Psalm Meditation 1231 ¶Third Sunday After Epiphany ¶January 21, 2024 ¶Psalm 103 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+103&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Our God is pretty amazing. Always ready to help out, to forgive, to heal, to redeem, to love, and fill us with good throughout our lives. All this for a bunch of people who have nothing to offer in return besides our love and faithfulness. And even if we don’t return God’s love, God loves us, because that is the nature and choice of God. Whether we offer God love, hate, or indifference throughout our lives, God continually loves us. It isn’t even that God loves us as a way to spite us; God loves us all the time. ¶There are times in which it seems good and right to blame God when things go against us. They do, no use pretending that things go well for each of us every day. There are days and times in which bad things happen, and there are times in which bad things pile up way to high for us. However, it is not God who causes those things, or who uses bad things to test our faith. God is the one who is with us through all the bad that goes on in and around us. Simply because God is standing there doesn’t make it God’s fault. That God is standing there is evidence that God is not one to run out on us when times get rough. ¶I knew folks when I was growing up who would say, ‘Praise the Lord anyway.’ when things would not go their way. The psalmist doesn’t ask us to bless the Lord anyway, the psalmist reminds us to bless the Lord. As we are willing and able to bless God we begin to notice that God loves us. God still loves us whether we notice or not, when we notice God’s love is able to penetrate our lives more deeply as we make room for all that God has to offer us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits— “ ¶January 15, 2024 ¶LCM

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

Psalm Meditation 1229 ¶Baptism of the Lord ¶January 7, 2024 ¶Psalm 89 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+89&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶When I was a teenager, there was a test going around that teachers and youth group leaders seem to have gotten together to write. The first item on the test was to read the whole test first, the second was to write your name at the top of the page. From there the instructions included all sorts of tasks from writing things in particular places on the test, to standing up, spinning around three times, and shouting something. The last item on the test was to do items one and two. Read the whole thing first. ¶The psalmist praises and thanks God for all the good things that God has done, and promised to do, for the ruler of the people. Included in the list is the warning that there will be punishments if those who rule fail to follow God’s laws and ordinances. The psalmist does not list any reasons for God rejecting ‘your anointed.’ If the psalmist is currying favor with the king, it would be foolish to add such a list. Knowing that rulers can easily become full of themselves, it would not be surprising to know that this king has committed offenses that would lead God to mete out punishments. ¶The primary promise God makes to each of us is to be with us, no matter what. If we demand the place of honor, God is with us. If we take the lowest place despite having been invited up higher each time previous, God is with us. When things go our way and it seems we are sitting on top of the world, God is with us. When things go against us and we are neck deep in the muck, God is with us. If we sit in the loftiest seat of power, the lowliest place on the planet, or anywhere in between, God is with us. ¶January 2, 2024 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1228 ¶First Sunday After Christmas ¶December 31, 2023 ¶Psalm 82 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+82&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶We do like to get the good things we deserve almost as much as we enjoy deciding why it is that ‘those’ people don’t really deserve any good things. If they do get them, it is a fluke, an injustice, a travesty. Of course, no one deserves good things as much as we do because we are the faithful, and righteous. According to the biblical texts we follow, we have earned all the good things and none of the bad things going around these days. It is kinda sad that so many people outside of our group would even consider getting all of our good things. ¶Except that the psalmist reminds us that God doesn’t judge, reward, or punish according to our standards. God has a bias for the weak, the orphan, the lowly, and the destitute. They are aware that they do no deserve any good things, so they are grateful for every good thing that comes their way. It isn’t being on the outside of ‘polite’ society that gets them any of the good things, it is the gratitude. Being grateful opens our hearts and minds to see other things for which we can be grateful and allows us to become more deeply grateful for all that we do have. ¶Entitlement breeds entitlement and gratitude breeds gratitude. We can walk through our lives in the fog of entitlement, always knowing that we deserve more of the good things and less of the bad things that come our way. Or we can walk in the light of gratitude knowing that it is not about earning or deserving anything we get, it is about being grateful to God and those around us for the good things. It is also about being grateful for the support we can give and get from each other in the rough times. ¶December 26, 2023 ¶LCM

Psalm Meditation 1227 ¶Fourth Sunday of Advent/Christmas Eve ¶December 24, 2023 ¶Psalm 111 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+111&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Do we get good things because we fear, are in awe of, God, or does our awe allow us to notice that the good things are gifts from God? All sorts of people get good things whether they are faithful to God or not. God is good, loving, and generous to us because it is the nature of God to do that. We don't earn or deserve good things from God, we get them no matter what. Our praise and gratitude don’t entitle us to God’s good gifts, praise and gratitude allow us to see all the ways that God works in our lives. ¶When things go well, and when they don’t, God is with us, accompanying us on our journey. God is present to celebrate with us in good times, to mourn and suffer with us in bad times, and to be with us in the day to day times. Whether we know it or not, or notice it or not, God is with us. There are folks who can recite long sections of Scripture. God is present with them. There are folks who know little more than a sentence about the love of God for the world and all that is in it. God is present with them. The hierarchy of the love of God is about how much we notice rather than about how much we receive from God. ¶When we offer thanks and praise to God we find ever richer and deeper reasons to offer them. As we look to God with gratitude, we see more simple and profound reasons to thank God for all that goes on in and around us. The more we experience and dwell on the wonders of God’s love at work in the world, the more we see the heights and depths of God’s involvement in all the rich variety of life in the world. “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.” ¶December 18, 2023 ¶LCM

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

Psalm Meditation 1225 ¶Second Sunday of Advent ¶December 10, 2023 ¶Psalm 97 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+97&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶There are folks who long for the day of YHWH, knowing that on that day all the people who have ever annoyed them for any reason will suddenly cease to be. The judgement of God will come and destroy all who have stood against God, and we will finally be free of those evil doers. It will be a glorious day for us when we are finally free of all those who have harassed and tempted us throughout our lives. We will be able to relax and enjoy the presence of God in the fullness of glory. ¶Except that, each of us has had a time in which our faithfulness has been questionable, and we have made ourselves as liable to judgment as anyone else. Through our lives we have made someone or something the top priority in our lives, turning it into an idol. We have made ourselves guilty of the very thing for which we have wished God’s judgment on others. Even though we can justify our actions, we are still guilty. If the day of YHWH comes as we have hoped, we will be swept away in the same judgment we have wished on others. ¶The good thing is that God is not as vindictive as we can be. Though we long for fire, flood, and famine for all of ‘those’ people, God is loving and patient with them and with us. The love of God keeps calling us into a relationship, not only with God, with all people everywhere. God loves the people who have hurt us, who hate us, who ignore us because we mean so little to them. God loves us even though we have hurt people, hate people, and ignore people either purposely or carelessly. God loves us, simple as that. ¶December 6, 2023 ¶LCM