Psalm Meditation 855
Proper 27 or All Saint’s Sunday
November 6, 2016
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)
In the midst of the darkest dark there comes a glimmer of hope, an inkling that this particular darkness will not last forever. It starts as a hint of light in the corner of the eye. It may disappear for a moment, to return later, a little brighter and easier to pick out of the darkness. It may fade and return multiple times, staying longer and glowing more consistently as time goes by. At some point the glimmer becomes a glow and the glow becomes a light. The light carries hope and warmth in its beams.
Around the time the faintest glimmer appears there is a sense that I am not alone, there are others and there is another. The others are those who suffer with me and those who would trade places and suffer for me if they possibly could. The singular other is the presence of God. God is the one who can withstand my anger and blaming, the intensity of my sadness and the despair that threatens to undo me completely. God is the one who stands above the fray and in the midst of it, all at the same time. The immensity of the presence of God is a reminder that I am in the presence of one who help me up each time I fall.
And then one day, almost unbidden, music returns. A song rises from my heart and lifts my voice with it. It is tentative at first. It is never insistent, it sits on the edge of my life until I am ready to let it rise out of me. A joy returns tinged in sadness, it is joy nonetheless.
October 31, 2016
LCM
Monday, October 31, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
Psalm Meditation 854
Proper 26
October 30, 2016
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)
When things are going well, God is with us. When things are going badly, God has abandoned us. It is a pretty simple formula of who God is and what we can expect. And it worked for the psalmist and the people of that time. Their experience was based on the rule of kings who held absolute sway over every aspect of life, and death, in the kingdom. Since kings hold that kind of power over people, God must hold that kind of power too.
God can decide without warning to change the course of peoples’ lives. On a bad day, life can be made miserable out of nowhere. People were willing to believe that something must have happened, they must have done something, to push God’s buttons whether it could be readily identified or not. On a good day, God had smiled on us for some unknown action on our part. While God has the power to change lives, it is in response to what we have done or left undone in our relationship with God.
At some point we realized that this means that God is reacting to us, and that robs God of the power to act in our lives. What if God loves us and chooses to be present among us no matter what? When things are going well, God is present among us. When things are going poorly, God is present among us. In our celebrations the presence of God reminds us that we are not the sole architects of our lives so that we celebrate with a touch of humility. In our trials the presence of God reminds us that we are not alone, no matter what.
October 24, 2016
LCM
Proper 26
October 30, 2016
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)
When things are going well, God is with us. When things are going badly, God has abandoned us. It is a pretty simple formula of who God is and what we can expect. And it worked for the psalmist and the people of that time. Their experience was based on the rule of kings who held absolute sway over every aspect of life, and death, in the kingdom. Since kings hold that kind of power over people, God must hold that kind of power too.
God can decide without warning to change the course of peoples’ lives. On a bad day, life can be made miserable out of nowhere. People were willing to believe that something must have happened, they must have done something, to push God’s buttons whether it could be readily identified or not. On a good day, God had smiled on us for some unknown action on our part. While God has the power to change lives, it is in response to what we have done or left undone in our relationship with God.
At some point we realized that this means that God is reacting to us, and that robs God of the power to act in our lives. What if God loves us and chooses to be present among us no matter what? When things are going well, God is present among us. When things are going poorly, God is present among us. In our celebrations the presence of God reminds us that we are not the sole architects of our lives so that we celebrate with a touch of humility. In our trials the presence of God reminds us that we are not alone, no matter what.
October 24, 2016
LCM
Monday, October 17, 2016
Psalm Meditation 853
Proper 25
October 23, 2016
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)
It is in our nature to be frightened by the events and occurrences around us. Sometimes we give in to our fears, sometimes we rationalize them away, sometimes we ignore them or push them to our subconscious, and other times we use them as reminders that we are people of God. We react differently depending on our circumstances at the time. Each of our reactions is an opportunity to turn to God.
We turn to God to have our needs met. When we give in to our fears we pray that they are unfounded, less fearsome than they could be and that God is with us no matter what. When we are rational in facing our fears we pray that our calculations are correct and that the abilities God has given us will be what we need to face this fear. When we ignore our fears our conscious or subconscious prayer is that we will get through this despite our fear. In each situation we trust that God is with us in the midst of our fearful situation.
The psalmist uses fear as a reminder that God is bigger than any fear we may face. The fearful situation may overwhelm and overcome us, however we will continue to be held in the presence of God. In the midst of a terrifying flood, the psalmist announces that God is bigger than the flood. We may be swept away in the rising water but God will stand firm against the flood and will be with us in life and in death.
October 17, 2016
LCM
Proper 25
October 23, 2016
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)
It is in our nature to be frightened by the events and occurrences around us. Sometimes we give in to our fears, sometimes we rationalize them away, sometimes we ignore them or push them to our subconscious, and other times we use them as reminders that we are people of God. We react differently depending on our circumstances at the time. Each of our reactions is an opportunity to turn to God.
We turn to God to have our needs met. When we give in to our fears we pray that they are unfounded, less fearsome than they could be and that God is with us no matter what. When we are rational in facing our fears we pray that our calculations are correct and that the abilities God has given us will be what we need to face this fear. When we ignore our fears our conscious or subconscious prayer is that we will get through this despite our fear. In each situation we trust that God is with us in the midst of our fearful situation.
The psalmist uses fear as a reminder that God is bigger than any fear we may face. The fearful situation may overwhelm and overcome us, however we will continue to be held in the presence of God. In the midst of a terrifying flood, the psalmist announces that God is bigger than the flood. We may be swept away in the rising water but God will stand firm against the flood and will be with us in life and in death.
October 17, 2016
LCM
Monday, October 10, 2016
Psalm Meditation 852
Proper 24
October 16, 2016
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)
Anyone who has been bullied or shamed in defeat is aware of what the psalmist is going through here. We rail against the unfairness of it all and call down the same abuse and insults we have suffered on those who caused our suffering. And since they are partly responsible for the behavior we rail against the gods of our tormentors, especially if they are not our own. We know that if God were to heap these abuses on our enemies we would rejoice, sing, and dance in the face of their suffering.
The reality is that suffering is ugly even if it is one of our enemies who suffers. There is something cathartic about asking God to step in and exact our revenge on those who have proved themselves willing to make us suffer. If they can do that to us, wouldn’t it be grand if God would punish them in our name. While we may have violent fantasies of revenge and bathing in the blood of those who torment us, fantasy is not as gory and gruesome as the real thing. On top of that vengeance is not really as satisfying as we imagine.
Wanting to experience the suffering of others at the hands of God may give us a momentary rush of fiendish pleasure, however it is finally more fiendish than pleasurable. God is not one to seek revenge on those who do evil to others. Disappointing as that may be we can also be grateful that God has not given us what we deserve for each of our actions. Fantasizing revenge gives a great adrenaline rush, it does not, however, bring us closer to God. Getting closer to God involves us behaving more like God rather than asking God to live out our fantasies of vengeance.
October 10, 2016
LCM
Proper 24
October 16, 2016
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)
Anyone who has been bullied or shamed in defeat is aware of what the psalmist is going through here. We rail against the unfairness of it all and call down the same abuse and insults we have suffered on those who caused our suffering. And since they are partly responsible for the behavior we rail against the gods of our tormentors, especially if they are not our own. We know that if God were to heap these abuses on our enemies we would rejoice, sing, and dance in the face of their suffering.
The reality is that suffering is ugly even if it is one of our enemies who suffers. There is something cathartic about asking God to step in and exact our revenge on those who have proved themselves willing to make us suffer. If they can do that to us, wouldn’t it be grand if God would punish them in our name. While we may have violent fantasies of revenge and bathing in the blood of those who torment us, fantasy is not as gory and gruesome as the real thing. On top of that vengeance is not really as satisfying as we imagine.
Wanting to experience the suffering of others at the hands of God may give us a momentary rush of fiendish pleasure, however it is finally more fiendish than pleasurable. God is not one to seek revenge on those who do evil to others. Disappointing as that may be we can also be grateful that God has not given us what we deserve for each of our actions. Fantasizing revenge gives a great adrenaline rush, it does not, however, bring us closer to God. Getting closer to God involves us behaving more like God rather than asking God to live out our fantasies of vengeance.
October 10, 2016
LCM
Monday, October 3, 2016
Psalm Meditation 851
Proper 23
October 9, 2016
Psalm 143
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness.
2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
3 For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground, making me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
5 I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land .Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
8 Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Save me, O LORD, from my enemies; I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.
11 For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.
12 In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am your servant.
(NRSV)
When I first read this it seemed that the psalmist was bargaining with God for a favor, as if God could somehow owe us one. Most of us have attempted to strike a deal with God along the lines of, if you do this for me then I will do that for you. “If you get me out of this ditch, I will go to church every week for a year.” If we do get out of that ditch, and we do go to church every week for a year, we will feel as if we have somehow done our good deed and God is paid in full for getting us out of the mess in which we found ourselves. That was my thinking after the first reading.
After multiple readings I noticed that the psalmist is making these pleas in the name of God’s righteousness and faithfulness. There is full awareness on the psalmist’s part that “no one living is righteous before you.” We can’t do enough to qualify for any reciprocity on God’s part. There is not enough time, space or energy for any of us to be able to earn any favors from God. Like the psalmist, we are left to depend on the faithfulness and righteousness of God. The psalmist is not asking for deliverance from the crushing weight of an enemy or the judgment of God based on deserving it but on the basis of God’s promise and example of what is right and just.
Those who ask for God’s help and presence as a part of a reciprocal bargain, I do this, you do that, will get God’s help and presence. Those who ask for help and presence in dependence of God’s righteous and faithfulness will all receive help and presence. In both cases our help will come from the depths of God’s love for us. God does not and will not owe us any favors. No matter what deals we make, they will not be honored because we have fulfilled our side. God’s favor comes to us as an act of righteousness and faithfulness rising out of God’s steadfast love for us.
October 3, 2016
LCM
Proper 23
October 9, 2016
Psalm 143
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness; answer me in your righteousness.
2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
3 For the enemy has pursued me, crushing my life to the ground, making me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
5 I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands.
6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land .Selah
7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
8 Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
9 Save me, O LORD, from my enemies; I have fled to you for refuge.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path.
11 For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.
12 In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am your servant.
(NRSV)
When I first read this it seemed that the psalmist was bargaining with God for a favor, as if God could somehow owe us one. Most of us have attempted to strike a deal with God along the lines of, if you do this for me then I will do that for you. “If you get me out of this ditch, I will go to church every week for a year.” If we do get out of that ditch, and we do go to church every week for a year, we will feel as if we have somehow done our good deed and God is paid in full for getting us out of the mess in which we found ourselves. That was my thinking after the first reading.
After multiple readings I noticed that the psalmist is making these pleas in the name of God’s righteousness and faithfulness. There is full awareness on the psalmist’s part that “no one living is righteous before you.” We can’t do enough to qualify for any reciprocity on God’s part. There is not enough time, space or energy for any of us to be able to earn any favors from God. Like the psalmist, we are left to depend on the faithfulness and righteousness of God. The psalmist is not asking for deliverance from the crushing weight of an enemy or the judgment of God based on deserving it but on the basis of God’s promise and example of what is right and just.
Those who ask for God’s help and presence as a part of a reciprocal bargain, I do this, you do that, will get God’s help and presence. Those who ask for help and presence in dependence of God’s righteous and faithfulness will all receive help and presence. In both cases our help will come from the depths of God’s love for us. God does not and will not owe us any favors. No matter what deals we make, they will not be honored because we have fulfilled our side. God’s favor comes to us as an act of righteousness and faithfulness rising out of God’s steadfast love for us.
October 3, 2016
LCM
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