Psalm Meditation 1259 ¶Proper 19 ¶August 4, 2024 ¶Psalm 119:1-16 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+119&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶Psalm 119 has 176 verses, eight for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in celebration of the law of God. Allons y. ¶People have made, and continue to make some pretty stupid laws. It seems that whenever someone in authority is offended, troubled, hurt by anything there is a push to make a law that will keep that from happening. Sometimes, in a effort to protect God from someone else’s foolishness, we pass a law against that as well. Banning and burning books that someone finds offensive or heretical has a long and silly history, as if banning or burning a book will do anything other than pique the curiosity of folks who would have otherwise not heard of the book. ¶The psalmist wants to remind us that the laws of God are praiseworthy rather than silly. Granted, we have made some amendments and addenda that seem good at the time while changing God’s original intent for us. The intent of God’s law if to teach us the importance of loving each other, caring for each other, and protecting and providing for those who lack the resources to protect and provide for themselves. Rules that allow us to oppress another are not from God. ¶God wants us to work together, to depend on each other, and to share in the bounty that this world provides for us. If it were easy, there would be no need to make a law, it would flow in and out of our lives like water through a sieve. Learning and following God’s law is not easy since we are so used to doing things our own selfish way. However, the psalmist spends 176 verses to remind us that it is worth the effort to act with the love, grace, mercy, and providence that we have so richly received from God. ¶July 29, 2024 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1258 ¶Proper 12 ¶July 28, 2024 ¶Psalm 112 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+112&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶Living a life of faith in God is hard work. It means standing firm in ebb and flow of the world’s tides. It means being gracious and merciful to everyone, without determining ahead of time whether or not they deserve it. It means being generous with others from the personal to the international levels. It means risking abuse at the hands of those whose faith is determined by politicians whose goal is power and control. It means recognizing and confronting evil and injustice rather than ignoring it, in hopes that God will deal with it. ¶It is so much easier to buy into the projections of the fear mongers, who love to let us know that anyone who is not one of us is out to do us harm in some way. By pounding us with the propaganda that ‘those people’ are pagans who worship gods with no power but great influence, or they are godless heathens who want to destroy people of faith in order to run roughshod over the rest of the world, they convince us that the only way to stay safe is to stand behind them as they protect us from all the evil people and activity in the world. ¶The psalmist tells us that the way of God is the hard way, the one that challenges us to be just, gentle, merciful and generous because it is the right way to live. It may or may not give us fame and fortune, however we will find ourselves on the firm footing of the path to God. We may live, we may die, we may prosper, we may falter, in the end we will stand in the presence of God. We may think, with the psalmist, that we will ‘look in triumph on [our] foes,’ though I imagine we will, in the end, see them as our brothers and sisters in the family of God. ¶July 22, 2024 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1257 ¶Proper 11 ¶July 21, 2024 ¶Psalm 140 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+140&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶It is amazingly easy to get sucked in to the vortex of evil. It starts innocently enough with a snarky remark made to a few friends. The next downward spiral is to get mean, picking at a person’s vulnerable points, discovered via friendship that turns sour using confidences as weapons. And on it goes until we hope and plan for the total destruction of the other through intentional misinterpretation of words and actions all the way to physical acts of violence that can lead to the ruin of a reputation and in the most extreme cases death. ¶The psalmist asks to be delivered from all of this kind of evil from friends and enemies alike. Obviously, it is impossible to avoid all of this kind of evil plotting, so an alternative is to live in such a way that no one will believe the kinds of gossip that can otherwise ruin a reputation. After the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, her journal revealed that she had deep doubts about her faith and relationship with God. It was quite salacious to those looking for a reason to question Teresa’s reputation. It was understandable and humanizing to those who know that doubts and fears are often the push one needs to move a step closer in a relationship with God. ¶The psalmist encourages us to move closer to the teachings of God, who encourages us to lift up the poor and the needy as part of the beloved community of God’s people. In addition to working for an end to all manner of poverty, we can lean in the direction of justice for all rather than only for those who can afford it. God and God’s people do what we can to lift up the needy, and stive for justice in every possible way. ¶July 16, 2024 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1256 ¶Proper 10 ¶July 14, 2024 ¶Psalm 134 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+134&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶“It is really important to thank God so that God will do me a favor in return.” Whether we say it that way or not, we do have a tendency to believe that if we do the right things, God will do right by us. When that happens we can tell all of our friends how good God is to us, because we are some of the good guys. If you want good things, you have to, at least, go through the motions to get God to bless you just like God blesses us on a regular basis. “I am pretty sure that this is what the psalm means, bless God and you will be blessed in return.” ¶One of my long ago congregation members called this, ‘stuff and nonsense.’ We do not get good things because of anything that we do for good or ill. We get good things because God loves us more than anyone can imagine. God is not waiting for us to do good things so that we can earn our reward, or waiting for us to mess up so that we can get the punishment we deserve. God loves us, and is ever looking for ways to give us what we need. With God it is never about earning or deserving, it is always about receiving the grace, love, and mercy that God wants to give to us. ¶We bless God out of a sense of gratitude for all God is and does in and around us. It is our small way of acknowledging the present and active love of God in our lives. God blesses us because it is the nature and promise of God to do so. In our competitive mind set, we want to know that we have deserved all that we have. In the mind of God, we are given a lot to share with others as God has shared with us. It really is that simple. ¶July 8, 2024 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1255 ¶Proper 9 ¶July 7, 2024 ¶Psalm 127 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+127&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶This psalm seems to deal with three different topics, as if it is a group of adages concerning good things that God provides for each of us. God watches over those who build houses and communities with an eye for safety and wholesomeness. God watches over those who do the best work they are able on a given day and go home to rest and recreate with a clear conscience. God watches over men, and women, who have sons, and daughters, of whom they are proud. It is certainly not an exhaustive list, simply a few of the ways God is active in the life of a community. ¶The psalmist wants us to see that God is actively involved in a number of pieces that make up a community. The bricks and mortar part of the community are important to God. Use quality material for every structure, watch over each other as people of sacred worth. The relationships of a community are important to God. Spend quality time at your work, and then go home in peace for rest and restoration in the company of loved ones. The family relationships of a community are important to God. Look with pride on each member of the family as a gift from God. ¶Our times are different from those of the psalmist. The details of what it means to be a community have changed for better and for worse. The important part for us is to see God at work in every part of our lives and the lives of those around us. We can still take the main points of the psalm for our day to day dealings: use quality materials every time, do our best work every time, feel and express our pride in the people who make up our various families—by birth and affinity. ¶July 1, 2024 ¶LCM