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