Psalm Meditation 1106 Proper 17 August 29, 2021 Psalm 146 1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. 5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord! (NRSV) Most of us don’t know who drew our dividing lines, however we are sure which side we have chosen as our own. We will put our trust in the prince/princess who keeps our toes on our chosen line and rallies us against everyone else. Those who have made any other choice are not simply different, they are wrong. If our prince/princess wavers even slightly from the prescribed line they run the risk of being pushed aside in favor of the next one who will give us what we want to hear. There are times in which our lines are drawn in the sand, they are flexible, changeable, able to give and take with some fluidity. Other times our lines are set in stone and they do not give at all. We would rather lose friends and former compatriots than see our crisply drawn line change even slightly. We will take our disagreement to a dangerous and deadly conclusion rather than change our minds or our behavior. The psalmist invites us to put our trust in God rather than in a set of arguments that have no flex or give. The way of God leads to hope, faith, justice, freedom, and vision for all just to name a few. All of these are for each person and are not confined to our group alone. The way of God offers a place for each and all, a place of honor and respect. Even those whose plans and paths are ruined will find shelter in the love of God. August 23, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1105 Proper 16 August 22, 2021 Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. 6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah 8 Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah (NRSV) There are situations in which it is impossible to be still. There are times of great joy that need to be shouted from the rooftops, there are times of sadness that need to be wailed from the depths of our souls, there are times of rage that need to be raged wherever we are. These are but a few of the triumphs and traumas that are not meant to be held in or suffered in silence. These are not the times, places, situations in which we are to “Be still, and know that I am God!” After we have expressed our joy, sadness, or rage, when we are sitting exhausted from the height and depth of our emotion, we can experience the presence of God in the stillness. When we sense that God is with us in the stillness, we can trace that presence back into our emotional experience as well. We can see, we can know that God is no stranger to heights and depth of emotion, that God is with us no matter what. From the stillness we learn that YHWH, the Lord, is with us in every time and place as a refuge. God as our refuge is not a hiding place, tempting as it can be to hide from the world in God. God is a refuge who calls us into the world secure in the knowledge that we are not alone, that we are never abandoned, that we have gifts to give to and receive from the world in which we live. Even as nations are in an uproar and realms totter, God is with us, inviting us to “Be still, and know that I am God!” August 16, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1104 Proper 15 August 15, 2021 Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore. (NRSV) In the midst of a difficult trial we may find ourselves wondering how we will ever get out of this one. We fret, worry, and forget about all the resources that are at our disposal. We stare off into space, lost in the worry, consumed by the stresses and strains of our current situation. Once we have stewed over it for a while, we begin to seek solutions to our difficulty. At some point we realize that this is going to take more energy than we can muster alone. We may consider the resources our friends have available and wonder if they would be willing to help out. This is where we join the psalmist in the realization that whatever help we may receive, it comes from God. We have the gifts of friends, family, and in some cases strangers who will offer the resources at their disposal to help us out of the situation in which we find ourselves. God is an always available source of help. Depending on the need, we might receive the help directly from God. Most of the time the help comes in the form of people who are open to God’s leading, and who have probably been in a desperate situation or two themselves. Whether the situation works out the way we want it to or not, we can live in the assurance that we have received the help of God. August 10, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1103 Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 8, 2021 Psalm 21 1 In your strength the king rejoices, O Lord, and in your help how greatly he exults! 2 You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For you meet him with rich blessings; you set a crown of fine gold on his head. 4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him—length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great through your help; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 You bestow on him blessings forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth, and their children from among humankind. 11 If they plan evil against you, if they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power. (NRSV) We would like to have God at our beck and call, to give us our heart’s desire, give us cool stuff, and set fire to all of our enemies and their children. The psalmist tells us that this is how God treats the king of Israel. It is in the Bible, we have to believe that it is true, right? You can if you like, however chances are that the psalmist is celebrating a one time victory and taking it as a sign that God will continue to do these great things for the king, probably David. Having God on our instant contacts sounds pretty cool until we think what it would be like to have God able to contact us instantly and directly. Every time we gave even the slightest thought to turning from God we would get a text reminding us how much you are loved and what a bad idea our considered course of action would be. It is great to think about but probably not much fun in reality. It is no fun to realize that for many of us our daily lives are out of sync with God. It is good to know that God is interested and involved in our lives, that God loves us and wants what it best for us. It can be annoying to realize that what is best for us may not be what we would wish or hope for. We do well to live our lives as best we can, know that we are not always in accord with the ways of God, and be grateful for the forgiveness that God offers to us because we are both flawed and loved; all in the same package. August 2, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1102 Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time August 1, 2021 Psalm 96 1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. 4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. 5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth. 10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.” 11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 13 before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. (NRSV) Most people don’t like new things unless they have some say in it, some power over initiating it, some sense of choice in whether or not they participate in it. So, we can be all gung-ho on reading this psalm with its call to newness, until someone tells us we are going to do something new that you have no say in. It doesn’t even have to be a big thing. Something as simple as singing an unfamiliar hymn in worship can ruin a person’s whole day, week, longer than that even. We like the comfortable and familiar. Every now and then something happens in our lives that requires a new song, a new way of expressing our experience of God. When our faith is challenged and we come out with a deeper, stronger faith, we need a new way to express that faith. When we find that what was once comfortable and fulfilling is now confining and narrow, we need a new expression of our now broader view of God and the world. We need a new song. Our new song may express a deeper sadness, while making room for a more expansive joy. As we expand our experience of God, we will discover that we are open to new ways of expressing the height and depth of the presence of God in our lives and the lives of those who are not like us. It may be an experience akin to watching what is thought of as a children’s show only to discover that there is are layers to the characters and story that escaped us in previous viewings. As we grow and mature in faith, we may discover that an old song takes on a new meaning, that it becomes a new song. “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” July 26, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1101 Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 25, 2021 Psalm 70 1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me! 2 Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me. 3 Let those who say, “Aha, Aha!” turn back because of their shame. 4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!” 5 But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (NRSV) Even though this psalm may not resonate with you doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter to you. If you are lucky enough not to be poor and needy, this psalm by one who is can teach us what at least one poor and needy person thinks and feels. They long for help from God and hope that any of us who may be guilty of doing the picking on and harassing will come to ruin with the help of God. We all feel picked on from time to time. Many of us have resources to help us get through those times. We have parents, spouses, children, friends, or combinations of these to give us support and comfort when others are miking our lives miserable. Direct intervention by God would be helpful, though much of the work of God will be done through family and friends. Instead of assuming that we are picked on as badly as the psalmist and those in the same boat, perhaps we can be an agent of God (an angel), by offering help and support that people like the psalmist do not have access to otherwise. We have each justified our lack of action by knowing that it is not our concern, that this other somehow deserves what is happening to them, leaving it to others closer to this other to support them, or worse yet, participating in the bullying oppression. For those who have no support network, we can look for ways to live out the presence of God for them, if even for a moment. “Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.” July 20, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1100 Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time July 18, 2021 Psalm 145 1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you, and praise your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 6 The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed, and I will declare your greatness. 7 They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness, and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. 8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. 10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you. 11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and tell of your power, 12 to make known to all people your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. 14 The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. 16 You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing. 17 The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings. 18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them. 20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. 21 My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever. (NRSV) Giving thanks to God is an interesting consideration. We would think that it is easiest to give thanks when things are going well for us. However, in many cases when things are going very well for us we have a tendency to believe that it is because we have done something to deserve this good fortune. Either God has decided to reward us for our faithfulness, or we forget about God and believe that we have done this with our own hard work and good looks. When things turn sour, we ask God what we have done to deserve such bad treatment. As people in God’s favor, we deserve all the good stuff and we question and complain when things turn bad. The folks who seem to have little for which to be thankful, are the ones who will give God thanks most readily. There is gratitude for the smallest consideration all the way up to the greatest gift they might receive. It is not about earning or deserving so much as receiving all that comes their way. As a part of thankfulness they will bless God for all that comes their way. Both paragraphs above are painted with a broad brush since there are always exceptions: well to do folks who know it is all from God, and those without who blame everyone for everything that goes wrong with them, including God. The psalmist still tells us, “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.” July 12, 2021 LCM