Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35

Easter 7 - Year A


It is difficult to connect the body of this psalm with its conclusion: Blessed be G*D!

Up to the conclusion everything is digital. It’s either on or off; it’s this or that; it’s 1 or 0. In this zero sum world, one benefit is balanced by one imprecation. The concluding line about blessing comes from the winning folks on one side of the equation.

Our Wiccan friends often conclude their psalms with a simple, “Blessed Be.”

If we are to talk about grace abounding, we need to find new ways to express ourselves that are not limited to a blessing of G*D without there also being a blessing of Self and Neighb*r. As you proceed in this day, notice where your blessings come, how they are directed, and how they might be enlarged.

At The United Methodist General Conference today we ground out the last of the items with financial implications. Oh so many tangled webs we wove as money is so fundamentally tied up with worth and power in a capitalist system. The jockeying for position was its usual marvel to behold. From a distance, it’s almost funny. While in the middle of it, it is addictive to the extreme—emotions run high; voices crack; threats are made; the body is broken.

I’m not sure if there were any blessings today, other than the formal kinds. The word that came through most clearly to this listener was a young person calling others of their generation to begin working on a system that is more responsive in time than the accumulation of protections we have piled one on top of the next. Legislation for particular purposes eventually becomes a barrier to the very purposes it set out to address.

- - - - - - -

Interested in being a friend of G*D?
Befriend G*D’s family.
Yes, all the family.
Particularly the desolate.

What is found in thus trying to draw near to G*D is the transformation that shakes rain from the heavens to water the parched earth. In caring for the extended family of creation it is our own dried up hearts that shake loose and we find the presence of G*D through tears of compassion.

 

As found in Wrestling Year A: Connecting Sunday Readings with Lived Experience

 


 

Interested in being a friend of G*D? Befriend G*D's family. Yes, all the family. Particularly the desolate.

What is found in thus trying to draw near to G*D is the transformation that shakes rain from the heavens to water the parched earth. In caring for the extended family of creation it is our own dried up hearts that shake loose and we find the presence of G*D through tears of compassion.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/may2005.html

 


 

Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
Acts 1:6-14
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11

In due time exultation. (1 Peter 5:6)
"Is this the time?" (Acts 1:6)
"Glorify me, now!" (John 17:4)
Sing to God. (Psalm 68:32)

Prooftexting is fun. We are always doing it, so it's good that it's fun.

Peter suggests humility now, to later receive exultation. Who wouldn't want to be exulted? So, some humility now may well be worth trying. In fact, if we do it well enough, we may even hurry the exultation.

Of course there is a tension between humility and constantly looking around to see if this is the time of exultation. Now? Now? Now? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Indeed, it is time for exultation. We have glorified God, time to get our reward in kind. Have we done enough humility and glorification, yet, G*D? Surely so.

I guess not. Let's sing another round.

x x x

On the other hand, exultation is always on its way. This also suggests it is always here as well.

Is this the time? When else, pray tell.

Didn't you know you were already glorified.

So let's sing a new song

- - -

sometimes we get the feeling
time is running out on us
it has been almost 40 days
or is that years
almost twice what we need
to begin a new habit
or break an old one
almost midlife crisis

something ought to be happening
'round here somewhere
what do you think?
has it happened
and we missed it again?
about to happen?
eventually, right?

well, let's hang in a bit longer
we haven't hit bottom quite yet
let's try praying once more
perhaps another refrain
what's our discipline say
when lion-sized doubts arise?
protect one another

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html


 

The psalm makes it difficult to connect the body of the psalm with its conclusion: Blessed be God!

Up to the conclusion everything is digital. It's either on or off, it's this or that, it's 1 or 0. In this zero sum world, one benefit is balanced by one imprecation. The concluding line about blessing comes from the winning folks on one side of the equation.

Our Wiccan friends often conclude their psalms with a simple, "Blessed Be."

If we are to talk about grace abounding, we need to find new ways to express ourselves that are not limited to a blessing of G*D without there also being a blessing of Self and Neighbor. As you proceed in this day, notice where your blessings come, how they are directed, and how they might be enlarged.

At General Conference today we ground out the last of the items with financial implications. Oh so many tangled webs we wove as money is so fundamentally tied up with worth and power in a capitalist system. The jockeying for position was its usual marvel to behold. From a distance, it's almost funny. While in the middle of it, it is addictive to the extreme and emotions run high, voices crack, threats are made, the body is broken.

I'm not sure if there were any blessings today, other than the formal kinds. The word that came through most clearly to this listener was a young person calling others of their generation to begin working on a system that is more responsive in time than the accumulation of protections we have piled one on top of the next. Legislation for particular purposes eventually becomes a barrier to the very purposes it set out to address.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

 


 

“O G*D, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness - the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain....”

Images of earthquakes and rain are images of rebirth. It is through a crack in a cosmic egg that the light gets in, that new images become available. The old must be left behind. A shakenness, a chaos, predates a subsequent round of new solidity. Rain touches the seed within and we shift and blossom again.

Don’t ask when, simply know that now is an acceptable time to appreciate a quake and a flood that provide a new place to stand and bloom. [given the spate of tornadoes and the need to breach some levees to save others, this may be difficult imagery, but transformation never seems to arrive without difficulty]

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/06/psalm-681-10-32-35.html

 


 

Need a definition of G*D to help you know where you fit into living as an image of G*D? Verse 5 and 35b offer this:
A parent to the orphan
and protector of the defenseless
is our G*D, who dwells in wholeness!
G*D gives power and strength to people.

As we come to the end of our Easter Sundays we are set up for Pentecost and the going forth to all those folks who are different from us. “Orphans” is but one way of describing our separation from one another and “power and strength” but one way of reconnecting by investing these qualities in those others we have previously orphaned.

Bottom line of Easter—don’t just “ascribe” or proclaim awesomeness, but see that those who are marginalized are raised up and included in.

For those interested in such things, track the Inclusive Capitalism Initiative (ICI) that is willing to give a little more to orphans so the basic drive of capitalism can continue to benefit the current winners. Here’s an article that looks at whether such an economic system can actually care for others or just give them a bit more to keep them from acting on what a revolting mess has been made of looking at the world through the eyes of wealth. ICI: noblesse-oblige? or capitalism’s resurrection?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/05/psalm-681-10-32-35.html