Psalm Meditation 798
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time World Communion
October 4, 2015
Psalm 31
1 In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.
2 Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
6 You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities,
8 and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place.
9 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
17 Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD, for I call on you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently against the righteous with pride and contempt.
19 O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you, and accomplished for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of everyone!
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots; you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.
21 Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege.
22 I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” 23 Love the LORD, all you his saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.
(NRSV)
It is tempting to believe that we have been abandoned by God, and everyone else, from time to time in our lives. We feel broken and abandoned. A friend of mine would say that we feel ‘helpless, hopeless and worthless.’ Whatever comes we know that we will have to face it alone. It is a scary feeling. The sense of abandonment overpowers and overwhelms all of our emotions and senses. There is no room in our lives to feel anything but the fear that accompanies our sense of abandonment. We are paralyzed by fear. It is no fun to live through and no fun to look back on should we ever get through this time of fear and dread.
The psalmist is aware that God is present in some way all the time even when we have no idea how or where. In the depths of abandonment we, like the psalmist have the sense, “I had said in my alarm, “I am driven from your sight.”” We know that we are totally abandoned, even by God. However, the psalmist continues, “But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.” Even though we feel as if we have been left alone by everyone including God, the psalmist assures us that this is not the case. The psalmist mentions the presence of God and that is often accompanied by at least a few of the people of God who stand with us as well.
The feeling of abandonment is deep and real. In most cases, there is more to a situation than what we are feeling. At the deepest point of abandonment God is with us. At the deepest point of abandonment there are people waiting for an opening and opportunity to make themselves known to us. The psalmist’s advice, “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD.” is easier given than received. It is good advice nonetheless. It will not happen all at once and it will ebb and flow. Know that even though it feels as if you are alone, there is more to this than what you are feeling.
September 28, 2015
LCM
Monday, September 28, 2015
Monday, September 21, 2015
Psalm Meditation 797
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 27, 2015
Psalm 81
1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
(NRSV)
The first time I read verse 9 today I read it as a commandment, a word to the people that they were not to pick up the habits and religious observances of the people around them. It may seem easier to worship one whose demands are less stringent, whose feast days are filled with different activities than what they were used to doing. Somehow, new and different seems more compelling and exciting than the same old same old. For whatever reason they might choose to follow the ways of another religious culture, the God of Israel warns them against it.
The second time I read it as a promise. God says, “I am not going to let you be overrun by folks who will force a new and strange religion down your throats. I have delivered you in the past and I will continue to deliver you in the present and future. Open your mouth, your throat, your heart and I will fill you with great and wonderful things.” There are no commandments at this point, there is only the invitation to be open to all that God offers. Openness to the promise leads to its fulfillment.
The way we read the psalm, this one verse, may make all the difference in what we expect and what we receive from God. The words are the same either way. How we hear God said those words to us makes a world of difference. When we read and hear them as a command we experience God as a judge, asking that we follow the rules as they are set forth in the letter of the law. When we read and hear them as a promise we experience God as one who wants to give us good things if only we are open to those things. Yes, it is more of a sliding scale than a one or the other choice. The important question we face is, do we, do I, see God as more of a judge or as one who is ready to make and keep promises out of a deep love for us, for me?
September 21, 2015
LCM
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 27, 2015
Psalm 81
1 Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
(NRSV)
The first time I read verse 9 today I read it as a commandment, a word to the people that they were not to pick up the habits and religious observances of the people around them. It may seem easier to worship one whose demands are less stringent, whose feast days are filled with different activities than what they were used to doing. Somehow, new and different seems more compelling and exciting than the same old same old. For whatever reason they might choose to follow the ways of another religious culture, the God of Israel warns them against it.
The second time I read it as a promise. God says, “I am not going to let you be overrun by folks who will force a new and strange religion down your throats. I have delivered you in the past and I will continue to deliver you in the present and future. Open your mouth, your throat, your heart and I will fill you with great and wonderful things.” There are no commandments at this point, there is only the invitation to be open to all that God offers. Openness to the promise leads to its fulfillment.
The way we read the psalm, this one verse, may make all the difference in what we expect and what we receive from God. The words are the same either way. How we hear God said those words to us makes a world of difference. When we read and hear them as a command we experience God as a judge, asking that we follow the rules as they are set forth in the letter of the law. When we read and hear them as a promise we experience God as one who wants to give us good things if only we are open to those things. Yes, it is more of a sliding scale than a one or the other choice. The important question we face is, do we, do I, see God as more of a judge or as one who is ready to make and keep promises out of a deep love for us, for me?
September 21, 2015
LCM
Monday, September 14, 2015
Psalm Meditation 796
Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 20, 2015
Psalm 20
1 The LORD answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings, and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.
7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright.
9 Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.
(NRSV)
This psalm is a pep rally for the king as he leads the army out to battle. The psalmist is aware that, while the king may lead the army, God has a hand in the victory. As the king has been faithful in the practice of his faith, has a good sense of the direction God is leading, the king and the nation will achieve a resounding victory against this enemy. Once this victory has been achieved, the people can rejoice over the victory that God has given to the king.
While most nations are engaged in multiple wars and battles on multiple fronts making it impossible for one person to lead the military into any particular fray, we do have something in common with the psalmist. We continue to have folks who put their trust in guns, bombs and the wide variety of military might available to us and we have folks who look to God for the lasting resolution to any conflict.
It is not in the decisive victories brought by strength of arms that solve the world’s problems. History teaches that the most belligerent and violent nations and movements see themselves as protecting themselves from the aggressions of those around them. We find and make ways to convince ourselves that ‘those people’ are out to get us and we lash out to protect ourselves. When we can put our trust in God instead of in our caches of mighty weapons we will be able to see a way forward into a world of relationships with people of God, even people who see and experience God differently than ourselves.
September 21, 2015
LCM
Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 20, 2015
Psalm 20
1 The LORD answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings, and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand.
7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright.
9 Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.
(NRSV)
This psalm is a pep rally for the king as he leads the army out to battle. The psalmist is aware that, while the king may lead the army, God has a hand in the victory. As the king has been faithful in the practice of his faith, has a good sense of the direction God is leading, the king and the nation will achieve a resounding victory against this enemy. Once this victory has been achieved, the people can rejoice over the victory that God has given to the king.
While most nations are engaged in multiple wars and battles on multiple fronts making it impossible for one person to lead the military into any particular fray, we do have something in common with the psalmist. We continue to have folks who put their trust in guns, bombs and the wide variety of military might available to us and we have folks who look to God for the lasting resolution to any conflict.
It is not in the decisive victories brought by strength of arms that solve the world’s problems. History teaches that the most belligerent and violent nations and movements see themselves as protecting themselves from the aggressions of those around them. We find and make ways to convince ourselves that ‘those people’ are out to get us and we lash out to protect ourselves. When we can put our trust in God instead of in our caches of mighty weapons we will be able to see a way forward into a world of relationships with people of God, even people who see and experience God differently than ourselves.
September 21, 2015
LCM
Monday, September 7, 2015
Psalm Meditation 795
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 13, 2015
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)
While this psalm may have been used in a coronation it reminds us that each of us has to have a relationship with God that is our own. Any previous generations of faithful folks have taught us and given us an example of what it means to follow God, however it is up to each of us to take that example and claim our own relationship with God. Whether we are the richest of rulers or the poorest of the poor each of us forms our relationship with God in a unique way.
The friends our parents and grandparents have do not automatically become our friends as well. If we choose, we develop our own relationship with these folks. It will be different from the ones our parents have with them for all sorts of reasons. Over the course of time it may become a deep and meaningful relationship based on our own shared history that includes our mutual and very different relationships with the people who introduced us. This includes our relationship with God. It may have been our parents who introduced us to God, however it is up to each of us to develop our that relationship with God on our own.
While the psalm points out a family history of a relationship with God, the psalmist also reminds us, “If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne.” The relationship with God, the dynasty of the royal house is based on the historic relationship with David as well as the ongoing relationship with God fostered by the individual who is next in line for the throne. While our parents and grandparents may have had deeply fulfilling relationships with God, we do not automatically have that same kind of relationship. It is up to each of us to build our relationship with God.
September 7, 2015
LCM
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 13, 2015
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)
While this psalm may have been used in a coronation it reminds us that each of us has to have a relationship with God that is our own. Any previous generations of faithful folks have taught us and given us an example of what it means to follow God, however it is up to each of us to take that example and claim our own relationship with God. Whether we are the richest of rulers or the poorest of the poor each of us forms our relationship with God in a unique way.
The friends our parents and grandparents have do not automatically become our friends as well. If we choose, we develop our own relationship with these folks. It will be different from the ones our parents have with them for all sorts of reasons. Over the course of time it may become a deep and meaningful relationship based on our own shared history that includes our mutual and very different relationships with the people who introduced us. This includes our relationship with God. It may have been our parents who introduced us to God, however it is up to each of us to develop our that relationship with God on our own.
While the psalm points out a family history of a relationship with God, the psalmist also reminds us, “If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them, their sons also, forevermore, shall sit on your throne.” The relationship with God, the dynasty of the royal house is based on the historic relationship with David as well as the ongoing relationship with God fostered by the individual who is next in line for the throne. While our parents and grandparents may have had deeply fulfilling relationships with God, we do not automatically have that same kind of relationship. It is up to each of us to build our relationship with God.
September 7, 2015
LCM
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