Psalm Meditation 1363 ¶Proper Thirteen ¶August 2, 2026 ¶Psalm 80 ¶https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2080&version=NRSVUE ¶The past seems to have been so much better than the present. Everything was good back then; people cared about quality over profit, food was tastier, children were all good and respectful of their elders, and money went farther and lasted longer than it does now. It isn’t true, of course. We simply idealize the past because we are not living in it. If we lived through the times we are longing for now, we are leaving out some of the rough spots, either because others protected us from them or we blocked them out as painful or traumatic. ¶The psalmist is voicing the hurt of the nation and using the past as an indicator of what the world ‘should’ be because that is the way we have chosen to remember it. God did bring a vine out of Egypt and planted it, and we remember that God did all the heavy lifting of driving out all of ‘those’ people who had usurped ‘our’ land in the several generations we were exiled in Egypt. And not that things have gotten hard for us again, we long for the past we have in our idealized memory. The ideal and the reality are rarely the same. What we think we remember and long for, is imperfect and much more difficult than we care to admit. ¶Yet, we can wholeheartedly join the psalmist in asking God to do what God is already actively doing – to be with us. The request we would do better to make is that we be open to seeing the ways that God is with us in this and every time. We can pray that God ‘restore’ us to the future that can be rather than to a past that is nowhere near as good as the one anyone remembers. “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” ¶July 27, 2026 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1362 ¶Proper 12 ¶July 26, 2026 ¶Psalm 84 ¶https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2084&version=NRSVUE ¶Many of us long for the presence of God as if there is place where God lives, an actual location that can be accessed in this lifetime. At the same time, we may have a place where our experience of God was so powerful, so present that we can go there on a regular basis and recall, sense, and experience that presence all over again. It is not that it is the only place where God can be experienced, it is that we associate that place with the presence of God in our lives. ¶For the psalmist, that place is the Temple. The psalmist feels at home there and notices that other people and creatures also feel themselves to be at home in that place. The bird songs feel like hymns of praise and thanksgiving as they raise their young in the house of YHWH. One of the ways to approach the Temple is to go through the valley of Baca, a dry and desolate place. Those who feel as if they are going home to the Temple, are able to bring joy to the valley of Baca rather than being worn down by the dark, desolation of the area. ¶The psalmist ends with “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than live in the tents of wickedness.” It is a reminder that it is better to be at the outer limits of God’s dwelling than to be in the middle of a place in which God’s presence is not felt. When we are attuned to God in our lives we feel the favor and honor of God washing over us and through us. We feel whole and holy with all those who know God’s presence in every part of life. ¶July 20, 2026 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1361 ¶Proper 11 ¶July 19, 2026 ¶Psalm 91 ¶https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2091&version=NRSVUE ¶People who know they are children of God have a joy and peace about them that is beyond compare. They know that God is with them in any and all situations, even when they cannot feel God’s presence. While the psalmist goes a bit overboard in stating how God watches over each of us, they know that God is active in our lives in wholesome and healing ways, even in the face of devastation and destruction. The psalmist uses hyperbole to let us know that God is with us in the most dire circumstances whether we survive or not. ¶Now, we see the punishment of the wicked on a daily basis. Every time something happens to people or groups we don’t like, we know that God is the one punishing them. When hurricanes, tornados, and other natural disasters strike areas full of any of ‘those’ kind of people, we know that God’s hand is at work wreaking vengeance on sinners. However, when those same calamities fall on us and those we love, it is simply a natural disaster caused by random weather phenomena. ¶God is active in our lives. Those who choose to see God’s hand at work will see a lot of God’s activity and influence. Those who can’t or won’t see God in those same activities, may be just as grateful, without giving credit to God. I have heard, and said, “How can people look at a beautiful sunrise or sunset and not see God at work in that?” I have become aware that not everyone does see God at work in the cycles of the day, and many of them continue to marvel at that same beauty. And God is at work whether we acknowledge it or not. ¶July 13, 2026 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1360 ¶Proper 10 ¶July 12, 2026 ¶Psalm 89 ¶https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2089&version=NRSVUE ¶A standard piece of management advice is to start any critique with something positive, and then mention the negative. The psalmist follows this advice by reminding God of all the good things that God has done for David and the people under David’s rule. The psalm starts more broadly than God’s care for the people, with a list of things God has done and continues to do for the whole area and world. As the psalmist brings in a more narrow focus, the emphasis is still on the good things God has done for and through David. ¶David has been crowned, anointed, and strengthened to serve as the one who leads the people victoriously into battle, crushing foes and striking down those who hate David, and by extension, God and the people of God. The promise to David of God’s steadfast love forever has been given, and God has reaffirmed that steadfast love over time. The promise is given to David and to all David’s heirs who also follow the ways of God. Those promises become void for any ruler who does not walk in the footsteps of David, even though the promise to David stands. ¶God is great, and God’s steadfast love is a permanent fixture for each of us. However, those who turn away from God’s path will find themselves farther away from that love, even though the love still stands firm. Though we may feel abandoned by God and taunted by those around us, the love of God surrounds us even when we have difficulty feeling it. ¶July 7, 2026 ¶LCM