Showing posts with label Psalm 104. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 104. Show all posts
Monday, December 11, 2023
Psalm Meditation 1226
¶Third Sunday of Advent
¶December 17, 2023
¶Psalm 104
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+104&version=NRSVUE
(NRSV)
¶When you ask a group of preschoolers how many of them can sing, or dance, or draw, they will each say, and perhaps show, that they can do all of those things and more. Creativity and confidence in our ability to create seems to be innate in us. These preschoolers know that they can do all sorts of creative things, and look for ways to demonstrate their willingness and ability to do any number of things that call on their imagination and creativity to do all sorts of wonder-full activities.
¶Somewhere along the line many of us lose confidence in our creativity for any number of reasons. Someone is bound to make fun of us as we begin to polish our skills and abilities. If we are sensitive to that kind of pressure, we will hide that talent from others and eventually from ourselves so that we forget about our ability to create in some form. We reach a point in our development in which it is important to fit in with those around us. When we are told that there is someone much better at a skill than we are, we set it aside and let the ‘expert’ take over.
¶God creates confidently. If we like what God does we can give thanks. If we don’t like what God does we can complain. Either way, God continues to act in creative ways grateful for our thanks, saddened by our complaints, creating newness in a variety of ways as gifts for those who choose to enjoy them. The psalmist is glad to be in the presence of God’s creative energy and sings out praise to God. It is possible to continue to use our gifts even if there are people whose offerings are more to the liking of a majority. “I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”
¶December 11, 2023
¶LCM
Monday, August 26, 2019
Psalm Meditation 1002
Proper 17
September 1, 2019
Psalm 104
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
(NRSV)
It is easy to take all of God’s works and gifts for granted, to become so used to all around us that we fail to notice and appreciate all that God has done and is doing in the world. The psalmist takes the time to look around at the world, to see as much as possible of all that God has done. The psalmist also points out at least one of the beneficiaries of these wonderful gifts God has given to the world. The psalmist may be sitting on a hillside observing each of these animals enjoying the fruits of God’s good creation. In a visual sweep, the psalmist looks side to side as well as up and down to take in and point out as much of the scene as possible.
The psalmist appears to be so excited to see this whole panorama, that the psalm gets written in the random order in which everything is observed. We might be tempted to write, revise, and edit these observations in a greater to lesser order. The scene opens the eyes of the psalmist in such a way that there is no other way to write it down than in the order in which things reveal themselves to this awe-struck writer.
It is possible to go through a day without looking up, or even outside ourselves. In some cases, it is possible to spend a day without making any contact with the natural world. We go from house to car to parking garage to office and back again without so much as a hint of fresh air or unfiltered sunshine. We get so caught up in the obligations of the day that we don’t make time to see, experience, and appreciate the world in which we live On some of those days, it is good to remind ourselves of the goodness of God and creation by reading a psalm along the lines of this one. It might even inspire us to step outside and spend some time looking at listening as the natural day unfolds before our eyes.
August 26, 2019
LCM
Proper 17
September 1, 2019
Psalm 104
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
(NRSV)
It is easy to take all of God’s works and gifts for granted, to become so used to all around us that we fail to notice and appreciate all that God has done and is doing in the world. The psalmist takes the time to look around at the world, to see as much as possible of all that God has done. The psalmist also points out at least one of the beneficiaries of these wonderful gifts God has given to the world. The psalmist may be sitting on a hillside observing each of these animals enjoying the fruits of God’s good creation. In a visual sweep, the psalmist looks side to side as well as up and down to take in and point out as much of the scene as possible.
The psalmist appears to be so excited to see this whole panorama, that the psalm gets written in the random order in which everything is observed. We might be tempted to write, revise, and edit these observations in a greater to lesser order. The scene opens the eyes of the psalmist in such a way that there is no other way to write it down than in the order in which things reveal themselves to this awe-struck writer.
It is possible to go through a day without looking up, or even outside ourselves. In some cases, it is possible to spend a day without making any contact with the natural world. We go from house to car to parking garage to office and back again without so much as a hint of fresh air or unfiltered sunshine. We get so caught up in the obligations of the day that we don’t make time to see, experience, and appreciate the world in which we live On some of those days, it is good to remind ourselves of the goodness of God and creation by reading a psalm along the lines of this one. It might even inspire us to step outside and spend some time looking at listening as the natural day unfolds before our eyes.
August 26, 2019
LCM
Monday, August 1, 2016
Psalm Meditation 842
Proper 14
August 7, 2016
Psalm 104
1Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
When we praise God it is often for a single thing. We watch a sunrise or sunset and praise God for the beauty of the event. Something good happens in our lives and we praise God for the wonderfulness of that event. We rarely do what the psalmist has done, giving thanks for parts of creation that are not a part of our daily life. We do not notice that God sets boundaries for lakes and streams, rivers and oceans until those waters break out of their normal courses. Even then we are rightly concerned about the excess rather than grateful for the normal course of waterways around us. I don’t stop to marvel at the providence of God for squirrels and chipmunks; I notice that they take up all the space on feeders set out for the birds. I enjoy the birds at the feeders without noticing that I have become a participant in providing for the birds as well as the other critters that frequent our feeders.
The psalmist looks around and lifts up a variety of reasons to be thankful for all that God is and does around us to provide for various parts of the world and its inhabitants. Sun and moon, mountains and valleys, grass and cattle, wine and bread each part and pair are reason to lift up a word of thanks, blessing and praise to God. The creative activity of God is reason to rejoice and sing, to celebrate and praise.
The fact that there is anything normal is reason to thank God. That we depend on the sun coming up and the moon going through the cycle of waxing and waning is reason to thank God for a recognizable pattern to the world in which we find ourselves. While we can go through a day and see it as dull and boring because nothing exciting happened, we would do well to thank God for those days as a reminder that the orderliness of our day is a gift that God gives to us. The ordinariness of a day means that God is present with us.
August 1, 2016
LCM
Proper 14
August 7, 2016
Psalm 104
1Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
When we praise God it is often for a single thing. We watch a sunrise or sunset and praise God for the beauty of the event. Something good happens in our lives and we praise God for the wonderfulness of that event. We rarely do what the psalmist has done, giving thanks for parts of creation that are not a part of our daily life. We do not notice that God sets boundaries for lakes and streams, rivers and oceans until those waters break out of their normal courses. Even then we are rightly concerned about the excess rather than grateful for the normal course of waterways around us. I don’t stop to marvel at the providence of God for squirrels and chipmunks; I notice that they take up all the space on feeders set out for the birds. I enjoy the birds at the feeders without noticing that I have become a participant in providing for the birds as well as the other critters that frequent our feeders.
The psalmist looks around and lifts up a variety of reasons to be thankful for all that God is and does around us to provide for various parts of the world and its inhabitants. Sun and moon, mountains and valleys, grass and cattle, wine and bread each part and pair are reason to lift up a word of thanks, blessing and praise to God. The creative activity of God is reason to rejoice and sing, to celebrate and praise.
The fact that there is anything normal is reason to thank God. That we depend on the sun coming up and the moon going through the cycle of waxing and waning is reason to thank God for a recognizable pattern to the world in which we find ourselves. While we can go through a day and see it as dull and boring because nothing exciting happened, we would do well to thank God for those days as a reminder that the orderliness of our day is a gift that God gives to us. The ordinariness of a day means that God is present with us.
August 1, 2016
LCM
Monday, December 2, 2013
Psalm Meditation 703
Second Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2013
Psalm 104
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul.O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
I understand the thinking behind the last verse, that if it weren’t for sinners and wicked folks this world would be a perfect place. Today, though, it sounds selfish. ‘This is such a great place, I hate to share it with people who aren’t like me, people who don’t appreciate these things as I do, people who don’t deserve the nice things I have earned.’ With a worldview based on preserving ‘our’ group by keeping ‘your’ group at a distance, those who are not like us are seen as a threat. Even those inside the group who don’t live up to the rules of the covenant community are seen as dangerous folks.
Strict adherence to the rules, as well as a leaning toward isolationism are the best ways to get a group started. Once the body gets going well it can be opened up to new people, new ideas and new ways of doing things. No matter how long the group has been around or how open it has become, there will always be those who want the group to go back to those founding principles, including the desire to close the group to influences beyond the original core beliefs, practices and identifications. That is not all bad. Those who are opposed to change can be a healthy corrective to those who are ready to branch out in new directions. Sometimes the folks who are willing to stretch the boundaries of the group are the majority and sometimes the folks who emphasize the core precepts of the group win the day. In the transition from one majority to the other there is conflict in the group.
In times of conflict folks on both sides of the growth versus origin question will find themselves putting emphasis on the verse that asks God to do away with the folks who aren’t like ‘us.’ While it is a part of the process it does get us to lose sight of the rest of the psalm that praises God for all the great things that are gifts to us and all other parts of creation. It might be good, even in the midst of a pitched battle within our own group small or large, to step back from the battle and see all the wonders that God provides for us. God does not provide these great things because we are pure or because we are expanding the definition of what it means to be a part of the group. God provides these gifts out of a deep and abiding love for us, on every side of the question or conflict. When we see that it is not one side or the other that has earned God’s love perhaps we can take a deep breath and appreciate the intentions and practices of the folks on the other side.
December 2, 2013
Second Sunday of Advent
December 8, 2013
Psalm 104
1 Bless the LORD, O my soul.O LORD my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
3 you set the beams of your chambers on the waters, you make the clouds your chariot, you ride on the wings of the wind,
4 you make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers.
5 You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,
11 giving drink to every wild animal; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth,
15 and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine, and bread to strengthen the human heart.
16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has its home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
19 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
23 People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
27 These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
28 when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)
I understand the thinking behind the last verse, that if it weren’t for sinners and wicked folks this world would be a perfect place. Today, though, it sounds selfish. ‘This is such a great place, I hate to share it with people who aren’t like me, people who don’t appreciate these things as I do, people who don’t deserve the nice things I have earned.’ With a worldview based on preserving ‘our’ group by keeping ‘your’ group at a distance, those who are not like us are seen as a threat. Even those inside the group who don’t live up to the rules of the covenant community are seen as dangerous folks.
Strict adherence to the rules, as well as a leaning toward isolationism are the best ways to get a group started. Once the body gets going well it can be opened up to new people, new ideas and new ways of doing things. No matter how long the group has been around or how open it has become, there will always be those who want the group to go back to those founding principles, including the desire to close the group to influences beyond the original core beliefs, practices and identifications. That is not all bad. Those who are opposed to change can be a healthy corrective to those who are ready to branch out in new directions. Sometimes the folks who are willing to stretch the boundaries of the group are the majority and sometimes the folks who emphasize the core precepts of the group win the day. In the transition from one majority to the other there is conflict in the group.
In times of conflict folks on both sides of the growth versus origin question will find themselves putting emphasis on the verse that asks God to do away with the folks who aren’t like ‘us.’ While it is a part of the process it does get us to lose sight of the rest of the psalm that praises God for all the great things that are gifts to us and all other parts of creation. It might be good, even in the midst of a pitched battle within our own group small or large, to step back from the battle and see all the wonders that God provides for us. God does not provide these great things because we are pure or because we are expanding the definition of what it means to be a part of the group. God provides these gifts out of a deep and abiding love for us, on every side of the question or conflict. When we see that it is not one side or the other that has earned God’s love perhaps we can take a deep breath and appreciate the intentions and practices of the folks on the other side.
December 2, 2013
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