Tom Fettke (1941-) spent a lifetime in choral music as a music instructor and church choir director. As former director of a church choir in California, Tom asked choir member Linda Johnson if she would be willing to transpose Psalm 8 into lyrical form. Since Psalm 8 was his personal favorite, Tom longed to create a musical setting for the choir to sing. Linda consented to help and presented him with a melodic version of the psalm. Tom also worked at a music store. Late one night in 1979, after closing, he sat down at a piano and tinkered with a musical composition to fit Linda’s lyrics. As Tom reflected later, the music began to flow, and “I knew at that time God had chosen to touch this musical creation.” The anthem, “The Majesty and Glory of Thy Name,” has been sung by thousands of church choirs since its 1981 release. I heard it sung recently in a church, and it stirred me deeply.
Praise is the dominant theme in Psalm 8. We are led to praise God as Creator of the universe who has fashioned us with glory and honor. Early in his Christian life, after conversion from agnosticism, C.S. Lewis struggled with the Psalms and their repeated directives to praise God. What kind of deity wants to be told how good and great he is all the time? Lewis came to realize, as he wrote later in Reflections on the Psalms, his misconceptions about God and praise. The Psalmist is simply inviting us to do what all people do when they speak about what they enjoy. “All enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise,” he wrote. We delight in praising whatever we enjoy. Praise completes the enjoyment.
As you reflect on the prayerful words of Psalm 8, expressed in the following lyrics of Tom’s anthem, I suggest that we center today’s prayer in praise. Sometimes, we need to forgo the asking and cut loose with praise. “O Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8.1, 9):