Psalm Meditation 906
Proper 25
October 29, 2017

Psalm 76
1 In Judah God is known, his name is great in Israel.
2 His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.
3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah
4 Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.
5 The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep; none of the troops was able to lift a hand.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
7 But you indeed are awesome! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still
9 when God rose up to establish judgment, to save all the oppressed of the earth. Selah
10 Human wrath serves only to praise you, when you bind the last bit of your wrath around you.
11 Make vows to the LORD your God, and perform them; let all who are around him bring gifts to the one who is awesome,
12 who cuts off the spirit of princes, who inspires fear in the kings of the earth.
(NRSV)

These days just about everything is awesome. The current wisdom is that if everything is awesome then, in reality, nothing is. It isn’t really that easy. To say that something is awesome does not make it so. It may be cool/groovy/gnarly/neato but that does not mean that it inspires awe, takes our breath away, and leads us to a life altering sense of wonder. It is more likely that we overuse the word and by doing so have robbed it of some of the depth of meaning that the psalmist had in mind when declaring God to be awesome.

While we may overuse the word there are still times, events and beings who inspire us in memorable ways. The phrase I learned in seminary is, mysterium tremendum—being in the presence of something/someone holy. While in the presence of holiness we are both drawn by a sense of wonder and repelled by a sense of fear, so all we can do is stand and tremble. This mysterium tremendum is what the psalmist means when calling God awesome.

All manner of things will be declared awesome until a different word gets called into service. Awesome will also continue to describe the experiences that take our breath away and fill us with heart pounding excitement. God will be awesome, cool, neato, as one who meets us in our daily lives. God will also be awesome as the one who touches us to the depths of our souls when we encounter the God of history, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jesus.

October 23, 2017
LCM