Psalm 99

"Transfiguration" - Years A, C
Proper 24 (29) - Year A


Changing media changes meaning.

 

The media of direct experience rumbles and quakes with no advance warning. This primal uncertainty affects our communal relationships. When powerful people rumble and quake we connect the two experiences into prose and poetry in ways that keep us off-balance.

 

In trying to enlist power to our side, we set up rules about what will placate an earthquake, what will satisfy a king, and what will domesticate a G*D.

 

Earthquakes still remain beyond us. Kings, over time, die and/or are overthrown. G*Ds become pets we can bring out to scare other people even as we are comforted.

 

We find ourselves watching out for G*D, not engaging. We know that enough of us together can deal with a king. We have enough experience to know where earthquakes will most likely happen and choose to be elsewhere or build more securely.

 

The earth quakes and, in our mind's eye, heaven becomes more stable and reliable. We move from shaky ground to a ground of all being, never recognizing how the physical has become the metaphoric and in turn a story becomes a constraint.

 

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2013/02/exodus-3429-35.html

 


 

G*D "loves justice" and so creates or "established honesty, justice and uprightness." [NJB]

We often think about creation as a physical reality. What would it be like to envision creation not in terms of 7 days of stuff but 7 virtues.

In the beginning G*D.

G*D created Justice and experienced its goodness - a first day.

G*D created Courage and experienced its goodness - a second day.

G*D created Benevolence and experienced its goodness - third day.

G*D created Politeness and experienced its goodness - a fourth day.

G*D created Veracity and experienced its goodness - a fifth day.

G*D created Honor and experienced its goodness - a sixth day.

G*D created Loyalty and experienced its goodness - a seventh day.

[These are from the Bushido tradition to help open up our thinking about virtue.]

What virtues would you point to that shape your days?

How is this different than trying to hone ones days to end up at a particular set of virtues.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/october2002.html

 


 

Psalm 99 or Psalm 2

Holy Hill! Holy Mountain! Holy, Holy, Holy! Holy Land!

We do invest our spaces with meaning. Our restaurant or my space. We find the unremarkable has become remarkable, the mundane is sacralized. This process goes on and on.

When we look around we find the mountain is not a single entity but a seven-story event. We find our hill is not a molehill but an occasion to play King of the Mountain and compete with each other for preeminence.

Transfigurations can move contrariwise and we can find our laughter not being laughter with someone but against them in derision. Our experience of forgiveness can turn quickly to avenging past wrongs without ever getting to healing or restoration. Mercy received is not passed on. This may be why, in casual conversation, if you toss in the word "transfiguration" it is so easily heard as "disfiguration."

Mountain top experiences are real, but short-lived. Usually we recognize that who we were coming up the mountain also goes back down. A healer before, a healer after. A rascal before, a rascal after. It is the unusual experience, even of transfiguring moments, that sets a different course. When we look back on the best of our transfiguring moments we can see they were more in the interpretation than the actual event. May we be good interpreters of the experiences which come our way. May we be good interpreters of the experiences of others.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/february2005.html

 


 

Psalm 99 or Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)

G*D - lover of justice, has established equity. And our participation in matters of justice, as a partner of G*D, is what?

G*D made the heavens. To participate in equity is a heavenly endeavor.

G*D will judge people with equity. Our choice is to cause the need for this judgment or to participate in equalizing, evening out, salaries of CEOs with cleanup crews. When CEOs get tax breaks and cleanup crews have their less than living wages cut and we sit on the sidelines -- we let G*D down, we let our neighbors down, we let ourselves down. Time to stand up and and claim G*D's equity.

You say you weren't faced with this decision today? Look again. Until this inequity is changed we are complicit in its extension. We simply turned our face, held up our newspaper, as we rode the el past the tenements. To ride with EL is to re-turn our face, repent of our self-imposed ignorance, and intentionally use equity as our perspective on life.

http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/october2005.html

 


 

We are not only spoken to by a shining face, but from a pillar of cloud. Where and when, then, are we not in the presence of revelation, of transfiguration?

If following the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany and looking at Psalm 37 (1-11, 39-40) we also find a transfigurational process present in everyday events as well as on a mountaintop or in desert. Among these events are the times when we do not fret - thus refraining from anger and forsaking wrath. Such a simple formula for dealing with life - don't fret.

Of course this is easier said than done. There is a helpful practice, though, that is mentioned before an injunction to not fret - be still. This we can practice. Paying attention to one's breath helps "still" happen. From "still" we find renewed patience. This patience makes us appear meek, which is only a cover for transfigured delight veiled lest it scare those not "still".

And so we move from a reference of a pillar of cloud to sitting dandasana. In this stillness keep what you find.

- - -

transition
transfiguration
transformation

a trinity of movements
from one state to another
something active appears

yet clarity for each of these
comes in quiet moments
still centers, gentle breaths

without such stillness
there is busy-ness
there is willy-nilly-ness

to have them move ahead
rather than in cycles
gather a clear still eye

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html


 

Psalm 99 or Psalm 2
Exodus 24:12-18
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

These passage can be played against what, in another year, would have been the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany:
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

A focus on Moses' appearance in Exodus is brought back to the content of Moses' encounter (Leviticus) on the mountain - Here's how to be holy, rather than here's what holy looks like.

Psalms 2 and 99 are again outwardly focused on causing trembling, if not blindness, in others. Psalm 119 here brings the issue to one's internal decision to act on one's understanding, rather than on naming another's source of vain plotting.

Peter has a leg up on prophetic messages. His experience trumps any other experience. Paul builds on a firm foundation in his fashion and others are encouraged to build according to their gifts. Is the faith hierarchical or communal? What is the place of the one with a spiritual gift of questioning or a baby in the faith or one in the midst of transition in their faith - subservient or welcomed?

The conversation Jesus has with Moses and Elijah (Mt 17) might be overheard with Jesus' comments about, "You have said, but I say" (Mt 5). This moment of shift is transformative in a person's life as they move to a next stage - transfiguring, even. When the new perspective comes, it becomes difficult to return to the prior picture with equanimity. A culture shift has occurred and this is a time of danger for the new vision. Fortunately transformative moments are ultimately ineradicable and are confirmed in later resurrections into a new community.

- - -

buildings can break new ground
built on a new vision
they rise in new shapes
reflecting a new day

buildings can trap new ground
repeating an old vision
ticky-tacky on a hillside
restraining a new day

irrepressible Peter
reflecting restraining
needing yet a clear voice
assuring belovedness

from fearful restraint
comes a word to get up
to move beyond reflection
to practical healing

practice loving enemies
here lies new community
resist eye gouging
there lies old feuds

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html


 

Psalm 99 or Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)
Exodus 32:12-23 or Isaiah 45:1-7
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22

Here's the deal G*D .... "Let me know who's with me"; "Show me your glory."

To which G*D says, "Nope." G*D claims all corners -- to make "weal and woe," to be "forgiving and avenging." There will be no bargains struck.

Here's the deal Jesus .... "Do we pay taxes?"

To which Jesus says, "Good try, but nope. Your perception that a question can be composed to both prove your own worth and to diminish your own responsibility will never come 'round right. It will fall of its own weight."

In spending so much time in trying to trap a perceived opponent, there is not sufficient time to get ourselves out of effectively colluding with the oppressors we are in bed with. In this day and age American religious find themselves battling each other and thus avoiding the realities that they are colluding with their own elected oppressors who balk not at preemptive war and keeping insurance from children and everything in between. For another look at this, check out Frank Rich's column, <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18554.htm"> The 'Good Germans' Among Us.</a>

- - -

to set out to trap another
is the surest way to be caught
steering god the way of our ammunition

in thus getting caught
in our own attempt to trap another
we are set up for Jesus' jujitsu theology

when our trap's premise
is exposed we fly head over heels
bowing before our previous blind spot

now comes the revelation
malice's short-run effectiveness
will ever reveal its long-run fallacy

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html


 

"Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob." [vs. 4]

"There is no holiness but social holiness." ~ John Wesley

"Scriptural holiness may still be a worthy Methodist project in an ecumenical context but only if we take social, economic and political structures seriously and learn to read scripture and theology from a new socio-political perspective." <a href="http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/emtc-paper-wesley_on_social_holiness.doc">
Wesley on Social Holiness from Methodist.org.uk </a>

Letting others know they are Beloved is a beginning spot for the kind of holiness that we hear about in verse 3, "Let them praise your great and awesome name. Holy is God."

"There is no holiness but social holiness." ~ Your Name Here

How do you hear verses 3 & 4? Are they the equivalent of the double commandment to love G*D with all ya got and Neighbor as self? If so when was the last time you were heard affirming, "There is no holiness but social holiness!"

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html


 

The following paraphrase raises several interesting translational/perspective questions that can lead to good conversation.

- Is G*D's greatness a one-way street from G*D to humans/creation? What is the role of interdependence when dealing with issues of holiness?

- What is the relationship between honoring another and groveling before them?

- How warranted is the reference to "humus" in lines 5 and 6? Can we take this back to Creation or is it simply a matter of the line of Abraham's faithful?

- In verse 8, are "wrongdoings" by the Israelites to be punished while also being forgiven or is the reference to "wrongdoings" about those of others?

- - -

Psalm 99 - paraphrased by Jim Taylor

Though we have climbed earth's highest mountains, the peaks remain as inhospitable to our life as outer space. Ancient peoples saw these fearful heights as the habitation of the gods.

1 Like a halo of holiness, the spirit of God envelops the earth.
   In the stillness of space, God's spirit gives life;
   let us acknowledge our insignificance.
      In the emptiness of infinity, God's spirit creates life;
    let us acknowledge our interdependence.
2 Look up if you would see God;
   raise your sights beyond your repetitive routines.
3 But do not attempt to face God as an equal--
   Fling yourself face down on the earth
   Before the creator of the heavens.
4 Almighty God, you love to do right.
   In your dealings with your creation, you are always fair.
5 We humans grovel before your greatness.
   Humbly, we kiss the humus from which you fashioned us.
   You are holiness itself.
6 The humus holds the recycled cells of those who came this way before us;
   Step by step they searched for you, until you found them.
7 By the pillar of fire and the whispering breeze,
   by bonfire and whirlwind, by prophecy and parable, you showed them your way.

8 Because they tried to follow you, you forgave them their failings;
   But those who laid traps for them, you did not tolerate.
9 So pledge allegiance to our God!
   Gather at the foot of the mountain, where even the rocks reach up towards our God.
   Our God is holiness itself.

From: Everyday Psalms
Wood Lake Books.
For details, go to www.woodlakebooks.com

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html

 


 

"Mighty King, lover of justice", is an image we aren't willing to see in one another. We know how we spin things to get what we want (is this another image of G*D?) and are therefore not willing to entrust justice to another. It is as though we have "executed" justice and righteousness before they could be proven useful in our midst.

Let's think about what it means to be made in an image of creativity. How do you rank the importance these three images of G*D or gods: namer of animals, cleaver to another, or lover of justice? Now, what other image of G*D is important to you and where would your rank it? Follow this pattern long enough and it is likely that you will find the image that makes you shine because you are doing your being.

In whatever ways Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (as well as Zipporah, Miriam, and Hannah) image G*D's forgiveness, justice, and righteousness, so might you and I. Yes? Yes! So, keep on keeping on with all of that and more (including G*D's play, work, and artistry imaged in you).

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/02/psalm-99.html

 


 

Why worship?
Why praise?
Why extol?

Because justice has been established.
Because forgiveness is an appropriate response for wrongdoing.
Because equity is engaged.

When we look deeply into the world around us,
we see opportunity after opportunity to speak up for what is fair.
When we raise our face to look far ahead,
there is opportunity after opportunity to speak up for neighbors and strangers.
When we simply reflect on our current experience,
our deeply fatigued compassion finds opportunity after opportunity to be re-energized.

Living in Wisconsin and
having visited Madison twice and
been engaged at the local level regarding
the governor giving away the state
(more tax breaks for the richest,
fewer services for the poorest,
and a smaller buffer between the two)
raises many questions of fairness,
of who is neighbor, and
what is short and long-term compassion.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/03/psalm-99.html

 


 

Extol - lift up. By extension - to flatter, to inflate, to raise higher than one’s station or level of competence - to be Peter Principled into ineffectiveness.

By the time we get to the end of extolation we are ready to set the hook and catch us a god.

What can live up to unrealistic expectations? Certianly not I.

Three cheers, if cheers they be, and only cheers, begin to ring hollow.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/10/psalm-99.html

 


 

2:1 - Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?

99:1 - The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

There it is — the great duality that immobilizes. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, a devil and a deep blue sea, we are frozen in place.

Plot or Tremble, its all the same. The only alternative is serving or extolling the most powerful avenger and quickest to wrath.

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/02/psalm-2-or-psalm-99.html