Psalm Meditation 807
Second Sunday of Advent
December 6, 2015
Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
(NRSV)
My depths and yours are different. Yours may make mine seem shallow or the other way around. It is tempting to turn emotions into a contest; to see who has the deepest depths and the highest heights. Depending on the conversational topic each side can chalk up a win. If we are discussing how easy our lives have been then the person with the least drama comes out the winner. If we are talking about how hard life can be then it is the person who has suffered the most who wins that discussion. When everything is a contest we lose out on one of the most important parts of life, the connections forged by a life together.
When we allow the connection to take precedence over the contest we find ourselves living and working together in ways that are helpful to each of us. When we let another person touch our emotions we discover that we have common feelings even if the heights and depths between us are at different levels. While it is temptingly common to discount the emotional rollercoaster that is the teenage years, the emotions are no less real and raw than for anyone else who struggles and rejoices through life.
In our life together we discover a path toward hope. When it is more important to form bonds with another than to stand in judgment against one another we find hope, love and redemption together. Despair has a way of separating us from those around us, thus the psalmist’s solitary plea for the presence and deliverance of God. By raising this plea to God the psalmist is reminded that it is not necessary to be a lone ranger. From individual despair to the inclusion of the whole nation, the psalmist reminds us that we are not alone. We are in the presence of God and of each other.
November 30, 2015
LCM
Monday, November 30, 2015
Monday, November 23, 2015
Psalm Meditation 806
First Sunday of Advent
November 29, 2015
Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power
19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.
22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)
A teddy bear, a body pillow, a friend, a significant other, a spouse; just a few of the things and people we grab onto for comfort in times of stress and trial. The psalmist calls God a rock and a fortress which are good strong, immoveable images when strength and protection are required. Strength is not always found in hard, cold places. There are times in which we gather strength in the softness of a loving touch or the warmth of another. (even if that warmth is simply our own reflected back to us from a teddy bear or pillow.) Whatever the source, whatever the image there is strength and restoration in the company of another.
Often it is those least able to ask for help who are most in need of it. The silent nerdy types are the best targets for those who grasp and pick and bully those around them. Because they are more withdrawn in a variety of ways they are easier marks for those who look for people who ‘deserve’ to be picked apart. The recipients of the grasping, picking and bullying don’t have the interest or wherewithal to make friends and connections so they are already isolated from a larger community. They have no one to stand with them against ‘the hand of the wicked.’
These are the people held in God’s heart. The downcast and the outcast are dear to God; if for no other reason than that they are dear to so few others. The presence of God does not make the grasping, picking and bullying any less relentless than before, it can make the sting of it all more bearable. To know that one is precious in the eyes, mind and heart of God makes one better able to suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.’ Being aware of God’s love also opens a person to the love of the community of God’s people. To be in community with others give us hope, strength and a voice of our own, all of which we can use for ourselves and for others.
November 23, 2015
LCM
First Sunday of Advent
November 29, 2015
Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power
19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.
22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)
A teddy bear, a body pillow, a friend, a significant other, a spouse; just a few of the things and people we grab onto for comfort in times of stress and trial. The psalmist calls God a rock and a fortress which are good strong, immoveable images when strength and protection are required. Strength is not always found in hard, cold places. There are times in which we gather strength in the softness of a loving touch or the warmth of another. (even if that warmth is simply our own reflected back to us from a teddy bear or pillow.) Whatever the source, whatever the image there is strength and restoration in the company of another.
Often it is those least able to ask for help who are most in need of it. The silent nerdy types are the best targets for those who grasp and pick and bully those around them. Because they are more withdrawn in a variety of ways they are easier marks for those who look for people who ‘deserve’ to be picked apart. The recipients of the grasping, picking and bullying don’t have the interest or wherewithal to make friends and connections so they are already isolated from a larger community. They have no one to stand with them against ‘the hand of the wicked.’
These are the people held in God’s heart. The downcast and the outcast are dear to God; if for no other reason than that they are dear to so few others. The presence of God does not make the grasping, picking and bullying any less relentless than before, it can make the sting of it all more bearable. To know that one is precious in the eyes, mind and heart of God makes one better able to suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.’ Being aware of God’s love also opens a person to the love of the community of God’s people. To be in community with others give us hope, strength and a voice of our own, all of which we can use for ourselves and for others.
November 23, 2015
LCM
Monday, November 16, 2015
Psalm Meditation 805
Reign of Christ
November 22, 2015
Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
(NRSV)
Some days it would be great if God stood by us in some physical way, some way we could see and feel. As we stood against the evils of the world around us, we would know that God was on our side as real, tangible presence. With God right next to us we would know with assurance that we were among the ‘good guys’ doing the work of God in the world. We would also know that God would be there to back up any action we took and would protect us from the ‘bad guys’ we would have to confront in our battles.
The difficulty is that God does not pick sides in most of our arguments and disagreements. God does not join one side or the other so much as God works in us to move us to take the side of God on a daily basis. God is not in the business of beating people up, using force to get us to live the right way. God is love. As such, God leads us in the way of love through the example of a variety of people past and present. It is possible that God is embarrassed by some of our arguments since we continue to force our way into the hearts and minds of others, all in the name of the God of love.
Rather than looking to God to help us beat up our list of ‘bad guys’ perhaps we would serve God better by cultivating the love to which God calls us. Rather than name calling and attacking each other’s positions, we find and make ways to love each other with our similarities and differences intact. It is a difficult way to go and it takes much longer than using force to win the day. As people of God we do well to care less about winning as we spend more time following the lead of those who love.
November 16, 2015
LCM
Reign of Christ
November 22, 2015
Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.
(NRSV)
Some days it would be great if God stood by us in some physical way, some way we could see and feel. As we stood against the evils of the world around us, we would know that God was on our side as real, tangible presence. With God right next to us we would know with assurance that we were among the ‘good guys’ doing the work of God in the world. We would also know that God would be there to back up any action we took and would protect us from the ‘bad guys’ we would have to confront in our battles.
The difficulty is that God does not pick sides in most of our arguments and disagreements. God does not join one side or the other so much as God works in us to move us to take the side of God on a daily basis. God is not in the business of beating people up, using force to get us to live the right way. God is love. As such, God leads us in the way of love through the example of a variety of people past and present. It is possible that God is embarrassed by some of our arguments since we continue to force our way into the hearts and minds of others, all in the name of the God of love.
Rather than looking to God to help us beat up our list of ‘bad guys’ perhaps we would serve God better by cultivating the love to which God calls us. Rather than name calling and attacking each other’s positions, we find and make ways to love each other with our similarities and differences intact. It is a difficult way to go and it takes much longer than using force to win the day. As people of God we do well to care less about winning as we spend more time following the lead of those who love.
November 16, 2015
LCM
Monday, November 9, 2015
Psalm Meditation 804
Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 15, 2015
Psalm 30
1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
(NRSV)
Our foes are not always other people and they are not always outside of us. Some folks have internal foes along the lines of illness and disease, others have foes that shout out fears and inadequacies more loudly than any other internal voices. Illnesses and diseases can drain us of our strength and energy in such a way that we can’t bring ourselves to do anything. I have heard that, in cases of serious illnesses, we are not fighting an illness we are the battleground on which the battle is fought between disease and medicine.
Those who go up against fears and anxieties can be drained as easily as those whose battles are with outside forces.
The psalmist thanks God for deliverance from a bout with something that could have been fatal. There is also the recognition that this was punishment for sinful arrogance on the part of the psalmist. By turning to God in this time of distress, not only has the illness been removed there is a companion healing of the sin that brought on the illness in the first place. There is both physical healing and a restoration of the broken relationship between the psalmist and God.
While we no longer see every illness as a punishment for sin, we can continue to turn to God for comfort in the face of any and all foes. With different knowledge and several more years of experience, we see God as present with us in every time and place rather than the cause of our disease or prosperity. God continues to turn mourning into dancing, sorrow into joy and to be with us in every time and circumstance of life.
November 9, 2015
LCM
Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 15, 2015
Psalm 30
1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!”
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
(NRSV)
Our foes are not always other people and they are not always outside of us. Some folks have internal foes along the lines of illness and disease, others have foes that shout out fears and inadequacies more loudly than any other internal voices. Illnesses and diseases can drain us of our strength and energy in such a way that we can’t bring ourselves to do anything. I have heard that, in cases of serious illnesses, we are not fighting an illness we are the battleground on which the battle is fought between disease and medicine.
Those who go up against fears and anxieties can be drained as easily as those whose battles are with outside forces.
The psalmist thanks God for deliverance from a bout with something that could have been fatal. There is also the recognition that this was punishment for sinful arrogance on the part of the psalmist. By turning to God in this time of distress, not only has the illness been removed there is a companion healing of the sin that brought on the illness in the first place. There is both physical healing and a restoration of the broken relationship between the psalmist and God.
While we no longer see every illness as a punishment for sin, we can continue to turn to God for comfort in the face of any and all foes. With different knowledge and several more years of experience, we see God as present with us in every time and place rather than the cause of our disease or prosperity. God continues to turn mourning into dancing, sorrow into joy and to be with us in every time and circumstance of life.
November 9, 2015
LCM
Monday, November 2, 2015
Psalm Meditation 803
Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 8, 2015
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)
Many of us know what it is like to be picked on; to be the go to person for venting when the actual target of ire is too scary to approach. In pack animals, dogs for instance, we know about the alpha male and female, there is also a position called the omega dog. This animal interjects itself into fierce fights in order to give the strong animals a different target for their aggression thus saving the stronger animals from each other. The upper level dogs take a few nips and swipes at the omega animal and then go away recognizing it is not worth the effort to pick on this poorer specimen. The omega animal is also vulnerable to attack without having interrupted a fight. Any animal who needs to vent can do so on the omega animal. It is not rough enough to do permanent damage to the omega, only enough to get that little bit of aggression out of the attacking animal’s system.
Because humans are communal creatures we also have an omega person or group among us. Within a group there is a person who gets all the abuse from almost everyone else. As a group we will pick another group to receive our undifferentiated aggression. A racial or ethnic group or groups usually fits the bill. One or more of those groups may change from time to time.
The psalmist voices the concern that Israel has become one of those groups for the peoples who surround them. They feel as if they are a vineyard with no wall that can be harvested at will by any and all who come their way. The cry goes up to God to restore to the people a sense of security as well as the wherewithal to stand up against the folks who bully us. And those who are bullied and picked on join the psalmist in asking that, at the very least, God be present with us and give us a sense of wholeness in the face of the trials we face. Knowing we are not alone makes a tremendous difference.
November 2, 2015
LCM
Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time
November 8, 2015
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)
Many of us know what it is like to be picked on; to be the go to person for venting when the actual target of ire is too scary to approach. In pack animals, dogs for instance, we know about the alpha male and female, there is also a position called the omega dog. This animal interjects itself into fierce fights in order to give the strong animals a different target for their aggression thus saving the stronger animals from each other. The upper level dogs take a few nips and swipes at the omega animal and then go away recognizing it is not worth the effort to pick on this poorer specimen. The omega animal is also vulnerable to attack without having interrupted a fight. Any animal who needs to vent can do so on the omega animal. It is not rough enough to do permanent damage to the omega, only enough to get that little bit of aggression out of the attacking animal’s system.
Because humans are communal creatures we also have an omega person or group among us. Within a group there is a person who gets all the abuse from almost everyone else. As a group we will pick another group to receive our undifferentiated aggression. A racial or ethnic group or groups usually fits the bill. One or more of those groups may change from time to time.
The psalmist voices the concern that Israel has become one of those groups for the peoples who surround them. They feel as if they are a vineyard with no wall that can be harvested at will by any and all who come their way. The cry goes up to God to restore to the people a sense of security as well as the wherewithal to stand up against the folks who bully us. And those who are bullied and picked on join the psalmist in asking that, at the very least, God be present with us and give us a sense of wholeness in the face of the trials we face. Knowing we are not alone makes a tremendous difference.
November 2, 2015
LCM
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