Psalm Meditation 985
Third Sunday of Easter
May 5, 2019
Psalm 26
1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you.
4 I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5 I hate the company of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar, O LORD,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell, and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10 those in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.
(NRSV)
My first impression, cynical as it may be, is that this psalm is akin to the old rhyme, “I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls who do.” It is a humble brag about the standards the psalmist holds as well as the expectations of family and friends. First impressions are not always accurate. After the initial cynicism, I realized this is first a prayer lifted to God in a time of need. It is not a humble brag, it is the second part of a three part petition for the help of God as the psalmist pleads for release from a difficult situation. In a time in which God is nearly synonymous with the ruler of the nation, it is necessary and important to remind God who it is raising this petition. What seems to be a humble brag is a recounting of who the psalmist is by way of introduction.
Current belief is that God knows each one of us more intimately than we know ourselves. We do not need to introduce ourselves every time, or remind God who we are and what we do in order to strengthen our relationship on a regular basis. Because God is intimately connected to us, using this psalm to convince God of the rightness of our behavior and that there is justification in meeting our needs at this time does become a humble brag. Any reminders needed will be on our side of the relationship, as we look at who we strive to be for the sake of our relationship with God.
The psalmist has a pretty comprehensive list of folks to avoid; worthless, hypocrites, evildoers, wicked, sinners, bloodthirsty, holders of evil devices, and those who hold bribes in their right hands. If we don’t hang out with these folks, who does that leave? The psalmist has an answer for that too; the innocent, the thankful, those who enjoy the presence of God, those with integrity, and who stand on level ground. The psalmist saw both good and bad behavior as contagious, and so it is. The task for us is to be strengthened by the folks who love God so that we can be the more contagious in the presence of those who are looking to leave the life of wickedness to join life in the presence of God.
April 29, 2019
LCM
Monday, April 29, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
Psalm Meditation 984
Second Sunday of Easter
April 28, 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)
The psalmist seems to be a ruler, outlining to God the kind of people who will serve in the royal court. If this is a psalm of David it is interesting that the people who will not be welcomed in the administration are those who are guilty of the sins that will be the downfall of David. According to my psychologist friends there are two broad categories of people who drive us nuts; the people who are so unlike us that we can’t figure out what makes them tick, and the people who are like us in the ways we don’t like and often deny about ourselves.
David is telling God that there is no room in his life for people who fall away from God, who do things that are not in line with who God is and the demands God places on us. Perverseness of heart, secretly destroying a neighbor with slander have no place around David. Things like adultery and attempting to let someone believe that the child of an affair may have come from the husband. If that doesn’t work, have the husband killed so there is only one side of the story. I am so glad that I am not like that and that I don’t know or know of any one like that.
Except that we are all like that at some point and to some degree. Who is it that makes you crazy when you think about them? How are you like them? How often do we judge people for the things they do because we don’t like ourselves much when we do those same things? So, we can make our lists of people and characteristics that drive us crazy when we are around them, or we can point ourselves in the direction that leads us away from hypocrisy and moves us toward faithfulness.
April 22, 2019
LCM
Second Sunday of Easter
April 28, 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)
The psalmist seems to be a ruler, outlining to God the kind of people who will serve in the royal court. If this is a psalm of David it is interesting that the people who will not be welcomed in the administration are those who are guilty of the sins that will be the downfall of David. According to my psychologist friends there are two broad categories of people who drive us nuts; the people who are so unlike us that we can’t figure out what makes them tick, and the people who are like us in the ways we don’t like and often deny about ourselves.
David is telling God that there is no room in his life for people who fall away from God, who do things that are not in line with who God is and the demands God places on us. Perverseness of heart, secretly destroying a neighbor with slander have no place around David. Things like adultery and attempting to let someone believe that the child of an affair may have come from the husband. If that doesn’t work, have the husband killed so there is only one side of the story. I am so glad that I am not like that and that I don’t know or know of any one like that.
Except that we are all like that at some point and to some degree. Who is it that makes you crazy when you think about them? How are you like them? How often do we judge people for the things they do because we don’t like ourselves much when we do those same things? So, we can make our lists of people and characteristics that drive us crazy when we are around them, or we can point ourselves in the direction that leads us away from hypocrisy and moves us toward faithfulness.
April 22, 2019
LCM
Monday, April 15, 2019
Psalm Meditation 983
Easter
April 21, 2019
Psalm 1
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NRSV)
It seems that we spend a lot more time and energy defining our enemies and adversaries these days. It is much easier to state who and what we oppose than it is to define what we believe and who we support. It is nothing new. From the Garden of Eden to the current arguments of religion and politics we find ourselves ready to be swayed by those who play on our doubts and fears to achieve their goals. As long as someone is ‘other’ there will be someone willing to tell us why it is important to be angry about their beliefs and actions and afraid that ‘those people’ are out to take the world as we know it in a different direction.
This psalmist breaks the pattern. The psalm begins and ends with what is good and right about God and the world. The first verse is framed in the negative, though it is about those who lean in the direction of God. The next few lines tell us good things about those who pay attention to God. There are a couple of lines that remind us that ‘the wicked’ have no visible means of support in God’s creation and ends with a comparison between the righteous and the wicked. There is a little more about what it means to be on the side of God than what it means to stand somewhere besides God’s presence.
We will continue to find it quicker and easier to see what is wrong with the world and many of the people who live in it. The psalmist gives us another option: we can look to God to find what is right with the world and those who live in it. God made all that is and saw that it was good, except for people. At the end of people day God looked around and saw that it was very good. We may have mucked it up a bit, however the hand of God abides in creation and the goodness and righteousness remains at the core of it all.
April 15, 2019
LCM
Easter
April 21, 2019
Psalm 1
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NRSV)
It seems that we spend a lot more time and energy defining our enemies and adversaries these days. It is much easier to state who and what we oppose than it is to define what we believe and who we support. It is nothing new. From the Garden of Eden to the current arguments of religion and politics we find ourselves ready to be swayed by those who play on our doubts and fears to achieve their goals. As long as someone is ‘other’ there will be someone willing to tell us why it is important to be angry about their beliefs and actions and afraid that ‘those people’ are out to take the world as we know it in a different direction.
This psalmist breaks the pattern. The psalm begins and ends with what is good and right about God and the world. The first verse is framed in the negative, though it is about those who lean in the direction of God. The next few lines tell us good things about those who pay attention to God. There are a couple of lines that remind us that ‘the wicked’ have no visible means of support in God’s creation and ends with a comparison between the righteous and the wicked. There is a little more about what it means to be on the side of God than what it means to stand somewhere besides God’s presence.
We will continue to find it quicker and easier to see what is wrong with the world and many of the people who live in it. The psalmist gives us another option: we can look to God to find what is right with the world and those who live in it. God made all that is and saw that it was good, except for people. At the end of people day God looked around and saw that it was very good. We may have mucked it up a bit, however the hand of God abides in creation and the goodness and righteousness remains at the core of it all.
April 15, 2019
LCM
Monday, April 8, 2019
Psalm Meditation 982
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 14, 2019
Psalm 76
1 In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; none of the troops was able to lift a hand.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
7 But you indeed are awesome! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still
9 when God rose up to establish judgment, to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah
10 Human wrath serves only to praise you, when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and perform them; let all who are around him bring gifts to the one who is awesome,
12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.
(NRSV)
Awesome is a word that has come to mean cool, groovy, neato. Everything that causes the slightest flutter within us will be awesome to at least one of us. So in this psalm calling God awesome is to add one more bump on the mountain of awesome things. I know that language changes and evolves, and I am happy to use a language that is alive and transforming on a seemingly daily basis. Awesome is one of those words. However, let us dust off an old school definition when calling God awesome.
The definition that works for God is one who inspires awe, one who leaves us open mouthed and trembling with a mix of fear and excitement as we realize we are in the presence of amazing holiness. The awesomeness of God is far beyond the excitement we feel in the presence of a new puppy or a new vehicle. The awesomeness of God has us wanting to get closer in excitement while at the same time wanting to run away in fright leaving us frozen in place. The awesomeness of God is beyond words though we will find ourselves using as many as can spill out of our mouths at once to attempt a description.
I am sure we will continue to describe everything as awesome until the next all inclusive word comes along. I know I do. I invite us to know that in some cases the word means so much more than it does in general use. God is awesome in a way that is exponentially more than a new kitten or puppy. God is awesome in a way that stops us in our tracks, brings us to our knees, moves us to action, and reminds us that there is one who staggers our imaginations and loves us beyond measure.
April 8, 2019
LCM
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 14, 2019
Psalm 76
1 In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; none of the troops was able to lift a hand.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
7 But you indeed are awesome! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still
9 when God rose up to establish judgment, to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah
10 Human wrath serves only to praise you, when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and perform them; let all who are around him bring gifts to the one who is awesome,
12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.
(NRSV)
Awesome is a word that has come to mean cool, groovy, neato. Everything that causes the slightest flutter within us will be awesome to at least one of us. So in this psalm calling God awesome is to add one more bump on the mountain of awesome things. I know that language changes and evolves, and I am happy to use a language that is alive and transforming on a seemingly daily basis. Awesome is one of those words. However, let us dust off an old school definition when calling God awesome.
The definition that works for God is one who inspires awe, one who leaves us open mouthed and trembling with a mix of fear and excitement as we realize we are in the presence of amazing holiness. The awesomeness of God is far beyond the excitement we feel in the presence of a new puppy or a new vehicle. The awesomeness of God has us wanting to get closer in excitement while at the same time wanting to run away in fright leaving us frozen in place. The awesomeness of God is beyond words though we will find ourselves using as many as can spill out of our mouths at once to attempt a description.
I am sure we will continue to describe everything as awesome until the next all inclusive word comes along. I know I do. I invite us to know that in some cases the word means so much more than it does in general use. God is awesome in a way that is exponentially more than a new kitten or puppy. God is awesome in a way that stops us in our tracks, brings us to our knees, moves us to action, and reminds us that there is one who staggers our imaginations and loves us beyond measure.
April 8, 2019
LCM
Monday, April 1, 2019
Psalm Meditation 981
Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 7, 2019
Psalm 1
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NRSV)
I am a fan and proponent of including as many people as possible in conversation and activity. One of the ways to do that is to use language that includes, at the very least doesn’t exclude, people. One of the simplest ways is to change singular references to plural. Most of the time that works and doesn’t make any difference Sometimes attempts at inclusion end up changing the emphasis of a text. I use the New Revised Standard Version as my reference point since it was the best available at the time I began writing these meditations. I also use the Revised Standard Version in preparing meditations.
In the RSV the first three verses, those referring to those who turn away from wickedness are singular, and those referring to the wicked are plural. The NRSV uses an inclusive plural throughout. It doesn’t make a lot of difference in the full meaning of the psalm, however it does make the point that the righteous option is one that fewer people choose. Righteousness takes a singular focus as opposed to going along with the crowd of the wicked.
That is a long introduction to the psalmist’s encouragement to those who make the choice to ignore the easy way, the crowded way, the way that always seems to have resources, the way that leads toward ease and comfort. The psalmist encourages those who delight in the law of the LORD. Each one may feel left out and excluded from the herd mentality of those seeking the easy way. The psalmist encourages each one to stand firm knowing that each one is nourished and sustained in the life-giving stream of the presence of God. God supports and sustains the one who stands firm in the way of God.
April 1, 2019
LCM
Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 7, 2019
Psalm 1
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
(NRSV)
I am a fan and proponent of including as many people as possible in conversation and activity. One of the ways to do that is to use language that includes, at the very least doesn’t exclude, people. One of the simplest ways is to change singular references to plural. Most of the time that works and doesn’t make any difference Sometimes attempts at inclusion end up changing the emphasis of a text. I use the New Revised Standard Version as my reference point since it was the best available at the time I began writing these meditations. I also use the Revised Standard Version in preparing meditations.
In the RSV the first three verses, those referring to those who turn away from wickedness are singular, and those referring to the wicked are plural. The NRSV uses an inclusive plural throughout. It doesn’t make a lot of difference in the full meaning of the psalm, however it does make the point that the righteous option is one that fewer people choose. Righteousness takes a singular focus as opposed to going along with the crowd of the wicked.
That is a long introduction to the psalmist’s encouragement to those who make the choice to ignore the easy way, the crowded way, the way that always seems to have resources, the way that leads toward ease and comfort. The psalmist encourages those who delight in the law of the LORD. Each one may feel left out and excluded from the herd mentality of those seeking the easy way. The psalmist encourages each one to stand firm knowing that each one is nourished and sustained in the life-giving stream of the presence of God. God supports and sustains the one who stands firm in the way of God.
April 1, 2019
LCM
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