Away from Desk

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JK

Power and Grace

Psalm 62

Two things the Psalmist has heard, that the Lord is strong, and that the Lord is loving (verses 11-12). His power would only be terrible without grace. His grace would be ineffective without his power. With him this is a unique and necessary combination. I witnessed a sort of worldly power and grace combined the other day, in a way that I admit rather impressed me.

With some time on our hands older son (12) and I on Monday were strolling along Front Street in Toronto east of the downtown core. There be a Porsche dealership there. So we sort of dusted ourselves off and entered. “Please do not touch,” a sign said. We didn’t. I was rather surprised how many models were on display. We had actually looked around for some time before a very nice lady smiled at us and asked, “May I help you, or are you just looking?” I think she knew the answer. One thought: Porsche = power and gracefulness.

Fast forward a few hours to later in the day. This time Melissa and I are with younger son (10) while older son is occupied (long busy day in the city, won’t bore you with the details). In the waiting area there was a mom dealing, but not really, with 2 boys a little younger than ours who proved to be quite unmanageable, loud, fighting, oblivious to everyone else around – a handful of us in the room trying find somewhere else to put our attention. Reaction of younger son was especially interesting – stunned silence; even he was embarrassed for them (or maybe thinking, “at least I’m/we’re not that bad.”

No evidence of power and grace there in that room then. But then that’s precisely the kind of setting in which God’s power and grace are most to be found.

If you do get yourself a Porsche, the power and grace are ready at hand. But what does it really amount to? (Well, OK, I wouldn’t mind finding out.) It is intriguing that we tend to use this profoundly powerful word, grace, sometimes just for what is stylish, sleek, classy. We also combine the two in athleticism.

But it is where power and grace are least evident or obvious where real power and grace potentially may be found.

Consider:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8);

or

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

The world can mislead us concerning what is real power, and what is full of grace, and how those are combined most powerfully. Thanks to God that he places the combination within us through his Son.

Prayer:
May I glorify you this day and every day, Lord, as the one who is both all power and all love, and completely and perfectly both, for our great blessing, and your own greater glory. Through Christ. Amen.

ECE

Psalm 61

Until I read this Psalm out loud to myself, I had passed over the phrase “higher than I” in verse 2. The Psalm’s thought-journey begins with a sense of need. The journey is able to go beyond that beginning because of the acknowledgment of a “rock that is higher than I.” The Psalmist is then able to connect not only with the rock who is the Rock, but with the faith history and community of those others who have turned to him. The combination of trust in God and connection with faith community is combined in verse 5. But there is a third component to the Psalmist’s network of support and strength: the king. The people look to a faithful leader who is himself faithful, and whose role works for the integrity of the life of the people, so they may live and worship as one.

Personal experience of a higher rock, a community memory and celebration (testimony) of his working in the life of people, and a leadership lovingly and personally committed to those two things and to growth in them: this Psalm provides a simple outline of sound Bible-based community and leadership: Experience,
Celebration, Encouragement.

Prayer:
Lord, help me live up to what I call my job on my Facebook profile: Chief Encourager. Through Christ. Amen.

The Enemy

Psalm 60

There is familiar territory, like your back yard, where the only danger might be insufficient sunscreen applied. There may be a stretch of road you travel so much you know every bend, every clump of trees, every sign. And yet we know that serious accidents happen at home, and vehicle collisions are most likely to happen where we travel most. (I like the guy who heard that most accidents happen with five blocks of home, so he moved.)

Then there are places that obviously are dangerous, but which most of us don’t have to experience, like Afghanistan and Iraq.

In this Psalm, the people have experienced danger, and defeat, in familiar territory. People in that part of the world still do. Funny, we think and pray – as of course well we should – of people from ‘our’ part of the world serving in danger zones, be we (or maybe I should speak for myself) tend to ignore what it must be like for people who live with constant danger right where they live.

The way we use the Psalms in devotion and worship might lead us actually to miss the kind of environment from which they come, which was often brutal. In this psalm the poet reflects on a defeat or severe trial his people have known (verses 1-3). He also reflects on the sovereignty of the land in which they have this experience: it belongs to the Lord. Words from the Lord compare parts of the land to familiar belongings. Towns and valleys and such are as familir to the Lord as it is as familiar to him as would the washbasin or sandals of the poet be to him.

So, the poet sees the answer for dealing with life in this land as putting his trust in the one who knows it, oversees it, even made it – and promised it to the Psalmist’s people. This gives rise to the kind of confident expression found in verses 4 and 5.

Still, actual experience leads to some hesitation on the poet’s part – in the form of the kind of “what if” question even the most faithful of us sometimes ask (see verse 10): What if God isn’t really for me? Having got the question out there, however, he moves right on, as should we. What other hope is there but in the one who is in charge of all things? You might see this as a bit lame – it’s not much of a faith that trusts in a deity because there is basically no alternative. This is to underestimate the dynamics of faith that is real faith – that genuinely trusts. Even Jesus, who knew exactly what was what, had an immense struggle in his trial of trials.

In the end, this Psalm may be about trampling down the enemy (verse 12b) of doubt. Move forward today not saying, “OK, God, if you’re there I hope you’ll help me,” but rather, “With God I (we) will gain the victory” (verse 12a).

Prayer:
Lord, I look forward to the victory you have in mind for me today, for your sake. Amen.

Raising the Bar

Psalm 59

What does God do with our prayers that request things that are not part of his character, or his will for us? The last three words of this Psalm seem out of sync with much of the rest of the content. Our prayers may be confused, but God is not, and neither are his answers.

I rather think that, like a good teacher, God builds on what he finds in our requests that are in keeping with his character and will. Meanwhile, part of our prayer could itself be to ask him to purify our thoughts, so that we will give him more to build on, and less to overcome.

Prayer:
Thank you, God, that I can be honest, like the Psalmist, in what I express to you. But I would also look to you to raise the bar a bit all the time, so that what is honest is also more faithful. Through Christ. Amen.

Before You Shove It Aside

Psalm 58

If you had the privilege of starting someone on reading the Bible, you probably would not start them with reading this Psalm, and particularly not verse 10. It’s there. It’s in Scripture. We can’t just shove it aside. But there is no need to start with it.

What it says, in its graphic Old Testament way, is that God really does deal with evil. What it says is that God give it to us to be part of his good, but judgment on evil is up to him. The community of the faithful benefit from this. That’s the take-it-with-you message you can filter out of the graphic content here. The faithful can continue and grow in their mission in the Lord, confident that those power against them will be dealt with.

Prayer:
Thanks that you do work justice through the chaos of this world. Show us and lead us in our part, since there is the chaos of conflicting and confused will everywhere. Through Christ. Amen.

Alive

Psalm 57

Many of us seem to go through our days in a daze. I’ve noticed people walking across parking lots without paying any attention to the traffic around them. Others walk backwards in malls or downtown on the sidewalk, talking to someone, and if you’re coming the other way you just have to stop and wait to see where they’re going! And that’s without any electronics plugged into them. I contribute my own share of inattentiveness and doziness to the course of any given day.

“Awake, my soul!” the Psalmist cries. What does it mean to call to your soul to become awake? ‘Soul’ in the Bible is not some hidden part of you, a part that floats away when you die. I understand ‘soul’ in the Bible to be something like what we would call our “being” – it’s the totality of what we are. Awakening the soul would be about being truly and fully alive, being attentive to the things of the day and then some, and then some indeed.

For the Psalmist, a whole sequence of things went with this. Musical instruments are called to life; the one who is fully alive, it seems, can call to the dawn to wake up – a sense of being in tune with all God’s creation, I take it. There is praise to all peoples, a sense of soaring in the heavens. Who needs drugs?

And all of this came out of resolve to remain ‘steadfast’ in the midst of the now-familiar onslaught of enemies.

What one thing keeps most of us from being truly alive? Fear. We’re afraid to be joyful because something will take it away. We’re afraid to trust because someone will hurt us. We’re afraid because we’re afraid we’ll be afraid and look stupid. So we cling to a lot of stuff that gives no security; and find comfort, excitement - and release from boredom, worry, rejection and hopelessness in addictive behaviours.

“Soul” rather than, say, “being” or “personhood” or something suggests to me a Lord; there is a greater spiritual connotation with the word, especially in the context in which we find it here. There is one who makes us truly alive. There is one who leads us, as Steven Curtis Chapman sings, to The Great Adventure. He breathed life into dirt and made the dirt a ‘living being’ (Genesis 2:7). A living being from dirt; what can he do with my day, my life, if truly I release it to him?

Then there is a whole mission that awaits, to the dazed.

Prayer:
Awake, my soul, Lord. Through Christ. Amen.

Tears in a Bottle

Psalm 56

It’s an image to stop you in your tracks – in a good way: God collecting our tears (verse 8). He either records them on his scroll, or collects them in his wineskin, depending on the translation. The latter image makes more sense. How striking to consider that God totally forgets our sins when we ask forgiveness, but records all our sorrows, or even collects them. This is compassion.

When trouble or grief comes, we are surrounded by comfort, for a while. Eventually life is assumed to get back to ‘normal’ (whatever that is), but we are left with the reality that has come.

God doesn’t forget.

Prayer:
God, help us set aside our preoccupation with the sins of others, and replace it with being attuned to one another’s sorrows. Through Christ. Amen.

God Disturbers

Psalm 55

Our peace seems always precarious – both in the world and within. What is particularly troubling to the Psalmist is that one with whom he had enjoyed special friendship has become an enemy. And he already had enemies. It’s too much. He is overwhelmed, and basically just lashes out at everyone. Even his own thoughts trouble him (verse 2).

Being troubled at his thoughts may be the beginning of hope – that, along with the content of verse 22, which appears as a little oasis of true spiritual longing in the midst of this sea of bitterness. Even the final sentence, expressing trust in the Lord, leaves things unsettled, when you know there is still this angst in his heart. I mean, he expresses trust in contrast to what others do (verse 23). In the light of Christ, your expression of trust in God would not be complete without going right back to dealing with what is unsettled in relationship with others – in the Psalmist’s case, particularly that former friend.

This is not a piece of Scripture that you would read before bedtime for peace of mind before falling blissfully asleep. Like so much of God’s Word, it disturbs. I am working on an outline for a message series in the fall on the God who disturbs, and Christians as a disturbing force. It will be dangerous, and probably disturbing. There will be those who will tell me it is the wrong kind of message to appeal to people. It will need lots of different elements and media, and it will take a team to do well. But then that is in keeping with God’s disturbing and cinematically (what rating?) powerful Word to the world, and to our minds and hearts.

Prayer:
Lord, I am often disturbed at my thoughts. Thank for for not making me complacent about what is in my heart and mind. There is much yet to be redeemed in me. This world is of course far from redemption, even though it is so close at hand. Help me do my little bitty part to close the gap, starting with me. Through Christ. Amen.

Honestly

Psalm 54

Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14.

We might not regard Psalm 54 as one of the noblest of expressions in Scripture. But then, we are in the Psalms, and they are full of raw honesty. What point is there in being otherwise before the Lord?

That honesty is combined with a sense of being part of a community and its history with God. It comes with the very calling upon the power of ‘the name’ (verse 1). Within the apparent selfishness of verse 5, there may be the recollection that God is a God of justice and has shown that in the history of his people. Even in the prayer of recoiling of evil on his enemies, there may at least be the recognition of a God who is not far off, but who intervenes and acts in the midst of history and our personal stories.

Prayer:
Lord, in the light of your Son’s revelation, I might question the Psalmist’s prayer concerning his enemies. But am I so different? Thank you that your Son showed a higher way, a generosity of spirit that becomes possible with the gift of your Holy Spirit. Refining my view of others, give me something of the Psalmist’s sense of expectancy of your intervention in everyday life. Through Christ. Amen.

Flow

Psalm 52

There are two forms of strength, as we would discern here.

One form is self-generated strength of will. In this, strength itself is the thing that matters most. If the point is strength, any expression of strength will do, and will be considered the desired good. So, in the psalm, there is even boasting of malice (1,7). There is no morality here. The only sin is weakness.

The second form of strength is that which flows through the individual, or group of individuals. There is inexhaustible power that comes from the Lord, flowing through those who surrender to him. Compare John 3:8. Strength and love are equated in the beautiful word-picture of verse 8. True strength flows; it is not possessed.

Prayer:
Lord, pare me down to what you can really use. Through Christ. Amen.

Fill In the Blank

Psalm 51

It is wonderful beyond words to know that we can have sin blotted out. But God doesn’t stop at that. He goes a couple of stages beyond it. Not only does he readily act on a request to “blot out all my iniquity” (verse 9), he brings purity and a new spirit (verse 10), also at our request. In other words, he doesn’t leave us blank. The vacuum could readily be filled up with the same old stuff. Jesus would say that to follow him means daily to take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Every day a bit of our old self should die and be filled with what God want to fill us with.

Even more, we have mission beyond ourselves to those other ‘transgressors’ (verse 13) with whom we share a common need, and opportunity.

Prayer:
What shall I get rid of, Lord, maybe today, so you can fill me with something better? Through Christ. Amen.

Why Your Heart Beats

Psalm 50

For those who identify themselves as part of God’s family, outward religious observance can be a way of avoiding personal encounter. Ritual is emotionally safe. Verses 7-15 address the religious. The beginning of God’s covenant with Israel was signaled by sacrifice (verse 5), but what God desires of his people is that they would be open to his powerful, empowering, life-changing presence (let the power of verses 1-5 soak in). To depend on outward sacrifices for the expression of life as God’s people is a sad mockery of God’s power. The essence of life with God is relationship, encounter. God deems to make his presence known and felt to us. That’s astounding. How do we respond to that? In any way he makes possible for us: worship from the heart, actively loving those with whom we share this life and this planet, drawing others to him, deepening bonds with other believers … the possibilities are endless. To tend to some religious observance and be satisfied, with that, that we are right with God is so sad.

Tremble for those who actively mock God with a pretense of faith while doing the opposite of his will (verses 16-22). Actively working for their rescue (the basic meaning of ‘salvation’) will fuel all the more the energy of our life beyond mere religion.

Prayer:
How amazing that you choose to reveal yourself to us, God! Your Psalmist has expressed something of your power and might that would no doubt just obliterate us if we were fully exposed to you – whatever that might mean - in our earthly state. Yet you have chosen to make your power and purpose known to people – like to Moses as well as to Pharaoh in order to bring about a people to love and work with and through to the world. In time you sent your Son the Way we could know you in a fully human way even while you remain fully God. How can we ignore this? How can the world ignore this? How can anyone mock this? How dare we reduce this to ritual? Show us how to make the most of your revelation, as a matter of our very life’s breath and knowing it is why our hearts beat. Through Christ. Amen.

In the Twinkling of an Eye

Psalm 49

The Psalmist is troubled at the prosperity of those who “boast of their great riches” (verse 6).

There is more here than just wrestling with his own lack of riches. There is honest spiritual reflection here on what an eternal perspective on relative material wealth should be.

The reflection hinges on the trust factor. Those who trust in their riches will find they have put all their eggs in the wrong basket. Rich and poor alike die. But then that’s not quite the issue. Being rich is not wrong. Trusting in riches is. By the same token, poverty itself is not a virtue. On the contrary, it is an urgent aspect of ministry and mission. The spiritual poverty that Jesus would later commend (Matthew 5:3) means we know our strength lies in someone other than ourselves. That attitude of need may be more elusive for those who feel themselves to be self-sufficient. The Biblical perspective is that this is a danger more for the materially rich than the materially poor.

A further thought, one that doesn’t come directly out of this text, but is prompted by it: Why is it when we speak of heaven we tend to think of its delights as being extensions or fulfillments of earthly enjoyments? You know, the golf course to end all golf courses, and when you play it your slice is gone - that kind of thing. All we really know is that we will be with God and enjoy complete union with him and all those who have trusted in him. It’s about an indestructible relationship, in and through his Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38-39). As for what we will be like, Scripture focuses on the complete change in us, rather than any sort of continuation of what we now know (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:35-53).

There is a truth in this Psalm that is a commonplace observation: Death is the great leveler. But Scriptural faith goes beyond that to something more powerful. We are made for eternity. What kind of eternity that will be depends in no way on the values we get from life in this world. That’s a hard lesson for the rich of experience, the rich of knowledge, the rich of wisdom accumulated through life. For the mature of faith, all those things are tools of service, perhaps means of edification and enjoyment in life. They count for nothing for eternity (see Philippians 3:7-9). We all depend on one thing and one thing only: belief in the risen Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9).

Prayer:
God, give me a right perspective on, and enjoyment of, the things of this world. Through Christ. Amen.

What's a Meta Phor?

Psalm 48

When trying to express the inexpressible, we make use of what is available. When trying to convey some big reality, I fumble around for an “It’s like” – otherwise known as a metaphor. I find myself doing that in trying to explain something my sons ask me (although I find more and more they are helping me understand at lot!).

There is a concern within this Psalm to pass on what is most valuable to the next generation and beyond. What is most valuable is to know the Lord. After a celebration of the Lord’s power in history and over against the world’s mightiest rulers, the scene focuses in on Jerusalem and the temple, where the people gather to experience God together. This gathering together has always been vital to the Judeo-Christian community. In early years of the church, Christians gathered in homes, or wherever they could, for teaching, communion, and empowerment. But the apostles still went to the temple. This was at this point still a part of Judaism. But it became just as important for those little groups with their own worshiping lives and learning and serving to come together for the celebration of worship together as it was in Old Testament times. Christians might say there was even more to be called together to celebrate. The traditional Presbyterian worship service begins with a “Call to Worship” – and we still need to acknowledge somehow that we are called together in this way.

Anyway, having that kind of experience in the temple and looking around at its impressive features, this became the “It’s like” for the older worshipers instructing the younger ones. It was intended to point to the limitless power of the God acting on earth. And even in the pre-resurrection faith expressed here, it hints at the eternal life we are intended for with Him (verse 14).

Prayer:
Great God, expand my perception of you in the multitude of ways you reveal yourself. You make the impossible happen by allowing us to see and experience in tangible ways what is your glory. Help us develop ways of celebrating you and sharing you with whatever means that can help. About the worst sin your church could commit, apart from outright heresy and hypocrisy, would be to be boring. Let us do our utmost to give expression to the wonder of you in this generation, and for the next. Through Christ. Amen.

Dig This Whole

Psalm 47

So at certain times the people would have this big celebration like they were putting God on his throne. Only they knew they weren’t really doing this, and couldn’t. This was one time to say, “It’s about me.” By ‘putting’ God on his throne they were putting themselves in their place: “He’s God and we’re not.” Also it would serve as a way of putting together the two parts of their national life. Israel was, after all, both a religious and political entity.

So by ‘putting’ God on the throne of my own life, by this gesture of submission I also necessarily have to look at the various parts of my life to try to make sure they are parts in function only, and not compartments of varying subjection to God’s oversight and will. That can be ethically convenient, but disastrous to living.

In personalizing this song, though, I should not overlook the call to the nations to clap their hands. Even a s figure of speech, it’s tantalizing to conjure up what that would look and sound like: All peoples, all leaders, putting hands together to praise rather than to strike or to grab (as in grabbing supplies meant for cyclone victims).

For you, me, and for all peoples, the key to integrity is acknowledging who has charge of life as whole.

Prayer:
God, have I made you the Lord over my whole life, so that my life will be therefore whole? In Christ. Amen.

He Who Is Closer than Chaos

Psalm 46

It’s like there are three stanzas here, with a refrain appearing in verses 7 and 11 – once also after verse 3 but lost through handing down?

The first stanza of this song (verses 1-3) celebrates resistance against the one-step-away-from-disaster sense about life. You know, one more unexpected bill and you’re done; one more fight between the kids and you’re going to really lose it. Or maybe every time you hear about an illness you think you’ve got it or will get it. Or every time your spouse commutes to work you think of the last crazy driver you encountered or heard about. Chaos is ready to pounce on your life with just one little opening.

No, the Psalmist says, we don’t give in to those fears, however real they may be. Why? Because

The Lord almighty is with us (read ‘me’ if you like);
The God of Jacob is our/my fortress.

The God who held back the watery chaos to make a place for creation to flourish (Genesis 1) intended life for us from the beginning, and he’s not about to give up that purpose and desire for us. Trouble may come, but chaos and darkness will not overtake us.

Similarly, (verses 4-7); the rage of the world can assault the center of our faith (in this case seen as Jerusalem, the City of God), but the powerful forces of nations and history cannot prevail against a people who trust in the Lord and his purose and destiny for them. Try reading verses 4-5, substituting “my heart” for “city of God.” This doesn’t speak of a geographical river anyway. So try it, yes now … “There is a river that makes glad my heart …”

And, for a people embattled by spiritual warfare and the struggle of their basic humanity rising up within their redeemed life …

The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.

And then (verses 8-11), there is this great summation, anticipating the living of life now in the character of the life to be brought by the coming Lord, the effect of kingdom life lived in the midst of the chaotic world: Yes, it is living hope. Why? Because of our unrealized potential? Because we haven’t yet used what is within us? Because there is a basic goodness we just have to let loose from within us? No. It can be realized because

The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.

And throughout cyberspace God’s people say,
“Amen.”

With the Caring of the Lord

Psalm 45

The psalm celebrates a king who is divinely appointed and fulfills his role in such a way that he can been seen as a representative of Lord, with the Lord’s own care and love for the people. God gave humanity this kind of care over the life of the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). This is a more specific kind of stewardship of a people.

It would now seem sexist, if not also an example of nationalistic chauvinism, that the king’s foreign bride is told to forget her own people and dedicate herself totally to her husband and her new setting (verses 10-11). In the context, it is a sign of the worthiness of the king. The ancient church saw this marriage as a sign of the submission of the church to the authority and purpose of Christ as King over the church and the world.

The kind of genuine care for people in modern government seems only to be evident in a time of tragedy. The ruling generals of Myanmar (or Burma, whatever it is most properly called), hardly fit the description of kingship in the psalm. We can help, through, among other avenues:
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
Red Cross
World Vision

On another plane, in times of such a monumental tragedy, there is the “why” or “why them or us” type of question. With some discomfort at being overly reflective in the midst of down-to-earth human misery, I recall something I wrote after the Asian Tsunami, which came to mind again in thinking of all the thousands devastated by this cyclone.

Each beating heart got its start from You,
There’s no life apart from Your power and your cue,
But this is one cry through a sudden wave’s wall:
Why them, not I; do You love us all?

Some suffer more from the powers of earth,
What is this for, are there some of lesser worth?
How do you choose who will get the call,
Are some meant to lose, or do You truly love us all?

There’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.

Your power can move in any latitude,
Show us your grace of greater magnitude.
By loving mighty fire and your reign installed
May no one need inquire, or ever doubt, if You love us all.

‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.

Though the earth will quake, skies will be torn,
Our bond will not break with a new world that’s born

‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as you love us all.

As You Love Us All, Copyright © 2006 James Kitson

Prayer:
God, thank you that you hear the cries of your children throughout the earth. You are the unchanging God, but you are not unaffected or unmoved by the circumstances of people, when they call out to you, or others call to you on their behalf. Thank you for those who care; speed the efforts of those seeking to help people now undergoing disaster. Through Christ. Amen.

The Only Power Over You

Psalm 44

The Psalmist reflects that in times of victory, the real power was the Lord’s, fulfilling his purpose. Things have turned sour in the context of writing. There’s been some sort of national defeat. The intensity of the anguish involves seeing the Lord in this turn of things (verse 9). He protests that the nation has not turned on or away from the Lord.

The hope in this comes at the point of the most pain. This situation might be easier to wrestle with if it were not seen as the hand of the Lord. But where would that leave him? Where would it leave us if the attacks in life were things the Lord were completely separated from? It would mean those things would be what have power over us. As it is, he at least is acknowledging God’s control over things. If there is to be any hope in circumstances beyond our control, where is strength, help and hope going to come from? From the circumstances? From us? What/Who does that leave? Exactly.

The reason for trials is usually and frustratingly impervious to our perception. We yet have the Lord. Even if he has had a hand in our trials, the maturity of faith knows that that ultimately can only be good.

Prayer:
Grow me up Lord, to trust in your workings, and to begin to see even the outline of your shape in my life. Through Christ. Amen.

until the answer comes

Psalm 43

In Psalm 42, from a setting of exile, the psalmist has poured out his longing to experience God in the Temple. Now he prays that God would deal with those circumstances that prevent him from being present at the Temple. He commits to praising him there as the joy of his life. Then the last verse of Psalm 42 is repeated (43:5). In these lines the psalmist addresses himself (“my soul”). But, with what builds within the psalmist in these few verses, it seems to me that the note of hope at the end now comes with more power than when the verse appeared before (42:11). The dialogue of longing bears fruit with the gift of inner assurance and even quiet joy. This inner transformation happens independently of external circumstances, even while he prays for change in those circumstances.

The lesson I take in this is that if we converse honestly with our Lord, he will, even before our outward circumstances change, give us inner encouragement and strength to persist until the outcome he has in mind is fulfilled. I love the term blogger Kim Heinecke of Edmond, Oklahoma, has adopted: deliberate hope. That’s what earnest dialogue with the Lord brings within us.

Prayer:
Lord, I pray for … , who I know is struggling with a long-time problem. The resolution is visible, but seems very far away. Give … your encouragement. May your Holy Spirit prompt a conversation with you to bear fruit in hope. Through Christ. Amen.

Longing

Psalm 42

The consensus among Bible scholars seems to be that Psalms 42 and 43 are one composition. But for some reason they are in Scripture as Psalms in their own right so we will treat them as such.

In the dry season, the deer longs for flowing streams. That’s how the psalmist longs for God in the temple, an experience denied him due to a condition of exile. Note that he is not without God. He’s conversing with God (verse 8). But he longs for experience of God in the Temple. I would make this comparison: You play an musical instrument, you sing, just for the joy of it – in the shower maybe (well, not with your guitar, I hope). Or you sing to yourself when you’re out gardening. You pick up your oboe and play a Mozart melody. Or you’re pretty good at shooting hoops, or picking a top corner of hockey net with a tennis ball in the driveway. You can do this on your own.

But then you just long all the more to use that guitar in a band, to blend your voice with a couple of others in a vocal team, to sit down with your oboe in a chamber ensemble – and to experience the merging of the love of music, on the part of individuals, into a unified sound – all the more glorious in its unity for the variety within it. There’s something even mystic about it; on rare occasions you become like one in mind and spirit as you no longer play the music, but rather the music plays you, or through you: an appropriate and fitting use of the word medium.

Or you take that love of the feel of the hard surface of the basketball briefly touching and releasing as it presses into your hand, the roll of the ball off your fingers; and you add to that the sound of the ball on the gym floor, the squeak of your shoes joining others, the sweat building, the back and forth, the reaching for rebounds …. so much more than shooting hoops in your driveway.

Or you take that hockey stick and your bag and … well, you get the idea.

The Psalmist knows God. But he longs for something more than picking or singing or pressing his lips to that double-reed on his own. He longs to merge his voice and heart in a setting where God has been experienced as meeting and joining people together as one in him. But it’s about so much more, or less, than just looking for an experience, or “The Feeling,” as some call it. It’s not about what you get, but what you bring. That’s what so much worship strategizing misses: Everyone longs to give what they have to give. Most of us are tired of the whole ‘getting’ thing, I think, whether we consciously identify it or not. We sense that our real dignity is in giving, in offering, in losing ourselves in some way. Our worship needs to work to give people the opportunity to do that.

Maybe a part of the problem is that a lot of us who are already Christians have lost the longing. That’s sad. But I say all this by way of confession. When I read the following recently, it convicted me:

“Did it ever strike you odd that in contemporary Christian jargon, it’s the pre-Christians who are called seekers? Where does that leave the Christians? Shouldn’t Christian leaders be the lead seekers?” - Brian D. McLaren, in Adventures in Missing the Point, by Brian D. McLaren and Tony Campolo

Prayer:
God, I acknowledge with humility and relief that our knowing of each other is not an equal matter. Forgive me when I forget that. Every week I read about you, I study you, I analyze you, but I don’t know you at all, except as you choose to reveal yourself to me, through conversation that you allow. But whatever you choose to reveal is more than enough for me. And so I go on both knowing you and longing for you. In this is life. Through Christ. Amen.

In Big Letters

Galatians 6:11-18

Paul writes this last part in his own writing and with big letters, like he's saying, get this. We’ll conclude our walk through this letter by focusing on what Paul says counts: “What counts is a new creation” (verse 15b). What does not count? “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mean anything” (verse 15a).

The new creation in Christ is a personal experience, but it is not an individual experience, at least not only an individual experience; it belongs to, is experienced in, and lived out in, a community of faith. So variety of humanity is wonderful; divisive distinctions are intolerable. The circumcision controversy was not about just one ritual among many, a tradition as other traditions can be difficult to leave behind.. This was a particular matter of identity. But the new identity is with Christ. Along with identity goes commitment in love and service to others.

I’m in a church that has, in the past, been big on tradition and not so much on personal encounter. It has been good, in more recent times, to have an emphasis on the latter. But we should not be absorbed in an individualistic approach to faith – as some songs get caught up in - as if it’s just about “me and Jesus” and the rest of the world can go where it’s going.

God’s fervent desire is for all to be saved. The witness together of the faith community, focusing on Christ alone as its head, can and will bring real hope to all with ears to hear and eyes to see.

Prayer:
Thanks, God, for this honest outpouring of Paul to people he loved but was not happy with. Let your church today speak the truth in love, wherever needed. For Christ’s sake. Amen.

Next in Open Journal: We'll continue the Psalms, with Book II.

The Practice Field

Galatians 6:1-10

Paul’s urging to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (verse 10) is not so much a ‘charity begins at home’ kind of thing, as an antidote to the dynamics of competition that can and do happen in the family of believers. The emphasis is on doing good to all. We need to keep in mind that in the background is a churning power and control struggle, and, specifically, the controversy over the attempted imposition of certain rituals. Genuine caring for one another is a sign of faith life that is a free and joyful response to God’s grace in Christ, rather than a matter of adhering to rituals, or getting one’s way. The faith community has to get that right, or the mission to do good to all is jeopardized before it begins. We also take the context seriously if we see the last bit of advice as being connected to the concern about restoring one another in the faith community with gentleness and caring (verse 1). That is, at the time of writing, evidently, a pressing issue, and a very practical and important example of what it means to do good within the family of believers.

Prayer:
Wonderful God, of all the things that can wear me down, it is good to know that I can never be worn down by doing good. Thanks. Through Jesus. Amen.

Choose

Galatians 5:16-26

You have been called to be free, Paul has just been saying. There is a picture of what that freedom looks like. It’s called service, to God and other people.

Now Paul gets to the power behind that freedom and service: the Holy Spirit.

This power is not an “it” but “he”. This power is so personal, so powerful. he has an enemy. That’s what happens when you are on to something that is really of God: you attract opposition, resentment, jealousy. Paul calls the enemy ‘the flesh’ – variously translated also as sinful nature, selfishness, selfish desires. It is just the world’s usual standard and way of doing things (flesh > physical > of the world). It can seem innocuous, even good. But the way of the Spirit and the way of the world are so opposed, that if we live only according to the physical nature, the outcome is not just less than what it could be, but rather it is actually and actively opposed to God’s purposes. That leads to the list of unsavoury things (verse 19-21) that are the ultimate fruit of this approach to life.

My take? This calls for daily immersion in the Spirit. We are so easily caught up in the standards of the everyday. We need to be aware that there is a daily battle going on over our loyalty. The Spirit and the ‘flesh’ are not components of human nature, but they are cosmic realities that use human lives as their battleground, and seek us as their trophies. The question is – for the church as for individuals – are we going to live according to the Spirit, and be fully open to his engaging, dynamic, impossible-to-fail power; or are we going to base our decisions, direction, and lines of authority according to the ‘realities’ of the ‘real’ world – a world which, in case you didn’t notice, is passing away.

What will you choose? What will you choose, church?

Prayer:
Purify my mind, heart and spirit in your Holy Spirit, Lord. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Free to Serve

Galatians 5:7-15

Back when we went through Exodus in Open Journal, we found that when God directed Moses to speak to Pharaoh, the Lord said,

"Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me" (Exodus 9:1). Other versions say, “… that they may serve me.” I guess we catch the double meaning when we talk about the worship service, or serving God by worshiping God in our lives.

The connection here is really important, and runs against the grain of the way much of the world thinks and operates. Freedom is connected with service, particularly serving/worshiping God and serving others. This runs naturally into Paul’s quotation in verse 14 of our present passage.

Freedom is not, as it seems some thought, liberty to act without responsibility, but to have a direction in life that is focused on the Lord, since he knows what is best for us, and works for our true fulfillment in the life that he has loaned us to share with others.

I’m going to make a point of serving someone today in some intentional way, and experience the freedom of God.

Prayer:
Lord, give me discernment to see, and the love to act on, someone’s need today, not just so I can experience the freedom that is connected with service, but so that they ultimately will find that freedom as well. Through Christ. Amen.

Knit It But Then Live It

Galatians 5:1-6

It is good to be reminded at this point that the Law certainly has its role. Christians revere the 10 Commandments as God’s certain will for us (not the 10 Suggestions). The danger of the law is as a means of salvation. The Law can’t save. And the more precise point here is that any rite that would lead to a religion based on law is to be shunned. But now there is a new, positively expressed note in this theme: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). This is the freedom Christians have been set free for (verse 1). In other words, because of Christ, we do freely what the law would have compelled us to do! Jesus himself said the greatest command – the sum of the law and the prophets - is to love God above all and my neighbour as myself (Matthew 22:34-40). The “new command” John records is to love one another (John 13:34-35). The gracious effect of following love as a command is that we keep loving with sacrificial love, putting others ahead of ourselves, even when we don’t feel like it. In fact it is all the more love then. So much for love as mere emotion or sentiment. The worst thing that could happen with verse 6 is for it to be put into needlepoint (speaking for myself, of course, with apologies to all the crafty types!).

Prayer:
Lord, let my faith be expressed in love that puts others first. Through Christ. Amen.

Love and Leadership

Galatians 4:21-31

Paul's analysis from history serves as background to a pressing leadership issue at Galatia: what to do about those who insisted on ritual under the law for all Christians?

His history lesson draws puts the natural birth of Ishmael to the slave woman, Hagar, in association with Mount Sinai (where the law was given) and the earthly Jerusalem. On the other hand is Isaac, born by the promise of God to Sarah in old age. He is associated with the Jerusalem “that is above” (see Revelation 21:1-2). The implication is that those who align themselves with the new covenant of promise are both free and part of the larger family of God. The Sinai/earthly Jerusalem tradition is connected with one people; the heavenly Jerusalem with all those who trust in Jesus on the basis of grace.

All this is background Paul sets out as he deals with a leadership issue: what to do with those who are taking away from the purity of the Gospel and its inclusiveness in the local setting? The painful conclusion is that it is better for them to be put out of the church than contaminate the whole. That’s the point of the reference in verse 30. It should be clear, however, that the contamination is in their thinking, not in their persons. This may be one of the first instances where church leadership had to act in a difficult way in recognition that members of the church are to be held accountable for their beliefs and place and conduct in the Body of Christ. In our marketing-oriented world, it is good to remember that church members are just that: members, not customers. We love and serve one another and our Lord as servants of God – first God - and one another.

Prayer:
Lord, let us serve one another in your church on the basis you provide: on the basis of love. We may find Paul’s thinking odd at times, Lord, but we thank you for his example in seeking a Biblical basis in all things. Let us be diligent in shaping life and practice according to Scripture and not the other way around. Through Christ. Amen.

Will Return

In case anyone is wondering, posts to Open Journal will return next week.
JK

A Pastor's Motive

Galatians 4:12-20

Paul recalls how his first visit to Galatia had been due to a physical illness that had come on him. It is not clear that this is the same as the “thorn in the flesh” referred to in 2 Corinthians 12:7, although it could be. Apparently, whatever it was, it had the potential to be off-putting to the Galatians; either as unsightly or infectious. Still, they welcomed him as a messenger from heaven.

What has happened to that spirit of welcome toward him, Paul wants to know. The answer to that may come within the warning that follows. Paul goes on to warn them against the designs of those who are seeking to influence them, and who already have (verses 17-18). The suggestion is that they are more interested in adding to their sphere of influence than they are in the well-being of the Galatians.

He asks if he must go through something like childbirth in order to renew their life relying only on the grace of God in Christ. The comment about wishing he could be with them and change his tone reveals something of the extent of Paul’s exasperation. But I don’t get that this is personal in the sense of offense at his time and energy with them having to be repeated and doubled in order to get them back to where there were. No, it is clearly a concern for their own well-being in holding to a true path in Christ, and that, as shepherd-pastor, he is watching out for danger to the spiritual well-being of this flock.

Prayer:
God, preserve my leadership from being about making what I do – or any of us do - bear fruit so we see the results of our labours, and be all about faithfulness in our walk together in Way who is Christ. Amen.

What Manner of Friends

Galatians 4:1-11

It’s a little gutsy to ask someone to be your friend. It was gutsy in the schoolyard, and it’s gutsy on Facebook. Paul is celebrating that God sought to expand his friends list, reach beyond Israel. God took the initiative.

The Jewish community lived under a Law that could not be fulfilled. The rest of the world has lived under the equivalent of the Law for them: elemental spirits, the movement of the stars, self-actualization – whatever way of organizing life and priorities that has been consciously or unconsciously assumed.

God offers to take all from a state of inevitable frustration – from slavery – to being his children. He is God, after all, while we are not. In relation to him we become children (John 1:12), not buddies. Still, Jesus, in fellowship with his disciples, said he would call them ‘friends’ because he was sharing his plans with them (John 15:15).

I think the sum of Biblical teaching in this area is that we get to call God ‘abba’ (Dad), because his action through his Son and the Holy Spirit is that we have the opportunity to be the adopted sisters and brothers of his Son (who is his ‘one and only’ or ‘only begotten’ Son depending on the translation of John 3:16).

However we understand these things, I think it must hurt God when we reject or ignore him.

Question: How do you understand John 1:12 and the ‘one and only’ of John 3:16 to relate to each other?

Prayer:
God, I accept your invitation. Thank you that I am your child through Christ my brother, who is yet my master. Amen.

Promise and Law

Galatians 3:15-29

Paul argues that the promise to Abraham is prior to the Law. In the context of the writing of this letter, this is especially important in providing for inclusiveness for those who have not lived under the Law as a way of life. The promise to Abraham is fulfilled in Christ, Paul argues, so that all those who follow Christ are the true children of Abraham.

What function, then is there for the Law? Paul points out that the Law serves to point to the Gospel in that we realize our need for the grace of the Gospel through our inability to fulfill the Law. There is a more ‘positive’ function for the Law (although it is not expressed so much at this point in the letter) in that the Law certainly does express God’s will and command. It is hardly to be shoved aside! As God’s will and command it expresses what life lived under the Promise of God looks like.

Prayer:
God, thank you for sure direction, and for making clear to us that there is right and wrong in this world. We do find, though, Lord, that in specific situations what is right is not always clear. At such times help us to spend even more time with you in prayer, seek the counsel of trusted Christian friends, read and re-read your Word, and trust that the answers will come. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Uncomplicated

Galatians 3:6-14

Christianity began as a sect of Judaism. Jesus was a Jew. The disciples were Jews. The roots of the faith are in Judaism. Christ’s coming was foretold as part of Jewish prophecy. Controversy began when non-Jews were welcomed into the sect. This was the first big church conflict: Can non-Jews be Christians? How did it get flipped around so that now it is more likely today for it to be considered odd for a Jew to be a Christian? Some scholars say the big turning point was at the end of the first century, when a school of rabbis effectively excommunicated the Christians from Judaism. Christianity was in a way a reform movement that grew out of its original context. Consider, then, what history calls The Reformation. The “Reformers” (do we forget what that word means – the intent of Luther et al was not a new church, but a reformed one?) attempted to change the existing church and ended up ‘starting’ the Protestant church.

History repeats. How many instances do you know of (there is an example here locally) where there is an attempt to bring something new and vibrant within the existing church, but the church as it is can’t handle it, so a ‘new’ church is the result? The good side is that the mosaic of the Body of Christ increases so that there is increased opportunity for people to know Jesus and grow in him. The down side is that something of the unity of our adventure for the kingdom together is lost.

Paul’s dream – and what everyone seemed to have started with – was that all could be part of this new venture. Jews could be Jews and keep whatever practices were important to them. Gentiles would not be obliged to be part of that. Jews would not be offended at that. Gentiles would not be offended at what Jews felt important for them. The power of the Spirit initially overcame all class and ethnic distinctions.

The part of Paul’s letter to the Galatians we are at addresses the question of the role of the Law given to Moses in the church as it began, given that the church included people without the background that included the Law (an instructive question for a church, and especially preachers, attempting to communicate with people with no background in any of this!). Paul reasons that God considered Abraham righteous by faith (Genesis 15:4-6). Abraham’s family are those who also follow the Lord through faith, and not by heritage or by following the Law, which is impossible to do completely anyway. The Law is even a ‘curse’ if considered the means of salvation, since it is impossible for anyone to fulfill.

Next (Galatians 3:15-29): So what role does the biblical Law have?’

Prayer:
What a wonderful plan you have for us, Lord! Why do we work so hard at making complicated what you have made so simple? Help me un-complicate my life; help people in high places un-complicate their lives; and let us live in the simplicity of trusting you. Through Christ. Amen.

Receive the Spirit

Galatians 3:1-5

Here Paul turns to (on?) the people, not just certain leaders. He holds the entire community accountable. Why? Why not just say, “This is a leadership problem.” In a way it is. It is a problem for Paul as their leader, since he cares about them, so he’s addressing the problem in the hearts and lives of the people. So, to get back to the question I started with, he holds the people accountable because it is the people who received the Spirit! The Spirit, in Old Testament times, is described sometimes as coming to certain people for certain purposes, but even then God was pointing people to something different (see Joel 2:28-29). At Pentecost, the Spirit did not come just to Peter, but to all the assembled disciples. The Spirit today should not be understood as coming to the pastor, elders, staff, congregational power-brokers, or whoever, who then have the responsibility of sharing the life of the church outwardly to the rest. No, no, no. The Spirit, the personal power of the age-to-come-made-present, is a gift bestowed upon the whole people who will receive him, with various gifts to the people who are to then be the ministers of Christ. Those of us who lead? We should always be aiming to be as transparent as possible, do nothing that someone else can do, always put others forward where possible. We steer the overall direction of the ship and endeavour to stay on a Christ-centered course; and empower others, meaning not that we have any power to give, but rather let people realize the power that is bestowed on them - answering our call so that (as our church says in the preamble to ordination of elders/ministers) “the church may be renewed and nurtured for ministry” (emphasis mine).

Prayer:
Lord, I pray for a new bestowal of your Holy Spirit on your people, that we would receive him, that we would be so overwhelmed by his power awakening your new age and your new order of things, that we would put behind us all notions, categories, practices and habits that belong to the old age and the ways of the world that we ought to know better than to cling to. Through Jesus. Amen.

No Advantage

Galatians 2:11-21

I have been part of the church as long as I have lived. I went to Sunday School, youth group, played in the band for a youth musical that toured around Ontario, studied, and studied, and studied, for ordained ministry, having attained the requisite bachelor’s degree (in music, since I thought I was going to be a music teacher until I got that God had other plans), I have served on countless committees, commissions, investigative teams, as convener of this and that, as Clerk of one Presbytery, and as Moderator of another, been interim-moderator for other churches I don’t know how many times, and I’ve been to five Presbyterian Church General Assemblies (that’s got to count for something!). I might say I’ve done a lot for God.

So let’s say someone comes along who has done nothing for God, or anyone. Not even thought about it. Lived entirely for himself. Until one day he looks deep into his emptiness, gets tired of dead-end everything. Accidentally, he listens to a Christian radio station and hears Chris Tomlin singing his version of Amazing Grace, and he’s convicted, done for, zapped, slain, dead and awakened all at once. Somehow he remembers some guy in a suit at a funeral for a friend say to get Jesus and a whole new indestructible worthwhile forever life, all you have to do is tell him you believe in him and you want him to take over. So he does. And this is pretty heavy for him because he knows he’s done some bad stuff, done and dealt some drugs, maybe, OK certainly, responsible for a death or more, who knows. He’s lived a side of life most people only get a glimpse of without even knowing what they’re seeing.

Who has the advantage before God, him or me?

Yes, it’s a trick question. The answer is neither. Well maybe him in a way because he may have, after all this, a more vibrant, personally shared faith than me.

How can there be any advantage, any distinction, any anything between us before the Jesus who went through what he went through for your sake and mine, and all of us together? How dare I even contemplate the question? There is one thing necessary for life. When was I saved? When was this guy saved? Over 2,000 years ago. We just have to claim it. Paul is careful always to talk about grace through faith, not because of faith or on account of faith because not even our faith is any kind of accomplishment.

I don’t know if anyone really understands what got into Peter, but somehow these visitors from Jerusalem got him off getting all of that. The richness of his heritage was really rich, really great, but was no advantage. It was even an obstacle if anyone thought of it that way, or required it in any way of anyone. There can be no thought of any advantage or anything that even seems like it.

One thing is necessary. Thank God.

Prayer:
Thank you, God, that you are not fair as we would understand that. Through Christ. Amen.

no one size for all

Galatians 2:1-10

Here is an example of good conflict. I mean it was good in that the approach that prevailed out of it was that one could follow certain former practices, such as circumcision, or not. But, as observed in this forum before, no such practice should be considered necessary. Paul was concerned to have the support of the Jerusalem ‘pillar’ Christians for his focus on Gentiles. One would suspect he would have been undeterred anyway. This is because of the one power and authority in whom all distinctions fall away – except for the distinctions that just make for a variety of humanity. Even more, the solution meant that leaders were mandated to go to those they were most likely to be able to connect with.

Prayer:
Lord, may we acknowledge and work with our differences as strengths. As a community of faith, each of us who is part of that community can do our part to touch a life in the unique way we were conceived in the mind of God, born, nurtured, and encouraged to do so. In Christ. Amen.

Credibility Factor

Galatians 1:11-24

With his apostleship under attack, Paul relates the revelation to him of the Gospel in all its power. He does not claim any knowledge that no one else has. A testimony would be egocentric if it claimed some sort of special knowledge. Paul makes no such claim. That would have made him a cult leader. What he has had is a special experience of the person, truth and power who is Jesus Christ.

There is no boasting here except for the power of Christ himself (compare 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). It is fitting and important to share this experience as an example of the power of the Gospel to change lives.

Prayer:
Lord, is my speech made suspect by who is speaking? May what I say point to the Truth who is beyond me, and be made credible by that same Truth acting in me. Through Christ himself. Amen.

Whom to Please

Galatians 1:8-10

The issue going on behind the scenes here was that some were insisting that you had to be a Jew to be a Christian. Of course one can be, the problem comes in insisting on any sort of rites as being necessary. Our church doesn’t even hold baptism to be necessary for salvation, just what it represents. One should be baptized upon coming to faith, but that’s another post or more.

The parallel concern here is one of authority in the church. There is one authority – “Christ our only King and head”, as my church acknowledges. But would an observer really get that? Do those of us in the thick of things really get that? It means the Gospel of Christ, not just about Christ, has its own authority, its own power, its own direction. We strategize and analyze and market and target – which is fine and good and it may help us zero in on real situations and real human needs and how to communicate with those who desperately need the liberation of that Gospel’s power in their/our bondage to this dying order of things – but sometimes it seems as if God is required to act through the filter of our strategies.

Meanwhile, authority is a huge issue in the church. What to do and how and who has the say about it all is an ongoing, often perplexing, dynamic. We bring more human baggage to that process than we ever perceive, even though it’s easy enough to perceive a lot of it. Somehow, amazingly but not so amazingly when you consider what power is at work, God gets enough of a piece of our hearts and minds enough of the time that we go forward – as long as we keep reminding ourselves and one another that our goal is to please God. And one with particular responsibility for proclaiming the Gospel lives under the impending curse that will most certainly fall on him (verses 8-9) if he fails to be faithful to the task.

Prayer:
Lord, keep me true to the one authority I need be concerned with. Through the grace of Christ. Amen.

responding

Galatians 1:1-7

There is blunt message in the salutation. Every other letter of Paul has, within the opening greeting, words of commendation to the people to whom he is writing. Not here. He is ticked. The reason is to be found in verses 6-7. There are those in the Galatian churches who have abandoned the teaching Paul brought them, and have challenged his authority as an apostle.

Although the attack on him is personal, the issue Paul confronts them with concerns the essence of the Gospel message. They have, as we shall see in the letter, watered down the grace of the Gospel, in favour of reliance on various works. Their attack on his apostleship is just part of that. Paul is ticked because they are missing the point of the Gospel. When they discredit him, they discredit the message he brings. A person was only considered an apostle if they had direct experience of the risen Lord. He had such experience (see Acts 9).

It is by Christ’s sacrifice alone, not by human works, that anyone can experience the power and blessing of the Gospel. The benefit is to be delivered from the power of an order of things that is not of the Lord (verse 4). So Paul desires that the Galatians would experience for themselves the ‘grace’ (the means) and ‘peace’ (eternal blessedness experienced in the present) that the true Gospel brings.

Prayer:
Lord God, it is so easy to slip into old patterns. I don’t need to look to others for examples of that. The message of salvation is so simple that it is hard to believe it is so simple – simple but not easy, because it is hard to accept what is totally a gift: where are the strings? I want to see myself in things that work, and my part in it. Thank you that you give us more than enough to do by way of joyful response. Life is full, responding. Thank you. Through Christ. Amen.

Spiritual Economics 101

Psalm 41

We easily could look back on this psalm from a couple of New Testament vantage points. One is a part of the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount, to which the opening verses of Psalm 41 are similar ...

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
- Matthew 5:7

The other is Jesus’ comment, recorded in John 13:18, “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'”

These two references highlight for me that it is a special witness to God’s grace when his people can be merciful when they are not experiencing such treatment themselves. It is great to be kind-hearted when things are going well. I rarely snap at anyone when I’m feeling things are good. The unredeemed part of me comes more into play when I’m feeling put upon in some way. They I need God’s special grace.

I’m going to take a break from the Psalms at this point, as we have reached the end of Book I. For an article on the Psalms that includes discussion of their arrangement into ‘books’ (under heading, “Collection, Arrangement and Date”), go to
http://www.ibs.org/niv/studybible/psalms.php

Next: The Letter to the Galatians

Prayer:
Lord, this psalm reminds me how much I need daily infusions of your own mercy – and discipline - that I would be merciful to others. Thank you for the honesty of these psalms, and for the vitality of your Word reaching into everyday life and living. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

He works in the tension

Psalm 40

There is tension in this psalm that it is not necessary to explain by saying it is actually two different psalms put together. That’s what some say. The power of the psalm comes from that very tension, and the completeness of the psalm as one outpouring is shown in the return at the end to the plea of the beginning.

What is the tension? There is praise of God, expressing confidence in him, but the psalmist also pleads for help, even vindication (14). It’s my situation: celebrating faith and trust in God even while I need assurance of his presence and help. The vindication is as much that the God will be shown to be in charge as much as it has a motive of self-interest. It is so that the faithfulness of God to those who trust in him will be evident. And this time – unlike some other times when we’ve read of plea to destroy enemies – he asks that enemies be put to shame and confusion, turned back. That leaves in play the possibility that they would be included in the prayer of verse 16. OK, there’s nothing that exactly points to that, but it seems to me that to include the possibility is in the spirit of humility in the concluding verse.

We use the word “inclusive” sometimes as if we invented the concern it represents. Meanwhile, it is hard for us – OK, me – sometimes to get my mind and heart around the fact that God really wants me to be part of his concern to offer rescue from destruction to everyone.

Prayer:
Lord, I celebrate that you do not approach invitations as we people do: thinking who is useful to us, considering whom it is in our interest to please, and who has done something for us lately. Let your Spirit bring expansiveness to my view of my fellow humanity, as I too am poor and needy. In Christ. Amen.

Not from Within

Psalm 39

This psalm sounds rather bleak. At the end there is no apparent revelation of light and hope. As with the previous Psalm, it is in the context of illness and oppression from enemies. The concluding verse asks God to turn away from him, because he senses the Lord’s punishment. That’s because, again as with the previous psalm, the writer acknowledges his own role in what has come on him.

The irony here is that what may seem to be lacking is actually a sign of how deep the Psalmist’s trust in God is. The part that might seem lacking to us is a belief in an experience of God beyond this present life. How much of our expression of faith – from a New Testament perspective, that is – is grounded in our belief in the Resurrection? Paul the Apostle bases pretty much everything on this! Think about this: the psalmist is lacking in that aspect of faith Christians would consider the ground of everything, and yet he trusts in God, with the same trust as his ancestors – in the Lord who journeys with those who look to him.

When you first read this Psalm, you might wonder what is of hope, because the psalmist’s background is not the same as ours. But hope does not come from what we bring. Hope comes only from the Lord, not from anything within us. That’s why it is real hope, and not mere optimism.

Prayer:
God of surprises, I am so relieved and grateful that the hope you give me does not depend on anything in me – except a willingness to receive, and even that comes from you. Your grace is total. What a God you are! Through Christ I pray. Amen.

What's at Stake

Psalm 38

David here acknowledges his own role in what has come on him (verses 1-4), but the withdrawal of his friends and the opportunism of his enemies goes beyond what might be considered deserved. He realizes, because his situation is so overwhelming, that his only hope is in God. So really his predicament is no different than that of you or I, or anyone.

At one level of the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), humanity is the child who wanted to go his/her own way. God is the loving Father out on the road watching for us to turn to him in the depth of our need. He and all of heaven (Luke 15:7) celebrate when one comes to him. Those already belonging to him would only celebrate, too, and not resent it like the older brother in the parable.

Here’s the thing: There is no hope without him; there is all hope with him. Psalm 107 celebrates that whatever predicament or wretchedness we get ourselves into, God is ready to deliver us at one cry from us.

Why is that churches with a large proportion of new Christians are so vibrant? Because their memory of the change is recent and alive for them. We all need to recapture some of that: the sense that all hope is found in God and there is – as the psalmist found in our current reading – there is no other way. Without him we are all “feeble and utterly crushed” (verse 8). Does God hold this over us? No. Does he say, “I told you so”? No. He does come quickly (verse 22) and then celebrates. Our worship is a reverberation of God’s – and heaven’s – own celebration.

Prayer:
O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.
Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior.
– Psalm 38:21-22

Fretless Instrument

Psalm 37

It is pointed out that this psalm is not so much a psalm – in the sense of other psalms – but a collection of wisdom sayings, or proverbs. From a literary standpoint, the thoughts of the psalm are loosely connected, because of the nature of the poem’s formation – verses beginning with subsequent letters of the alphabet.

The general theme seems to be encouragement for the ‘godly’ who suffer because of their faith. What strikes me most powerfully comes in verses 14-15, observing that any plot against the godly (are we to assume in godly endeavours?) carries within it the seed of its own destruction. This in itself is helpful in following the instruction the psalm starts with, not to fret over evildoers, since such a preoccupation can damage your spiritual well-being. There are just better things to focus on, after all. And don’t you start to take on the qualities of that you dwell on, or I might say, get obsessed with?

Prayer:
Lord, remind me that I am made in your image, as part of a community of those who strive to be like you. When I am tempted to dwell on something I perceive as ill-motivated or even mean, turn my head and my heart back to your Son. If anyone had a reason to dwell on injustice against him, well, it sure could have been him, but he just kept turning to you, spending time with you, focusing on your will and your purpose. After the manner of his praying for those who would come after him, I pray that I may be one with him, as he showed himself to be with you. Through Christ I pray. Amen.

Lost: The Continuing Series

Psalm 36

An ‘oracle in the heart’ (verse 1) sounds painful. It is spiritually so, because of the poet’s sensitivity to the lost life of the “wicked.” I say “lost” not as a synonym for “wicked”, but rather noting the poet’s observation that the person whose state he laments has ceased to be wise and good, implying that something has indeed been lost.

The contrast given to such a life is not some exemplary human life, but the Lord himself, whose love and faithfulness he describes in the most expansive terms he can.

Given the beauty, power and hope with which the section on the Lord is drenched, and given that “the wicked” person who has caused the poet distress apparently has not always been so, I don’t think we can get away with just saying “Isn’t that too bad,” when we read the very last verse:

See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

It can be taken as a warning, certainly, but should we not also take it as a challenge, an opportunity to witness just how powerful God's love is? I would take it as a challenge to any sort of, “I’m good with the Lord; isn’t it a shame about those other people” mindset. Yes, praise the Lord, the Lord will continue in his love to those who know him (verse 10), but should not the vastness of the Lord’s love and faithfulness – toward the “high and low among men” (verse 7) and even the beasts! (verse 6) - mean there is hope for anyone?

I believe the community of faith should take the concluding verse of this psalm not as a conclusion, but as a starting point, for which the previous eleven verses lay the groundwork.

Prayer (paraphrase of Romans 15:13):
God of hope, fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in you, so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Britney Too

Psalm 35

Well at least he is looking for God to make a difference in real life. Yes, I know he’s on this enemy kick again, but that’s what he had to deal with. For you and me it might – I hope – be something different.

What’s also very real about this for me is that he is really up and down in his connection with the Lord. He gets kind of in a praise sort of groove in verses 9 and 10, not only looking to God to make a difference in his life and circumstances, but relating to others and their needs. This is good.

Then, wham, he’s right back with being what you might find kind of ‘negative’ and going on about all who oppress him. I guest that's why this is called a lament. But he is, after all, taking it to the Lord. And isn’t it just the way, that you think you are on track, spiritually or otherwise, and then you find it doesn’t take much to ruin your nice thoughts and good intentions. Or am I the only one.

So good for him to persist, and he does end up sharing in praise. When someone is praising God, you don’t question what got them to that point. Maybe it wasn’t all that noble, in our judgment. When a 12 year old hockey player give thanks as part of table grace that he dished out some good hits in the game that day, I’ll take it. At least he talking to God. If he persists in the conversation, God will know what to do with him. Let’s, like the Psalmist, just keep talking.

Prayer:
God, thank you for listening to me. You are never bored, never too tired, and amazingly are not deterred from listening to me even while you are crying God-tears over Kenya, Gaza, and Britney Spears. Yes you love her too. And me. Through Christ. Amen.

Taste and See

Psalm 34

What is the connection between instruction in the faith, and personal experience? Here the poet commends the ways of the Lord to his community of faith, as a consequence of his experience. Teaching that arises from real experience is going to more compelling than expounding of doctrine.

But how do we keep teaching that comes from experience from being too subjective? I mean, do we not hold to certain truths that are absolute, or, with every new sharing of personal experience, we could be “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14).

I think part of the answer to this could be explained in familiar modern terms: the greater the sample the more accurate the result. With some notable exceptions, say, the Law given to Moses and the Revelation given directly to John, the teaching in the Bible arises from personal experience in which a people gain understanding of the God who has been dealing with them. It is this record against which we compare and validate personal experience. The Bible’s teaching on God’s redemptive (purchase from slavery) purpose comes from the experience of a people being delivered from slavery, and then from experience of the Risen Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. In other words, even our doctrine will be more alive to us if we understand it to have arisen from the experience of people with God in their midst. Even a direct revelation like the Ten Commandments came in the context of journey.

Worship in this psalm celebrates in Spirit what is understood about the Lord as a consequence of experience shared in faithful fellowship:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good” (verse 8a).

Prayer:
God, thank you that seeing is not believing. Who of us could see, truly see, without believing? With you, tasting is believing. Through Christ. Amen.

Creation Now

Psalm 33

This is one of a number of psalms that bring together the work of God in creation (verses 6-9) and active in history (starting at verse 10) through his Word. Creation was made good, complete. Creation is dynamic, but everything necessary was provided.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. - Genesis 1:38a

Creation is complete. But the pattern of creation is repeated daily in the lives of those who trust God. God’s Word in creation spoke into chaos and darkness and formed beauty, order, and room for life, not just to survive but to thrive. He can do that with us daily if we let him speak his creative Word into our life. Do I put him on the throne of my life daily? Do I let him address those chaotic and dark places in my heart and in my circumstances, or do I think “I can handle it,” or I might just rather complain about certain outward circumstances and use them as excuses for other things, or maybe it’s just easier to coast. That’s to invite further chaos. Better by far:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

And

I can do everything through him who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

1. Creation is complete.
2. God’s creative, redemptive work can be invited and experienced in our daily life.
3. And God’s creative work is at work in human history, the psalmist celebrates. That’s harder to see, because it is not complete. Are we on the verge of a world recession unlike anything we have experienced? Is there about to be as terrorism wildfire, as the Afghan president has warned? Are we already at a tipping point in the world’s climate? We are hardly to be complacent about those things any more than we are to say “whatever” to our personal circumstances. On the contrary, those and other problems will worsen as long as we as a race and as leaders among us see ourselves as gods unto ourselves. All world events are part of the chaos in which God’s eternal creative Word is presently active toward bringing about a new creation in its fullness, already begun with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With gracious, loving power, it is now growing toward its fulfillment in and through Christ’s Body in the world, the church. What form does that take? It starts very simply:

Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. – Matthew 18:19-20

What is the end of all this?

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
- Ephesians 1:9-10

Prayer:
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
- Psalm 51:10 The Message

Naked

Psalm 32

Forgiveness is the invention of God. Our sin grieves him. It disappoints him, but it does not turn him against us. So think what it must mean to him when we actually, willingly, turn to him, trust him, confide in him, even though he knows what we are going to say, what we must say, if we are to be truthful before him.

This Psalm is all about being truthful, before the one who knows what we must say anyway. It leads to a recognition that we are really only who we are when we stand honestly before God. That’s not just because he made us to begin with, but even more because he remakes us. He knows what we are to be, what he has in mind for us. Only he can shape us toward that vision – imagine: God has a vision for you – and we do our part by being spiritually naked before him.

Prayer:
God, I am so grateful that I can utterly trust you with my inmost being. I don’t have to be guarded, I don’t have to worry about what I share with you, because you know it all anyway, even better than I do. Help us move toward that kind of trusting honesty with one another. Through Christ. Amen.

A Sign of Relief

Psalm 31

He feels like a hunted animal, but for one thing: He has a retreat position that gives him a position of strength (verses 2-3), a refuge in the Lord. When he commends his spirit to the Lord, it is not a sign of resignation, but a sigh of relief, that whatever his battle, he is not on his own. Verse 5 is precious to many Christians because of the same words our Lord uttered on the cross. Even more are these words then not a sign of defeat, but of victory in the midst of circumstances that normally would be seen as defeat.

His prayer goes on (verses 9-13) to have the effect of alleviating the loneliness of his affliction (what can we not handle as long we know we are not alone?), and to see his situation more from God’s perspective (verses 14-24). That means his loneliness is turned to greater fellowship with God and his fellow worshippers, since he has had the freedom to give outward expression to his inner turmoil.

Prayer:
God, I let out now a long, slow breath that carries with it my burdens of the moment. With them I release to you whatever I call mine, including my very life, so that you can make it yours. Through Christ. Amen.

that my heart may sing to you

Psalm 30

There is an aspect of this psalm that is of critical importance for any worshiping community. The writer has had an important experience at the hand of the Lord – brought back from the brink of death, and from the added insult of having certain people rejoice in his demise. So he invites his fellow worshipers to join in his thanksgiving and praise. So what’s their answer? Sorry, we don’t have time to write it into the Powerpoint? Hardly. What is part of the community’s expression of universal truth begins as a very personal experience on the part of one of the members of the community. That’s worth pondering deeply. How does today’s worshiping community allow the Spirit to work through individual’s experience into and through the larger life?

My answer is, I think, it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long we find some way to let it happen. One way is to grow the opportunity for worship as part of small group experience – letting it happen at the church’s cellular level and growing it from there.

For the writer of the psalm, the very value of his continuing earthly existence was all about the opportunity to bear witness to the grace of God that he had experienced. That’s behind the striking argument he makes to the Lord that if he died now and went to the realm of the dead (this is before the revelation of praise in heaven), the Lord would be denied his praise! The argument is a sign of his sense of urgency, his sense of life-purpose in sharing what he had experienced of the Lord.

Prayer:
Lord, let the psalmist’s experience impress on us the importance of our personal experience as the basis for inspiring and encouraging others. The experience, the sharing, the building of community and larger witness – it’s all your doing; just let us provide the appropriate channels. Through Christ. Amen.