Psalm Meditation 633
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 5, 2012
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
(NRSV)
Every now and then we get caught acting as if we know better than God. We jump to a conclusion about what God would want in this situation and we begin leap frogging from one conclusion to the next until we have gotten ourselves so far removed from God that we finally notice how far we have strayed from the actual ways of God. We can actually see the process happening when others do it, especially those with whom we disagree on some major or minor point of theology or practice. When we do it, we get so intent on what we are doing that we don’t look up to see whether or not God is anywhere near where we have decided God belongs.
When we do look up, assuming we will see God smiling down on us for having anticipated the next several divine moves, we discover that we are alone. When we discover where God has actually gone, and how far it is from where we expected, we crawl over to receive our punishment for wandering away from the path of God. In most cases God scoops us up into an embrace full of warmth and laughter, grateful for our attempt and entertained by our efforts to play God. Being in the presence of God restores us and renews the joy in our lives.
We do our best to pass on the knowledge and wisdom we have received by wandering off and being welcomed back into the fold of God. As we are able to mirror to others the patience we received from God we find that we are better able to return with them to the presence of God. At the same time we are teaching we find ourselves learning from those who have gone before us as well as from those who walk and work with us. In the presence of God we sing, rejoice and praise along with all those with whom we share the relationship of the deep and abiding love of God.
July 30, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Psalm Meditation 632
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 29, 2012
Psalm 21
1 In your strength the king rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. (Selah)
3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him— length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind.
11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.
(NRSV)
Most of us don’t know what it is like to be ruled by a king and we certainly don’t know what it is like to be a king. We do know what it is to be blessed and to trust in God. Some of our blessings are things we can hold in our hands, like food, water, clothing and shelter. We may not have the best of any of those, however we do realize that they are gifts from God. The best blessings are the ones we can’t hold in our hands. The psalmist puts it, “you make him glad with the joy of your presence.” The greatest blessing in any of our lives is the knowledge that God is a very real presence with us. As we realize that God is with us, we become aware that God is the source of all of our blessings and we put our trust in God more and more.
That trust can be manipulative, especially at first. We say things like, “If you loved me you would…” and we ask God to do something or give something as a test on our part. As we experience the trustworthiness of God our requests become more direct. We ask for what we want, trusting that God will hear us, even when we don’t get the response for which we asked. There may even come at time in which we simply trust, without asking, that God will provide for us.
While the destruction of enemies is pretty graphic and uncomfortable, we do well to remember that not all of our enemies are human and many of them are not external. To know that God gives us the wherewithal to face those internal enemies deepens our trust in God and broadens our ability and willingness to lift God up in our lives in such a way that others know of our relationship with God.
July 23, 2012
Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 29, 2012
Psalm 21
1 In your strength the king rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. (Selah)
3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him— length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind.
11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.
(NRSV)
Most of us don’t know what it is like to be ruled by a king and we certainly don’t know what it is like to be a king. We do know what it is to be blessed and to trust in God. Some of our blessings are things we can hold in our hands, like food, water, clothing and shelter. We may not have the best of any of those, however we do realize that they are gifts from God. The best blessings are the ones we can’t hold in our hands. The psalmist puts it, “you make him glad with the joy of your presence.” The greatest blessing in any of our lives is the knowledge that God is a very real presence with us. As we realize that God is with us, we become aware that God is the source of all of our blessings and we put our trust in God more and more.
That trust can be manipulative, especially at first. We say things like, “If you loved me you would…” and we ask God to do something or give something as a test on our part. As we experience the trustworthiness of God our requests become more direct. We ask for what we want, trusting that God will hear us, even when we don’t get the response for which we asked. There may even come at time in which we simply trust, without asking, that God will provide for us.
While the destruction of enemies is pretty graphic and uncomfortable, we do well to remember that not all of our enemies are human and many of them are not external. To know that God gives us the wherewithal to face those internal enemies deepens our trust in God and broadens our ability and willingness to lift God up in our lives in such a way that others know of our relationship with God.
July 23, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Psalm Meditation 631
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
, 2012
Psalm 140
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers; protect me from those who are violent,
2 who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually.
3 They make their tongue sharp as a snake's, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. (Selah)
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent who have planned my downfall.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net, along the road they have set snares for me. (Selah)
6 I say to the Lord, "You are my God; give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications."
7 O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot. (Selah)
9 Those who surround me lift up their heads; let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
10 Let burning coals fall on them! Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise!
11 Do not let the slanderer be established in the land; let evil speedily hunt down the violent!
12 I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall live in your presence.
(NRSV)
There may be those who are intentionally evil, usually caught up in some group mentality, the rest of us are accidentally evil, pursuing a goal with such single-mindedness that we fail to see the damage it does to others. We want to be delivered from evil and we want that evil destroyed no matter the source. We want to end the evil and in some cases we also want to destroy the evil doer in some form.
The temptation is always to call down the utter destruction of anything and anyone involved in bringing evil to our lives. We want the people, any weapons they used and the land from which they came all destroyed in a single stroke of violent vengeance. In some cases this thought never changes. The more personal the evil, the more likely we are to hold our ground on the desire for total destruction of the person responsible. In other cases we may soften our stance and our hope is only for the end of the evil itself while we wish for the redemption of those who brought the evil on us.
In all times and places God is with us. God is there to comfort us when we are victims, to convict us when we are the source of the evil and to bring us to relationships of wholeness that move us away from the evil in our lives. It is important to stay focused on the relationships with God and with people to keep ourselves from getting caught up in the downward spiral of justifying our evil deeds in any way. When our goal in life is to receive blessings from God we will find a way to get those blessings at any cost to others. When our goal is to form whole relationships we will focus on the people more than the stuff around us.
July 16, 2012
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
, 2012
Psalm 140
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers; protect me from those who are violent,
2 who plan evil things in their minds and stir up wars continually.
3 They make their tongue sharp as a snake's, and under their lips is the venom of vipers. (Selah)
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent who have planned my downfall.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net, along the road they have set snares for me. (Selah)
6 I say to the Lord, "You are my God; give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications."
7 O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; do not further their evil plot. (Selah)
9 Those who surround me lift up their heads; let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
10 Let burning coals fall on them! Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise!
11 Do not let the slanderer be established in the land; let evil speedily hunt down the violent!
12 I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall live in your presence.
(NRSV)
There may be those who are intentionally evil, usually caught up in some group mentality, the rest of us are accidentally evil, pursuing a goal with such single-mindedness that we fail to see the damage it does to others. We want to be delivered from evil and we want that evil destroyed no matter the source. We want to end the evil and in some cases we also want to destroy the evil doer in some form.
The temptation is always to call down the utter destruction of anything and anyone involved in bringing evil to our lives. We want the people, any weapons they used and the land from which they came all destroyed in a single stroke of violent vengeance. In some cases this thought never changes. The more personal the evil, the more likely we are to hold our ground on the desire for total destruction of the person responsible. In other cases we may soften our stance and our hope is only for the end of the evil itself while we wish for the redemption of those who brought the evil on us.
In all times and places God is with us. God is there to comfort us when we are victims, to convict us when we are the source of the evil and to bring us to relationships of wholeness that move us away from the evil in our lives. It is important to stay focused on the relationships with God and with people to keep ourselves from getting caught up in the downward spiral of justifying our evil deeds in any way. When our goal in life is to receive blessings from God we will find a way to get those blessings at any cost to others. When our goal is to form whole relationships we will focus on the people more than the stuff around us.
July 16, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Psalm Meditation 630
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 15, 2012
Psalm 110
1 The Lord says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."
2 The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.
(NRSV)
It is easy to be brave before a battle begins, and easier still when one will not be directly involved in the fighting. That seems to be the case here. There is no mention of ‘I’ or ‘we’ going out to battle, willingly offering our lives for the sake of the realm. While there may be no lack of soldiers going out behind those leading into battle, it does not seem that the psalmist will be one of them.
We can be quick to send others out to fight our battles. We tell our side of the story to the right person or group in just the right way that they take up arms in some form to rescue us from the evil that lies before us. We have been known to leave out parts of the story that would make us look a little less innocent or the other a little more guilty, so that others will become irate enough to charge into battle to defend our rights and honor. I know it has happened on an individual scale as well as on an international scale. We have each likely gone to battle without thinking at least once in our lives.
This does not mean that God is not with us as we go into battle. It may mean that God is not with us in the way we imagine. God may be the one who is attempting to talk us out of this battle until the moment it is joined and continually offering us ways to get out through the whole course of the conflict. In some form or another God is with us. We do well to find where and how it is that God is with us before we join so that we can be on the side and in the place where God is best found.
July 9, 2012
Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 15, 2012
Psalm 110
1 The Lord says to my lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."
2 The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.
(NRSV)
It is easy to be brave before a battle begins, and easier still when one will not be directly involved in the fighting. That seems to be the case here. There is no mention of ‘I’ or ‘we’ going out to battle, willingly offering our lives for the sake of the realm. While there may be no lack of soldiers going out behind those leading into battle, it does not seem that the psalmist will be one of them.
We can be quick to send others out to fight our battles. We tell our side of the story to the right person or group in just the right way that they take up arms in some form to rescue us from the evil that lies before us. We have been known to leave out parts of the story that would make us look a little less innocent or the other a little more guilty, so that others will become irate enough to charge into battle to defend our rights and honor. I know it has happened on an individual scale as well as on an international scale. We have each likely gone to battle without thinking at least once in our lives.
This does not mean that God is not with us as we go into battle. It may mean that God is not with us in the way we imagine. God may be the one who is attempting to talk us out of this battle until the moment it is joined and continually offering us ways to get out through the whole course of the conflict. In some form or another God is with us. We do well to find where and how it is that God is with us before we join so that we can be on the side and in the place where God is best found.
July 9, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Psalm Meditation 629
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 8, 2012
Psalm 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
(NRSV)
It seems to be a pretty subtle difference to distinguish between causing something and allowing it to happen, however it is also a powerful distinction. For the ancient Israelites God caused the difficulties and defeats that came as a result of the people wandering away from the path set out for them by God. When the people turned away from God the trials and tribulations they faced were due to the direct action of God in the lives of the people. God caused their enemies to attack them and then stood back and did not participate in the battle, removing any possibility of success or victory from the army of Israel.
In order to be restored to the good graces of God the people had to repent and renew their allegiance to God and the ways of God. At that point God would return and restore the fortunes and power of the people and the nation. It was a very human viewpoint. God was viewed through the same lens as any other ruler, with human temperament that had to be appeased. As our relationship with God matured, so too did our concept of God’s presence mature.
These days folks are more likely to see God as having given us the freedom to choose our course of action and to accept the consequences of those actions. God does not cause the calamities of sin so much as God allows us the freedom to act. Since every act has a cost and a promise we reap both the consequences and rewards of our actions. God continues to desire a relationship with us, especially one in which we choose to be faithful to God to the best of our ability.
July 2, 2012
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 8, 2012
Psalm 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted.
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
(NRSV)
It seems to be a pretty subtle difference to distinguish between causing something and allowing it to happen, however it is also a powerful distinction. For the ancient Israelites God caused the difficulties and defeats that came as a result of the people wandering away from the path set out for them by God. When the people turned away from God the trials and tribulations they faced were due to the direct action of God in the lives of the people. God caused their enemies to attack them and then stood back and did not participate in the battle, removing any possibility of success or victory from the army of Israel.
In order to be restored to the good graces of God the people had to repent and renew their allegiance to God and the ways of God. At that point God would return and restore the fortunes and power of the people and the nation. It was a very human viewpoint. God was viewed through the same lens as any other ruler, with human temperament that had to be appeased. As our relationship with God matured, so too did our concept of God’s presence mature.
These days folks are more likely to see God as having given us the freedom to choose our course of action and to accept the consequences of those actions. God does not cause the calamities of sin so much as God allows us the freedom to act. Since every act has a cost and a promise we reap both the consequences and rewards of our actions. God continues to desire a relationship with us, especially one in which we choose to be faithful to God to the best of our ability.
July 2, 2012
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