Psalm Meditation 980
Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 31, 2019
Psalm 150
1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
I have been known to skip to the end of a book, to read the last page or so, to see how the whole thing wraps up. Gratefully, it has never ruined a book for me to know how it ends. I rarely do it any more, however I do not fault anyone who reads the end of a book out of sequence. It can add to the interest as those of us who do this get to consider how the events on a given page move us to the end we know is coming. And yes, I can feel the disapproval of several friends and family as they discover this about me. The end of a book can serve to launch the readers into reality with new tools and insights, no matter when and how often that end is read.
This is the end of the Book of Psalms. It ends with a note of praise. The word praise is used thirteen times in six verses. For those who want to know what is important now that this book is at an end, the psalmist encourages us to praise the LORD. Are you having an excellent day? Praise the LORD. Are you having a bad day? Find a reason to praise the LORD. Are you being judged because you disagree with people around you? Praise the LORD because you have been given the ability to think for yourself. Is your life falling apart at the seams, ripping apart in the middle, wearing out at the stress points like a favorite shirt? Praise the LORD that you are not alone, that you are surrounded by people who love you, and that you are held in the loving arms of God.
As we look for reasons to praise we find our hearts and lives lifted to a new appreciation of the good that is present all around us. As we praise the LORD, we make new connections, new links in body mind and spirit, about how God works in the world of which we are a part. The Psalms touch the heights and depths of our emotions in the presence of God and remind us that even if we feel lost and abandoned we are within reach of God who loves us beyond the measure of our comprehension. Praise the LORD.
March 25, 2019
LCM
Monday, March 25, 2019
Monday, March 18, 2019
Psalm Meditation 979
Third Sunday in Lent
March 24, 2019
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
(NRSV)
Most of us can easily list the sins of those around us; family, friends, enemies. Sin is pretty easy to spot from an objective distance. Given the opportunity to get close enough to get to know someone we don’t like makes listing that person’s sins very easy. Our psalmist here has done something different.
This psalmist has found it necessary to enumerate and confess personal sins. There is no deflecting or denying. The psalmist has come to the point at which many sins have weighed so heavily there is no rising without becoming free of this load of sin. The psalmist goes to God to lighten the burden of sin.
These days all forms of media are full of reports of people falling from grace and fame. Some are famous, while others are known only to their victims. It is still easier to name the sins of those around us than it is to name our own in a way that leads to repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. Many of us find it easier to believe the worst about those with whom we disagree, than we do in the repentance and restoration of one with whom we have no problem. The psalmist reminds us that it is most important to look to ourselves and our own sin, so that we can confess, repent, and be restored to right relationship with God and others.
March 18, 2019
LCM
Third Sunday in Lent
March 24, 2019
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
(NRSV)
Most of us can easily list the sins of those around us; family, friends, enemies. Sin is pretty easy to spot from an objective distance. Given the opportunity to get close enough to get to know someone we don’t like makes listing that person’s sins very easy. Our psalmist here has done something different.
This psalmist has found it necessary to enumerate and confess personal sins. There is no deflecting or denying. The psalmist has come to the point at which many sins have weighed so heavily there is no rising without becoming free of this load of sin. The psalmist goes to God to lighten the burden of sin.
These days all forms of media are full of reports of people falling from grace and fame. Some are famous, while others are known only to their victims. It is still easier to name the sins of those around us than it is to name our own in a way that leads to repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. Many of us find it easier to believe the worst about those with whom we disagree, than we do in the repentance and restoration of one with whom we have no problem. The psalmist reminds us that it is most important to look to ourselves and our own sin, so that we can confess, repent, and be restored to right relationship with God and others.
March 18, 2019
LCM
Monday, March 11, 2019
Psalm Meditation 978
Second Sunday in Lent (St Patrick’s Day)
March 17, 2019
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations
(NRSV)
Making a joyful noise is a lot easier than singing since it is something that each of us can do. For some it is a full, jumping, dancing celebration with yells and screams of delight. For others it is a smile that takes over their whole body with a small chuckle thrown in for emphasis. We neither feel nor express our joy in the same way. It certainly varies from person to person, as well as from event to event.
The important part is to feel the joy and to express it in a way that works for the one experiencing it. I have heard people say that they do their best to limit their feelings of joy so that it also limits their feelings of grief and sadness. It feels safe, as if we are protecting ourselves from the extremes of emotion, however it is a source of sadness to those who watch us refuse to express our joy and sadness in full measure.
The psalmist calls us to express our full range of joy in the presence of God. And that joy comes in response to the steadfast love of God in every aspect of our lives. No matter who we are, no matter what we do, we are wrapped up in the love that God has for us. That is reason to be filled with joy and to express it to God to the fullest of our ability.
March 11, 2019
LCM
Second Sunday in Lent (St Patrick’s Day)
March 17, 2019
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations
(NRSV)
Making a joyful noise is a lot easier than singing since it is something that each of us can do. For some it is a full, jumping, dancing celebration with yells and screams of delight. For others it is a smile that takes over their whole body with a small chuckle thrown in for emphasis. We neither feel nor express our joy in the same way. It certainly varies from person to person, as well as from event to event.
The important part is to feel the joy and to express it in a way that works for the one experiencing it. I have heard people say that they do their best to limit their feelings of joy so that it also limits their feelings of grief and sadness. It feels safe, as if we are protecting ourselves from the extremes of emotion, however it is a source of sadness to those who watch us refuse to express our joy and sadness in full measure.
The psalmist calls us to express our full range of joy in the presence of God. And that joy comes in response to the steadfast love of God in every aspect of our lives. No matter who we are, no matter what we do, we are wrapped up in the love that God has for us. That is reason to be filled with joy and to express it to God to the fullest of our ability.
March 11, 2019
LCM
Monday, March 4, 2019
Psalm Meditation 977
First Sunday in Lent
March 10, 2019
Psalm 101
1 I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing.
2 I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
4 Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.
5 One who secretly slanders a neighbor I will destroy. A haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not tolerate.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so that they may live with me; whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit shall remain in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue in my presence.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all evildoers from the city of the LORD.
(NRSV)
It is good to have standards, especially high standards. They give us something toward which to aim as we live out our lives. It is also good when those around us are aware of our expectations so that they can carry themselves appropriately when we are together. Many of us like to know that someone expects us to do more and to do it better than what we get by doing in the rest of our lives.
The standards of the psalmist are high as well as achievable. Integrity, honesty, purity of heart, and humility are expectations we can live up to as well as expect from those with whom we surround ourselves. The difficulty comes when our standards become so high that no one can live up to them.
There are those who see themselves as the judge and jury of what constitutes faithful behavior. These folks are constantly in turmoil over the ways that the rest of us can’t live up to the exacting specifications that they have set for us. These are the folks who scowl through every time of gathering because the rest of us are so far from the mark. They become no fun to be around and people drift away from them, leaving a wide space for them to live their ‘perfect’ lives without the rest of us getting in the way.
The goal for the psalmist, and for us, is to live as fully in the presence of God as we possibly can, reminding ourselves that we are not perfect, we are moving that direction. God loves us and has chosen to live among us, fully aware of our faults, flaws, and differences.
March 4, 2019
LCM
First Sunday in Lent
March 10, 2019
Psalm 101
1 I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing.
2 I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
4 Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.
5 One who secretly slanders a neighbor I will destroy. A haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not tolerate.
6 I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, so that they may live with me; whoever walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.
7 No one who practices deceit shall remain in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue in my presence.
8 Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all evildoers from the city of the LORD.
(NRSV)
It is good to have standards, especially high standards. They give us something toward which to aim as we live out our lives. It is also good when those around us are aware of our expectations so that they can carry themselves appropriately when we are together. Many of us like to know that someone expects us to do more and to do it better than what we get by doing in the rest of our lives.
The standards of the psalmist are high as well as achievable. Integrity, honesty, purity of heart, and humility are expectations we can live up to as well as expect from those with whom we surround ourselves. The difficulty comes when our standards become so high that no one can live up to them.
There are those who see themselves as the judge and jury of what constitutes faithful behavior. These folks are constantly in turmoil over the ways that the rest of us can’t live up to the exacting specifications that they have set for us. These are the folks who scowl through every time of gathering because the rest of us are so far from the mark. They become no fun to be around and people drift away from them, leaving a wide space for them to live their ‘perfect’ lives without the rest of us getting in the way.
The goal for the psalmist, and for us, is to live as fully in the presence of God as we possibly can, reminding ourselves that we are not perfect, we are moving that direction. God loves us and has chosen to live among us, fully aware of our faults, flaws, and differences.
March 4, 2019
LCM
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