Psalm Meditation 528
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 1, 2010
Psalm 75
1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near. People tell of your wondrous deeds.
2 At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity.
3 When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants, it is I who keep its pillars steady. Selah
4 I say to the boastful, "Do not boast," and to the wicked, "Do not lift up your horn;
5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with insolent neck."
6 For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;
7 but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed; he will pour a draught from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.
9 But I will rejoice forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
(NRSV)
A couple of books have come out in the last few years making the point that several of the folks we see as self-made entrepreneurs have really been the beneficiaries of gifts and choices made by others. They have not made themselves by sweat and luck so much as they have been put in a position to succeed by family and other forces over which they had no control. Rather than being self-made they are where they are by the grace of God.
That they see themselves as self-made and that many others buy into that same idea does not alter the influence of God in their lives. Folks who are willing to give thanks to God for what they have been able to do are often relegated to the sidelines of the movers and shakers as religious nuts. It raises the question; what more could people accomplish if they were willing to give God the credit for their giftedness? Perhaps it really comes down to the realization the those who give God credit in their lives are more willing to share the credit for the success with many others and are not then seen as icons of business.
I have no idea what foaming wine is however it does not appear to be a good thing to drink. Given the choice between foaming wine and rejoicing in God the psalmist chooses to rejoice. Given a particular set of gifts, opportunities and grace people will be able to do great things. Some of those people will take the credit all for themselves while others will share it with those around them. The horn of victory sounds impressive when there is one person blowing on it from the top of the heap. It sounds louder and longer when there are several people sharing in the rejoicing. It sounds better still when God is a part of the sounding of the horn of victory.
© July 26, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Psalm Meditation 527
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 25, 2010
Psalm 50 selected verses
1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 "Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
(NRSV)
If you have ever done something good or polite for someone and they did not acknowledge your act you have an idea of what pushed God’s buttons in this psalm. Folks were going through the motions of sacrifice. They brought the right animals and went through the right motions and walked away unchanged. There were likely folk who performed their sacrifice with a great deal of resentment since they could have used that animal for themselves. In this psalm God reminds people that it is not the animal of sacrifice in which God is interested, God already has access to all the animals in creation. God is interested in receiving thanks from us.
It is often said that God does not need our thanks and praise. At one level this is true. God does not need our thanks and praise any more than we need to be thanked for anything we have done. When we let someone cut in front of us in a line of cars or people there is no law that requires the other to acknowledge our action. It does add a deeper element of joy to the transaction when our small sacrifice is acknowledged.
God will continue to be God and will continue to be gracious and generous and merciful to us no matter how we may respond. This psalm reminds us that the things we receive from God are gifts given out of God’s love for us. There is no requirement that we offer our thanks in return for any of the gifts we receive. We are reminded that as we offer thanks to God and to others we find ourselves more open to and better able to receive other gifts with a deeper sense of gratitude.
© July 19, 2010
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 25, 2010
Psalm 50 selected verses
1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 "Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
(NRSV)
If you have ever done something good or polite for someone and they did not acknowledge your act you have an idea of what pushed God’s buttons in this psalm. Folks were going through the motions of sacrifice. They brought the right animals and went through the right motions and walked away unchanged. There were likely folk who performed their sacrifice with a great deal of resentment since they could have used that animal for themselves. In this psalm God reminds people that it is not the animal of sacrifice in which God is interested, God already has access to all the animals in creation. God is interested in receiving thanks from us.
It is often said that God does not need our thanks and praise. At one level this is true. God does not need our thanks and praise any more than we need to be thanked for anything we have done. When we let someone cut in front of us in a line of cars or people there is no law that requires the other to acknowledge our action. It does add a deeper element of joy to the transaction when our small sacrifice is acknowledged.
God will continue to be God and will continue to be gracious and generous and merciful to us no matter how we may respond. This psalm reminds us that the things we receive from God are gifts given out of God’s love for us. There is no requirement that we offer our thanks in return for any of the gifts we receive. We are reminded that as we offer thanks to God and to others we find ourselves more open to and better able to receive other gifts with a deeper sense of gratitude.
© July 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Psalm Meditation 526
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 18, 2010
Psalm 25
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
6 Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD!
8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who are they that fear the LORD? He will teach them the way that they should choose.
13 They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land.
14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 O guard my life, and deliver me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles.
(NRSV)
All indications are that God loves us beyond our ability to comprehend and we persist in seeing God as one who waits for us to screw up so we can be punished. When I was in high school my mother would ask about my friends use of drugs and alcohol. I remember feeling as if she were grilling me until someone pointed out that perhaps she was asking about my friends out of her love for me. She wanted to keep me from falling in with folks who might lead me into actions I would certainly regret later. Once I figured that out I was much more willing to answer her questions. Though I imagine it will be disputed by many loving mothers, the love of God is deeper and stronger than even a mother’s love.
Since God loves us, wants what is best for us and wants us to take the time to consider the consequences of our actions why is it that we spend so much energy being afraid of God? God does not sit back waiting for us to mess up so that new and exotic forms of punishment can be meted out to us. God loves us and wants us to have full and abundant lives that are fulfilling and, dare I say, fun. This does not mean that we are free to do all those things that give momentary pleasure and have high prices to pay later. God wants us to live with an awareness that our actions impact others as we are impacted by folks around us.
God loves us. God takes pleasure in teaching us to live in relationships. Some of the lessons are easy and some are difficult. To teach is to disciple. Discipline is to be taught through word and action even when it feels as if we are being punished. The goal is not the punishment so much as it is a means to teach us what it means to live in relationships. When those relationships connect us we discover we live in a community of God’s people.
© July 19, 2010
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 18, 2010
Psalm 25
1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
6 Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD!
8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 For your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
12 Who are they that fear the LORD? He will teach them the way that they should choose.
13 They will abide in prosperity, and their children shall possess the land.
14 The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distress.
18 Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
19 Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20 O guard my life, and deliver me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all its troubles.
(NRSV)
All indications are that God loves us beyond our ability to comprehend and we persist in seeing God as one who waits for us to screw up so we can be punished. When I was in high school my mother would ask about my friends use of drugs and alcohol. I remember feeling as if she were grilling me until someone pointed out that perhaps she was asking about my friends out of her love for me. She wanted to keep me from falling in with folks who might lead me into actions I would certainly regret later. Once I figured that out I was much more willing to answer her questions. Though I imagine it will be disputed by many loving mothers, the love of God is deeper and stronger than even a mother’s love.
Since God loves us, wants what is best for us and wants us to take the time to consider the consequences of our actions why is it that we spend so much energy being afraid of God? God does not sit back waiting for us to mess up so that new and exotic forms of punishment can be meted out to us. God loves us and wants us to have full and abundant lives that are fulfilling and, dare I say, fun. This does not mean that we are free to do all those things that give momentary pleasure and have high prices to pay later. God wants us to live with an awareness that our actions impact others as we are impacted by folks around us.
God loves us. God takes pleasure in teaching us to live in relationships. Some of the lessons are easy and some are difficult. To teach is to disciple. Discipline is to be taught through word and action even when it feels as if we are being punished. The goal is not the punishment so much as it is a means to teach us what it means to live in relationships. When those relationships connect us we discover we live in a community of God’s people.
© July 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Psalm Meditation 525
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 11, 2010
Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
Many of us were taught that the Old Testament God is the God of judgment while the New Testament God is the God of love. I think this psalm helps dispute that thinking. The psalmist reminds us that God takes pleasure in folk dancing, singing and making music. My experience has been that judgmental folk don’t take pleasure in much of anything, especially things that bring pleasure. While this particular psalm appears to celebrate a military victory the psalmist sees God as taking pleasure in the people.
It has been my experience that some of us who most quickly claim our God as the one who is loving and merciful are the ones who act as if God would rather destroy us for our sins, mistakes and errors than take any kind of pleasure in our lives and activities. I know that God judges us and disciplines us so there will be some angry or disappointed looks aimed our way by God. I also know that God loves us, wants us to be safe and polite and wants us to find joy and pleasure in life.
I believe the same God who made heaven and earth sent Jesus to remind us that there is actually some joy and fun in being faithful to the ways of our God, Yahweh. I believe Yahweh takes pleasure in a variety of victories as we celebrate them. God is parent, grandparent and favorite relative all in one cheering us on from the sidelines/stands/bleachers/audience as we do our best in our endeavors. It may be an actual victory or a personal best and God is cheering us on and celebrating with us in each of these.
© July 6, 2010
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 11, 2010
Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
Many of us were taught that the Old Testament God is the God of judgment while the New Testament God is the God of love. I think this psalm helps dispute that thinking. The psalmist reminds us that God takes pleasure in folk dancing, singing and making music. My experience has been that judgmental folk don’t take pleasure in much of anything, especially things that bring pleasure. While this particular psalm appears to celebrate a military victory the psalmist sees God as taking pleasure in the people.
It has been my experience that some of us who most quickly claim our God as the one who is loving and merciful are the ones who act as if God would rather destroy us for our sins, mistakes and errors than take any kind of pleasure in our lives and activities. I know that God judges us and disciplines us so there will be some angry or disappointed looks aimed our way by God. I also know that God loves us, wants us to be safe and polite and wants us to find joy and pleasure in life.
I believe the same God who made heaven and earth sent Jesus to remind us that there is actually some joy and fun in being faithful to the ways of our God, Yahweh. I believe Yahweh takes pleasure in a variety of victories as we celebrate them. God is parent, grandparent and favorite relative all in one cheering us on from the sidelines/stands/bleachers/audience as we do our best in our endeavors. It may be an actual victory or a personal best and God is cheering us on and celebrating with us in each of these.
© July 6, 2010
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