Psalm 22:25-31

Easter 5 - Year B


Try verse 29 on for size from Eugene Peterson's perspective.

All the power-mongers are before him
-- worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too
-- worshiping!
Along with those who never go it together
--worshiping!

It is an interesting image of a reversal beyond our expectation. The hated rich, pitied poor, and the usual cast of characters all turn out to be part of the worshiping congregation. Who'd a thunk it?

If this is the end spot, how do we live in the present as though it were already a done deal? Perhaps it will be when we recognize that our worship comes from G*D, not from ourselves - worship as a response to life, not worship in spite of it in order to mollify some greater power.

- - -

keith (Reader)

thank you for your discussion about love
love as a magnet to bring the differences out of the box
viva la differance!

- - -

Wesley (Blogger)

Thanks, Keith

One of our most difficult and also rewarding tasks is that of revisioning the images of conversation. This is something at which our politicians are becoming more adept. Also the religious right.

There is a new book just out, "United Methodism @ Risk: A Wake-Up Call. It can be ordered for $5 + $5 shipping from MFSA, 212 East Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC 20003 - tel: 202.546.8806 - fax: 202.546.6811 - email: mfsa@mfsaweb.org

This sort of expose is important work, but not more important than a new set of pictures in our language that sets us free from the prison of exclusivity. Let us know what images you are finding helpful in converting folks to an appreciation of being made in the image of a Living GOD and all the ambiguity that goes along with that.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/may2003.html

 


 

Psalm 22:25-31
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

To know and to be known, inside out, is a great pleasure and a great threat. As we look at these passages we wrestle with boundarys of intrinsic and shared worth.

What abides in you? An alien waiting to punch through your chest? A waiting prodigal parent? Can you abide being abided in? What then of myself? Do I live or am I but alive when lived through?

As G*D abides in me am I to so abide in others? What does that do to my control of self and others? Does being loved mean I get what I need as an infant, I get to reject it in adolescence, I can always come back to it? Is love contingent upon my response?

Where does this come into play with faithful mothers and over-protective mothers and hurtful mothers? What about the mother part of each one of us, whether biologic mothers or not?

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2006/may2006.html

 


 

Psalm 22:25-31
Acts 8:26-40
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

Four words - one from each pericope:

Baptized - yes, even eunuchs
Family - yes, even Iraqis
Born - yes, beloved of G*D
Abide - yes, G*D in creation, creation in G*D

There is a multitude of ways we interact with the world around us. Among the biggest choices are those of what we prevent and what we nurture.

For those within a Christian tradition, here is a strong statement about choosing nurture over prevention: "Those who say, 'I love God,' and reject non-Jesus people are liars."

To abide, to be born from that abiding, to be family beyond limits, to be baptized into a way of life leaves little escape from a command toward wholeness: "those who love G*D must love their brothers and sisters also - their common environment, their belovedness, their family relations, their belonging past all divisions.

- - -

look - water
rippling with life
reflecting glory

look - enemies
still family
ancestral descendants

look - home
abiding here
abiding everywhere

look - love
born and reborn
and born forever

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html


 

What is missing from this section of the Psalm is the context in which it began – forsakenness, worminess, unhumanness, scorned, despised, mocked. Without this starting point we have an unbalanced power of positive thinking.

When all you can hear is "bow down – bow down – bow down; worship – worship – worship", beware. There may well be a helpful relationship being referenced, but it may also be a set up for a new forsakenness, worminess, unhumanness, and set up to be scorned, despised, and mocked anew. Take at least one second-look to see what is going on when faced with a single dictum and take the time needed to evaluate its value.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

 


 

Dominion? Rule? Bow down? Serve?

Or, the poor shall eat and be satisfied!

Which is more praiseful?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/05/psalm-2225-31.html