Psalm 33:1-12
Proper 5 (11) - Year A
How new a song can be sung? Wherein lie the limits of G*D’s creation and G*D’s favor?
This is one of the questions with which we wrestle. There is value in tradition and continuity. There is value in breaking new ground (earth) and new hope (heaven). Between these two we usually find ourselves trapped into valuing tradition and continuity more than we value new ground and new hope.
The risks in turning this value system upside-down are often too great for us—so we emphasize G*D’s designs and plans and will as eternal and constant. G*D’s people are G*D’s people and those who aren’t, aren’t. The Psalm ends with G*D’s steadfast love being called our own. This is a pretty old song—I got mine, too bad about you.
A new song would be to call G*D to love all there is with all the love G*D has. A new song would risk the joy of our own hearts being loved, by living as if that joy is not complete until it also springs forth in others.
A mystery of this new song is that there is more than enough Babel (counsel of nations) in each of us to separate us from one another and there is more than enough of G*D’s love to bind us together. May you live in the larger mystery of G*D’s love and sing a new song.
This is one of the questions with which we wrestle. There is value in tradition and continuity. There is value in breaking new ground (earth) and new hope (heaven). Between these two we usually find ourselves trapped into valuing tradition and continuity more than we value new ground and new hope.
As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience
How new a song can be sung? Wherein lie the limits of G*D's creation and G*D's favor?
This is one of the key questions we wrestle with. There is value in tradition and continuity. There is value in breaking new ground (earth) and new hope (heaven). Between these two we usually find ourselves trapped into valuing tradition and continuity more than we value new ground and new hope.
The risks in turning this value system upside-down are too great for us - so we emphasize G*D's designs and plans and will as eternal and constant. G*D's people are G*D's people and those who aren't, aren't. The Psalm ends with GOD's steadfast love being called our own. This is a pretty old song - I got mine, too bad about you.
A new song would be to call G*D to love all there is with all the love G*D has. A new song would risk the joy of our own hearts being loved, by living as if that joy is not complete until it also springs forth in others.
A mystery of this new song is that there is more than enough Babel (counsel of nations) in each of us to separate us from one another and there is more than enough of G*D's love to bind us together. May you live in the larger mystery of G*D's love and sing a new song.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/june2002.html
Psalm 33:1-12 or Psalm 50:7-15
A Word calls forth each and every piece of creation. Happy and blessed are those who respond to the call, participate in creation.
A Word turns away the limitations of sacrifice. Happy and blessed are those who refrain from ingrained habits of yore.
We are called to affirm affirmations that bring forth and to deny denials that limit and squelch.
Can you name an example of both? Were you able to make them interact in the same arena so a dynamic tension increases your spiritual strength? Or did you come up with examples that didn't intersect?
Here is one example: affirming universal health care as a right at the same time denying corporate welfare as seen in having the government pick up corporation's health care costs.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/june2005.html
Psalm 33:1-12 or Psalm 50:7-15
Genesis 12:1-9 or Hosea 5:15-6:6
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
To Abram and Matthew a call: "go from your country" and "come, follow me" - there is another spot where we will find greater life, greater hope beyond hope. Being open to this call in our own day is part of the challenge for settled individuals and congregations and nations.
This call is not just geographical. The Psalmist and Paul remind us of the changes we need to be making internally that our heritage might be healed, that our distress and sacrifice be swept away by steadfast love.
Whether an external move or an internal one, a key element is transformation from acting out of fear of further distress because our guilt needs to be atoned for by some sacrifice to being proactive beyond fear to ask for what is needed (Tabitha's father and unnamed woman with a twelve-year hemorrhage) in anticipation of steadfast love without retributive punishment needing to occur first.
Note the acceptance of Jesus of the request for him to move, not Tabitha's father or Tabitha. Note the acceptance of Jesus of a touch that slows him during his journey.
Perhaps we might envision a mutual journey - G*D's and ours - not one pulling or pushing the other from where they are, but a mutual attraction and desire to move in common.
= = = = = = =
journey without a destination
challenges our control need
even with past adventures
having turned out well
there is hesitation
to trust again
journey without a destination
raises again an insatiable god
testing and testing again
our temptation
to settle
in
journey without a destination
is a realistic assessment of our lot
no matter how we disguise it
change and death obtain
warrants to search
empty lives
journey without a destination
anticipates beyond current plateaus
use of several learnable skill sets
to envision preferred futures
to enact their foundations
to enliven generations
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
Psalm 33:1-12
"Praise befits the upright." (NRSV)
"Right-living people sound best when praising." (The Message)
So do you start with the praise or the people? Where would you put the emphasis?
"He (sic) loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the 'Lord'." (NRSV)
"He (sic) loves it when everything fits, when his (sic) world is in plumb-line true." (The Message)
We still feel constrained by the tradition handed down to us. Literalism carries the burden of the past into the present.
One of the barriers to righteousness and justice, fit and true, is the weight of tradition that is mighty and will withstand much on the way to learning a new thing. Wherever a small change can be introduced, it is worth the effort. Here we raise doubt about an overemphasis upon maleness and personalness of that which is generally indicated by the too-small word, "God". One small word or refusing to be limited to one small word can lead to a new understanding and structuring. Regardless of how daunting the task to get past the traditions blocking the very righteousness and fitness they claim to desire, it is worth the effort. Hopefully you have a recent experience of seeing your faithfulness as a source of praise.