Psalm 63:1-8

Lent 3 - Year C

I seek
I thirst
fainting
weary
waterless

searching
power
love
blessing
in hand
on lips

finding
feasting
praising
resting
meditating
joy

to this
I cling
with this
I hold up
in this
I live

= = = = =

Alternatively you might want to hear Jim Taylor’s paraphrase:

The third Sunday in Lent, Psalm 63:1-8. Some downtown churches are thriving; many are memorials to a former glory. Why do we maintain them, when they’re so often empty? Because a few people still come there to seek sanctuary.

1 Crowds of people crush me.
They bump and bounce my mind;
they break my concentration.
I feel like nothing more than a means to an end,
merely a cog in the crunching machinery of a city.
I long for the gentle touch of loving fingers, the intimate whisper of acceptance.
2 So I have come looking for you, Lord, in your holy places.
3 In this dimmed light, in this hushed silence, I sense your presence.
4 I wish I could feel you as near me in the rabid frenzy of life in the urban core.
I want to reach out and touch you in the marketplace as well as the chancel.
5 Then I will not feel alone; you will be part of every thought and every breath.
6 I will know you at my desk and in my den, in my bed and in my bathtub.
7 Nothing will come between us.
8 And I will hold you close in the forest of my fears.

For this and other paraphrases, you can order Everyday Psalms through Wood Lake Publications, info@woodlake.com or 1-800-663-2775.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/02/psalm-631-8.html

"My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me."

A lovely image. Does the parent or the child get the most out of being held breast to breast? That's probably the wrong question to ask as they get different things from the same encounter - from each according to their love; to each according to their need.

What these days is your soul clinging to? Is it returning the favor of upholding you?

What these days are you upholding that is in the clinging stage of life?

How it is when parting comes? Do we contemplate the other in various moments? Do we sing about having become accustomed to their face? Do we faint when we consider the distance between?

I am presuming these have their correspondences in the life of each part of the relationship. Do think G*D meditates on you when you have gone down the road with half the inheritance? Do you think G*D is directing the music of the spheres to sing you a lullaby when you are in a strange bed? Do you think G*D faints from desire for you?

This interdependence and mutual admiration is worth looking at.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/march2004.html

A soul thirstily waits, like a fig tree in need of watering and fertilizing. There is no fruit or expectation of fruit. It is unable to break through a dark night on its own.

Whence water? manure (sh*t for those who have filters on their email or search engine)? that will lead a soul to bless them both. W*t*r & Sh*t - a rich feast indeed.

So which is which in your life and are you able to be thankful for both as sources of growth. (Yes, it is possible to have too much of these good things, but for the moment imagine them in appropriate amounts.)

- - -

it is so easy to get confused about our needs
in dark nights we lose track of whether
water is our need or something stronger
for everything feels like drought
everything feels like emptiness

we can try to avoid the feelings
and investigate some inconvenient truths
how our context is toxic
our insides betray themselves
and what's the use of going on

but always, night and noon, we return
feelings for some trump their facts
and others find it the other way 'round
until there is no avoiding behind both
a steadfast love - our miracle-gro (r)

so we set about to standardize our feelings
to regularize all facts - former and future
we register our love and sell it drop by drop
until even in days of light we are confused
and we cling to any loose track

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

Have you been in a wilderness?

Externally, if the wilderness is arid, we yearn for moisture. If it is craggy, we seek a straight path. If it is windy, calm. If swampy, solid soil. Mean streets, green pastures.

Internally, the same process abides. We look for that which will swing us again into moderate territory by presenting us with the far side of that which we are currently missing.

Of course, when our complementary need arrives it isn't long before that is our wilderness and our yearning is reversed.

Transformation goes beyond these pendula of life. It incorporates them both and sees both as faithfully arriving in our moments of extremis. Not only is our soul attached to G*D, but our very rhythms are bound together.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/03/psalm-631-8.html