Psalm Meditation 594
Twenty first Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 1, 2011
Psalm 73
1 Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues range over the earth.
10 Therefore the people turn and praise them, and find no fault in them.
11 And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
12 Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will talk on in this way," I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you despise their phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to those who are false to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works.
(NRSV)
It is much easier to see ‘those folks’ as being better off than ourselves because with others we can filter their experience through our own and see them as having all the things we lack and for which we long. We think the lives of children are so much easier than our own since they don’t have to pay bills and worry our worries. We forget how scary it can be to be small and dependent on others. The poor look at the rich and see that they have no financial worries because they can afford all they want. The rich look at the poor and see they have no financial worries because they can take care of all their money on their own without having to deal with all those money managers looking out for their own interests. It is easy to see others as having something to envy when we are in the mood to do so.
Each of us has plenty about which to worry and the ability to make our own worries bigger and more pressing than the worries of other people. “...until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.” In the light of God we find the ability to put our worries in perspective and perhaps the ability to see the worries of others in a new light as well. We discover that with a set of advantages comes a set of worries and difficulties that are different and just as perplexing as the worries over which we currently fret. We may discover that as we envy others less our own situation becomes more bearable.
The task is to do our best with what we have, using our benefits to overcome the current set of liabilities, and perhaps even moving ourselves into a different set of challenges and opportunities. The poor can rise to a new level of wealth or fall into deeper poverty. The rich can fall into debt and lose everything or amass even more wealth. As people of God, we find ourselves less concerned with monetary worth and more concerned with a relationship with God for ourselves and for others. While it might be nice to be wealthy and worry free, it is so much better to be aware of the presence of God and the relationship of justice and righteousness to which God calls each one of us.
© October 31, 2010
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Psalm Meditation 593
Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 30, 2010
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)
Psalms are most helpful when we can identify with the psalmist. When we are able to recognize that God is with us even when we are not able to experience that presence in a given moment. It serves as a reminder that, bleak as a situation might be, we are still and always in the presence of God. When we can see that we are not the first to experience this feeling of abandonment it allows us the option of seeing that we may not be the only one feeling abandoned. We may even be able to raise our heads high enough to see one with whom we can share our trial and our conviction of the presence of God.
Psalms are most convicting when we can identify with the group against which the psalmist complains. When this psalm makes us catch our breath as we realize that we are guilty of deception and injustice toward others and ourselves. We suddenly see in ourselves the lies we have told and believed in order to achieve and justify our place in the world. When we see that we have rationalized and even institutionalized injustice we turn to God in gratitude for not treating us as we deserve for our actions.
On either side of the psalm we can take refuge in God. As we identify with the need of the psalmist we are reminded of the presence of God whether we are aware of that presence or not. We begin to reclaim the peace that God offers to us as people, children, of God. As we are convicted by the psalmist we turn to God to shield us from and turn us from the evil in which we have become complicit. We allow ourselves to reclaim God’s call to justice and righteousness over and above our desire for personal gain.
As we turn to God together we find ourselves renewed in hope for ourselves and others. We also find ourselves drawn to those on the other side of the psalm who can help us and teach us what it means to re-commit ourselves to the ever present God of justice. We join in praise with all people who turn to God for any reason.
© October 24, 2010
Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 30, 2010
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)
Psalms are most helpful when we can identify with the psalmist. When we are able to recognize that God is with us even when we are not able to experience that presence in a given moment. It serves as a reminder that, bleak as a situation might be, we are still and always in the presence of God. When we can see that we are not the first to experience this feeling of abandonment it allows us the option of seeing that we may not be the only one feeling abandoned. We may even be able to raise our heads high enough to see one with whom we can share our trial and our conviction of the presence of God.
Psalms are most convicting when we can identify with the group against which the psalmist complains. When this psalm makes us catch our breath as we realize that we are guilty of deception and injustice toward others and ourselves. We suddenly see in ourselves the lies we have told and believed in order to achieve and justify our place in the world. When we see that we have rationalized and even institutionalized injustice we turn to God in gratitude for not treating us as we deserve for our actions.
On either side of the psalm we can take refuge in God. As we identify with the need of the psalmist we are reminded of the presence of God whether we are aware of that presence or not. We begin to reclaim the peace that God offers to us as people, children, of God. As we are convicted by the psalmist we turn to God to shield us from and turn us from the evil in which we have become complicit. We allow ourselves to reclaim God’s call to justice and righteousness over and above our desire for personal gain.
As we turn to God together we find ourselves renewed in hope for ourselves and others. We also find ourselves drawn to those on the other side of the psalm who can help us and teach us what it means to re-commit ourselves to the ever present God of justice. We join in praise with all people who turn to God for any reason.
© October 24, 2010
Monday, October 17, 2011
Psalm Meditation 592
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 23, 2011
Psalm 13
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(NRSV)
I find it interesting that there are a number of psalms in which the psalmist complains to God about having been abandoned by God. However, if the complaint were not directed to God it would not be in the Psalms. Who do we turn to when our lives seem to be collapsing all around us? Do we turn to
God, even though it seems that God is one of many who has turned away and left us to fend for ourselves? Do we complain to friends or family, even when this would mean we are not as alone as we believe ourselves to be? Or do we hold it in and let our complaint join in the process of chewing us up from the inside as the current enemy chews on us from any number of locations? It does seem that when we feel totally abandoned God is the one who will hear us even in the deepest darkness.
Enemies prevail when we have nothing left to give. As long as we have the energy and willingness to complain to God we have something left on which to rebuild life and hope. Life and hope may have to be built somewhere other than in this life. As we find our hope in God we see the possibility of life in the presence of God.
Even as we complain to God it changes our focus from the attacks we are enduring to the steadfast, unshakable love God offers to us in all times and places. A new focus and perspective can rob the current situation of some of its power as we see that there is something beyond this crisis that cannot be touched by this or any other crisis. That new perspective is the beginning of salvation.
October 17, 2011
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 23, 2011
Psalm 13
1 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 and my enemy will say, "I have prevailed"; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
(NRSV)
I find it interesting that there are a number of psalms in which the psalmist complains to God about having been abandoned by God. However, if the complaint were not directed to God it would not be in the Psalms. Who do we turn to when our lives seem to be collapsing all around us? Do we turn to
God, even though it seems that God is one of many who has turned away and left us to fend for ourselves? Do we complain to friends or family, even when this would mean we are not as alone as we believe ourselves to be? Or do we hold it in and let our complaint join in the process of chewing us up from the inside as the current enemy chews on us from any number of locations? It does seem that when we feel totally abandoned God is the one who will hear us even in the deepest darkness.
Enemies prevail when we have nothing left to give. As long as we have the energy and willingness to complain to God we have something left on which to rebuild life and hope. Life and hope may have to be built somewhere other than in this life. As we find our hope in God we see the possibility of life in the presence of God.
Even as we complain to God it changes our focus from the attacks we are enduring to the steadfast, unshakable love God offers to us in all times and places. A new focus and perspective can rob the current situation of some of its power as we see that there is something beyond this crisis that cannot be touched by this or any other crisis. That new perspective is the beginning of salvation.
October 17, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Psalm Meditation 591
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 16, 2011
Psalm 132
1 O LORD, remember in David's favor all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 "I will not enter my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool. "
8 Rise up, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful shout for joy.
10 For your servant David's sake do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne."
13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:
14 "This is my resting place forever; here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace, but on him, his crown will gleam."
(NRSV)
If, as it appears, this is a psalm for the dedication of the Temple, it was written by or for Solomon. At the same time folks are rejoicing in the covenant faithfulness of God there is a statement of faithfulness on the side of the king as well. Was there bragging involved on the part of Solomon or was it a recognition of the awareness that we have conditions placed on our relationship with God?
God loves us all the time. That is beyond question as far as I am concerned. God is also aware that relationships are always two sided. God tells us that we can always expect unconditional love. That is not up for negotiation or debate. If we want to have the deepest possible awareness of that love we do well to hold and share that love in our hearts and lives in these certain ways. From our historical, biblical perspective we know that after David and Solomon kings began to take the love of God for granted and drifted or ran away from the human side of the covenant with God. God continued to love the kings and the people even as practices of justice and righteousness were replaced with practices of oppression and hunger for power. God loves us continually as well, whether we live out the call for justice and righteousness or follow another path.
From a Christian perspective, even though folks, kings, waxed and waned in the pursuit of justice and righteousness, God kept the promise to keep an heir of David on the throne forever. As we are able to keep ourselves tuned to the invitation to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God offered by God through the prophets we will more easily, readily, willingly see the gleaming crown on the brow of the heir of David.
October 10, 2011
LCM
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 16, 2011
Psalm 132
1 O LORD, remember in David's favor all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 "I will not enter my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 "Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool. "
8 Rise up, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful shout for joy.
10 For your servant David's sake do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: "One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne."
13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:
14 "This is my resting place forever; here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace, but on him, his crown will gleam."
(NRSV)
If, as it appears, this is a psalm for the dedication of the Temple, it was written by or for Solomon. At the same time folks are rejoicing in the covenant faithfulness of God there is a statement of faithfulness on the side of the king as well. Was there bragging involved on the part of Solomon or was it a recognition of the awareness that we have conditions placed on our relationship with God?
God loves us all the time. That is beyond question as far as I am concerned. God is also aware that relationships are always two sided. God tells us that we can always expect unconditional love. That is not up for negotiation or debate. If we want to have the deepest possible awareness of that love we do well to hold and share that love in our hearts and lives in these certain ways. From our historical, biblical perspective we know that after David and Solomon kings began to take the love of God for granted and drifted or ran away from the human side of the covenant with God. God continued to love the kings and the people even as practices of justice and righteousness were replaced with practices of oppression and hunger for power. God loves us continually as well, whether we live out the call for justice and righteousness or follow another path.
From a Christian perspective, even though folks, kings, waxed and waned in the pursuit of justice and righteousness, God kept the promise to keep an heir of David on the throne forever. As we are able to keep ourselves tuned to the invitation to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God offered by God through the prophets we will more easily, readily, willingly see the gleaming crown on the brow of the heir of David.
October 10, 2011
LCM
Monday, October 3, 2011
Psalm Meditation 590
Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 9, 2011
Psalm 102:1-13,23-28
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.
3 For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
5 Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
6 I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
7 I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
9 For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink,
10 because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
11 My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
12 But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.
13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the appointed time has come.
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days.
24 "O my God," I say, "do not take me away at the mid-point of my life, you whose years endure throughout all generations."
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall live secure; their offspring shall be established in your presence.
(NRSV)
One of the issues with which we must wrestle is the awareness of our own mortality. Since we are aware that we will die at some point we find ourselves making deals with God about when that point might be. Since God is eternal, outside our conceptions of time, we keep hoping that God will somehow spare us a bit of extra time so that we can get through this or that episode of life. Especially when our lives seem to be teetering on the brink of existence we find ourselves bargaining over the time frame of our lives.
If God does have our lives mapped out for us, we have no idea how that map looks. So, we can blame God for shortening our lives when times get tough or we can make the most of the lives we have. If we see ourselves as collaborators with God, co-laborers with God, we have some input into our lifespan in both length and breadth. Either way, the lives we live will end at some point. As we live our lives in the presence of God, we will be ready and willing to live each phase of life, death and new life in the presence of God.
All of the things in our lives, including our bodies, will wear out and fade away. As we live and hope in the presence of God we will find that though it seems to ebb and flow, closer and farther away, the presence of God in our lives does not wear out or fade away. God is with us for the long haul; through our lives and beyond.
October 3, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)