Psalm Meditation 837
Proper 9
July 3, 2016
Psalm 49
1 Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high, rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it.
8 For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice,
9 that one should live on forever and never see the grave.
10 When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands their own.
12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.
13 Such is the fate of the foolhardy, the end of those who are pleased with their lot. Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd;
straight to the grave they descend, and their form shall waste away; Sheol shall be their home.
15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
16 Do not be afraid when some become rich, when the wealth of their houses increases.
17 For when they die they will carry nothing away; their wealth will not go down after them.
18 Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—
19 they will go to the company of their ancestors, who will never again see the light.
20 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.
(NRSV)
At some point in each of our lives we convince ourselves that the rules by which everyone lives do not apply to me. I will be the one lives forever. At the very least, I will be the one who gets to take all I have with me when I die. Whether I live forever or take my stuff with me, I will have bested everyone else through my life. It is a delightful fantasy in which to engage, however the psalmist reminds us that each of us will die and when we do we take none of the wealth of the world with us. While fame, fortune and long life are a good thing in this life those credits don’t transfer into the presence of God.
Wealth that lasts from one life to the next is the wealth of relationships. To know and be known by God is more important than all the years and all the wealth we can amass in this life. Loving relationships with others gives us another kind of immortality as those who survive us remember us fondly and do all in their power to preserve our memory for those who come after us. It is much better to be remembered by God and by those around us than to have great stores of treasure and many years to enjoy those treasures.
Given the choice between piles of treasure and treasured relationships the psalmist reminds us to make the choice that carries over into the fully realized presence of God. Yes, people are praised for having great stores of treasures in this life, however there is so much better available to us. It is better to create memorable relationships, especially a relationship with God.
June 27, 2016
LCM
Monday, June 27, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
Psalm Meditation 836
Proper 8
June 26, 2016
Psalm 102
1 LORD, hear my prayer! Let my cry reach you!
2 Don’t hide your face from me in my time of trouble! Listen to me! Answer me quickly as I cry out!
3 Because my days disappear like smoke, my bones are burned up as if in an oven;
4 my heart is smashed like dried-up grass. I even forget to eat my food
5 because of my intense groans. My bones are protruding from my skin.
6 I’m like some wild owl—like some screech owl in the desert.
7 I lie awake all night. I’m all alone like a bird on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies make fun of me; those who mock me curse using my name!
9 I’ve been eating ashes instead of bread. I’ve been mixing tears into my drinks
10 because of your anger and wrath, because you picked me up and threw me away.
11 My days are like a shadow soon gone. I’m dried up like dead grass.
12 But you, LORD, rule forever! Your fame lasts from one generation to the next!
13 You will stand up—you’ll have compassion on Zion because it is time to have mercy on her—the time set for that has now come!
14 Your servants cherish Zion’s stones; they show mercy even to her dirt.
15 The nations will honor the LORD’s name; all the earth’s rulers will honor your glory
16 because the LORD will rebuild Zion; he will be seen there in his glory.
17 God will turn to the prayer of the impoverished; he won’t despise their prayers.
18 Let this be written down for the next generation so that people not yet created will praise the LORD:
19 The LORD looked down from his holy summit, surveyed the earth from heaven,
20 to hear the prisoners’ groans, to set free those condemned to death,
21 that the LORD’s name may be declared in Zion and his praise declared in Jerusalem,
22 when all people are gathered together—all kingdoms—to serve the LORD.
23 God broke my strength in midstride, cutting my days short.
24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the prime of life—your years go on from one generation to the next!
25 You laid the earth’s foundations long ago; the skies are your handiwork.
26 These things will pass away, but you will last. All of these things will wear out like clothing; you change them like clothes, and they pass on.
27 But you are the one! Your years never end!
28 Let your servants’ children live safe; let your servants’ descendants live secure in your presence.”
(NRSV)
Prayer can be an interesting exercise, especially in times of deep distress. We offer our prayers of distress coupled with doubt. We have our doubts about God hearing our prayers and, in the event those prayers are heard, will there be a response anywhere close to what we want. At times, we go so far as to wonder if God is there at all. We feel as if we are wasting our breath talking to one who does not exist; if God does exist, is there any connection between us and God? However, we are praying and that indicates a desire, longing and need for God in our lives.
There is evidence from prehistoric times to the present that people have felt that need for something larger than the individual as well as the collective sense of being and belonging. One of the ways the Abrahamic faiths express that need and longing is through prayer and singing to and about God and our relationships centered in God. The psalmists lift up prayers of despair and rejoicing as well as the needs and wants that fall in between those extremes.
Yes, we wonder if God hears and responds to our prayers. We wonder for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of situations. Through it all there continue to be people who pray, who lift the people, places and events that weigh on their hearts to the power and presence of God. Sometimes it is all we can do. Sometimes our prayers embolden us, instruct us or energize us to act in concert with God for the meeting of the needs of those around us. My experience has been that prayer does not change the events around me, prayer changes me.
June 20, 2016
LCM
Proper 8
June 26, 2016
Psalm 102
1 LORD, hear my prayer! Let my cry reach you!
2 Don’t hide your face from me in my time of trouble! Listen to me! Answer me quickly as I cry out!
3 Because my days disappear like smoke, my bones are burned up as if in an oven;
4 my heart is smashed like dried-up grass. I even forget to eat my food
5 because of my intense groans. My bones are protruding from my skin.
6 I’m like some wild owl—like some screech owl in the desert.
7 I lie awake all night. I’m all alone like a bird on a roof.
8 All day long my enemies make fun of me; those who mock me curse using my name!
9 I’ve been eating ashes instead of bread. I’ve been mixing tears into my drinks
10 because of your anger and wrath, because you picked me up and threw me away.
11 My days are like a shadow soon gone. I’m dried up like dead grass.
12 But you, LORD, rule forever! Your fame lasts from one generation to the next!
13 You will stand up—you’ll have compassion on Zion because it is time to have mercy on her—the time set for that has now come!
14 Your servants cherish Zion’s stones; they show mercy even to her dirt.
15 The nations will honor the LORD’s name; all the earth’s rulers will honor your glory
16 because the LORD will rebuild Zion; he will be seen there in his glory.
17 God will turn to the prayer of the impoverished; he won’t despise their prayers.
18 Let this be written down for the next generation so that people not yet created will praise the LORD:
19 The LORD looked down from his holy summit, surveyed the earth from heaven,
20 to hear the prisoners’ groans, to set free those condemned to death,
21 that the LORD’s name may be declared in Zion and his praise declared in Jerusalem,
22 when all people are gathered together—all kingdoms—to serve the LORD.
23 God broke my strength in midstride, cutting my days short.
24 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the prime of life—your years go on from one generation to the next!
25 You laid the earth’s foundations long ago; the skies are your handiwork.
26 These things will pass away, but you will last. All of these things will wear out like clothing; you change them like clothes, and they pass on.
27 But you are the one! Your years never end!
28 Let your servants’ children live safe; let your servants’ descendants live secure in your presence.”
(NRSV)
Prayer can be an interesting exercise, especially in times of deep distress. We offer our prayers of distress coupled with doubt. We have our doubts about God hearing our prayers and, in the event those prayers are heard, will there be a response anywhere close to what we want. At times, we go so far as to wonder if God is there at all. We feel as if we are wasting our breath talking to one who does not exist; if God does exist, is there any connection between us and God? However, we are praying and that indicates a desire, longing and need for God in our lives.
There is evidence from prehistoric times to the present that people have felt that need for something larger than the individual as well as the collective sense of being and belonging. One of the ways the Abrahamic faiths express that need and longing is through prayer and singing to and about God and our relationships centered in God. The psalmists lift up prayers of despair and rejoicing as well as the needs and wants that fall in between those extremes.
Yes, we wonder if God hears and responds to our prayers. We wonder for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of situations. Through it all there continue to be people who pray, who lift the people, places and events that weigh on their hearts to the power and presence of God. Sometimes it is all we can do. Sometimes our prayers embolden us, instruct us or energize us to act in concert with God for the meeting of the needs of those around us. My experience has been that prayer does not change the events around me, prayer changes me.
June 20, 2016
LCM
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Psalm Meditation 835
Proper 7
June 19, 2016
Psalm 99
1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.
(NRSV)
Years ago I heard, ‘we are not punished for our sin so much as we are punished by our sin.’ When it is about someone else I wish justice were more swift and decisive than it is. When it comes to me and the folks I love and care for I am grateful for God’s patience about sin and evil. It can take forever for the rest of the world to find out who did what when something happens, however the person or group responsible knows immediately. They may revel and celebrate in the moment but the gravity of sin weighs on them as it does on us no matter what.
The wonderful thing about free will is that God does not force decisions and choices on us. The bad thing is that when we have choices we can, and do, make some stupid, dangerous and evil choices. Sometimes the evil is intentional, when we do our best to make someone else miserable. Sometimes the evil is inadvertent, when we mean to do the right thing and it goes very wrong. Sometimes the evil is an unintended consequence of an otherwise good choice. And sometimes we simply get it wrong with the best of intentions by mistaking our selfishness for the mind and will of God.
God loves justice. At the same time, God loves us even when our actions, inactions and reactions lead to injustice for ourselves or someone else. It is a good idea to keep ears and minds open to the will of God even when it is at the expense of something precious to us. The love of God is perplexingly patient with us and with others. That patience with us, in hopes that we will find a way toward justice by our own choosing, is a part of the holiness of God.
June 14, 2016
LCM
Proper 7
June 19, 2016
Psalm 99
1 The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
2 The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.
3 Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is he!
4 Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool. Holy is he!
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called on his name. They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
9 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy.
(NRSV)
Years ago I heard, ‘we are not punished for our sin so much as we are punished by our sin.’ When it is about someone else I wish justice were more swift and decisive than it is. When it comes to me and the folks I love and care for I am grateful for God’s patience about sin and evil. It can take forever for the rest of the world to find out who did what when something happens, however the person or group responsible knows immediately. They may revel and celebrate in the moment but the gravity of sin weighs on them as it does on us no matter what.
The wonderful thing about free will is that God does not force decisions and choices on us. The bad thing is that when we have choices we can, and do, make some stupid, dangerous and evil choices. Sometimes the evil is intentional, when we do our best to make someone else miserable. Sometimes the evil is inadvertent, when we mean to do the right thing and it goes very wrong. Sometimes the evil is an unintended consequence of an otherwise good choice. And sometimes we simply get it wrong with the best of intentions by mistaking our selfishness for the mind and will of God.
God loves justice. At the same time, God loves us even when our actions, inactions and reactions lead to injustice for ourselves or someone else. It is a good idea to keep ears and minds open to the will of God even when it is at the expense of something precious to us. The love of God is perplexingly patient with us and with others. That patience with us, in hopes that we will find a way toward justice by our own choosing, is a part of the holiness of God.
June 14, 2016
LCM
Monday, June 6, 2016
Psalm Meditation 834
Proper 5
June 12, 2016
Psalm 52
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one, of mischief done against the godly? All day long
2 you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous will see, and fear, and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7 “See the one who would not take refuge in God, but trusted in abundant riches, and sought refuge in wealth!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
(NRSV)
The people who begin businesses usually do so to provide a service for the people around them. If they provide a service that a lot of people want they end up making a lot of money doing it. With good business sense or good advice the service grows beyond the first location to become a multiple branch provider. For the original owner operator the business is about service more than money. As that owner retires or gets bought out the vision slowly shifts from product and service to profit and loss.
The founder of the company is interested in making money, however the top priority is providing the service that is the heart of the business. At some point investors place making money as the top priority with the service as a secondary concern. What started as a service has become a product and the interest of the higher ups shifts from providing a welcome service to accumulating maximum profits for the shareholders. The product begins to suffer and people move on to the next thing as the profiteers squabble over the business.
These are the folks the psalmist reminds us not to be. If we ever get to the point at which our desire for wealth is stronger than our desire for God, it is time to reconsider our priorities. While the psalm mentions those for whom wealth is a priority, there are other concerns as well. Anyone whose top priority is not God has some reconsidering to do. Trusting in the steadfast love of God is harder than it looks until we form the habit. Once it becomes a habit we can give God thanks in all times and places and situations.
June 6, 2016
LCM
Proper 5
June 12, 2016
Psalm 52
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one, of mischief done against the godly? All day long
2 you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous will see, and fear, and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7 “See the one who would not take refuge in God, but trusted in abundant riches, and sought refuge in wealth!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever, because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
(NRSV)
The people who begin businesses usually do so to provide a service for the people around them. If they provide a service that a lot of people want they end up making a lot of money doing it. With good business sense or good advice the service grows beyond the first location to become a multiple branch provider. For the original owner operator the business is about service more than money. As that owner retires or gets bought out the vision slowly shifts from product and service to profit and loss.
The founder of the company is interested in making money, however the top priority is providing the service that is the heart of the business. At some point investors place making money as the top priority with the service as a secondary concern. What started as a service has become a product and the interest of the higher ups shifts from providing a welcome service to accumulating maximum profits for the shareholders. The product begins to suffer and people move on to the next thing as the profiteers squabble over the business.
These are the folks the psalmist reminds us not to be. If we ever get to the point at which our desire for wealth is stronger than our desire for God, it is time to reconsider our priorities. While the psalm mentions those for whom wealth is a priority, there are other concerns as well. Anyone whose top priority is not God has some reconsidering to do. Trusting in the steadfast love of God is harder than it looks until we form the habit. Once it becomes a habit we can give God thanks in all times and places and situations.
June 6, 2016
LCM
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