Psalm Meditation 1113 ¶Proper 24 ¶October 17, 2021 ¶Psalm 72 1 Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. 2 May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. 3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. 4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor. 5 May he live while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. 6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. 7 In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more. 8 May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 9 May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. 11 May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service. 12 For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. 13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. 14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight. 15 Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all day long. 16 May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. 17 May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him; may they pronounce him happy. 18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen. 20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended. (NRSV) ¶Many of us want what the psalmist wants here; to be governed by people who look out for all of the people they have been entrusted with governing. We want to know that someone is concerned with justice for all, with leading the nation into prosperity, and keeping greedy folks from crushing those who are unable to defend themselves. We have a variety of thoughts on what all of this means, however we do want those who govern us to do so with the interests of all the people in their heart and mind. ¶No matter where we are we want to know that the nation in which we live is the best in a variety of ways. And while we can’t each live in the best place on earth we find ways to make it the place we like the best. We want to believe that our nation is the most biggest and most powerful no matter how much evidence there might be to the contrary. Israel of the psalmist’s day was neither a political nor military powerhouse in the area, despite the psalms that state otherwise. ¶At our best, we will continue to depend on God to point us to and provide those who will lead us in the best of directions. We will pray that our leaders follow the direction they receive from God, even when we do not see the hand of God at work in their lives. We will pray for those who agree with us, as well as for those with whom we disagree, enemies included. “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.” ¶October 11, 2021 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1112 ¶Proper 23 ¶October 10, 2021 ¶Psalm 147 1 Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. 6 The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground. 7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre. 8 He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry. 10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; 11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. 12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! 13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. 14 He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down hail like crumbs—who can stand before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow. 19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the Lord! ¶(NRSV) ¶‘Eleven o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the country.’ This has been said for as long as I can remember to scold us for being less than the body of Christ, as far as including others, when we gather for worship. We do tend to gravitate to people with whom we share common traits and concerns. While each congregation has some outliers, folks who almost-but-not-quite fit the general make up of the congregation, we gather with ‘our people’ for worship. It is not that we don’t welcome others, or that we actively discourage people from attending with us, our style of worship does not speak to them as it does to us. ¶One of my colleagues describes a gathered congregation as, ‘a unity of shared suffering.’ Those of us who are dealing with a particular set of issues will gather for support and comfort into the presence of God. Most of the time we don’t realize our particular set of concerns and needs, let alone being aware that our list is not shared by every other congregation. We are convinced that everyone and anyone would be totally comfortable in our worship service and wonder why other congregations do things so differently. ¶The psalmist says it this way, “The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.” Any congregation is going to be a gathering of outcasts of a particular type. We may or may not know what type of outcasts make up our own congregation even though we can probably pick out some reason that another congregation gathers the type of people they do. We gather to worship where we feel we belong. That sets us apart in that God has gathered us, it doesn’t mean we are the only ones God has gathered. We can find and make ways to work together in the world so that those who don’t have a place can sense where God is leading them to gather. ¶October 4, 2021 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1111 Proper 22 October 3, 2021 Psalm 47 1 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth. 3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. 4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah 5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm. 8 God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted. (NRSV) ¶Something about singing engages more of the body and mind than speech can. Multiple regions of the brain are stimulated when we sing. Even those among who are not able to match the notes being sung by those around them, are still singing. There are any number of ways to sing that do not match the standard definition of singing. The psalmist does not say we have to be the best, only that we sing. ¶With the call to sing praises to God, there is no insistence on quality, only that we sing. Most singing groups, including choirs, are made up of a few voices that are top quality and the rest of us blend with those voices in a way that sounds wonderful to those who are listening to the blended voices. Even a top quality voice can sound out of place when it does not blend with all the others. ¶So, sing. Sing in the shower, sing in the most private space available, sing in a choir, sing for an audience of one or thousands. Any singing in which we tune our hearts and voices to God is going to be praise. When we sing any song as an offering to God, it is a song of praise. If we are among those who can clap, dance, and sing at the same time, we are joining the psalmist in an act of praise. Even if the clapping and dancing doesn’t match the music, we can praise God. “Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.” ¶September 27, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1110 Proper 21 September 26, 2021 Psalm 122 1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” 2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together. 4 To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. 5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. 7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.” 8 For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” 9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good. (NRSV) ¶A place is made sacred by the ones who have an experience of God at that place. One of my favorite holy places is a room made of hand stacked stones housing an altar and a simple bench. Another is not a building but a place with woods, lakeshore, marsh, and developed housing among other things. For some people the room is a small, dark, claustrophobic place housing a meaningless stone box surrounded by symbols that mean nothing to them. The outdoor space is a place of swarms of mosquitos, sweaty teenagers, and noise. The places they hold sacred may, in turn, mean very little to me. ¶Because we find holiness in different places, due to differing needs and experiences, it is a good idea to treat every space as sacred. The psalmist reminds pilgrims to pray for the peace of Jerusalem as they enter the city. The hope and prayer is that each person will feel some sense of the presence of God within its walls. As we experience God, we feel God’s peace rest within and among us. To be at peace in the presence of God makes the space in which we find ourselves sacred space. It may last for the moment, and it may be a feeling we carry in our hearts for the rest of our lives. ¶We may have experienced the annoyance of someone treating our sacred space as if it is simply space. We may have experienced the annoyance of someone having a holy experience in a way that does not seem holy to us. Which one of us is wrong? Of course it is the ‘other.’ In reality, it is the expectation that everyone’s experience is a perfect match to my own. If I enter a space expecting quiet reverence, and you are active and noisy, I know that you are ruining my experience. If I enter with expressive exuberance and you expect me to be quiet, you have sucked the joy out of the space for me. When we treat each place as if it were sacred to someone, when we recognize that we experience God with different expressions, we will find we can share space in our differences. “For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.” ¶September 21, 2021 LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/

Psalm Meditation 1109 Proper 20 September 19, 2021 Psalm 22 1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. 3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame. 6 But I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others, and despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads; 8 “Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—let him rescue the one in whom he delights!” 9 Yet it was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. 10 On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. 11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. 12 Many bulls encircle me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs are all around me; a company of evildoers encircles me. My hands and feet have shriveled; 17 I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But you, O Lord, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid! 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! 21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. 22 I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. 25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. 26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. 28 For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, 31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it. (NRSV) ¶An old joke that resurfaces from time to time: a couple gets an evacuation order for potential flooding and says they trust God to watch over them and do nothing. As the flooding begins a police car comes by and offers to take them out, again they say that God will watch over them and do nothing. As the waters rise a rescue boat comes and offers them a ride out. ‘Thanks, God will watch over us.’ They stay in the house though they have moved to the upper floor. When the water has forced them on to the roof a helicopter comes to rescue them and they refuse that route as well. They drown. As they stand before God they complain that they trusted God and they were not saved. God responds, “I sent you an evacuation order, a car, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you want?” ¶All of that to remind us that it may not be that the psalmist is being forsaken by God as the psalmist is ignoring the normal and natural ways that God works in our lives. There are times we feel as if we are drowning only to discover that the water comes up to our waist or knees. People do drown in very shallow water so I do not cast any blame on them in the panic state in which they find themselves. I do know that things are not always as they seem, and if we can keep our wits about us, God is at work in our lives in ways that will not seem miraculous as we tell the story to future generations. ¶The trajectory of this psalm begins with feeling forsaken, goes back and forth from praise to a new trouble and ends in a word of praise. The fact that the psalmist addresses God offers a word of hope from the beginning. The psalmist then stays in touch with God as new calamities pile on, trusting the presence of God to make in difference in the lives of the psalmist and the people of the congregation. What begins as a complaint moves to a word and sense of hope. The ending redefines the beginning as a request for assurance rather than as a complaint against God’s abandonment of the psalmist and us. “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.” ¶September 13, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1108 Proper 19 September 12, 2021 Psalm 97 1 The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him. 8 Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God. 9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. 10 The Lord loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! (NRSV) ¶Verse 10 has an alternate translation in the notes, “You who love the Lord hate evil.” It is the two sides of one coin. God’s love is showered on those who hate evil, and those who love God also hate evil. God’s love comes first. It is our whole reason for being. We are born out of God’s love to give it a focus and object. The loneliness of God from the creation story in Genesis rises out of the desire of God to have a focus for all of the love that God has to offer. ¶The alternate reading puts some responsibility on each of us. We can hold opposing views, even loves, in our lives, though we do have to choose a priority that will shift and change from time to time. When we find ourselves loving God, we find that we are opposed to evil. When we turn to evil we either have to redefine God in our image or turn away all together. With either reading the psalmist points us to the love of God as more lasting than the love of and participation in evil. ¶‘The Lord loves those who hate evil,’ can be seen as a limit to God’s love. I believe that God loves each and all of us, so this statement is not a limit on God as much as a limit on our ability/willingness to experience God’s love in our lives. When our hearts turn to evil, God gets crowded out and ignored rather than hated. No matter what, God loves us. “The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.” September 6, 2021 LCM

Psalm Meditation 1107 Proper 18 September 5, 2021 Psalm 71 1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you. 7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. 8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long. 9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent. 10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together. 11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.” 12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me! 13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace. 14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge. 16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. 17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power 19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? 20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again. 22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued. 24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced. (NRSV) ¶A portent is a warning about the future, a sign of something about to happen, usually something bad. For the psalmist to be a portent means that folks have pointed and said, ‘See that person? You don’t want to be like that or you will end up in the same spot.’ Or, folks use this terrible looking person to emphasize an unrelated lesson, ‘See that? I bet that person never ate vegetables as a child, and look what happened.’ A portent may or may not be an accurate description of a person; still, no one wants to be one. ¶The psalmist continues that through all the hardships that have led to this place, God has been present as a source of comfort in every time and place. The psalmist replies, ‘Yes, I may look as if I wear the consequences of bad choices on my body, however, I believe that my life would have been a lot worse if it had not been for the presence of God. I believe that you, O God, will lift me up to a place of honor and comfort in the end.’ ¶Some of us are born with silver spoons in our mouths while others are born into hardship and trial. While it can be tempting to believe that it is the rich and influential who have God’s favor, the Scriptures tell us repeatedly that the heart of God has an honored place for the poor and needy. The psalm ends with the reminder, the portent, that those who make light of the poor and needy will themselves be put to shame and disgraced. August 30, 2021 LCM