Showing posts with label Psalm 50. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 50. Show all posts
Monday, November 17, 2025
Psalm Meditation 1327
¶Reign of Christ
¶November 23, 2025
¶Psalm 50
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2050&version=NRSVUE
¶How many of us find ourselves doing things to impress God with our worthiness in regards to our salvation. We are part of the right congregation, we go to all the right meetings, sit in the proper seat with a good view of all the people we know to be sinners so that we can better judge them for their hypocrisy, coming to worship as if they deserve to be there. Aaand, we participate in all the fund raisers, and many of the mission projects; we even go on the field trips to build a sense of community in the congregation.
¶We spend so much time in our attempts to impress God with our sacrifices of time, talent, and energy that we forget what God really wants from us. It isn’t about great deeds of derring-do, saving the world from other people’s sins, or going to all the meetings we would rather not attend, it is about being thankful. God has all the ‘stuff’ that we offer to help ourselves be noticed by God as well as others. God wants us to thankful in a way that touches others with a sense of thankfulness as well. When we are willingly and openly thankful, we keep finding more and more things to be thankful for and thankful about. And thankfulness rubs off on others and feeds on itself.
¶When we live thankfully we touch people in the same way God touches us, with a leaning toward thanks, grace, and mercy. As we touch people with thanks rather than judgement, we each take a step closer to the life that leads to a growing awareness that we are already in the realm of God. “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God.”
¶November 17, 2025
¶LCM
Monday, November 28, 2022
Psalm Meditation 1172
¶Second Sunday of Advent
¶December 4, 2022
¶Psalm 50
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+50&version=NRSVUE
(NRSV)
¶There are people who say that God does not need our thanks and praise, God is complete without us. If that is the case, then why are we here at all? While it may be the case that God does not need anything from us, it does not keep God from enjoying a relationship with each one of us, especially those who choose a relationship with God. To set God so far above us that there is no need for anything from us is a way to keep God separate from us so as not to sully God’s hands with our impurity.
¶The strength of a relationship with God comes from God’s willingness to meet us where we are. God may not need our thanks and praise, however it is appreciated. As a parent, I had much more to offer my children than they had to give me. At the same time, when they brought tokens of affection, dandelions, rocks, hugs, and kisses it touched me in a way that can only be experienced. When we offer tokens of our affection and gratitude to God I imagine it is at least that special to God. It is not really the token that is important, it is the affection, the symbol of a relationship between God and us.
¶Even in the midst of an era with a sacrificial system God was not interested in the items being sacrificed, God was interested in the thankfulness, the gratitude, the need of the giver. We offer God our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness as our actual sacrifices. They are the means of connection with God and the people around us. “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way, I will show the salvation of God.”
¶November 28, 2022
¶LCM
Monday, January 31, 2022
Psalm Meditation 1129
¶Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
¶February 6, 2022
¶Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)
¶“What do you say?” This question is asked of children in every generation when they are given some gift or treat. The correct answer is, “Thank you.” It begins as a rote response, what we say because we are expected to say it. For some, it never goes beyond that. There is no accompanying gratitude, just words that are a social convention. For many, being taught the words is the
beginning of an awareness that we do not deserve much of the good that we receive. Along with that comes a deep sense of gratitude for the generosity of those around us, including God.
¶The psalmist lets us know that we don’t owe God anything except thanksgiving. When our gifts and sacrifices are given as expressions of our gratitude, God accepts the thanks more warmly than the gifts. When we go through the motions, as if our gifts will buy us favor and earn us a place in the presence of God for eternity, God asks that we keep our gifts. God does not need the smell of cooking meat or baking bread, God wants the pleasant aroma of our thankfulness that is carried up to God more readily than any aroma of grilling and baking.
¶‘Thank you’ is almost as difficult to say in a heartfelt way as ‘I’m sorry.’ It takes a vulnerability, an acknowledgment of our
interdependence, to say, and mean, that we are grateful for the investment someone has made in us. God will continue to love and care for us whether we are grateful or not because that is the nature of God. Throughout Scripture we are told and reminded that God does enjoy our thankfulness in word and deed. “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.”
¶January 31, 2022
¶LCM
Monday, February 25, 2019
Psalm Meditation 976
Transfiguration
March 3, 2019
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)
The psalmist is as willing as the rest of us to brand others as outside the way of God. It is entirely possible that this is accurate about ‘those’ people being addressed. There are people who go through the motions, who make a big show of being faithful, who follow the rules in order to get the promised reward, or to avoid the anticipated promise. These folks are more deeply in need of being scolded than those who stand away from God out of ignorance or misunderstanding.
So what happens when we stand in judgement of others and we are the ones who are wrong. I hear myself and many others pointing our fingers at ‘those’ people who are judging by different standards. However that is my point; we are quick to judge othes before we look as critically at ourselves. In any time and place of whiich I am aware, there are disagreements brewing and boiling over in which those on every side are pointing fingers of blame at others while ignoring their own mistakes, misjudgments, and misinterpretations of the source of the conflict as well as those with whom they disagree. No matter what may be wrong with others, if we have not looked as critically at our own viewpoint and argument we are contributors to the problem more than to any solution.
We want to be right, especially in our relationship with God. We work under the assumption that our way is right or we wouldn’t follow and defend it. When we discover where we are wrong we will take steps to change our ideas and practices. Unless… unless we have become so entrenched in our ideas and practices that we can no longer see our own errors and only see what is different and wrong coming out of ‘those’ peoples’ ideas and practices. Are ‘they’ wrong? Probably. Are we wrong? Probably. Is there a kernel or truth in every side? That is just as probable. We do better to look critically at ourselves before we stand in harsh judgment of ‘them.’
February 25, 2019
LCM
Transfiguration
March 3, 2019
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)
The psalmist is as willing as the rest of us to brand others as outside the way of God. It is entirely possible that this is accurate about ‘those’ people being addressed. There are people who go through the motions, who make a big show of being faithful, who follow the rules in order to get the promised reward, or to avoid the anticipated promise. These folks are more deeply in need of being scolded than those who stand away from God out of ignorance or misunderstanding.
So what happens when we stand in judgement of others and we are the ones who are wrong. I hear myself and many others pointing our fingers at ‘those’ people who are judging by different standards. However that is my point; we are quick to judge othes before we look as critically at ourselves. In any time and place of whiich I am aware, there are disagreements brewing and boiling over in which those on every side are pointing fingers of blame at others while ignoring their own mistakes, misjudgments, and misinterpretations of the source of the conflict as well as those with whom they disagree. No matter what may be wrong with others, if we have not looked as critically at our own viewpoint and argument we are contributors to the problem more than to any solution.
We want to be right, especially in our relationship with God. We work under the assumption that our way is right or we wouldn’t follow and defend it. When we discover where we are wrong we will take steps to change our ideas and practices. Unless… unless we have become so entrenched in our ideas and practices that we can no longer see our own errors and only see what is different and wrong coming out of ‘those’ peoples’ ideas and practices. Are ‘they’ wrong? Probably. Are we wrong? Probably. Is there a kernel or truth in every side? That is just as probable. We do better to look critically at ourselves before we stand in harsh judgment of ‘them.’
February 25, 2019
LCM
Monday, July 22, 2013
Psalm Meditation 684
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 28, 2013
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)
There are times for each of us in which we simply go through the motions of worship or some other act of service. Our hearts are not in it. A part of us wants to join in this act of worship with the whole congregation and another part wants to be doing something else. Even as we resent having to make this particular sacrifice at this particular time, we find ourselves drawn in to be with the people of God. In addition to times of worship we may feel the dual pull to perform an act of ministry, service or mission even as we wonder if we are actually helping this person or group by our activity. This psalm is not about those times.
This psalm is about the people who go through the motions with no intention of being touched or changed by having done these things. It is for show and nothing more. It is going through the motions to give them license to do what they would rather be doing the rest of the week. There probably aren’t as many of this kind of people as we want to believe. Yes, there are those who compartmentalize their lives, who believe that faith and worship are one thing and the rest of life is separate from worship and faith practices. They are sincere in their worship, it simply doesn’t touch the rest of their daily activity.
We are invited to bring thankful hearts into the presence of God. Yes, God is present in all of life, however there are places and times in which we are more attuned to God’s presence. God invites us to bring thankfulness into those times as an acknowledgment of the salvation God offers and gives.
July 22, 2013
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 28, 2013
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.Selah
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother’s child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.”
(NRSV)
There are times for each of us in which we simply go through the motions of worship or some other act of service. Our hearts are not in it. A part of us wants to join in this act of worship with the whole congregation and another part wants to be doing something else. Even as we resent having to make this particular sacrifice at this particular time, we find ourselves drawn in to be with the people of God. In addition to times of worship we may feel the dual pull to perform an act of ministry, service or mission even as we wonder if we are actually helping this person or group by our activity. This psalm is not about those times.
This psalm is about the people who go through the motions with no intention of being touched or changed by having done these things. It is for show and nothing more. It is going through the motions to give them license to do what they would rather be doing the rest of the week. There probably aren’t as many of this kind of people as we want to believe. Yes, there are those who compartmentalize their lives, who believe that faith and worship are one thing and the rest of life is separate from worship and faith practices. They are sincere in their worship, it simply doesn’t touch the rest of their daily activity.
We are invited to bring thankful hearts into the presence of God. Yes, God is present in all of life, however there are places and times in which we are more attuned to God’s presence. God invites us to bring thankfulness into those times as an acknowledgment of the salvation God offers and gives.
July 22, 2013
Monday, June 25, 2012
Psalm Meditation 628
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 1, 2012
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 "Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. (Selah)
7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
(NRSV)
What does it mean to worship? Is it being there every time the doors are open and going through the motions, or is there something else? There are folks who are there for nearly every worship service offered by the congregation of which they are a part. Some of those folks are there out of a sense of obligation and some of them are there out of a sense of gratitude. There are folks who attend worship when it does not interfere with other plans. Some of those folks are there with the same motivations of obligation or gratitude. There are folks who attend worship when there is some compelling reason to attend. Some of them feel obligated and some are grateful. In each group the folks who attend out of gratitude are more likely to have actually worshipped by the time they go home.
Is the least faithful attender who is grateful a better worshipper than the one who is there for every service out of a sense of obligation? At least for that one service it is the case that gratitude is better than obligation. To participate regularly opens the possibility of a fleeting sense of gratitude, though being grateful brings a person to a deeper awareness of the relationship God offers to us and desires from us.
My personal prejudice is that it is good to be in worship nearly every week. I am not the one to whom any of us finally answers. God seems to be much more interested in how we treat others, especially those over whom we have some power, than whether we have a gold star on the weekly attendance chart in our favorite place of worship. Honest, faithful, fruitful relationships with God and others holds much more sway with God than a line of gold stars.
June 25, 2012
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
July 1, 2012
Psalm 50
1 The mighty one, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.
4 He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 "Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!"
6 The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. (Selah)
7 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."
16 But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child.
21 These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.
22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.
23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
(NRSV)
What does it mean to worship? Is it being there every time the doors are open and going through the motions, or is there something else? There are folks who are there for nearly every worship service offered by the congregation of which they are a part. Some of those folks are there out of a sense of obligation and some of them are there out of a sense of gratitude. There are folks who attend worship when it does not interfere with other plans. Some of those folks are there with the same motivations of obligation or gratitude. There are folks who attend worship when there is some compelling reason to attend. Some of them feel obligated and some are grateful. In each group the folks who attend out of gratitude are more likely to have actually worshipped by the time they go home.
Is the least faithful attender who is grateful a better worshipper than the one who is there for every service out of a sense of obligation? At least for that one service it is the case that gratitude is better than obligation. To participate regularly opens the possibility of a fleeting sense of gratitude, though being grateful brings a person to a deeper awareness of the relationship God offers to us and desires from us.
My personal prejudice is that it is good to be in worship nearly every week. I am not the one to whom any of us finally answers. God seems to be much more interested in how we treat others, especially those over whom we have some power, than whether we have a gold star on the weekly attendance chart in our favorite place of worship. Honest, faithful, fruitful relationships with God and others holds much more sway with God than a line of gold stars.
June 25, 2012
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