Psalm 119:137-144
Proper 26 (31) - Year C
Psalm 119:137-144 or Psalm 32:1-7
You always do the right thing, Lord,
and your judgments are spot on.
You have set out your instructions for us,
marking the way of honesty and integrity.
When I see opponents ignoring your teachings,
I get so angry I could explode.
Your promises have tested true over and over
and I will cherish your every word as I serve you.
I might be a nothing, a no one,
but I know how to stick to your ways.
Your commitment to what's right never ends
and your law is the essence of truth.
Tough times have come to torment me,
but your teachings still put a smile on my face.
Your directions are the ultimate in justice;
they show me the way to fullness of life.
from Nathan Nettleton
[track it down through -- Year C -- Ordinary Time After Trinity --Proper 26 -- Psalm 119:137-144]
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/october2004.html
Psalm 119:137-144 or Psalm 32:1-7
We do indeed desire an understanding that will enable us to live. A part of the religious struggle is how to use this desire. Is it limited to control of our lives and our environment? If so, how does it ever grow, for the way in which we use control is to limit change? Is it intended to be continually ahead of us and so our task is more to learn how to learn than it is to memorize the overload of what has come down to us. If so, how do we deal with the constancy of change that will lead us beyond creedal words, for our response to change is to slow it down to manageable bits?
It seems we can either deal with "decrees righteous for ever" or with "understanding", but not both at the same time. To stand between them is to put one at risk of cognitive dissonance and every other kind of soul-wrenching experience that can be imagined.
In some sense there needs to be a division between G*D and ourselves as well as a unity. G*D needs "forever" space and we need growth-in-learning space. It is important not to confuse these two and meld them too closely together.
Likewise we can't try to hold together an image of G*D being a hiding place as well as a one that surrounds us with glad cries. We are no longer hidden if being exulted over. We cannot be celebrated while still being hidden away.
- - -
trouble and anguish have come
and come and come
again and again
we wonder how can we last
finding a beauty of righteousness
again and again
brings us closer and closer
to a delight larger than failure
to a larger vision of tomorrow
nearer and nearer
we turn again and again
until it is vision no longer
then external decrees
and internal understanding
again and again
dance with one another
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html