Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Easter 5 - Year A
A purpose of a refuge is to gather courage to reenter a fray, not to simply be cared for forever.
We who have received a gift of compassion and extension of that beyond our own certainly do need courage to keep expressing such a gift in every circumstance. I have yet to see a system or structure of this world that values compassion. Oh, the appearance of compassion is a selling point (“compassionate conservatism”), but more than fooling the people one more time, compassion, itself, does not come highly valued.
Intentional refuge is an interesting image that raises a question about sabbath being a prophylactic or a treatment. Do you use sabbath time as preparation time or recuperation time? Probably some of both, but there may be one that you use more than the other.
Whichever way you have been gifted, may you find your experience of refuge to refresh your courage.
If you are finding your courage and boldness waning as you engage principalities and powers, it would be good to engage your faith community or a spiritual director in an investigation of the state of refuge or sabbath in your life.
We who have received a gift of compassion and extension of that beyond our own certainly do need courage to keep expressing such a gift in every circumstance. I have yet to see a system or structure of this world that values compassion. Oh, the appearance of compassion is a selling point (“compassionate conservatism”), but more than fooling the people one more time, compassion, itself, does not come highly valued.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
The issue of trust arises again. In this prayer for protection is a sense of dependent trust.
Paul's insight is when we were children we acted it, but not after we were grown. How might we trust as adults? How might we trust as partners? How would this psalm/prayer be different if trust were described in adult terms?
How would it be if G*D's faithfulness triggered our trust because we were in a situation together rather than because we were rescued? In a world where death is so close, how do we take the responsibility to be present even where resolution is not yet visible, much less achievable? How might Jew and Muslim and Christian find new life, not in dependence but interdependence? Pray on this.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/april2002.html
Ratz. I still need refuge.
Into your hand (left-brained right hand) I commit my spirit. Yes, I know that is the one that lays the law to the spirit.
And yet I look for some steadfast love beyond our usual religious experience that will lead us to a flaw in the net drawing tighter round our necks. Through the blessing of relativity may our creative imaginations be emboldened to move past every attempt to enforce some commonsense natural law or the other. We look for a right-brained, left hand to snatch us from that right hand that keeps forgetting what the left is doing.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/april2005.html
The purpose of a refuge is to gather courage, not to simply be cared for forever.
We who have received the gift of compassion and extension of that beyond our own certainly do need courage to keep expressing that gift in every circumstance. I have yet to see a system or structure of this world that values compassion. Oh, the appearance of compassion is a selling point ("compassionate conservatism"), but more than fooling the people one more time, compassion, itself, does not come highly valued.
Intentional refuge is an interesting image that raises a question about sabbath being a prophylactic or a treatment. Do you use sabbath time as preparation time or recuperation time? Probably some of both, but there may be one that you use more than the other.
Whichever way you have been gifted, may you find your experience of refuge to be refreshing of your courage.
If you are finding your courage to engage the principalities and powers to not be as bold as it once was, it would be good to engage your faith community or a spiritual director in an investigation of the state of refuge or sabbath in your life.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/june2002.html
Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24 or Psalm 46
Knowing we have a refuge, a place of care, leads to fearlessness.
Knowing we have a source of refreshment leads to joy.
Knowing we have a place of quiet leads to assurance.
Thus we come to understand a steadfast love shown us and a desire to pass it on.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/may2005.html
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-4
Which is the greater work?
1) "Do not hold this sin against them"
2) "Do not let me be put to shame"
1) "Let your face shine upon me"
2) "Deliver me from my enemies"
1) Jesus' way is the way, truth, life!
2) Jesus is the way, truth life!
There are many dwelling places.
1) Are you preparing a place for others?
2) Is a place being prepared for you?
- - -
god's own person, I
calling from darkness
called from darkness
mercy-less once
mercy-full now
expressing this call
evidencing this mercy
belief becomes life
works become greater
god's own person, you
god's own person, we
facing deliverance
agreeing to ask
agreeing to glorify
agreeing to participate
gazing toward paradise
unbelievable connections are made
forgiveness after forgiveness
even for
god's own I/you/we
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
Yes, in extremis we run to G*D, to a source of meaning, to our last best hope of refuge.
Yes, we implore, we promise, we bargain, we resign ourselves in any number and combination of ploys to get what we want.
Yes, we continue to commit ourselves well past any reasonable suggestion of whatever would pass for success in this plight.
And still we need to change. We even die. Prepared or not, here comes a next test of what we believe and what we will do to confirm that belief or modify it or reject it.
So, sing your song of constancy. Parade your surety. Just know it is a moment. We can sometimes look back and be a psalmist and sometimes we look back and say, “What was I thinking?”
Wherever you find your refuge these days, may it include justice for others who are not able to have that same sense of protection from prosecution.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/05/psalm-311-5-15-16.html
Where I do not get where the consequences raining down on me have come from, bring clarity.
Wherein I am reaping the results of my own privilege, remind me about steadfast love.
Wherein I am caught in other events, may G*D and I apply that steadfast love until it overflows those so empty of it that they bring hurt elsewhere.
The refuge looked for is a mobile one. Instead of a rock anchoring us away from a storm, may we image a worry stone comforting us enough to again sense the steadfast love that we have lost sight of in the particulars of our desires.
There is no net laid for us beyond the web of steadfast love. To see a malevolent web is to recognize we have taken our eye off a larger arc of the universe. This is not a time of complaint and looking for self-protection, but a re-engagement with what we hope and trust beyond any evidence to the contrary.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/05/psalm-311-5-15-16.html