Psalm Meditation 1063 All Saints Day November 1, 2020 Psalm 39 1 I said, “I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.” 2 I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse, 3 my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: 4 “Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. 5 You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah 6 Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather. 7 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool. 9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it. 10 Remove your stroke from me; I am worn down by the blows of your hand. 11 “You chastise mortals in punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is dear to them; surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah 12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not hold your peace at my tears. For I am your passing guest, an alien, like all my forebears. 13 Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more.” (NRSV) Our inclination is to see God as the source of deliverance from all the terrible things we face in our lives. The psalmist is convinced that God is causing these terrible things as a punishment for some unidentified transgressions. Even as the psalmist places hope in God for relief from suffering the realization dawns that God is the one giving this beat down. Things are so bad that those who are inclined to make light of the suffering of others can see that the psalmist is being humiliated by God who is supposed to help out in situations like this. While we are quick to say that God punishes others for their sins and transgressions, we are not as quick to see God as out to get us. When Job is stripped of his possessions, assets, and loved ones his friends gather to let him know that it is his fault and if he will admit guilt and repent God will forgive him. Job is sure that there is another cause. In the end, the friends are told to apologize to Job and to have him pray for them because God is not as vindictive as the friends want to believe. The psalmist asks God to turn away so that there can be some relief before dying. Convince that God is the cause of all this suffering, the psalmist wants to be left alone by God so that there can be a moment of peace before drifting off into nothingness. Job, on the other hand, continues to hope in God for the present and the future. We too can know that God is with us. We are not promised that we will get through life with all of our stuff intact. We are promised that God will be with us. Sometimes it works out, as it did for Job, that we are able to recover and rebound. Sometimes we have to count it all loss and move ahead in the presence of God alone. October 26, 2020 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1062 Proper 25 October 25, 2020 Psalm 114 1 When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 3 The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. 5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? 6 O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water. (NRSV) Some days our relationship with God just barely fits into our ability to put it into words. The best we can do is describe the feeling we get when we are in the presence of God. The psalmist uses the partings of the Red Sea and the Jordan, the bookmark events of the Exodus, to get at the spectacularity of God’s activity. These things that are done just for us. The God who does these things for us also chooses to have a relationship with us. It is exciting enough to meet the one who can part a sea and open a river for crossing on dry land; to know that this same one came looking for a relationship with us is overwhelming. The relationship is not asking us to be adoring fans, God is asking us to be true companions on the journey we take together. We get to walk and talk and work side by side with the God who creates and cares for all that is. While we will probably keep a sense of awe as we settle in to our relationship with God, it is good to know that we are encouraged to give ourselves as wholeheartedly as we are able to that relationship. God allows us to forget that we are in the presence of the Creator of the universe so that we can settle in to a comfortable comradery together. God cares for us, provides for us, and invites us into an ever deepening relationship even as we invite others in to their own relationship with God. October 19, 2020 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1061 Proper 24 Laity Sunday October 18, 2020 Psalm 14 1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. 3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? 5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous. 6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge. 7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad. (NRSV) I am not as concerned about those who say there is no God as I am about those who say that God rigidly conforms to their way of thinking and acting. They see ‘our people’ as right and justifiable in their actions, and ‘those people’ as guilty of deep sinfulness even when both groups follow the same path. And it is almost always ‘those people’ who are most guilty of the kind of idolatry that lets them define God according to their own words and deeds. Since people on every side are guilty, God looks down to see “if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.” When God sees that we “have all gone astray,” it is time for us to look to ourselves instead of blaming ‘them’ for all the ills of the world. Granted, we see as ourselves among those who cannot bring change to the world, we are following those we believe can bring our corner of the world back to its senses. ‘It is for the rich and powerful to change the world, we simply hitch our wagon to those with whom we align most fully.’ Somewhere in all of this process we have agency to support and influence those who would run the world for our sake. And we have a responsibility to listen to those we claim to be helping with our actions. To call on an old joke punchline, we are not being helpful by leading folks across a street they did not intend to cross. Today I see verse 7 as a desire for change from the halls of human leadership. ‘If only our leaders would be the ones to deliver all people from the bonds of sin and death.’ Barring that, the psalmist is deeply aware that it is God who is the refuge and deliverer of those who have no voice in the direction of the future. Some people see their role as speaking out for the poor and needy while others see their role as giving the poor and needy the platform to speak for themselves. Either way, the psalmist and others look forward to a time, “When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.” October 12, 2020 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1060 Proper 23 October 11, 2020 Psalm 89 (selected verses) 1 I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. 2 I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. 3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: 4 ‘I will establish your descendants forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah 5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones, great and awesome above all that are around him? 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it—you have founded them. 12 The north and the south—you created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; 16 they exult in your name all day long, and extol your righteousness. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is—for what vanity you have created all mortals! 48 Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol? Selah 49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, O Lord, how your servant is taunted; how I bear in my bosom the insults of the peoples, 51 with which your enemies taunt, O Lord, with which they taunted the footsteps of your anointed. 52 Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and Amen. (NRSV) When things go poorly for those we don’t like, we see it as the judgment of God on them for their evil ways. We can pinpoint all the reasons that they are being punished, especially for all the ways they have picked on us. They deserve all that is happening to them because they are not like us. They are mean and heartless, as well as godless in all that they are and do. Sometimes God will single out an individual for public shaming, ridicule, and punishment while other times whole groups of people will be targeted by God’s acts of vengeance. Either way, we know that God is at work in their lives to make them pay for their evil ways. When things go badly for us we are more likely to blame those bad folks for picking on us and wishing and working for ill in our lives. We are good people of God so it couldn’t possibly be that God is punishing us in the same way that ‘those’ people get punished for doing bad things. God is not actively doing the bad things to us, God is hiding from us to allow these things to happen. Perhaps we are being disciplined for some slight sin we have committed against God, however all will be well soon enough—when God gets back. We define and deal with God on our own terms. We can’t stand back from ourselves and look at God through some objective lens. God will always be seen as behaving with the same motives we have for our actions. The only way we can see, think of, and define God is from within our own context. If we are gifted, we can see God in the light of another culture or viewpoint, however we can’t see God through any but our human lenses. What really motivates God to act among us? There are as many answers as there are people. The psalmist wants to know that God is a God of steadfast love. October 5, 2020 LCM