Reflection on Psalm 13 - "Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies"

Given that we are in year 3 of what seems to be a never-ending pandemic, I definitely relate to the psalmists cry of "how long oh Lord"!  

But I am struck by the fact that it places the virus in the role of "the enemy".  and in fact, the virus is just doing what viruses do; replicating and mutating o find a way to survive. The virus isn't out to get me per se, because in reality, the virus needs me - us - to survive. It sees us as its host, not its foe.

Which leads me to examine what I'm really weary and afraid of.  What is the enemy that threatens to overtake me, rejoicing in my despair and defeat?

In a very meaningful way, I think my anxiety and frustration is driven by my own internal to acknowledge and adapt to the new reality.  I say that I love change and aspire to be a catalyst for change.  But I realize that in truth, I love change that I control - not change that is forced by something beyond my ability to understand or control or stop.  I am fighting with the reality that my life is very much affected, even dependent in many ways, on something beyond me.

Which is why "give light to my eyes" (v3b) resonates with me today.  I hear it as a prayer for a change in perspective.  To look up and around and see - not what is missing/I can't do/I used to do.  But what I have.  I can do.  I am doing.

I mentioned to a wise elder the other day that I was lucky to have XYZ relationship.  She gently corrected me by saying, "You aren't lucky, You are blessed".  That simple word change is a massive change in perspective:)

Prayer for today

Dear God,

Thank you for all that you have and continue to do for me, my family, our community and our world. Bring light and life to my eyes to keep reminding me of the many, many blessings that surround me everyday.  Even in the midst of sorrow there are reasons to give you praise.  I don't aspire to be "too blessed to be stressed".  Instead help me recognize and appreciate all of your daily blessings that empower and comfort me so that the stresses of life are bearable for me and enable me to be a blessing to others. Amen.

Reflection on Psalm 12 - "Plea for Help in Evil Times"

I have been a bit distracted from my commitment to pray the psalms regularly so decided to get back on track this beautiful Monday morning.  Next up was Psalm 12, and when I saw the superscript, "Plea for Help in Evil Times", I thought whoa - what an interesting time to return to this spiritual discipline!

As I read this psalm, and reflected on the words that stood out to me, the first thought that came to my mind was "fake news".   Not that the psalm itself was fake news, but rather that the psalmist was describing a world in which "fake news" was the norm.

This is a term that only a few years ago we made fun of because how could "news" be fake?  Wouldn't that be just gossip?  Or lies?  By definition isn't "news" supposed to be "the truth"? 

Not so much.  And I really resonated with the psalmist's claim that "vileness is exalted among humankind".  It certainly feels like over the past few years we have fallen into that pit of words, where truth was determined by the listener based on their own biased perspective.  As the psalmist says "They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak."

So interesting that at this moment we seem to be rising up, and the tongues and lips that lie are being exposed by pictures!  Or more specifically, video.  Because we've always had photos of brutality against the vulnerable and marginalized.  That's how we've documented our US history of oppression. But "evil tongues and lips" could explain the pictures away.  It's not what you think.  You don't know the whole story.  They deserved it.  Even "it's for their own good".

But the videos have changed the conversation.  And when its multiple videos from multiple sources and angles, the lying tongues get twisted in their explanations.  Eventually the truth becomes evident, empowering the oppressed to rise up up and tell their story.  The true story.

For those who profess to be good people, that's enough to get them off the fence and into the streets.  To risk the fight for justice.  To do what they know is right but just weren't sure was needed.  But now they know.  Because technology has opened their eyes & their hearts, and has mobilized their bodies.

We may be surrounded by evil but we have not succumbed to it.  God works in mysterious ways, in and through us.  We may not be able to predict what will happen, or when it will happen, but we can be confident in God's promise to hear us, help us and give each and all of us the opportunity to live whole lives.

Prayer for today 

Dear God,

Help me to stay strong and keep the faith.  Despite the evidence that I see around me that would suggest that evil has triumphed over good.  When I feel surrounded by evil, remind me to look up. To remember that you are with me, with us.  To open my eyes and heart to the truth so that I may stay focused on doing your work in the world without distraction.  Amen.

Don't Get Distracted - A Reflection on Psalm 11

Usually I think that being informed is a good thing.  When we know better we can do better.  But I admit that these days there seems to be so much "news" - some of which is fact, much of which is observation, and the majority appears to be opinion - that being informed is more confusing than clarifying.

The conversation that is clogging the airwaves concerns reopening.  Which states, counties, towns, businesses, churches etc. are doing it when and how.  Is it too soon?  Is it too slow?  Is it safe? Who's doing it wrong and who's doing it right?  Who values life more than money or money more than life? And who gets to chose - which is a privilege ironically denied to those we deem "essential".

It's all more than a bit scary, and surprisingly is causing me more anxiety than the initial outbreak of Covid 19 when we didn't know what it was but at least we all seemed aligned that it was bad and we wanted to stop it.   But now that we have bought ourselves some time by "flattening the curve" and feel more confident in our ability to cope with the reality that Covid 19 is going to be with us for the long haul, we appear to be turning much of our energy to judging other's reaction to the virus - particularly if it doesn't align with our own world view.

We naturally assume, or at least hope, that our personal perspective is righteous, and that those who behave in ways that don't align with our thinking are wrong, ignorant, misguided, selfish or just plain bad people.  Do they want to infect people? Do they want businesses to fail and people to lose their jobs and ability to feed their families?

The psalmist reminds us however that God sees all of what's going on, loves what is right and hates what is wrong.  And that God makes sure that wickedness is not rewarded.  Although it might seem to us that they are getting away with something, we can trust that they are not because God's got this.

"He will rain coals of fire and sulfur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup".  

Sounds a bit like Santa Claus.  He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and if you're misbehaving you can expect coal in your stocking at Christmas, so be good for goodness sake!  In modern times I don't know of anyone who's actually received coal for Christmas, but I can appreciate the sentiment that one should be good "for goodness sake" - not just for the reward.  And similarly, those who choose not to be good will suffer the natural consequences of that decision.  In God's time.  I can't control that.  And I shouldn't let it distract me from doing what I believe is right.

God calls us to "love our neighbor" and defines our neighbor as everyone.  Those we know and those we don't.  Those we like and those we don't - and even those who don't like us.  The psalmist reminds us that we are free to focus on doing that, which occasionally may mean that we're called to care for those who have been victimized by the wickedness of other people or unjust systems.  That takes a lot of courage and energy.  It can be tempting to instead focus our energy on judging and criticizing the wrongdoer.  But is that really doing the "good" that God loves?

Lord, help me to keep focused on helping the poor, the widow, the orphan, the vulnerable, the sick, the needy, the marginalized - the victims.  Help me to trust that you see the wicked and to believe that although some days it seems that they may be winning, goodness and righteousness will prevail.  Particularly if I keep my eyes on the prize.  Amen.

In Whose Image - A Reflection on Psalm 8

Imago Dei has always been a foundational underpinning of my theology and a guiding principle for how I strive to act out my faith in real life.  Of course I love the idea that I was made in the image of God, but what's more relevant is that all humans are made in the image of God.  That's an important thought for me to keep in mind when I'm challenged to accept and honor the diversity of people who don't look like me, act like me, or think like me. 

I find it to be particularly helpful when I need to deliver a "tough love" message or performance feedback, because it helps me to focus on the behavior, not the person.  After all, if we're all made in the image of God then we contain an inherent "goodness", even if we aren't always "good".  Reflecting on that possibility helps me to "speak the truth in love" because I want to honor that they too are a beloved child of God, whether they acknowledge it or not.

Of course this becomes much harder to swallow when faced with people who do hateful and evil things. Are those folks also made in God's image?  And if so, what does that say about God?  Or perhaps more significantly, what does it say about the choices that we as humans make?  As the psalmist says, God made human beings "a little lower than God".  That little bit may make a very big difference.

Reflection on Psalm 8

It's interesting that this psalm speaks of God's glory but with very human, physical imagery. It is almost as if we have created, or imagined, God in our image vs the other way around.  The assertion that God has made humans "a little less" than Godself is both modest and arrogant.  But maybe that is to be expected given the psalmist is human.  One wonders what this psalm might sound like from the perspective of the beasts of the field - sort of like the dog & cat memes that we see on Facebook in which they are rejoicing/tiring of their humans "sheltering in place".

When we speak of God's hands and fingers, we make God relatable, and that is good because it makes God less remote and scary. So it's easier to become comfortable in relationship with God.  But it's also a slippery slope to diminishing God's power and our admiration & awe.  God isn't God-like; God is God.

Dear Lord, I love thinking of you handcrafting creation and designing me in your image.  But help me to widen my imagination so that I see ALL of creation in you - not just a reflection of me.  Amen.

Bring Many Names

I grew up thinking of God as "the Father".  Not "the Godfather" but rather like a father one might find in a Disney fairy-tale.  A father who loved his daughter more than anyone else in the world, unconditionally and forever.  Even when the father seemed to be absent, or even dead, somehow his love was still strong enough to protect his child when she was in danger - either directly or through agents (like fairy-godmothers) who mysteriously appeared just in time to set things right.  This was a comforting thought and I honestly didn't spend much time critically examining it because it worked for me.

Over time I realized that others had different images and names for God, based on their up-bringing and experience, and that helped to expand my relationship with God too.  Sometimes "the Father" image was perfect.  But other times a "mother hen" image fit better.  Or a "talking cricket" sitting on my shoulder. Or even "a big whale that was keeping me trapped to help focus my attention and understanding" - I can be really stubborn:).  All of us our multi-dimensional, so it makes sense to me that God would be even more so.  Impossible to pin down with one name, or one image.

But here's the tricky part.  I know that there are people who find some of the traditional images of God old-fashioned, irrelevant, hurtful or even offensive.  Some may find them limiting, while others would strongly prefer that we limit ourselves to them only.  Whenever I refer to God as "She" in a sermon or prayer, it's always noticed and commented on - and the comments are not all the same!

I believe that God is loving and radically inclusive of all living creatures, including humans.  And that because God loves us in our individuality, our relationships with God will reflect that diversity.  So will the language that we each use to describe that ever evolving relationship.  May we benefit from that range of expressions to explore the potential for new layers in our own relationship with the Divine.

Reflection on Psalm 7

It is clear that the psalmist believes God to be a righteous god.  But it also clear that the psalmist believes that he personally is in the right, and therefore God will naturally and fairly be on his side.  In fact, he's so sure that he's in the right that he's baiting God, saying "If I did what they accuse me of, strike me down".  So confident.  And then emboldened by the fact that he isn't struck down.

But what if those who accuse him are also praying the same prayer?  Confident that they are right and that God will judge in their favor.  It's concerning to have so much confidence that I boldly assume God will punish my enemies unilaterally.  Is that what a righteous God would do?

Is it possible that neither the psalmist nor his enemies are 100% righteous or 100% evil?  Would the psalmist be able to accept that.  Would we?

Lord, thank you for providing a safe space for me, and protection from my enemies.  Help me to be righteous, not self-righteous.  Amen.

The Gift of Lament - A Reflection on Psalm 6

We are very lucky at our church to host a fabulous weekly Bible Study that is led by Gather, a new church start that shares our historic building.  In normal times I rarely have the opportunity to attend due to my work schedule, but these are far from normal times, and one of the surprising benefits of everything needing to be "virtual" is that it makes it easier to juggle my schedule!  So I have been able to attend via Zoom and am lovin' it:).

This current session is focused on the Psalms and last week we focused on the Psalms of Lament.  Which are basically most of the Psalms.  So if you want to really understand or pray the Psalms, it seems reasonable to that you have to understand, and I would argue, come to appreciate, lament.

Most 21st century churches in the US don't appear to value lament as much as the Early Church did.  And in fact, while the Psalms are the largest book in the Bible, and Lament Psalms are the largest category of Psalms, in my experience they get the smallest amount of our attention.  I think it's because we want to see church as a happy place - our happy place.  Where we are welcomed and loved, and occasionally, lovingly challenged. We want to feel good about church and at church. 

But I think we might be conflating our desired experience of Church with the experience of the patrons of Cheers, the 1980's sitcom.  Church isn't just a place where "everybody knows your name", although that is often true.  It is where we gather, physically or virtually, to remind ourselves that God knows each of our names, our hearts and our lives - and loves us anyway.  So we don't need to pose or pretend or be our best selves.  In fact, God may be at God's best when we are at our worst - angry, afraid, desperate for hope and for help. 

When we Lament we are asking "where are you God?" because we can finally admit that we need God.  And that is the gift of lament.

Reflection on Psalm 6

Grief and pains, so profound that it causes mental and physical terror.  And a complete feeling of abandonment, as if God has turned God's back on me.  Willfully ignoring my pain and pleas. Almost as if God wants to bring the psalmist, or me, to my knees.

In many ways that feels cruel.  Like God is punishing the psalmist and pimping for praise.  But then I wonder, isn't it often only when we are so utterly broken that we can see no other way out that we then turn to God - and literally beg.  And bargain, i.e. "if you heal me, I will praise you". So is God holding out, or are we?

The Good News is that the psalmist clearly believes that God hasn't left; just moved out of earshot.  Did God turns God's back - or did we?

Dear God, help me to call on you - just to say "hey", to say "thanks", and to beg for your help. And thank you for always being there.  Amen.

The Two Ways - A Reflection on Psalm 1

As the saying goes, "never let a good crisis go to waste".  So during this unique time of sabbath/social distancing/sheltering in place, I'm working on establishing a new spiritual discipline.  One that has been nudging at my soul for some time and now I feel I have no excuses to continue ignoring it. 

It's about the Psalms.  I've had an arms length relationship with them for a long time, mostly because I viewed them as poetry and that's just not my thing.  I love reading the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures, and it was literally life changing for me to read the Old Testament as a canon in seminary.  But I tend to skip lightly, very lightly, through the Psalms.  Picking up on a familiar verse here or there that might appear in the Call to Worship as part of the RCL.

But after reading and leading a Women's Retreat meditation on  "Denial Is My Spiritual Practice: (And Other Failures of Faith) by Rachel G. Hackenberg &Martha Spong" (an AWESOME book by the way), I decided to it was time to commit to actually nurturing a more helpful spiritual practice.  And given this time of global pandemic, economic collapse and varying degrees of competency in leadership, the Book of Psalms called to me.

Praying the Psalms - Reflection on Psalm 1

We have a choice - choose wisely. 

But we need to be patient because God's time is not our time.  Also we need to stand firm in our convictions and not get distracted by the wicked, the fear mongers.  We must combat their actions, but have faith that God will handle their Judgement and Punishment.  It's not only counterproductive for me to wish evil on my enemies, it makes me more like them!

Note - the psalmist talks about the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. It's not about people, it's about behaviors, actions and intent. I need to stay focused on answering God's call to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with my Creator.  And trust that God will handle the rest.

This will lead to happiness and less stress for me - maybe because it gives me a sense of purpose?  Perhaps not happiness but peace.  Is that really what we should seek after all?  Freedom from worry and anxiety - is that what happiness truly is?

Dear God,
May it be so.
Amen