Paying Tribute to Jesus
4th December 2022
But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,
that you may declare the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This week Helen and I went to see Australian Pink Floyd in concert at Symphony Hall. In case you don’t instantly recognise the name, Pink Floyd were perhaps the leading progressive rock band in the 1970s, and their album Dark Side of the Moon is the third best selling album of all time. As their name suggests, Australian Pink Floyd are a tribute band from Australia who play Pink Floyd’s music, thus paying tribute to them.
And that’s exactly what they did for over two hours, and it was great (although it is fair to say that I enjoyed it more than Helen did). They played classic after classic, faithfully rendered and – almost – note perfect. They hardly said a word themselves. One of the band did speak, but only twice, once to explain that there was going to be a break and later that we were near the end. They didn’t even introduce the members of the band. It was all about Pink Floyd. Well, I suppose that’s the job of a tribute band: to pay tribute to their heroes.
You could say that the church is a kind of tribute band, with one task: paying tribute to our hero Jesus Christ. We bear his name, the name ‘Christian’, singing the songs he’s given us to sing, faithfully rendering them without adding anything in or taking anything out or making any alterations to the words or the music, let alone ‘creating’ any new songs as if they were from him, and barely drawing attention to ourselves. It’s all about Jesus Christ. (I’m grateful to John Stevens for the analogy of the tribute band in an Evangelicals Now column).
We may feel that the rest of the world isn’t listening, and indeed often they’re not, just as the world outside Symphony Hall on Monday night was oblivious to the excellencies of what they were missing inside the hall. But one day “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them” will not only hear but also join in the eternal song of praise, giving glory “to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb” (Revelation 5:13).
Joy to the earth, the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains,
repeat the sounding joy…
(from Joy to the World, Isaac Watts)
Lord, thank you for calling us out of darkness into your marvellous light; help us to declare your praises faithfully, clearly and boldly. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)