Psalm 121
Lent 2 - Year A
Proper 24 (29) - Year C
Psalm 121 or Psalm 119:97-104
The law as a meditation vehicle is important. Too often the law is an enforcement issue. Meditation here may be a mild word for wrestling. Wisdom comes in the midst of the wrestling, not the passivity that sometimes comes to mind with meditation. Just sitting and waiting for revelation is not what this is about. As a result of active interaction with the law it becomes a guide for our living. This is different than setting the law up as an article of obeisance.
Likewise is the need for active participation in the discernment process. Simply lifting one's eyes and seeing everything being taken care of works against the early understanding of finding conversation in the cool of the evening that would shape our next day. And there was evening talk and morning work, each and every day, and it is good. Upon the mountains or under the trees, where do you sense the healing touch arising? Is it from far away or here in our midst?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/october2004.html
How has the day gone so far? The week? Year?
Many times a question is clearly called for - "From where will my help come?"
One sort of help can be variously identified with a Creator G*D; a Wide-Awake G*D; a Keeper G*D, a Sheltering G*D in whatever moment we happen to raise the question.
Another presence, whether help is an immediately need or not, is with a Journeying God as enumerated above, but not limited to these qualities. The issue of presence goes beyond the utilitarian need of the moment and is certainly not tied to a need for help. Help may come, or not. Either way, Journeying G*D is present, if not accounted for.
Are you asking the "help" question these day? If so, do you experience "help" as helpful in your spiritual journey. Is it an aid or a hindrance? Is this a question only asked 'round midnight, or does it also come around at noon?
Let's pay attention to the broader question of presence rather than the narrower question of help. Our starting question is important to where we come out.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/february2005.html
Psalm 121
Genesis 12:1-4a
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
Can one be born again? It happens all the time.
Abram, Sarai, Lot, and more are born again through immigration. This is not an issue of legal or illegal. It is a call from G*D, a necessity. Abram ran a risk greater than deportation. He felt in danger of his life and felt this strongly enough to risk his relationship with Sarai.
Elijah was born again while hiding in a cave.
Moses found a birth canal through a burning bush.
The Psalmist found new birth with a song of trust and confidence.
Peter is reborn through questions of his love.
Saul is reborn Paul on his way to Damascus.
To think these folks had only the one rebirth is too limiting. I've had several, myself. What about you? Can you count the birth canals?
Even folks we have a most difficult time have had a new birth to get as far along as they have and we pray for more births for them. If we parallel this to forgiveness, as we pray for their rebirth, we pray for our own.
- - -
1 + 1 > 2
my current life plus
plus my rebirthed life
is more than the two
combined
I now also have
an anticipation
of yet another 1
even if I reach
70 * 7
there is more
for there is no end
of toil
of bookmaking
of steadfast love
of rebirthing forgiveness
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
Psalm 121 or Psalm119:97-104
Law comes from roots that have to do with what has been laid down - from set in place to lying in wait for birth to laying out a dragnet to catch. The biggest thing to be laid down (set in place) is creation. Here then is a jump from law to creation.
"Oh, how I love your 'creation'! It is my meditation all day long." (Ps 119:97)
This makes much more sense in terms of what is available to us all day long and what can capture our imagination that will lead us more quickly to wisdom. In some sense "law" can lead to knowledge, but it is "creation" that leads to understanding.
This sort of play can be fruitfully done in other references. Try it for yourself in your favorite passages about "law" (presuming you have favorite law passages).
- - -
that pesky old problem
of help arising
remains with us
it is the cry of earth
as it is being toasted
of Iraqis now toast
cut off from their hills
of poor children
so concerned about
and even more ignored
we are again
at a point of helplessness
where god is again
effectively absent
as we lift our eyes
to ozone holes
heritages demolished
communal care abandoned
leading to another choice
acquiescence or revolution
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
If the mountain to which we raise our eyes for help is that of Transfiguration, our help is found in the depth of Creation (Behold, it is very good) and Blessing (Belovedness) from above.
It is this sense of a warmed heart that is the source of our experience of being preserved, kept, guarded beyond simple survival. Our being safe from evil is not a removal of difficulty or death, but a participation in the testing that reveals maturation, forgiveness, love, resurrection and being born again (realized or immanent reincarnation).
Now for a story or two of coming to this point of affirmation in the midst of whatever dark night remains around you. What might you tell?
Here is a piece of music I like. The tide will soon be turning my way because the river's flowing north in my backyard. It flows from a mountain in everlasting light. It is this sense of turning, of water flowing from mountains, that gives hope. Listen to the accompaniment as well as the words. Jackie - click on the song Jackie when you get to the webpage (if you have the time, check out the rest of the songs, particularly Blue Parade for its imagery of the Mississippi flowing by, a blue parade).
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html
Journey is key to life. Nicodemus travels a fair piece from this introduction in John 4 to John 7 to John 17. Abraham journeys by stages to a promised place, has his momentum carry him past it, and needing to return later. How about you?
The psalm also journeys
from a need for help (1a)
to searching everywhere (1b)
to looking beyond everywhere (2)
to assurance of having found (3-6)
to helping (7)
to living (8)
How would you note your own journey to assurance and then out of assurance journeying more energetically in life?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2011/03/psalm-121.html
“Help.”
“G*D is present in your coming and going, both now and forever.”
True? Not True?
As we journey along, sometimes our line is “Help” and sometimes it is an affirmation. If we are not in relationships where these lines are shared, we are not attending to our own needs and wisdom available beyond ourselves.
May you keep this conversation going.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2014/03/psalm-121.html