Showing posts with label Psalm 96. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 96. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Psalm Meditation 1230
¶Second Sunday After Epiphany
¶January 14, 2024
¶Psalm 96
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+96&version=NRSVUE
(NRSV)
¶Some of us, many of us, are so sure that we are right about just about everything that we will alter facts in order to continue to convince others, and ourselves, that we are right. The psalmist is among those who believe, ‘when anyone disagrees with me, they must be wrong.’ It is not possible for each of us to be right from our particular perspectives, there has to be one right and the rest of you are wrong. The only reason I might be right about this, would be because I agree with you.
¶The psalmist makes the perfectly normal statement that, “all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” This was from a time in which it was accepted that there were others divine beings in addition to our own. ‘They are not real, and do not exist except in images ‘those’ people worship. So, you are free to worship some other deity or group of deities as long as you know that my form of worship is the only authentic and meaningful form of worship.
¶I have come to believe that there is only one God. This monotheism is my history and tradition. Where I seem to differ from many folks these days is that if you describe your deity differently than do I it is because you have found a reason to emphasize an aspect of the one God that is not a part of my description of God. It continues to be the same God in a different environment and context. If you choose to divide your deity into separate beings for each attribute, it is, to me, the one God described differently.
¶January 9, 2024
¶LCM
Monday, July 26, 2021
Psalm Meditation 1102
Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 1, 2021
Psalm 96
1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(NRSV)
Most people don’t like new things unless they have some say in it, some power over initiating it, some sense of choice in whether or not they participate in it. So, we can be all gung-ho on reading this psalm with its call to newness, until someone tells us we are going to do something new that you have no say in. It doesn’t even have to be a big thing. Something as simple as singing an unfamiliar hymn in worship can ruin a person’s whole day, week, longer than that even. We like the comfortable and familiar.
Every now and then something happens in our lives that requires a new song, a new way of expressing our experience of God. When our faith is challenged and we come out with a deeper, stronger faith, we need a new way to express that faith. When we find that what was once comfortable and fulfilling is now confining and narrow, we need a new expression of our now broader view of God and the world. We need a new song.
Our new song may express a deeper sadness, while making room for a more expansive joy. As we expand our experience of God, we will discover that we are open to new ways of expressing the height and depth of the presence of God in our lives and the lives of those who are not like us. It may be an experience akin to watching what is thought of as a children’s show only to discover that there is are layers to the characters and story that escaped us in previous viewings. As we grow and mature in faith, we may discover that an old song takes on a new meaning, that it becomes a new song. “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.”
July 26, 2021
LCM
Monday, December 17, 2018
Psalm Meditation 966
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 23, 2018
Psalm 96
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(NRSV)
Children make a lot of their activities into races and contests, each vying to be the fastest, strongest, smartest, biggest; each vying to be the winner. One of my brothers told about playing cards with a child. The game this child wanted to play was ‘cards.’ When my brother asked about the rules of the game, he was given a set of rules. As the game progressed those rules changed repeatedly, making it more likely that the child making the rules would win. Children love to play, and they really love to win.
Children are not the only ones who change and rig the rules to make it easier for ‘us’ to win. One of the ways to make winning easier is make ‘them’ seem like bad people, or better yet, into sub-human species that make them easier to manipulate, oppress, and destroy. We tell stories about them that have just enough truth in them to make them believable, especially since we want to see ‘them’ in the worst light anyway. We do this with games, wars, wealth, and religion. We convince ourselves that ‘those’ people worship idols, while ‘we’ worship the one true God.
It is entirely possible that each group is given a different view of the one true God in hopes that we will one day be able to put together a more complete picture of who God is, what it takes to worship, and what it means to worship and serve. When we draw battle lines, we miss out on the richness of human experience including the experience of God. Perhaps God intends that we talk to each other, learn from each other, find some ways to live and serve together for a common good, a way that emphasizes cooperation as more impressive than winning.
December 17, 2018
LCM
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 23, 2018
Psalm 96
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(NRSV)
Children make a lot of their activities into races and contests, each vying to be the fastest, strongest, smartest, biggest; each vying to be the winner. One of my brothers told about playing cards with a child. The game this child wanted to play was ‘cards.’ When my brother asked about the rules of the game, he was given a set of rules. As the game progressed those rules changed repeatedly, making it more likely that the child making the rules would win. Children love to play, and they really love to win.
Children are not the only ones who change and rig the rules to make it easier for ‘us’ to win. One of the ways to make winning easier is make ‘them’ seem like bad people, or better yet, into sub-human species that make them easier to manipulate, oppress, and destroy. We tell stories about them that have just enough truth in them to make them believable, especially since we want to see ‘them’ in the worst light anyway. We do this with games, wars, wealth, and religion. We convince ourselves that ‘those’ people worship idols, while ‘we’ worship the one true God.
It is entirely possible that each group is given a different view of the one true God in hopes that we will one day be able to put together a more complete picture of who God is, what it takes to worship, and what it means to worship and serve. When we draw battle lines, we miss out on the richness of human experience including the experience of God. Perhaps God intends that we talk to each other, learn from each other, find some ways to live and serve together for a common good, a way that emphasizes cooperation as more impressive than winning.
December 17, 2018
LCM
Monday, December 30, 2013
Psalm Meditation 707
Second Sunday After Christmas
January 5, 2014
Psalm 96
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(NRSV)
It sometimes seems that the folks who look forward to God’s judgment the most are some of the ones who will be judged most harshly. These folks are so sure that God setting things right is the same as setting things in the order they see fit. I am afraid they are in for a disappointment. God’s way and my way are rarely the same because I want revenge and a renewal of my own sense of dignity and order. God leans toward mercy and steadfast love.
I imagine that God is a bit less lenient with those of us who claim to speak for God in a voice and accent that fly in the face of God’s genuine intent for those God loves and with chesed/agape’/unconditional love. The number of folk we turn away from God with our arrogant words and deeds will likely be met with some stern looks and words. God’s ire will likely not get in the way of God’s saving love, however it will certainly leave us humbled, at the very least.
As we sing our songs and revel in the greatness of God we do well not to get so caught up in our celebrations that we begin to feel that we are heirs to that greatness by some word or act of our own. Any glint of salvation, righteous and truth we receive is a gift God gives to us. Granted, some are more open to receive these gifts than others, that does not mean that they are not set before each of us in some wonder filled way. Sing and rejoice in God’s glory.
December 30, 2013
Second Sunday After Christmas
January 5, 2014
Psalm 96
1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “The LORD is king! The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the LORD; for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.
(NRSV)
It sometimes seems that the folks who look forward to God’s judgment the most are some of the ones who will be judged most harshly. These folks are so sure that God setting things right is the same as setting things in the order they see fit. I am afraid they are in for a disappointment. God’s way and my way are rarely the same because I want revenge and a renewal of my own sense of dignity and order. God leans toward mercy and steadfast love.
I imagine that God is a bit less lenient with those of us who claim to speak for God in a voice and accent that fly in the face of God’s genuine intent for those God loves and with chesed/agape’/unconditional love. The number of folk we turn away from God with our arrogant words and deeds will likely be met with some stern looks and words. God’s ire will likely not get in the way of God’s saving love, however it will certainly leave us humbled, at the very least.
As we sing our songs and revel in the greatness of God we do well not to get so caught up in our celebrations that we begin to feel that we are heirs to that greatness by some word or act of our own. Any glint of salvation, righteous and truth we receive is a gift God gives to us. Granted, some are more open to receive these gifts than others, that does not mean that they are not set before each of us in some wonder filled way. Sing and rejoice in God’s glory.
December 30, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)