Psalm 138
Epiphany 5 - Year C
Proper 5 (10) - Year B
Proper 12 (17) - Year
C
Proper 16 (21) - Year A
"Feets, don't fail me now."
May what began with creation be finished in me.
At one time everything was possible. Little by little the possibilities dropped away to reveal what was already here. Honed against other realities from creation to now, the basic shape of your life and my life has emerged. And now these basics have been loved and polished and rounded to fit with one another into a larger body, a new creation from which possibility after possibility is sculpted away by yet new honings and finishings.
In Christ we are a new creation. In G*D we are a growing thanksgiving.
All of this grows from verse 3 with a Syriac reading of "gave new strength to my heart" compared with the Hebrew reading of "troubled the strength of my heart." In the troubling and in the giving - creation ebbs and flows, hones and fulfills, until we become an affirmation of all that has been and a thankfulness for all that will be.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2002/august2002.html
When our soul or our life has been increased there is a new birth, the old soul or life is no more (yes, except for the memories that live on). Our responses to familiar and unique choices are different from that point on.
The steadfast love of walking together at 3 mph speaks to a key element soul enlargement (I presume it is a good thing that there isn't a pill to engorge our soul). This element is not an inflation of worth, but a being with in the midst of whatever.
So one formula is that our soul enlarges in direct proportion to our participation in the enlargement of another's soul, whether that other be G*D or Neighbor. There is no private soul enlargement, only social soul enlargement.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/february2004.html
Psalm 138 or Psalm 124
Good old Lord. The one that was bound to our side. Or was it us bound to Lord's side? Either way -- what a team! What a symbiosis!
Lord provides protection and we provide praise. Hard to imagine a better scenario. We get to avoid responsibility, except for coming up with sufficient tribute, and get green pastures and an "arrogant soul" (alt. trans. 138:3) on top of this.
What is your speculation regarding what would happen should this relationship loosen up? That is sort of where we are today in the realm of religious understanding as we wrestle with one another about whether we return to bondage of past relationships or are loosed to recommit to one another and all in a new manner.
What would it mean to not escape, but to simply be in the presence of steadfast presence, both Lord's and ours?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/august2005.html
Psalm 138 or Psalm 85
The Lord's Prayer (paraphrase from the Open Door Community, Atlanta, GA, used in worship at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, 5/22/03, during the 2003 Festival of Homiletics Conference)
Interlined with Psalm 85 (NIV-UK)
Our Beloved Friend, who is outside the system,
May your Holy Name be honored by the way we live our lives.
[You showed favour to your land, O LORD; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.]
Your Beloved Community come, your way be done
inside the system as it is outside the system.
[Restore us again, O God our Saviour, and put away your displeasure towards us. Will you be angry with us for ever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations?]
Give us this day everything we need.
[Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.]
Forgive our wrongs as we forgive those who have wronged us.
[I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints--but let them not return to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. ]
Do not bring us to the time of Testing,
but keep us safe from the Evil One.
[Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.]
For yours is the Beloved Community,
[The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.]
the power and the glory forever and ever.
[Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.]
Amen.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2004/july2004.html
There is here a formula for increasing our strength of soul. It could be a best seller because the times are right for a wonderful self-help resource. Who doesn't want their soul strengthened? There is a huge market available.
Unfortunately it turns out that the cost of imaging G*D is high. It comes with an increased regard for the lowly and a willingness to engage in deliverance of the troubled. To do this an increased consciousness of the haughty and wrathful needs to be cultivated so they can't hide behind fancy language, accumulated resources, and easily applied power.
Soul strengthening implies a steadfastness of not only purpose, but application. To take one's eye off the prize of regard for and engagement with every level of the poor leaves one open to cooption by the haughty and wrathful. If we are not diligent in our awareness and implementation we become part of the problem and our soul shrinks.
What seemed like a wonderful offering - soul strengthening - turns out to be as difficult as anything. This is a task that cries out for not just a personal resolve, but communal support. It takes a village to strengthen a soul.
- - -
let us now be thankful
for humble people
who are willing to be
soul strengthened
they will find their
time eaten
resources robbed
hopes erased
faith compromised
troubled aplenty
these are not techniques
to bring a soul kiss
from a higher power
but a temptation of the lord
they have found
needy beyond imagination
poor unto the generations
abused just because
war-torn millions
abandoned children
for all of this and more
they cannot sleep
until souls are joined
and grow once more
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
Psalm 138 or Psalm 85
Obviously G*D is not controllable. Angers arise, wave-like, against a background of steadfast love. In fact, we call G*D to account, to change. We expect G*D to change, except in our creeds.
Even with the ability of G*D to change there is also a sense in which that which will ultimately be unchanged are such G*D actions as speaking peace, giving what is good, and following where righteousness leads.
This last image is particularly intriguing. What is this righteousness that goes before G*D and makes a path for G*D to follow? While we can imagine that as an aura of some sort emanating from G*D, there is also a separate reality sense to it as well.
If we can image evil happening separately from G*D, can we also image good happening separately. If both of these, what then is the role of G*D in creation and your life and mine? Might there be some management (or other presence) of the circumstances of life, rather than their initiator?
- - -
in the red corner
faithfulness springs from the ground
in the blue corner
righteousness leaps from the sky
in the center
a referee calls out the rule of engagement
thou shalt cooperate
for the increase of good
the sound of one cymbal is as nothing
but the sound of two, ahh, the sound
opening a way by garnering attention
for revival's time of rejoicing
a bell sounds, cymbals crash
peace is spoken, love is shown
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
Psalm 138 or Psalm 130
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) or Genesis 3:8-15
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35
Who is in and who is outside of family? This question continues in the political realm. We are determined to have a leader over us who will lead us into war unending and more taxes for the poor. Patriotism is the measure of family.
This question continues in the relational realm. We are determined to have internal secrets that heighten our fear to the point of one lie leading to a next. Your lie justifies my lie and mine, yours. Co-conspiracy is the measure of family.
This question continues in the relgious realm. We are determined to have it both ways - G*D's love is steadfast (enduring forever) and doubtful (do not forsake me). We cry to be heard even if all we have to say is confession, appealing for forgiveness with a claim it is for G*D's glory rather than our benefit. Justification is the measure of family.
This question continues in the realm of identity. We will continue to be who and what we are. If not in this world, we will claim it in eternity - never letting go. Pride and greed are measures of family.
This question continues in the realm of biology. We will choose to protect our own, blood being thicker than water. When one is in danger we will gather to rescue them from themselves. Genetics is the measure of family.
And then the questions get deeper. Who is my family beyond all our usual measures? Those who do not give up on hope of better than we have! This cuts across all political, religious, personal, and racial/cultural lines. Here we find common cause in families trying to hold on to the purity of appearances or the openness of new learning.
- - -
I give thanks with all my hearts
strung out with commitments
to you and you and you
voluntarily enslaved to you
my heart knows liberation
because of other commitments
so many families I already have
rubbing each other the wrong way
dividing and falling
so many families I dream of holding
creating dancing imagining
fertilizing each other as well
pray may our frictions
not bring burning heretics
but pentecost wonder sharing
my village of families
invites your village
to an easy evening
kings and slaves dissolve
creator and creation resolve
division questions salved
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
Psalm 138 or Psalm 124
Exodus 1:8-2:10 or Isaiah 51:1-6
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
There are many gifts. In the Moses story there are folks who have the gifts of disobedience, secrecy, complicity, adventure, subversion from within, etc.
In the Jesus story there are gifts of Baptist John, Elijah, Jeremiah, and other prophets that help to define who Jesus is and isn't.
Likewise there are gifts in each of our lives as we interact with those closest to us, those we yet name enemy, those whose challenge and/or support feed us to become more than we currently are.
There is no one else's story to tell but our own. So the disciples were told not to tell the gift of Jesus, for that was for him to reveal. So no one else will tell the secret of who you are, it is yours to reveal and this is a good time to reveal it.
Are you someone whose gift of compassion will not allow you to go along with the dicta of society? Are you a gift willing to give birth to something new even in the face of overwhelming evidence that such is not desired? Are you willing to be practical enough to let go of your child and gift it another space where it might yet grow, knowing your own space is too risky for it? Are you gifted to reach out to the forbidden and make it your own? Are you willing to participate in the irony of life that flourishes within your own unironic life?
- - -
how shrewd we are
as we look around
to the dangers
and opportunities
to enhance our power
our very shrewdness
turns all too readily
to ruthlessness
we only perceive
as extra shrewd
being so shrewd
we fail to find
the irony in ruthlessness
that destroys
its beginning shrewdness
somehow it is never our fault
that what we have set in motion
will come back to haunt us
through the very structures
of our elite electedness
we move from "us"
who are fearful
to restrictions
that fall apart
at the next "I"
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html
The Psalmist calls G*D.
Peter was commissioned by Jesus.
Isaiah responds to a question from on high.
There are so many ways to be in relationship to G*D. Each with its strength and weakness.
Callers can get to be a bit presumptuous. Thanks can slide over to bribery by an effusive tongue.
Those commissioned can attempt to change the commission of the one who commissioned them, thus changing their own commission to something with which they are more comfortable.
Responders may have the easiest time as the question and response format begins a relationship, they don't have to bring the other side in or try to haggle for a better deal.
Has your story mostly been that of Psalmist, Peter, or Isaiah? After taking a second look at that question, where is it now and where would you like it to be?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2010/02/psalm-138.html