Psalm Meditation 585
Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 4, 2011
Psalm 101
1 I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing.
2 I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
4 Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.
5 One who secretly slanders a neighbor I will destroy. A haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not tolerate.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so that they may live with me; whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit shall remain in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue in my presence.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all evildoers from the city of the LORD.
(NRSV)
Many of us have the goal of ridding the world, or at least our area, of all of the bad and evil people who populate it. Many of us take a path other than the psalmist pledges to take. The first step in the process is to turn to God. In the presence of God the psalmist will concentrate on loyalty to God and a concern for justice. To make it all easier to remember and more interesting it will all be set to music. As we want to set our world right it is a good idea to start with a relationship with God, especially one built on loyalty and justice. The loyalty reminds us that we have picked sides and will support the side we have picked. The justice reminds us that we will put more emphasis on doing the right thing than on winning.
The second step in the process is to work on ourselves. Rather than finding fault with the ways everyone else is living their lives we will concentrate on putting our own lives in order. As we work toward our own blameless life we will find less and less time to pick at the faults and flaws of the folks around us. We may even find ourselves sympathetic to some of those faults as we deal with them in ourselves first. As we concentrate on what it means to be lined up with God we may find we have less time for and interest in looking for the flaws in others. The flaws will still be there; we will simply have other things to do than look for them.
Once we have our own lives in order we can begin the process of ridding others of their faults. At the very least we will separate ourselves from all those whose sins and faults and flaws harm us and those around us. One of the images of perfect people is that it is annoying to be in their presence as they find fault with everyone around them. Turns out that those are the perfectionists, who find fault as a way of deflecting their own imperfections. The perfect people, and even some of those who are approaching perfection, are patient with those of us who have a ways to go. We discover that their method of destruction is to coach us and win us over rather than to actually destroy us.
God stands in the midst of the whole process, coaching and winning folks into relationships of loyalty, justice and music.
August 29, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Psalm Meditation 584
Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 28, 2011
Psalm 71:1-18,24
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, "Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver."
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)
A refuge is a place of safety rather than a hiding place. In a refuge one can go around much more freely because of the protection that is so much a part of the concept of refuge. That doesn’t mean there won’t be folks waiting at the boundaries for those within the refuge to step over the line of protection so they can do as they will to the one who steps out. While the psalmist is concerned that there are limits to the refuge God offers, including age limits, we have come to see that the only limits are the ones we place on that refuge ourselves.
As we get older our strength fades and we become more vulnerable to any number of attacks and calamities of disease and the people around us. And taking refuge in God does not keep these attacks from happening. Taking refuge in God keeps the attacks from getting to the core of our being, from destroying us in any way other than physically. We will be in the presence of God, no matter what. In the presence of God we will find that despite weakness and disease we take comfort in being with God.
Even as health and vitality fade from our lives we can find wholeness in God’s gracious presence. Things that used to be easy will get more difficult even as some things that have challenged us in the past will become easier. Through it all God will be with us as a source of refuge, calm in the midst of storm.
August 22, 2011
Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 28, 2011
Psalm 71:1-18,24
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, "Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver."
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)
A refuge is a place of safety rather than a hiding place. In a refuge one can go around much more freely because of the protection that is so much a part of the concept of refuge. That doesn’t mean there won’t be folks waiting at the boundaries for those within the refuge to step over the line of protection so they can do as they will to the one who steps out. While the psalmist is concerned that there are limits to the refuge God offers, including age limits, we have come to see that the only limits are the ones we place on that refuge ourselves.
As we get older our strength fades and we become more vulnerable to any number of attacks and calamities of disease and the people around us. And taking refuge in God does not keep these attacks from happening. Taking refuge in God keeps the attacks from getting to the core of our being, from destroying us in any way other than physically. We will be in the presence of God, no matter what. In the presence of God we will find that despite weakness and disease we take comfort in being with God.
Even as health and vitality fade from our lives we can find wholeness in God’s gracious presence. Things that used to be easy will get more difficult even as some things that have challenged us in the past will become easier. Through it all God will be with us as a source of refuge, calm in the midst of storm.
August 22, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Psalm Meditation 583
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 21, 2011
Psalm 41
1 Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.
2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."
5 My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
(NRSV)
According to the psalmist, integrity does not keep us from sinning so much as it gives us the wherewithal to confess when we do sin. We confess our sin to God and put ourselves in a position to accept the mercy God offers to us. When the sins we commit are against others we find ourselves willing and able to confess our sin to those we have wronged as well. In one sense it may even be the sense of integrity that has made the psalmist sick in the first place. Sometimes we let ourselves get eaten up with guilt first and then we realize that it is due to some sin of omission or commission that we have made ourselves sick. Our own integrity can eat at us as a reminder of our desire to be our best possible selves.
At the same time integrity does not make us immune from gossip, it almost makes us a target. There are those who get joy out of watching as others are taken down a peg. They seem to resent anyone who might be seen as a saint or hero. They hunt for ways to prove that this person or that is not as pure and worthy of adulation as everyone else would like them to be. In some cases they may even befriend these good people in order to get close enough to gather damning information against them. Interestingly, people of integrity do not make any claim to sainthood or hero status. These folks live so that all the pieces of their lives fit together as well as possible. The rest of us look at these folks with either a sense of admiration or with a desire to see them fall off the pedestal on which they have been placed.
A person of integrity can weather all sorts of storms, especially those brought about by relationships with other people. It is not so much that God takes special care of people of integrity so much as these folks are more in tune with what it means to be a person of God. We are a mix of purity and sin, of acting on the things we say are important and of giving lip-service to things we wish were important to us. Our lives are a constant battle between integrity and disintegration. As we move away from some of our disjointed attitudes and actions we find ourselves more deeply integrated, more in tune with God and the people of God. We find ourselves more comfortable in our own skin.
August 15, 2011
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 21, 2011
Psalm 41
1 Happy are those who consider the poor; the LORD delivers them in the day of trouble.
2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive; they are called happy in the land. You do not give them up to the will of their enemies.
3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.
4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."
5 My enemies wonder in malice when I will die, and my name perish.
6 And when they come to see me, they utter empty words, while their hearts gather mischief; when they go out, they tell it abroad.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
8 They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me, that I will not rise again from where I lie.
9 Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me.
10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you are pleased with me; because my enemy has not triumphed over me.
12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.
(NRSV)
According to the psalmist, integrity does not keep us from sinning so much as it gives us the wherewithal to confess when we do sin. We confess our sin to God and put ourselves in a position to accept the mercy God offers to us. When the sins we commit are against others we find ourselves willing and able to confess our sin to those we have wronged as well. In one sense it may even be the sense of integrity that has made the psalmist sick in the first place. Sometimes we let ourselves get eaten up with guilt first and then we realize that it is due to some sin of omission or commission that we have made ourselves sick. Our own integrity can eat at us as a reminder of our desire to be our best possible selves.
At the same time integrity does not make us immune from gossip, it almost makes us a target. There are those who get joy out of watching as others are taken down a peg. They seem to resent anyone who might be seen as a saint or hero. They hunt for ways to prove that this person or that is not as pure and worthy of adulation as everyone else would like them to be. In some cases they may even befriend these good people in order to get close enough to gather damning information against them. Interestingly, people of integrity do not make any claim to sainthood or hero status. These folks live so that all the pieces of their lives fit together as well as possible. The rest of us look at these folks with either a sense of admiration or with a desire to see them fall off the pedestal on which they have been placed.
A person of integrity can weather all sorts of storms, especially those brought about by relationships with other people. It is not so much that God takes special care of people of integrity so much as these folks are more in tune with what it means to be a person of God. We are a mix of purity and sin, of acting on the things we say are important and of giving lip-service to things we wish were important to us. Our lives are a constant battle between integrity and disintegration. As we move away from some of our disjointed attitudes and actions we find ourselves more deeply integrated, more in tune with God and the people of God. We find ourselves more comfortable in our own skin.
August 15, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Psalm Meditation 582
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 14, 2011
Psalm 11
1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to the mountains;
2 for look, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.
5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence.
6 On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
(NRSV)
In my junior high years my friend Jeff and I walked away from a youth group event at the city park and headed for my house. It was dark and we failed to tell anyone that we were leaving. So, we were in all sorts of trouble no matter what happened to us. At one point in our journey Jeff told me that he was not afraid because he was with me. He figured no one would bother us because I was so big. I told him that I was not afraid because I knew how tough he was. I figured he could protect me if there was any trouble. It was unnerving to discover that the one I was counting on to protect me was counting on me to protect him. It was also energizing to know that he trusted me.
If two junior high school aged boys can find strength in each other’s presence it is easy to see how the psalmist can find strength in the presence of God. While others are in a panic over the presence of evil forces coming against them in the darkness, the psalmist leans a little closer to the presence of God. The LORD, Yahweh, combines the characteristics Jeff and I saw in each other. God has the size to intimidate and overwhelm any enemy and the strength and toughness to overcome those who are not daunted by size. The psalmist reminds us to put our trust in God no matter how big the forces arrayed against us.
When we have chosen to be on the side of God we have a hope beyond this life. As we place our trust and hope in God we open ourselves to the gift God gives to those who are righteous. We will stand in the presence of and behold the face of God. “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face”
August 8, 2011
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 14, 2011
Psalm 11
1 In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to the mountains;
2 for look, the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrow to the string, to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.
5 The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence.
6 On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
(NRSV)
In my junior high years my friend Jeff and I walked away from a youth group event at the city park and headed for my house. It was dark and we failed to tell anyone that we were leaving. So, we were in all sorts of trouble no matter what happened to us. At one point in our journey Jeff told me that he was not afraid because he was with me. He figured no one would bother us because I was so big. I told him that I was not afraid because I knew how tough he was. I figured he could protect me if there was any trouble. It was unnerving to discover that the one I was counting on to protect me was counting on me to protect him. It was also energizing to know that he trusted me.
If two junior high school aged boys can find strength in each other’s presence it is easy to see how the psalmist can find strength in the presence of God. While others are in a panic over the presence of evil forces coming against them in the darkness, the psalmist leans a little closer to the presence of God. The LORD, Yahweh, combines the characteristics Jeff and I saw in each other. God has the size to intimidate and overwhelm any enemy and the strength and toughness to overcome those who are not daunted by size. The psalmist reminds us to put our trust in God no matter how big the forces arrayed against us.
When we have chosen to be on the side of God we have a hope beyond this life. As we place our trust and hope in God we open ourselves to the gift God gives to those who are righteous. We will stand in the presence of and behold the face of God. “For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face”
August 8, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Psalm Meditation 581
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 7, 2011
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
(NRSV)
Sometimes the depths out of which we cry out to God are of our own making. We take something personally that was not meant that way, we read non-existent motives into the actions of others, we misinterpret a word or a gesture that spins us into a deep funk. Even when it is of our own making, the depths are just as deep. We are just as wounded, just as abandoned. When the depths are of our own making we may sink even deeper because, not only does it seem the world has turned on us, we have turned on ourselves. That leaves no one to pull us out except God, and we may find ourselves doubting God’s motives as well.
Whatever the cause of the depths out of which we find the psalmist crying there is enough presence of heart, mind and soul to know that God is out there. God is above the depths waiting and willing to pull us or cheerlead us out of the depths in which we find ourselves. Whether we need forgiveness or simply a fresh perspective on the situation God has taken a place above the foolishness, pettiness or sinfulness in which we find ourselves. Whether we dug the depths ourselves or were pitched into those dug by someone else God is present for us.
Through the years of salvation history folks have given witness to the lengths to which God goes to see that we move from the depths to the abundance that life in God offers. Sometimes God pulls us out from above. Sometimes God comes down with us and pushes us out. Sometimes God sends others to pull or push us out. Sometimes God shows us someone else who is in the depths and we work together to move to higher ground. No matter the method God is at work through steadfast love to offer us redemption, as individuals and as the body of the people of God.
August 1, 2011
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 7, 2011
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
(NRSV)
Sometimes the depths out of which we cry out to God are of our own making. We take something personally that was not meant that way, we read non-existent motives into the actions of others, we misinterpret a word or a gesture that spins us into a deep funk. Even when it is of our own making, the depths are just as deep. We are just as wounded, just as abandoned. When the depths are of our own making we may sink even deeper because, not only does it seem the world has turned on us, we have turned on ourselves. That leaves no one to pull us out except God, and we may find ourselves doubting God’s motives as well.
Whatever the cause of the depths out of which we find the psalmist crying there is enough presence of heart, mind and soul to know that God is out there. God is above the depths waiting and willing to pull us or cheerlead us out of the depths in which we find ourselves. Whether we need forgiveness or simply a fresh perspective on the situation God has taken a place above the foolishness, pettiness or sinfulness in which we find ourselves. Whether we dug the depths ourselves or were pitched into those dug by someone else God is present for us.
Through the years of salvation history folks have given witness to the lengths to which God goes to see that we move from the depths to the abundance that life in God offers. Sometimes God pulls us out from above. Sometimes God comes down with us and pushes us out. Sometimes God sends others to pull or push us out. Sometimes God shows us someone else who is in the depths and we work together to move to higher ground. No matter the method God is at work through steadfast love to offer us redemption, as individuals and as the body of the people of God.
August 1, 2011
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