Psalm Meditation 728
Seventh Sunday of Easter
June 1, 2014
Psalm 58
1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge people fairly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime; like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10 The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 People will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
(NRSV)
Many of us have rich fantasy lives that include imagining terrible things happening to people who have done bad things to us. As the psalmist imagines a variety of injuries to this particular group of wicked folks, we too imagine injuries and death being heaped on those who have injured us in some devastating way. We rehearse a variety of scenarios that would satisfy our desire for revenge against those who have hurt us. We draw God into the revenge fest to relieve us of the guilt of actually carrying out these plans as well as to give us the assurance that we are in the right because God is acting on our behalf.
And while God claims the right of revenge it rarely happens the way it does in the movies. In the movies, the downtrodden hero spends time learning the skills that will be used to overcome the injuries suffered at the beginning of the movie. We get to cheer the hero, imagine that we could do the same with our enemies and then go home to the reality that evil seems to go unchecked in a variety of forms, including physical, emotional and spiritual. God is not in the habit of rising up to do the things we imagine being done to those who perpetuate violence and evil in the world.
God is aware that we do not bring an end to violence and evil by acts of violence and evil. While there may well be some satisfaction in imagining violent things happening to those who have done us wrong, God offers a different set of rewards. The reward for the righteous is not in exacting revenge. The reward of the righteous is having an awareness of being in the presence of God. Righteousness becomes its own reward. There won’t be room for rejoicing over the injury or death of anyone, including those who have done us wrong.
May 26, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Psalm Meditation 727
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 25, 2014
Psalm 108
1 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.
7 God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.
13 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.
(NRSV)
The psalmist spends several verses flattering God with promises and praise, and reminding God of promises made how we and ‘they’ will be treated by God. After all that comes the question and concern of the psalm; when are you going to take care of us by doing all the things you said you would do to our enemies? It is a way to ask for things from someone who has power as well as a fragile ego. It is the way one addresses an all-powerful ruler. Since that was all the folks knew of powerful people, it was the way to address God. While we now have other experiences of styles of leadership there are those who continue to pray as if God must first be flattered and appeased before being asked for what is on our hearts and minds.
God is much more pleasant and present with us than rulers of old were with their subjects. While it is possible that folks in the future will roll their eyes at how familiar and friendly we are in addressing God, it works for us. The folks with whom I spend time are very willing to name our experience of God as one in which we are in a friendly and familial relationship with God. We are not equal with God by any means, however we are a part of a very large ‘inner circle’ with God in the center. Or, as a cartoon of King Arthur at the round table described it, “The round table signifies that we are all equal. That I am sitting on a throne signifies that I am a little more equal than the rest of you.” God is neither a bully nor a buddy.
The important part is a relationship with God of some sort. Whether God is a bully to be appeased, a buddy with whom to pal around, a parent, a servant or any other style of relating, the important thing is the relationship. Since relationships can change over their course, God would much rather be a part of our lives, individually and collectively, than to be cut out. As we experience the ways God responds to us we find ourselves responding in new ways until we find ourselves in a relationship of health and wholeness with God that leads to healthy whole relationships with others.
May 19, 2014
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 25, 2014
Psalm 108
1 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!
2 Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
3 I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued.
7 God has promised in his sanctuary: “With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12 O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless.
13 With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.
(NRSV)
The psalmist spends several verses flattering God with promises and praise, and reminding God of promises made how we and ‘they’ will be treated by God. After all that comes the question and concern of the psalm; when are you going to take care of us by doing all the things you said you would do to our enemies? It is a way to ask for things from someone who has power as well as a fragile ego. It is the way one addresses an all-powerful ruler. Since that was all the folks knew of powerful people, it was the way to address God. While we now have other experiences of styles of leadership there are those who continue to pray as if God must first be flattered and appeased before being asked for what is on our hearts and minds.
God is much more pleasant and present with us than rulers of old were with their subjects. While it is possible that folks in the future will roll their eyes at how familiar and friendly we are in addressing God, it works for us. The folks with whom I spend time are very willing to name our experience of God as one in which we are in a friendly and familial relationship with God. We are not equal with God by any means, however we are a part of a very large ‘inner circle’ with God in the center. Or, as a cartoon of King Arthur at the round table described it, “The round table signifies that we are all equal. That I am sitting on a throne signifies that I am a little more equal than the rest of you.” God is neither a bully nor a buddy.
The important part is a relationship with God of some sort. Whether God is a bully to be appeased, a buddy with whom to pal around, a parent, a servant or any other style of relating, the important thing is the relationship. Since relationships can change over their course, God would much rather be a part of our lives, individually and collectively, than to be cut out. As we experience the ways God responds to us we find ourselves responding in new ways until we find ourselves in a relationship of health and wholeness with God that leads to healthy whole relationships with others.
May 19, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Psalm Meditation 726
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 18, 2014
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)
There are folks who go into a grief experience and never come out of it. They spend the rest of their lives rehearsing, rehashing and wallowing in the grief they have experienced. It is as if the continual grieving is the only way they feel they can adequately memorialize those for whom they grieve. They walk about mournfully as if grief were an obligation to perform rather than a process to work through.
There are other folks who experience grief as a process, a series of steps, leaps and lunges, both forward and backward, that leads to a deeper and renewed sense of life. These folks honor those for whom they grieve by living. They carry their memories with them, rather than being stuck in a remembered past. The psalmist is one of these folks. Grieved by oppression, there is a desire for the light and truth of God to lead a way through the mourning to a sense of joy.
My experience is that the presence of God makes the grief and mourning bearable. Knowing that God is with us gives us hope that leads to joy, praise and a sense of peace. The presence of God, and God present in the people of God, gives us help and hope that leads out of mourning into praise.
May 12, 2014
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 18, 2014
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)
There are folks who go into a grief experience and never come out of it. They spend the rest of their lives rehearsing, rehashing and wallowing in the grief they have experienced. It is as if the continual grieving is the only way they feel they can adequately memorialize those for whom they grieve. They walk about mournfully as if grief were an obligation to perform rather than a process to work through.
There are other folks who experience grief as a process, a series of steps, leaps and lunges, both forward and backward, that leads to a deeper and renewed sense of life. These folks honor those for whom they grieve by living. They carry their memories with them, rather than being stuck in a remembered past. The psalmist is one of these folks. Grieved by oppression, there is a desire for the light and truth of God to lead a way through the mourning to a sense of joy.
My experience is that the presence of God makes the grief and mourning bearable. Knowing that God is with us gives us hope that leads to joy, praise and a sense of peace. The presence of God, and God present in the people of God, gives us help and hope that leads out of mourning into praise.
May 12, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Psalm Meditation 725
Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 11, 2014
Psalm 93
1 The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2 your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.
4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the LORD!
5 Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.
(NRSV)
There are those who need constant reassurance that their contributions to life in the world are of sufficient quality to be noticed by all. They seek out these reassurances and prompt the folks around them to offer them if they do not arrive in the quantity and frequency required. When these folks rise to positions of authority and power they can surround themselves with ‘yes-folks,’ those who will instantly agree with the ideas and suggestions of the one who runs the show. And they can dismiss folks who are not fast enough with a compliment or who dare to suggest an alternative. In some settings the one in charge is the boss while in other settings that same type of person is seen as a bully.
The other extreme is the folks who do quality work to the best of their ability and live out their lives with an assurance of their own commitment to excellence. They find themselves content with knowing that they do their best with a desire to contribute the best they have to offer in any given circumstance. They don’t need a constant barrage of compliments and they are more than willing to listen and learn from those with different viewpoints and perspectives. In the give and take of ideas and experiences a more rounded solution can be discovered and put into practice. They neither discount nor demand any compliments that come their way.
God is one who does not require our constant attention, does not demand a constant stream of praise and thanks from us. God does appreciate being noticed, acknowledged and thanked, if for no other reason than to keep lines of communication open. There are folks with whom we go long stretches without hearing from each other and pick up the relationship as if no time has passed. That does not mean that we make a habit of losing contact to test the strength of the relationship, only that it will weather time and distance. Is the praise of this psalm required by God in order to keep watching over us, is it required of us in order to remain in God’s good graces, or is it simply a word from grateful people to one who appreciates hearing from us?
May 5, 2014
Fourth Sunday of Easter
May 11, 2014
Psalm 93
1 The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2 your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.
4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the LORD!
5 Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.
(NRSV)
There are those who need constant reassurance that their contributions to life in the world are of sufficient quality to be noticed by all. They seek out these reassurances and prompt the folks around them to offer them if they do not arrive in the quantity and frequency required. When these folks rise to positions of authority and power they can surround themselves with ‘yes-folks,’ those who will instantly agree with the ideas and suggestions of the one who runs the show. And they can dismiss folks who are not fast enough with a compliment or who dare to suggest an alternative. In some settings the one in charge is the boss while in other settings that same type of person is seen as a bully.
The other extreme is the folks who do quality work to the best of their ability and live out their lives with an assurance of their own commitment to excellence. They find themselves content with knowing that they do their best with a desire to contribute the best they have to offer in any given circumstance. They don’t need a constant barrage of compliments and they are more than willing to listen and learn from those with different viewpoints and perspectives. In the give and take of ideas and experiences a more rounded solution can be discovered and put into practice. They neither discount nor demand any compliments that come their way.
God is one who does not require our constant attention, does not demand a constant stream of praise and thanks from us. God does appreciate being noticed, acknowledged and thanked, if for no other reason than to keep lines of communication open. There are folks with whom we go long stretches without hearing from each other and pick up the relationship as if no time has passed. That does not mean that we make a habit of losing contact to test the strength of the relationship, only that it will weather time and distance. Is the praise of this psalm required by God in order to keep watching over us, is it required of us in order to remain in God’s good graces, or is it simply a word from grateful people to one who appreciates hearing from us?
May 5, 2014
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