Psalm Meditation 1157 ¶Proper 16 ¶August 21, 2022 ¶Psalm 17 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+17&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Word and phrase meanings and origins have been a fascination of mine for most of my life, so, “Guard me as the apple of the eye“ caught my attention. Without going too far down a rabbit hole, I found two sources. For Shakespeare the apple of the eye was the pupil. They had no other name for it, it is sort of apple shaped, so that seemed a fitting name for it. In Hebrew the phrase translates as, ‘the little person of the eye,’ the reflection one sees as someone looks at you. To be the apple of one’s eye is to be the sole focus of the one who sees you. ¶To be the apple of the eye of God is really something. Since God is so far beyond us, we have no comprehension of how it happens, however God has a way of seeing each of us as if and because we are the most important person to God in every moment. God is not looking at us to judge us, to find fault and error in any part of our lives. God is looking at us with a love that is deeper and more intense than any love we can offer to God or any one else. ¶When the psalmist asks to be guarded as the apple of God’s eye, it is already happening. The only thing left is for the psalmist to realize that God is already offering all the love and attention the psalmist could possibly use. And the rest of the psalm will also come to pass but not because of God. These adversaries will continue to pursue their worldly aims while ignoring the presence of God. God continues to offer the love and attention to everyone, even to those who choose to ignore it. ¶August 16, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1156 ¶Proper 15 ¶August 14, 2022 ¶Psalm 11 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+11&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Some of us will have heard, and said, “People don’t neighbor the way they used to.” And while there is a kernel of truth, there is just as much that is not true. Many who say this are thinking back to a time in which the folks who lived around us were just like us. We could neighbor with them because we had so many characteristics and behaviors in common. So, many of us do not neighbor with the folks who live near us because the neighborhood has become much more diverse than it was originally. ¶We continue to neighbor with ‘our kind’ of people. We have to travel a ways to get to our ‘neighbors,’ to enjoy the company of people with whom we have something in common. The psalmist tells us that, “...the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” It serves as a reminder that God enjoys the company of people who enjoy the company of God. Do we get to brag about being in God’s in-crowd? Not really. Folks who brag about anything are not usually in as ‘brag-able’ a place as they claim. ¶While we may be among those who enjoy the company of God, it is important to remember that God invites and welcomes all who will come. We are not special due to any effort on our part nearly as much as we are made special by the steadfast, abiding love of God. So, rather than feel good about our special place in the presence of God, we do well to live as if God has a place for each person. When we live as neighbors of God, we can more readily invite folks into God’s presence. ¶August 8, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1155 ¶Proper 14 ¶August 7, 2022 ¶Psalm 39 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+39&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Many of us have a love/hate relationship with God. We know that God loves us, cares for us, and wants what is best for us. The difficulty lies in the knowledge that what is best for us is not always pleasant. Things as simple as naps and baths were once battle grounds for us, thinking we were too old for such trivialities as rest and cleanliness. How many of us who fought those naps and baths with tears and tantrums look forward to both a bath/shower, and a nap these days? What does God ask us to do or endure that seems terrible at the time, yet afterward seems to have turned out well? ¶The psalmist wants to be delivered from the bonds of sin without any suffering, as if that is possible. Many of our sinful habits carry a hefty price for us to be free of them. Some exact a physical price, some a spiritual cost, and others drain us physically as well as spiritually. A statement that has been helpful to me through the years is, “Every action has a cost and a promise.” We have to weigh which is greater as we make our choice. Sometimes we choose the one with the high cost in hopes that there will be a worthy promise at the end. It is painful when we discover we have made the wrong choice. ¶I imagine that the gaze of God is a parental look, the one that stops us in our tracks and makes us want to evaluate every life choice we have made up to this moment. Once caught in the gaze, we know we will never smile or laugh again for as long as we live. It is only as our parent looks away that we see any hope for the future. Having endured that gaze to its end we see that it has love and concern as a part of it. At our best, the angry gaze is not the final expression. In the case of God, anger is certainly not the final word. The love, care and concern that God has for us holds us far longer than any anger on God’s part. ¶August 2, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1154 ¶Proper 13 ¶July 31, 2022 ¶Psalm 32 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+32&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶When my brothers and I had established homes of our own, we began to tell stories of our teenage indiscretions at a family meal. After each story, mom would respond with some form of, “I know.” We had tried so hard to act normal, and yet she knew. I am sure she did not know all of our indiscretions, however she knew enough. I imagine that most of us were not as sneaky as we thought, and at least one parent was not as clueless as we hoped. These confessions did not reveal our sin so much as put them out in the open for discussion, and perhaps, forgiveness. ¶The psalmist believes that God is unaware of our transgressions until we acknowledge and confess them to God. The silence of the psalmist does not keep the knowledge of the sin away from God so much as it drives a wedge of secrecy between us and God. While we may think we are keeping secrets from God we are only walling off that portion of ourselves from God’s steadfast and forgiving love. It wreaks more havoc on our bodies, minds, and spirits than even remotely keeping it from God. ¶As we confess our indiscretions and sins to God, we open ourselves to the abundant stores of love and forgiveness that God has for us. While we pretend that we are perfect and have no need of forgiveness, there is a wall of our own construction that keeps us from receiving the fullness of God. As long as we attempt to hide the harshness we carry inside toward ourselves and others, we keep it from being placed in God’s hands where it can dissipate and disappear from our lives in the steadfastness of God’s love for us. ¶July 26, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1153 ¶Proper 12 ¶July 24, 2022 ¶Psalm 25 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+25&version=NRSVUE Please follow this link to read the psalm first. (NRSV) ¶The adage, “Never meet your heroes, you will always be disappointed,” is good advice. We usually discover that they have some habit, tic, or quirk that is extremely annoying to us. We may also discover that they do not behave or believe what we would have expected from our limited exposure to them. It may appear super easy to learn from them or to get to know them until we actually get the opportunity to do so. ¶The psalmist wants to grow closer to God, and the same warnings apply. The God we think we know, may not be the God we will meet as we delve into prayer, study, and experience. The way of God is difficult, as it requires humility, love, and faithfulness. God points us in the direction of loving those who do not deserve it, and need it desperately. God also asks us to look to ourselves, to see our faults as well as our strengths so that we can correct our faults and build on strengths for the building up of the realm of God. ¶Feel free to meet heroes, knowing that they may be very different from what we expect them to be. Know too, that you are likely someone’s hero and they are or will be disappointed that you do not live up to their expectations. Feel free, as well to meet God for the sake of learning to live in love and faithfulness. It is hard work that is worth the effort to live into the covenant God offers to us. ¶July 18, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1152 ¶Proper 11 ¶July 17, 2022 ¶Psalm 18 ¶https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+18&version=NRSVUE ¶This long psalm is as good a time as any to post a link instead of the psalm. I continue to encourage you to read the psalm first. ¶I once met someone who treated me as if I were the only person in the room. As I watched him greet other people at the event, I noticed he treated each of them with the same singular focus. I saw it and still see it as an enviable people skill. As David praises God in this psalm, it seems to be for that same focus on his need for deliverance. With everything else that demands God’s attention, there is time and energy to meet David in his time of great need. ¶It is easy, in times of stress and peril, to believe that we are alone. We imagine ourselves abandoned by any source of help on which we normally lean. If we do think to call on God, it is likely that we will not include the introductory praise of this psalm. It is also possible that the ascription of praise was not how David began his prayer in his darkest hour. It was an addition put in as the psalm was written down after the fact. ¶The important thing is to cry out to God when there is a need. It does not have to be ‘right,’ it does not have to be in formal biblical language, it doesn’t need language at all. The necessary part is to call on and rely on God for presence with us, no matter what. We may get the answer we were expecting, with all the T-s crossed and I-s dotted. We may get something radically different from what we asked for and expected God to do. Either way, we know that God is with us. ¶July 11, 2022 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1151 ¶Proper 10 ¶July 10, 2022 ¶Psalm 12 1 Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind. 2 They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a deceitful heart they speak. 3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, 4 those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own—who is our master?” 5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan, I will now rise up,” says the LORD; “I will place them in the safety for which they long.” 6 The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. 7 You, O LORD, will protect us; you will guard us from this generation forever. 8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among humankind. (NRSV) ¶I take a cold comfort in realizing that this psalm is thousands of years old, and we have yet to be overrun by evil people, even when it feels as if we have been. I have a strong memory of my dad, in one of his sermons, quoting Socrates, “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” Both of these remind us that, though we feel as if we are living in the worst of times, we probably are not. ¶We do need to take evil seriously as it continually sprouts and festers among us, including in each one of us. People continue to lie, flatter, and say and do things for personal advantage with no thought to those outside the personal ‘in group.’ And while it is easy and tempting to see, to judge, the evil in others, we really can’t change their behavior. The ones we can change are ourselves. Rather than judging others from the outside, we do well to deal with ourselves from the inside. ¶In all of this, God will always be on the side of the poor and needy, the oppressed and downtrodden. While we like to put ourselves in that position, so that we have favored status with God, the truth is that many reading, and certainly the one writing, this are guilty of despoiling the poor, keeping the needy in want, and participating in the oppression of others. Because God looks out for those who cannot take care of themselves, we do well to be ready to receive discipline, to learn new ways of living in the world, so that we can join God in keeping folks safe, and free, from oppression. ¶July 4, 2022 ¶LCM