Psalm Meditation 1040
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 24, 2020

Psalm 135
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord,
2 you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for he is gracious.
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.
5 For I know that the Lord is great; our Lord is above all gods.
6 Whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both human beings and animals;
9 he sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings—
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.
13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see;
17 they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.
19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who resides in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
(NRSV)

Sometimes you want to brag on those who make your life good, even possible. The psalmist chooses to brag on YHWH as the one who chose the people and nation of Israel to receive good things. With that brief introduction, the psalmist launches into praise for a variety of the good things YHWH does in the world. God makes clouds and lightning, wind and rain. In addition to the natural phenomena, God provides a place for this chosen people in a decisive way. And, our God is better than yours, because ours is alive and not lifeless silver and gold like the divinities of those other people.

The only paternal grandmother I knew was my dad’s stepmother. Dad said that sometimes she, Pearl, would brag on my dad and his brothers as well raised children, acknowledging the hard work of their parents. Other times she would claim the boys as her own. Dad would scold her for trying to have it both ways. She could not say what wonderful men these boys had turned out to be and then claim them as if she had helped them become these wonderful people. According to my dad, we can only brag on those over whom we had no influence. That seems a bit unrealistic, so let me add that we can brag on those who have surpassed any training and influence we may have contributed.

Another way to brag is by comparison. ‘My dad can beat up your dad; my mom can beat up your dad.’ Funny, but not necessary. Just because we brag like that as children, doesn’t mean it serves us well as we mature. In this season there are a lot of items that say my mom or my dad is the best. My sense is that two people can be wearing ‘World’s Best Mom’ shirts that are both accurate from the perception of the person who gave the present. Rather than bragging that my divinity can beat up your divinity we do better to say that YHWH is the God I need in my life. “Praise the Lord!”

May 18, 2020
LCM