hearts are full of praise and worship, then they are also ready to work and minister in God’s name, to feed the hungry, to revive the dispirited, to comfort the distressed, to house the homeless, then we are ready to enthusiastically invite others to come and see what God has done.

The carnival barkers do not remain in one place long. They follow the circus, or head to the next fair, and they take with them the four-headed cow, and the frozen mermaid. The God of all creation remains in our midst and invites us to remain at work with enthusiasm calling others to join in.

Prayer: Lord, guide us by your word and your will to serve you faithfully in all that we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.