Psalm Meditation 485
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 4, 2009
Psalm 43
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; from those who are deceitful and unjust deliver me!
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you cast me off? Why must I walk about mournfully because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
(NRSV)
In order to learn a new skill the person who has been doing it for us has to step back and let us make the attempt on our own. Whether our benefactor stands with us as we work it out or walks away and leaves us to succeed or fail on our own we will still feel abandoned. Whether God has actually walked away from the psalmist or simply stood back for a moment we don’t know. We do know that the psalmist feels abandoned by God and left to deal with these enemies alone.
My experience has been that God is much more likely to have stepped back than to have walked away completely. While the psalmist feels as if God is absent the conversation continues to be with God. God is somewhere within earshot and is invited to respond, “Polo” to the psalmist’s “Marco.” In the back and forth of call and response we find our way back to the presence of God. We find ourselves richer and our relationship with God deeper as we discover new skills and strengths within ourselves and new appreciation for the presence of God.
While the sense of abandonment can be deep and depressing it can motivate us to take off our blinders and look in and around ourselves for ways God is newly present to us. In the searching we find that, while we will always be dependent on God, we are a step closer to an interdependent relationship with God.
© September 28, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Psalm Meditation 484
Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 27, 2009
Psalm 18:1-6,16-28
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
16 He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.
24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
26 with the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
27 For you deliver a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 It is you who light my lamp; the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.
(NRSV)
Of the fifty verses of this psalm one of them jumped out at me more enthusiastically than the rest and I confess to editing the psalm for the sake of verse 25. It serves as a reminder that God is bigger than any one of us and likely bigger than all of us taken together. Because God is so big and broad and grand we are able to see in God whatever we bring to the relationship with God.
When I place emphasis on the importance of being loyal to God I discover that God has greater reserves of loyalty on which to draw than I can even imagine. God is there for me at every turn both calling me to deeper loyalty and demonstrating what it means to be ever more loyal in a relationship. When I decide that it is of great importance that I be blameless I find that God is ever and always above reproach. When I strive to be pure I find that God is modeling purity and encouraging me to make the choices that will keep me pure. When I become cynical, knowing that God can’t possibly be as good as all that I discover that God is not always consistent and that God has a temper and that God sometimes walks away in the middle of a conversation. It turns out that whatever I bring to the relationship with God it is already there.
Is God that fickle and changeable that whatever I bring is there to meet me, or is God the mirror of my mood who meets me where I am and invites me to grow deeper and wider in our relationship? Our moods and attitudes spring from the well of God’s bountiful grace. Whatever we feel has its beginnings in God in some way. When I emphasize blamelessness and purity God leads me service and understanding. When I bring my anger and cynicism God points me to injustice and the ways I might help make them right. What I bring God meets and augments with something that will deepen our relationship as well as the relationships I have with those around me.
© September 21, 2009
Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 27, 2009
Psalm 18:1-6,16-28
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so I shall be saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
16 He reached down from on high, he took me; he drew me out of mighty waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.
24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the loyal you show yourself loyal; with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
26 with the pure you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
27 For you deliver a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 It is you who light my lamp; the LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.
(NRSV)
Of the fifty verses of this psalm one of them jumped out at me more enthusiastically than the rest and I confess to editing the psalm for the sake of verse 25. It serves as a reminder that God is bigger than any one of us and likely bigger than all of us taken together. Because God is so big and broad and grand we are able to see in God whatever we bring to the relationship with God.
When I place emphasis on the importance of being loyal to God I discover that God has greater reserves of loyalty on which to draw than I can even imagine. God is there for me at every turn both calling me to deeper loyalty and demonstrating what it means to be ever more loyal in a relationship. When I decide that it is of great importance that I be blameless I find that God is ever and always above reproach. When I strive to be pure I find that God is modeling purity and encouraging me to make the choices that will keep me pure. When I become cynical, knowing that God can’t possibly be as good as all that I discover that God is not always consistent and that God has a temper and that God sometimes walks away in the middle of a conversation. It turns out that whatever I bring to the relationship with God it is already there.
Is God that fickle and changeable that whatever I bring is there to meet me, or is God the mirror of my mood who meets me where I am and invites me to grow deeper and wider in our relationship? Our moods and attitudes spring from the well of God’s bountiful grace. Whatever we feel has its beginnings in God in some way. When I emphasize blamelessness and purity God leads me service and understanding. When I bring my anger and cynicism God points me to injustice and the ways I might help make them right. What I bring God meets and augments with something that will deepen our relationship as well as the relationships I have with those around me.
© September 21, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Psalm Meditation 483
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 20, 2009
Psalm 142
1 With my voice I cry to the LORD; with my voice I make supplication to the LORD.
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit is faint, you know my way. In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look on my right hand and see-- there is no one who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for me.
5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
6 Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.
(NRSV)
There is something helpful about a lament. It is cathartic, a way of gathering up all the energy around this terrible event and throwing it into the presence of God where it can be drained off and robbed of its deep pain. One of the pictures that comes to my mind is that of an old movie in which the heroine stands beating the chest of the hero until she collapses in his arms in tears. A sexist image, I know. Put yourself in the place of the heroine and God in the hero position and you have an image of the power and purpose of the lament.
God is not offended, put off or angry with us when we stand beating on God’s chest in some form. In order to beat on the chest of God we have to be close and God is glad to have us close. In many cases the act of yelling and beating on the chest of God is all we need; the opportunity to get it out in the open. God is grateful to be trusted with our hurts and fears because those often give rise to hope and newness. God loves to be around when we discover newness in and around us.
God is not afraid of our anger or our sadness. We have been given these emotions as a gift to deal with parts of our lives and the lives of those around us. They are scary to face alone so God is with us and has given us the gift of each other so that we might be together even when, or is it especially when, we feel as if we are the only ones who have ever or will ever face a situation like this. Beat on the chest of God knowing that the only way you can do that is by being close.
© September 14, 2009
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 20, 2009
Psalm 142
1 With my voice I cry to the LORD; with my voice I make supplication to the LORD.
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit is faint, you know my way. In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look on my right hand and see-- there is no one who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for me.
5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
6 Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
7 Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.
(NRSV)
There is something helpful about a lament. It is cathartic, a way of gathering up all the energy around this terrible event and throwing it into the presence of God where it can be drained off and robbed of its deep pain. One of the pictures that comes to my mind is that of an old movie in which the heroine stands beating the chest of the hero until she collapses in his arms in tears. A sexist image, I know. Put yourself in the place of the heroine and God in the hero position and you have an image of the power and purpose of the lament.
God is not offended, put off or angry with us when we stand beating on God’s chest in some form. In order to beat on the chest of God we have to be close and God is glad to have us close. In many cases the act of yelling and beating on the chest of God is all we need; the opportunity to get it out in the open. God is grateful to be trusted with our hurts and fears because those often give rise to hope and newness. God loves to be around when we discover newness in and around us.
God is not afraid of our anger or our sadness. We have been given these emotions as a gift to deal with parts of our lives and the lives of those around us. They are scary to face alone so God is with us and has given us the gift of each other so that we might be together even when, or is it especially when, we feel as if we are the only ones who have ever or will ever face a situation like this. Beat on the chest of God knowing that the only way you can do that is by being close.
© September 14, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Psalm Meditation 482
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 13, 2009
Psalm 117
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples!
2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
For as long as there have been books folks have been writing about how much God loves us. Even in the times during which the emphasis has been on God’s judgment, someone has written about how much God loves us and how faithful and steadfast God is about sharing that love with each one of us. There have been volumes written and there is still more to write as we continue to discover new ways in which God loves us. The psalmist realizes that to go into detail is not necessary. It is enough to invite us to offer our praise and leave the details of that praise to each one of us.
Today, throughout this week and into the rest of our lives we do well to keep our eyes, hearts and lives open to the ways God invites is into relationships based in the steadfast love of God. As we experience God’s love for us we may find that we more readily accept the invitation of the psalmist to praise the LORD.
© September 7, 2009
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 13, 2009
Psalm 117
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples!
2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
For as long as there have been books folks have been writing about how much God loves us. Even in the times during which the emphasis has been on God’s judgment, someone has written about how much God loves us and how faithful and steadfast God is about sharing that love with each one of us. There have been volumes written and there is still more to write as we continue to discover new ways in which God loves us. The psalmist realizes that to go into detail is not necessary. It is enough to invite us to offer our praise and leave the details of that praise to each one of us.
Today, throughout this week and into the rest of our lives we do well to keep our eyes, hearts and lives open to the ways God invites is into relationships based in the steadfast love of God. As we experience God’s love for us we may find that we more readily accept the invitation of the psalmist to praise the LORD.
© September 7, 2009
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