Psalm Meditation 1264 ¶Proper 18 ¶September 8, 2024 ¶Psalm 118 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+118&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶Years ago, I heard someone say that Larry Bird was a better basketball player than Michael Jordan. The reasoning was that Larry Bird had a had a way of making the whole team look and play at their highest level. Yesterday, I read an article about Caitlin Clark, also an exceptional player. When asked about her impressive performance, she responded in a way that reminded the journalists, and the readers, that basketball is a team sport. She talked about ‘we’ and ‘us.’ ¶The psalmist uses singular pronouns, I and me, at the same time thanking God for having a large part in the victory. I can’t do what I do without a boost from God. It is God who gives me the skills that I develop through practice and perseverance. It is God who offers refuge in times of need, gives me courage to face the trials of the day, and helps me become one who uses my gifts in service to those around me whether I am in the role of a leader or a follower. ¶There are those who believe that they have earned and deserve everything they have. They don’t need anything from anyone, and no one else has any right to ask or demand anything from them. At the other end of the spectrum are those who believe that a lot of people contributed to any success they may enjoy, and it a part of being a responsible human being to share thanks, credit, and responsibility with those who helped in a given endeavor. “O give thanks to the LORD, for [God] is good,“ ¶September 2, 2024 ¶LCM