“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things.” — Psalm 98:1

Psalm 98 is a remarkable Psalm, and according to an ancient Christian tradition, it is a Christmas Psalm, an Old Testament text that is appropriate for reading at this time of year.

What’s Christmassy about it, you might ask. Read through it: there are no shepherds or wise men, no virgin birth or prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in Bethlehem, as we can find plentifully in other passages of the Old Testament. So why read Psalm 98 in the time of advent leading up to Christmas? Why spend precious advent time looking into Psalm 98?

Why? It’s always important to know why we do what we do, especially during a season like this when we’re all behaving oddly according to customs we grew up with. My wife and I took our kids to the store a few weeks ago to buy a Christmas tree, and all along the way, the little elves kept up the questions:

Why are we going to put a tree inside our house?
Why is that man using a chain saw to cut the end off the tree?
What does this have to do with baby Jesus?
Why did you yell at that man who changed lanes?
Why do we put decorations on the tree?
Why are we hanging colored lights all over the outside of our house?
Why don’t we hang a lot more colored lights?

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