Psalm Meditation 767
Second Sunday in Lent
March 1, 2015
Psalm 86
1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God;
3 be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.
7 In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl.
17 Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
(NRSV)
Isn’t it interesting that the psalmist asks God to, “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me…” as if it is God who is not paying attention. While ancient thought would have been inclined to assume that it was God who was inattentive, we have broadened and deepened our understanding of who God is. While we know in our heads and hearts that God is always present and aware, we have each been known to lose track of that bit of truth in the midst of a crisis or a bump in the road. Human nature seems to allow us the option of knowing that it is the other party who is at fault in the event of a conflict.
How often have we been guilty of talking past each other, giving all the responsibility to the other to listen, to hear, to change? Our default assumption is that we have to choose sides in which one of us is completely in the right and you, of course, are totally in the wrong. Since God is not inclined to communicate with us in a standard ‘voice of God,’ we are that much more likely to see God as the one at fault. God is a much better listener than we are used to encountering. Our expectation is that we will be interrupted with a solution which we can pick apart and wait for the rebuttal.
God seems to listen to us until we are ready to receive the word God has for us. The word of God is not so much right or wrong as it is true. We can disagree, dispute and argue with the word God offers to us, however it seems to stand no matter what. The psalmist asks for a sign from God that will shame critics, naysayers and adversaries. Instead, we are offered a word that connects us to God and the people of God in such a way that we are no longer dissuaded from our God relationship by any amount of negativity.
February 25, 2015
LCM
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Psalm Meditation 766
First Sunday in Lent
February 22, 2015
Psalm 15
1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the LORD; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
(NRSV)
In the days before psychology we could judge ourselves and others by our actions rather than our motives. It was possible to walk blamelessly when the standard was what we did. There was not a lot of soul searching and hand wringing about why we did what we did, the concern was for doing the right thing. In that mindset it is possible to walk blamelessly, do what is right and speak the truth from our hearts.
Once we add the motive, we find trouble. We second guess ourselves, wondering, not only if we are doing the right thing we wonder if we are doing it for the right reason. We judge others, knowing that our people are doing things for the right reasons and that those people are acting out of selfish motives. We spend so much time and effort working out our motivation we end up doing nothing. No matter what our actions, we can question our own motives or listen to those willing to do it for us.
Maybe we can give ourselves a break this week, today. If we spend less time fretting over our own motives and more time on doing something that points to God we can look back at the end of week or the end or the day and know that God has been served, maybe even glorified by our actions. As we act more than fret we will have less energy to question the motives of others as well. Our motives will always be mixed: actions that point to God will point to God no matter why we do them.
February 16, 2015
LCM
First Sunday in Lent
February 22, 2015
Psalm 15
1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the LORD; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
(NRSV)
In the days before psychology we could judge ourselves and others by our actions rather than our motives. It was possible to walk blamelessly when the standard was what we did. There was not a lot of soul searching and hand wringing about why we did what we did, the concern was for doing the right thing. In that mindset it is possible to walk blamelessly, do what is right and speak the truth from our hearts.
Once we add the motive, we find trouble. We second guess ourselves, wondering, not only if we are doing the right thing we wonder if we are doing it for the right reason. We judge others, knowing that our people are doing things for the right reasons and that those people are acting out of selfish motives. We spend so much time and effort working out our motivation we end up doing nothing. No matter what our actions, we can question our own motives or listen to those willing to do it for us.
Maybe we can give ourselves a break this week, today. If we spend less time fretting over our own motives and more time on doing something that points to God we can look back at the end of week or the end or the day and know that God has been served, maybe even glorified by our actions. As we act more than fret we will have less energy to question the motives of others as well. Our motives will always be mixed: actions that point to God will point to God no matter why we do them.
February 16, 2015
LCM
Monday, February 9, 2015
Psalm Meditation 765
Transfiguration Sunday
February 15, 2015
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How could we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
(NRSV)
I grew up in a musical family, so singing has been a part of my life from the beginning. There have been times in which I did not feel like singing. I sang in the choir, I sang the hymns in worship as best I could, I played music on the instruments I have, however I rarely burst into song on my own. It took a year or so for me to even notice that I was not hearing music in my head and heart. It took another several months before a song rose unbidden from heart to lips.
This was the circumstance of the psalmist here. Having been taken into exile, pulled away from all the familiar routines and places of their lives, they are in no mood to sing joyful songs. As an added piece of cruelty, their captors force them to sing songs of joy and faithfulness. I am sure it is bad enough that they don’t feel like singing in the first place, and then to be forced to sing of a joyous homeland and relationship to God.
These folks want to sing, they want to remember the joyous events of life and worship in the presence of YHWH. They do not want to be forced to sing of a time that makes the surrounding events that much worse. The phrase, ‘the gift of song’ has a deep truth here. It is a gift that one both gives and receives. To be forced to give it, in a mood not currently felt, raises the ire of those forced to sing. Whether folks would really be happy to destroy the children of those who forced them to sing joyous songs in exile is doubtful. That it is an excellent fantasy is understandable. What they want more than anything is to be able to sing from the depths of their hearts in the presence of God as the people of God.
February 9, 2015
LCM
Transfiguration Sunday
February 15, 2015
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How could we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, “Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us!
9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
(NRSV)
I grew up in a musical family, so singing has been a part of my life from the beginning. There have been times in which I did not feel like singing. I sang in the choir, I sang the hymns in worship as best I could, I played music on the instruments I have, however I rarely burst into song on my own. It took a year or so for me to even notice that I was not hearing music in my head and heart. It took another several months before a song rose unbidden from heart to lips.
This was the circumstance of the psalmist here. Having been taken into exile, pulled away from all the familiar routines and places of their lives, they are in no mood to sing joyful songs. As an added piece of cruelty, their captors force them to sing songs of joy and faithfulness. I am sure it is bad enough that they don’t feel like singing in the first place, and then to be forced to sing of a joyous homeland and relationship to God.
These folks want to sing, they want to remember the joyous events of life and worship in the presence of YHWH. They do not want to be forced to sing of a time that makes the surrounding events that much worse. The phrase, ‘the gift of song’ has a deep truth here. It is a gift that one both gives and receives. To be forced to give it, in a mood not currently felt, raises the ire of those forced to sing. Whether folks would really be happy to destroy the children of those who forced them to sing joyous songs in exile is doubtful. That it is an excellent fantasy is understandable. What they want more than anything is to be able to sing from the depths of their hearts in the presence of God as the people of God.
February 9, 2015
LCM
Monday, February 2, 2015
Psalm Meditation 764
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
February 8, 2015
Psalm 64
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless; they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.” For the human heart and mind are deep.
7 But God will shoot his arrow at them; they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear; they will tell what God has brought about, and ponder what he has done.
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory.
(NRSV)
I am sure we are neither the first nor the last group of people who are quick to draw the lines in the sand that set the boundary between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ We are quick to defend those on our side of the line, simply because they are on this side. We are quick to discount those on the other side because of where they stand, rather than for what they stand. It is as if only we can be correct about anything, and whatever ‘those people’ say has to be wrong simply because they say it. It is usually the case that there is truth and falsehood in both camps.
The psalmist reminds us that God sees falsehood wherever it is and aims to point it out so that we are able to see it for ourselves. God sees the subtle shadings used on all sides of a question that we use to make our arguments true and convincing and their arguments false and misleading. Once we are sure that our arguments are true we stop looking at any others, assuming that theirs must be false since they are not in lockstep agreement with our own. It only takes a few charismatic voices to convince us that ours is the correct viewpoint making all others wrong and probably evil. It is also easy to convince ourselves that we are open to see truth wherever it may be; it just so happens that it is only in our own viewpoint.
God picks out the truth from every side and lifts it up for those who have eyes to see. It can be a subtle point or a more substantial set of facts and truth. God aims to pluck out the cunningly conceived plots and lift up the truth. It is up to us to look to God to see the truth in its full depth and width.
February 2, 2015
LCM
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
February 8, 2015
Psalm 64
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless; they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see us?
6 Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.” For the human heart and mind are deep.
7 But God will shoot his arrow at them; they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear; they will tell what God has brought about, and ponder what he has done.
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory.
(NRSV)
I am sure we are neither the first nor the last group of people who are quick to draw the lines in the sand that set the boundary between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ We are quick to defend those on our side of the line, simply because they are on this side. We are quick to discount those on the other side because of where they stand, rather than for what they stand. It is as if only we can be correct about anything, and whatever ‘those people’ say has to be wrong simply because they say it. It is usually the case that there is truth and falsehood in both camps.
The psalmist reminds us that God sees falsehood wherever it is and aims to point it out so that we are able to see it for ourselves. God sees the subtle shadings used on all sides of a question that we use to make our arguments true and convincing and their arguments false and misleading. Once we are sure that our arguments are true we stop looking at any others, assuming that theirs must be false since they are not in lockstep agreement with our own. It only takes a few charismatic voices to convince us that ours is the correct viewpoint making all others wrong and probably evil. It is also easy to convince ourselves that we are open to see truth wherever it may be; it just so happens that it is only in our own viewpoint.
God picks out the truth from every side and lifts it up for those who have eyes to see. It can be a subtle point or a more substantial set of facts and truth. God aims to pluck out the cunningly conceived plots and lift up the truth. It is up to us to look to God to see the truth in its full depth and width.
February 2, 2015
LCM
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