Psalm 18

Psalm 18 (2024)

With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
    with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
²⁶ with the pure you show yourself pure;
    and with the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
²⁷ For you deliver a humble people,
    but the haughty eyes you bring down.

How we understand the Bible, and thus how we perceive God, depends a great deal on us. That is the only explanation that makes sense to me when I think about how two people can read the same Bible and come to such different conclusions about what it is saying. I can’t remember the source or the exact quote, but there’s a meme floating around Facebook about this phenomenon which compares the Bible to a mirror in which we see ourselves reflected, a kind of Mirror of Erised in which we see what we desire to see.

Contrary to what John Piper thinks, I think the Bible as a mirror is a good analogy, and so apparently did Paul when he wrote that “we see through a glass darkly”

Psalm 53

“Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith.” -Thomas Merton

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt; they commit abominable acts;
    there is no one who does good.
God looks down from heaven on humankind
    to see if there are any who are wise,
    who seek after God
They have all fallen away; they are all alike perverse;
    there is no one who does good,
    no, not one.
Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread
    and do not call upon God?

Psalm 53 bears a striking resemblance to Psalm 14. The part about “fools say in their heart there is no God” is often lifted out of its context and used as a weapon against non-theists. In both psalms, the context tells us that the fools in question are identified by their cruel and/or uncaring actions toward other people, i.e. “those evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread“

I know some atheists and agnostics who are far more observant of what James called “the royal law” than some self-professing Christians. Perhaps it is not the concept of God they have rejected as much as the concept of God as it is often presented.

As I understand God, God is not an angry (male) sky god ready to send down lightning bolts to those who don’t offer him proper fealty, or who believe the wrong things. My concept of God is best exemplified by the life and teachings of Jesus, whom the writer of Hebrews says is “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” I understand God to be the architect of the arc of the moral universe and, as Julian of Norwich envisioned, a “force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.”

Psalm 52

Why do you boast, O mighty one,
    of mischief done against the godly?^[a]
All day long ²     you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
    you worker of treachery.
³ You love evil more than good
    and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
⁴ You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue.

Why does this psalm make me think of certain politicians and their supporters?

I’m not looking forward to political attack ads played on endless repeat for the next few months. The truth may be out there somewhere, but is unlikely to be found in deceptive, misleading commercials. And commercials they are…from the root word “commerce”, meaning somebody’s paying money in the hopes of getting more money back than they put in.

The psalmist is confident that those who do the right things will be vindicated in the end, and that wrongdoers will get their just deserts:

But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
⁶ The righteous will see and fear
    and will laugh at the evildoer,^[b] saying,
⁷ “See the one who would not take
    refuge in God
but trusted in abundant riches
    and sought refuge in wealth!”^[c]

May this prove true in our time as well, and I’d prefer sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I guess I should focus on my part of the program- doing the next right thing- and trust that God will take care of the rest.

Psalm 51

Against you, you alone, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
    and blameless when you pass judgment.

Psalm 51 has the notation “A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba” That whole sordid story can be found in 2 Samuel, and I’ve previously written about that here. It’s an appropriate psalm for Lent, and will show up in the lectionary in a few weeks, but it also shows up on the 51st day of the year in my reading plan.

I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the phrase “against you and you only have I sinned” because David most definitely sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, the unborn child who died. Not only that, the ripples from his sin affected quite a few other people including those in his army and members of his own family. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how true it is.

It’s true because when you do things that hurt people, you hurt God. That truth is repeatedly affirmed in the Law and the Prophets, as well as the New Testament, and it’s something that we ought to take very, very seriously. (See Amos’s polemic against injustice or Jesus’s parable of the sheep and the goats, for example)

“Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me“. You can’t separate love of God from love of neighbor, and anyone who thinks otherwise is dangerously mistaken.

Only the Rocks Live Forever

Ash Wednesday 2024

No, that isn’t a biblical quote- or a Native American one either. It comes from the miniseries “Centennial”, an adaptation of the James Michener novel for television which aired in 1978-79.

But I think it’s an appropriate thought for this Lenten season. To everything there is a season, and everything has its time to die. That includes people, organizations, and nations.

I’ve previously written about my personal, abrupt reminder of my own mortality here, as well as writing a post about the sudden, unexpected death of a friend. Realizing that there are things beyond your control, and that you are going to die is an important step in psychological and spiritual maturity. As the psalmist writes, “Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Knowing that our time on earth is limited isn’t meant to frighten or depress us; it’s meant to help us know what to do with the times we are given. I’m reminded of the note Jack passes to Rose in Titanic– “Make it count!”

Organizations, including churches, also die. The small Methodist church of which we have been a part for the last ten years has dramatically declined in attendance the last few years, and contributions are not enough to make it sustainable. We were hit by a triple whammy- first the ongoing disagreement in the denomination about inclusivity for LGBTQ people, then COVID, as well as pastoral churn with three pastors in as many years. I am not sure how much longer our aging congregation can keep going, but those remaining are working diligently to “make it count”.

History teaches us that empires- defined as nations with an outsize influence on the rest of the world- do not last forever either. The great Babylonian, Greek, and Roman empires fell a long time ago, and more recently the sun indeed set on the British Empire. There are a number of signs that the Pax Americana may also be on its way out. I can only hope that the US has a relatively soft landing like Britain.

This is all rather depressing to think about, but my faith insists that death isn’t the end of our story. No matter what happens to us, our churches, our country, or our world, we’re going to be OK because God is with us. We don’t know what that will look like, and we don’t need to know. Faith isn’t certainty; it’s trust in God. The psalmist reminds us that:

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging

Centuries later, Paul writes that:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 45

What’s a wedding song doing in Psalms? The fact that the 45th day of the year is Valentine’s Day,which is why this psalm showed up today, is…Ironic? Providential? Demonstrates a wry sense of humor?

Whatever the reason, if there is one, I think it shows that God celebrates romantic love.

“He Gets Us” but do we get Him?

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, ⁴⁰ for whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹ Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

I’ve usually defined my political and theological beliefs as ” too progressive for my conservative friends and too conservative for my progressive friends. Based on the kind of things I consider misrepresentations of the gospel, I suppose I tend to align slightly more with the progressive than the conservative side of evangelical Christianity (no, “progressive evangelical” is not an oxymoron) However. the criticisms of the “He Gets Us” ad campaign that are currently overwhelming my Facebook feed are really beginning to get my dander up.

I find nothing objectional in the ads. I personally think Christianity could benefit from a PR campaign to correct the widespread misunderstandings of what Christianity in general, and evangelical Christianity in particular, really is. I think the ads are doing a good job of that and may reach some people who would never darken the doorways of a church. I think that’s a good thing.

Most of the complaints seem to be about the organizations sponsoring the ads, with Hobby Lobby being a main target, because of Hobby Lobby’s stance about LGBQT inclusivity and reproductive rights. But some articles also criticize YouVersion, the Bible app which along with multiple translations of the Bible, also offers multiple reading plans, some of which are more socially conservative than progressive critics would prefer. That’s not a good argument to me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s “throwing the baby out with the bath water”.

If the objection is to the messengers rather than the message and you don’t like the resources and websites the messengers promote, why not offer some suggestions of your own? Of course they are offering suggestions from their own perspective. Affirm the message, but offer different resources for putting it into practice.

Another complaint is that the money spent on airing these ads at the Super Bowl could have been better spent on helping the poor. When I read that one, I immediately thought of Judas’s criticism of the woman who annointed Jesus before his crucifixion. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? asks Judas. Jesus replies that she has done a beautiful thing. There will always be poor people we can (and should) help, but her action was very appropriate for this particular time and place. So, that criticism doesn’t wash with me either.

A third area of concern for the ad critics is the use of rhetorical devices which may include logical fallacies such as “both sidesism”. They’re ads, for Pete’s sake! What do they expect? The ads are trying to sell people on the idea that Jesus cares for them and sympathizes with what they are going through. I think that’s truthful. As the writer of Hebrews put it “ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.“

I don’t recall the name of the person interviewed on the podcast, but I recently heard one about fundamentalism which postulated that fundamentalism is a mindset, not a political or theological view. I imagine conservatism vs progressivism as being a continuum along the x axis, with closed vs open mindedness a continuum along the y axis. Fundamentalism occupies the extreme closed-mind end of the spectrum, but it can spread out to extremes on both the conservative and progressive line as well. Fundamentalism is the mindset that my beliefs are the correct ones and those who hold opposing views are wrong and/or evil. Call it bothsidesism all you want, but I do see this mindset at both ends of the political and theological spectra. And it’s always easier to see the splinter in the other guy’s eye than the log in our own.

My picture of the opposite of fundamentalism is the Christ the Redeemer statue of Jesus in Brazil, with his arms open wide, welcoming all into his embrace. And if we don’t get that, I don’t think we really get Him.

Psalm 17

Psalm 17 (2024)

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
    give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
² From you let my vindication come;
    let your eyes see the right.

Although- or maybe because- the psalmist tries to do what is right, he is treated badly by people who have other motives. Rather than seek retribution himself, he asks God to deliver him from evil.

Psalm 16

² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you. This reminds me of Paul’s discourse with the Athenian philosophers, where he quoted Epimenedes as saying “in him we live and move and have our being” or Tillich’s concept of God as “the ground of all being”.

The psalmist goes on to observe that humans have a choice whether to throw in their lot with this God, or with other gods. I imagine it to be somewhat like the choice Indiana Jones faced in determining which chalice among many was the true Holy Grail. “Choosing unwisely” led Indy’s Nazi pursuers to their destruction, while Indy’s wise choice preserved his life and the life of his companions. “Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.”

I bless the Lord, who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved”. Here I think about Jesus’s metaphor of the wise man who built his house upon the rock.

The psalmist would say that our ultimate security can be found only in God, not all the false gods of money and power and pleasure that vie for our loyalty, nor those who promote their worship. He would urge us to choose wisely.

And I agree with him.

Psalm 15

Psalm 15

O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
    Who may dwell on your holy hill?

² Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right
    and speak the truth from their heart;
³ who do not slander with their tongue
    and do no evil to their friends
    nor heap shame upon their neighbors;
⁴ in whose eyes the wicked are despised
    but who honor those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
⁵ who do not lend money at interest
    and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

Those who do these things shall never be moved.

 How do we know we are OK with God? The psalmist asks the same kind of question I recall from the evangelism trainings that were part and parcel of my Baptist upbringing. There, it was usually phrased “If you were to die today, would you go to heaven or hell?” followed by recitation of the Four Spiritual Laws and/or the Roman Road, regardless of how the person answered. The “witnesser” had to make certain the “witnessee” had the correct theological beliefs for the desired eternal result.

The psalmist doesn’t seem so much concerned with orthodoxy in theology as orthopraxy in how one relates to one’s fellow humans. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much the same thing both the Old Testament prophets and Jesus taught.