Psalm Meditation 1315 ¶Proper 17 ¶August 31, 2025 ¶Psalm 41 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2041&version=NRSVUE ¶I am not sure that ‘Happy’ is the best translation for the first word of this psalm. The people I know who consider the poor are not usually happy about what they find. They find people who are dishonored, disrespected, made to feel invisible just to name a few. Those who consider the poor have to contend with those who believe that poverty is a sign of laziness, a choice if you will. If not a choice, it is a punishment for some sin of those in poverty, rather than those who really are the cause of the poverty; the greedy and selfish among us. ¶A better word is blessed. To be blessed is to be honored by God. Those who consider the poor are doing the work that God calls each of us to do. That often means being scorned by those who blame the poor for their poverty. In some cases it means becoming a target for that same scorn. It is as if helping people out of poverty means that there will be less for ‘me’ as ‘those people’ take too much for themselves as ‘I’ have always done. However, God gives courage and wholeness to those who do the work of God. ¶Martin Luther King Jr said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." We are called to be active in participating in that arcing of the moral universe as we do what we can to eliminate the impediments to justice that continually rise to confront us. As we serve the of steadfast love, we make it possible for the poor, the weak to stand and rise by their own courage and power. ¶August 25, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1314 ¶Proper 16 ¶August 24, 2025 ¶Psalm 36 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2036&version=NRSVUE ¶The reason sin/transgression is so commonplace is that it is such an easy path to take. When I was in band in junior high school, I wanted to play like Al Hurt, Herb Alpert, or Louis Armstrong. The difficulty is that I did not want to put in the hours and hours of practice. The most attractive route was to wish I could play well without having to practice. In “The Music Man” this is called the think method. Harold Hill is the con man who convinces enough people that this system works that he makes a pile of money and plans to disappear at the earliest possible moment before the con is discovered. ¶When we get caught up in a con like this, that there is an easy way to do something difficult, we either double down in a way that showcases our gullibility to everyone else or we crumple into some form of hopelessness. ‘My team got cheated by your team,’ ‘we just need a little more time to prove ourselves right,’ since it isn’t me it must be all of you who are doing the terrible things we all know are happening around us,’ ‘you keep telling me it is bad but it is just what I have always wanted.’ ¶The psalmist then spends just over half of the psalm lifting up the steadfast love of God, as a reminder that whether we accept it or not God loves us. When we know we have sinned and confess that sin, God loves us. When we reject the notion that we have sinned, God loves us. When we can’t believe that God could possibly love us, God loves us. The love of God does not depend on our willingness to be loved, it depends on God loving us because it is the chosen nature of God to love us. ¶August 18, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1313 ¶Proper 15 ¶August 17, 2025 ¶Psalm 32 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2032&version=NRSVUE ¶The extremes of forgiven people are those who are humbled by the grace of the one who haw forgiven, and those who become cocky, knowing they can do it all again because they now have a clean slate. Both are happy, in a dictionary definition kind of way. The first group is set free from the guilt and shame of having wronged someone by having been forgiven. The other group gets smug about having been forgiven for something that probably wasn’t their fault in the first place to their way of thinking. ¶Sin does take a toll on us, whether we realize it or not. It makes us hard, and impenetrable as we build walls to protect ourselves from the painful realization that we are not the people we want to be. When we acknowledge our sin, own up to it ourselves, and confess it to someone, we find that we can soften our defenses and become the people we want to be. Especially when we can confess to the one we have wronged and received their forgiveness, we are able to have the weight of our sin lifted. ¶God is one of those who can forgive before we ask, because it is the nature of God to be loving and forgiven. The task before us in our relationship with God is to accept and receive the forgiveness that God so graciously offers. We may think we don’t deserve it, and maybe we don’t. However, God is ready and willing to forgive us. We do still have to suffer any consequences of our actions, however we face them knowing that we have been forgiven by God. ¶August 11, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1312 ¶Proper 14 ¶August 10, 2025 ¶Psalm 28 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2028&version=NRSVUE ¶When all you are used to in a ruler is one who uses power and authority as a weapon against everyone, including citizens of the nation, it is important to plead for a hearing in a time of need. That is the world of the psalmist. When addressing God, it is seen as no different than addressing a moody, belligerent ruler. Every request holds the possibility of being dragged away to some form of punishment, including banishment or death as well as receiving a favorable response. ¶The psalmist is pleasantly surprised that God has granted the request to be treated well, especially better than those who are out to ruin the psalmist’s life. There are many blessings and thanksgivings heaped on God for hearing and responding to the cry for help. Assuming that David is the psalmist in this case, he calls on the people of his realm to join in giving thanks and praise to God for being such a strong refuge in this situation, as well as all the times in the past in which God has been the strength and shield of the nation. ¶Through the years we have developed a different understanding of how God works in our lives. God is radically different than a capricious strong armed ruler. God is one who loves us beyond measure, who is present with us in every time and place, and encourages us to love all those around us with a love approaching that which we receive from God. ¶August 4, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1311 ¶Proper 13 ¶August 3, 2025 ¶Psalm 15 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2015&version=NRSVUE ¶To me, it seems the height of hubris/pride/arrogance to believe that any of us has earned the right to dwell in the tent of the LORD or anywhere near where God is. Yet, in the time of the psalmist, psychology had not been founded as an art or science. Outward appearance was all that anyone had to go on in judging behavior. There was no guessing what a person’s motivation might be to do or say the ‘right’ things. We judged others, and probably ourselves, on what we did and not why we did it. ¶By the psalmist’s standard there are plenty of people who match the attributes set out in this psalm. As long as we go through the motions when we are out in public, no one really needs to know that we have to bite our tongues to keep from saying some wicked cruel things about others. Neither does anyone need to know that we have to fight to keep from kicking, biting, scratching the people we think of as foolish, and/or wrong. Nor do others need to hear how secretly jealous we are of the people who get away with the mean, spiteful things that cross our minds on a regular basis. ¶This does not excuse us from giving the blameless life our best effort. We are to act, think, and speak as people of God because God loves us rather than to earn God’s love. Those who want to convince us that we have to earn God’s love are caught up in a web of lies built by those who can’t imagine that there is anything that can’t be bought or earned. God loves us, simple as that. All of our efforts at earning or deserving God’s love are chasing shadows and fog. God loves us, and all of our thoughts, words, and actions are our response to that love. ¶July 28, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1310 ¶Proper 12 ¶July 27, 2025 ¶Psalm 20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2020&version=NRSVUE ¶Most nations of which I am aware are of the opinion that they are the brightest and best of all nations. Even those that are under the boot of another oppressive, colonizing country know that if they were free of the oppression they would be even greater than they are in their current colonized situation. And the oppressors see themselves not as oppressive, rather as offering greater opportunity for both nations to ascend to higher greatness. Israel under David is no different. ¶The psalmist is asking God to lead their ruler to victory in this battle against another, and wicked nation. Our God will certainly lead us to victory by helping David defeat our enemies. While all the other nations depend on their mighty weapons and armies, we depend of the power of God to bring our enemies to their knees in utter defeat and collapse of the army and the whole nation. In the presence of God, mediated through David, we will stand victorious over all who rise against us as the people of God. ¶Rather than warring with each other so that we can force those who lose those wars to live the way the victors do, or just as likely, to surrender all their resources to improve the lot of the elite in the victorious nation, we do well to work together to make sure each of us has enough. As we learn to be content with enough, instead of always wanting more, we will have plenty for everyone. ¶July 21, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1309 ¶Proper 11 ¶July 20, 2025 ¶Psalm 37 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2037&version=NRSVUE ¶“Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” I need to hear this these days. It seems as if trusted institutions are crumbling before our eyes and we are left to worry and fret about our present and our future. There is some comfort in knowing that ours is not the first era in which folks have worried about themselves and their loved ones in the face of evil people and institutions. There is also an awareness that what seems like soon to God can be years and even a lifetime for us. ¶Trusting in God does not mean that we get to sit back and do nothing while God does all the heavy lifting. It does mean that some of us will be asked to be the hands and feet of God in the face of the rampant evils of the day. It will mean losing friends and being distanced from family. It will be a time of sacrificing, comfort, certainty, and security in order to follow the way of God. While the way of God is not without cost, it is also full of promise as the community of faith gathers to support those who serve God. ¶In every action and reaction we do well to ask ourselves if we are serving God or expecting God to serve us, to meet our needs, to do what we think is right? Chances are, we will discover that we have made some serious missteps in our walk with God. As we listen for the voice of God in our lives, we can rejoin the path that leads to faithful righteousness. “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; he is their refuge in the time of trouble. The Lord helps them and rescues them; he rescues them from the wicked and saves them because they take refuge in him.” ¶July 14, 2025 ¶LCM