Psalm Meditation 1302 ¶Seventh Sunday of Easter ¶June 1, 2025 ¶Psalm 30 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2030&version=NRSVUE ¶I know someone who describes serious illnesses with these words, “First, I was afraid I was going to die, and then I was afraid I wouldn’t.” It appears that this is the type of illness the psalmist was experiencing before writing this psalm. Having been healed, there is much rejoicing over the ability and willingness of God to offer the kind of help and healing that was needed in this discomforting illness, including the rescue from the pit of Sheol, a place of silence, inactivity, and separation from God. ¶The psalmist is very pleased to have been either kept out or pulled out of Sheol by the healing hand of God. Sheol is the place of death. It is neither a place of torment nor shame, it is simply where people go after death. In this era, eternal life is being remembered by those still alive, and Sheol is essentially nothingness, and separation from God. The psalmist is bold enough to ask, “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!” ¶The healing power of God has a way of turning mourning into dancing, of reminding us that there is a time to mourn and a time for joy. Those times may intermingle so that we experience loss and joy, mourning and dancing in the same moment. In every moment, God is with us, “so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.” ¶May 28, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1301 ¶Sixth Sunday of Easter ¶May 25, 2025 ¶Psalm 27 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2027&version=NRSVUE ¶Fear can protect us or ruin us, depending on how we react in the face of fear. We can allow our fear to keep us from doing things, ‘because, what if…’ or we can allow our fear to raise our awareness of danger and still walk into a situation. If we don’t know what is going to happen to us, we can go in with a heightened sense of awareness. We might get hurt, or worse, however we might find that the experience is worth the risk, which is not as great as we feared. How many of us have taken a chance, only to discover that the pay off was more than worth the risk. ¶Secure in the presence of God the psalmist is willing to take greater risks than would be possible alone. Knowing that we are not alone makes it possible to take risks that we would not consider on our own. In some cases, simply knowing that we are not the first makes the risk less intimidating. The psalmist wants to know what it means to live the way that God wants us to follow in an ever deepening way. Not content to live on the fringes as a person of God, the psalmist wants to drink deeply from the well of God’s presence and way of life. ¶The psalm ends with a word of hope that each of us can take as our own, “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” We don’t have to wait for heaven to experience the abundant goodness of God, we can find it in the delights of the world around us. ¶May 19, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1300 ¶Fifth Sunday of Easter ¶May 18, 2025 ¶Psalm 24 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2024&version=NRSVUE ¶In fourth grade, I appointed myself bathroom monitor to make sure the boys in the bathroom with me washed their hands before they went back to class. Sometimes I ran after someone to drag them back to the sink to wash his hands. One day, the one male teacher in the school was walking in as I was grabbing for a boy who had not washed his hands. The teacher and I almost collided. He caught me by the arm and asked what I was doing. When I answered, he assured me that it was not my job to see that everyone left the room with clean hands. ¶The psalmist tells us that those who have clean hands and pure hearts will stand in the holy place on the hill of the LORD. Nowhere does this psalm tell us that we are responsible for the cleanliness of the hands or hearts of those around us. We are each responsible for our own hygiene of hand and heart. We don’t get extra points for dragging people into cleanliness. Our task is to set an example that one or more people may follow as we ascend the hill of the LORD. ¶The psalmist also does not tell us that we are free to ignore those around us. We do well to offer others the same encouragement that we received and continue to receive in our own ascent of the hill of the LORD. ¶May 12, 2025 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1299 ¶Fourth Sunday of Easter ¶May 11, 2025 ¶Psalm 6 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%206&version=NRSVUE ¶Many of us have an image of God as angry and judgmental; waiting for us to mess up so that we can be punished for our faults and failings. When bad things happen it is because we did something to deserve it. God could not possibly want to give us good things on a regular basis so when things are going too well we can’t believe that it will last beyond a few hours, a few days at most. The psalmist can’t name any sin committed, however when things start going badly it must be that God is angry for some reason that deserves punishment. ¶We like to know that creation is well ordered and well oiled and that there is a cause and effect for everything that happens. Some people will trace cause and effect all the way back to God. If something happens and there is a harmful consequence to it, it has to be God who caused it. It can’t possibly be that people have moments of thoughtlessness or anger that spills into the lives of folks who had no connection to the original action. It isn’t right, and it isn’t fair, and sometimes bad things simply happen. ¶YHWH is God of steadfast love and mercy. When we are hurt and heartbroken God is with us in the midst of the situation offering us a loving presence. Even if God is the source of our pain, God loves us and does not abandon us. Especially when we feel helpless, hopeless, and worthless God is present as a source of gracious, steadfast love and mercy. ¶May 5, 2025 ¶LCM