THE TRINITY OF REQUIREMENTS - A REFLECTION

 

This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on October 25, 2020

Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand, 

until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+In the Name of our creating God+

In last week’s reflection, we touched upon the Trinity of Requirements derived from the prophet Micah’s question, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness (mercy), and to walk humbly with your God?” [Micah 6:8].  While throughout much of history churches have placed meeting such requirements largely on individuals, the prophets of Israel and Judah were addressing the kingdoms and religious systems in which they lived or where they were sent. In last week’s reflection we moved the needle of responsibility from the usual emphasis on individuals to how this Trinity of Requirements is met by the local church with their limited means in terms of the Trinity of Stewardship (time, talents, and treasure).  

What does it mean to do justice and how is this accomplished by a small church?  What does it mean to love kindness and mercy? How is it played out?  What does it mean to walk humbly with our God and how do small congregations create such pathways?  

How do we move from the idealized to the realized?

Today’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew is good starting place to consider what both the Trinity of Requirements and the Trinity of Stewardship is premised on, which is loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds AND loving our neighbors as ourselves. As Jesus puts it, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”  Everything we do - absolutely everything - is to be rooted in this sense of loving God by loving what God loves. They are not separate laws.  They are interwoven.

DOING JUSTICE

When we love what God loves, justice comes easy and naturally.  The question is do we love what God loves?  

God starts minimally by saying to love our neighbors as oneself.  Do we possess enough healthy self love to see its connection with how we treat those around us?  Do we see where our interests coincide with the interests of others?   

Jesus expanded this sense loving one neighbors as oneself exponentially to include everyone and everything when he said, “Love your enemies.”  That statement, “Love your enemies” is the basis for justice; the love of the other we find ourselves struggling with, the love of that which demands some effort; in short, the love of all that God created.  

Justice is not merely a human issue, it’s a creation issue.  Do we have enough self-care and self-interest to see the connection between caring for our kind and the care of the creatures we share this planet home with?  

There can exist a false sense of security in areas that appear remote from the troubles often displayed in larger cities and more populated areas of the world. We can delude ourselves with a sense of false comfort by believing the social issues of homelessness, income inequality, race, and gender identity that frequently make headlines in the news are not significant problems in our community; that we’re just fine because no one is in our streets protesting or complaining about such things.   

Have we considered the possibility that the reason people of color in our community (Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans), people who are LGBTQI, the homeless, the jobless, and those scrambling to make ends meets are not complaining because they feel isolated, alone, and at greater risk in areas such as ours because they lack a community within our community that fully accepts and understands their situation?

It is easy to turn a blind eye to what we don’t want to see in our small communities.  Passive injustice is prevalent in all communities and it’s not hard to find it if we choose to see it.  No church is be able to fix these situations by itself, but any church committed to Christ cannot ignore them. Here are some basic questions for us to consider:  

Do the poor have place in our church beyond being welcome to sit in a pew on Sunday mornings? 

Are we willing to make an effort to understand and support people of color and the cultural diversity in our community?  

Are we willing to open our doors and support LGBTQI individuals in our church and in our community?  

Are we willing to divert some of our church’s time, talent (ministry), and treasure to meet the needs of these individual and their families in our community?

TO LOVE KINDNESS

To love kindness seems so easy and can sound rather platitudinous if we fail to appreciate the effort involved in being truly kind; to move beyond the facade of pleasant mannerisms and embrace the mercy implicit and necessary in creating a kinder world for ourselves and our posterity.  The words that come to mind when talking about this sense of kindness are forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.  

Perhaps now more than ever in recent history we are faced with a growing culture of intolerance and victimization on a global scale.  As a congregation bearing Christ’s name, are we determined to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who forgave sinners of every kind and make, who healed those sick in mind, body, and spirit, and who reconciled the outcast and those considered to be lost causes?  Are we willing to divert a meaningful portion of our church’s time, talent (ministry), and treasure to ensure that Jesus’ ministry of loving kindness flourishes in our community and in the world?

TO WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD

Walking humbly with God has been interpreted in these reflections as forging pathways to love God with our all our hearts, our souls, and our minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  

We cannot meet these requirement by ourselves. In addition to forging pathways to do so, we should seek pathways that are already being forged in our community; to join with those seeking to do justice and are fostering a community that is kinder.  

Humility is not about the pride of ownership but rather a desire to serve for the sake of serving others.  Which local organizations, which other churches within our community are doing justice and fostering kindness that could benefit from our assistance?  

God is a creative minimalist who seems to take delight in starting small, encouraging growth, and tending the garden of creation; nourishing it and cultivating it with love so that it grows and flourishes.  We are here to be a part of God’s creative minimalism; to start small, with what little we have, and to encourage new growth. Starting small begins with a conversation not about if we should do these things but how to do them.  

I know there are members of our congregation who are committed to the Trinity of Requirements; helping people in our community, packing lunches for children, helping feed the hungry, and who belong to various service organizations in our community. They reflect the goodness of God in their lives, but as church family could we do more together?  

* * * * * * * * * *

God of abundant mercy, look mercifully upon our small church family and small church families everywhere.  Instill in us the mind of Christ that we may, with one accord, do what is required of us with committed wills and loving hearts.  Help us reach out to those outside our church’s walls with the confidence of faith, an unwavering hope, and the strength of love for those in need of the same, that we, with them may walk humbly with you, to the glory of your Name.  Amen

* * * * * * * * * *

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

GIVE TO GOD WHAT IS GOD'S - A REFLECTION

 This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on October 18, 2020

Matthew 22:15-22

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+In the Name of our loving and life-giving God+

In today’s lesson, we have two opposing camps collaborating to set a trap to discredit Jesus based on the issue of whether, according to Judaic law, it was lawful to pay taxes imposed by the Roman emperor. The two camps were the Pharisees who saw paying taxes to the idol-worshiping Roman emperor as an affront to their sense of piety and the Herodians, loyalists to the Herodian dynasty, who served the interests of the Roman Empire.  If Jesus said Jews should pay taxes, he would be seen as a collaborator with the Romans.  If Jesus said they shouldn’t, he would have been considered a threat to the Herodian rulers and a rebel to the Romans.   In their collective minds they were presenting Jesus with a no-win situation, or so they thought.  

They should have known Jesus’s disinterest in the importance people placed on money; especially, after he overturned the money changer’s tables in the Temple’s precinct the day before this encounter. 

Jesus wasn’t anti-money.  After all, Jesus and his disciples kept a common (shared) purse.  Jesus basically ignores the Herodian position on taxes and addresses the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who asked the question. 

While the Pharisees saw paying taxes to the Roman emperor as an affront to their religious piety, they had no qualms about taking and using Roman currency.  Neither did that have any qualms about the sketchy money trading business taking place in the Temple precincts where Roman coins were traded for Temple currency because Roman currency was considered a defilement of the Temple’s sanctity. 

They should have seen it coming when Jesus asked to see a denarius, the lowest common coin used by everyone throughout the Roman Empire to conduct business and pay taxes.  

They should have seen it coming when they had this pagan coinage (this affront to their sense of piety) in their personal possession and presented a denarius when Jesus asked them to show him the coin used “for the tax.”  

In a well-executed pivot, Jesus once again turned the tables when he asked whose image was on the coin.  

They should have seen it coming when they answered, “the emperor’s” but they didn’t until Jesus said, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  Jesus took what was intended to be an “either/or” conundrum and turned it into a “both/and” solution. 

Money is something we humans created as tool to assign and measure the value of things and people.  In the eyes of God, the value of a person is not determined by the wealth a person has or doesn’t or the wealth a person can generate.  The Pharisees knew this when they said, “Teacher, we know that you… teach the way of God …and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”  

Indeed, the whole of God’s creation is not to be valued by the wealth it can produce for our use or the price tag we place on it, but rather its value is in the simple fact that God created it and the it reflects the glory of God.  

“Give to the emperor what is the emperor’s and give to God what is God.”   

While Jesus’ disinterest in money was made clear to both the Pharisees and the Herodians, what left them “amazed” was finding themselves in a conundrum; confronted with something much larger than the issue of the emperor’s tax.  They found themselves confronted with what God requires, but instead of wanting to hear more about that, they walked away.   

They knew that the emperor only wanted the coins stamped with his image on it to meet his requirements.  They also knew that God requires much, much more, which leaves us with the question:  

What does God require of us?   

The prophet Micah put it this way, “He (God) has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” [Micah 6:8].   This Trinity of Requirements was not in the forefront of the minds of those who questioned Jesus about paying taxes and, to this day, it is frequently placed on the back burner when any issue involving cost and the use of money is brought up.  All we have to do is consider the Covid Crisis the world is in to see the health of the economy being pitted against the health of individual people. 

“Giving to God what is God’s” on a personal level means giving our total selves to God.  Collectively, as humans living on this earth at this time, it means taking care of each other and what God has created out of thankfulness for the abundance of life.

We are entering into a time in the Church Year when we talk about The Trinity of Stewardship;  the giving of our time, talents, and treasure.  This stewardship trinity is largely focused on individuals committing some of their personal time, personal talents, and personal treasures to their church or denomination to help meet budgeted expenditures. These are all good and necessary pursuits in helping meet the needs of the Church throughout the world.  

Perhaps the biggest challenge, however, is not how this Trinity of Stewardship impacts our personal lives but how it challenges the religious institutions we support.  What is the Church’s responsibility to the Trinity of Stewardship?  How is it responding to the Trinity of Requirements?

Institutional church systems are necessarily good at pointing out the importance of individuals and families giving their time, talents, and treasure, but often without explaining how such systems, themselves, respond to the Trinity of Requirements.  Like the Trinity of Stewardship, the Trinity of Requirements is often presented as an individual’s responsibility. If we give some time, offer to do a few things around our local church or for our congregation, and some throw money in the plate, we can be led to believe we're good to go as far as what God requires of us.

What is less accentuated, particularly on the local church level, is how the Trinity of Stewardship is being met by our local churches and the level of commitment local churches give to the Trinity of Requirements:

How are churches using their time and treasure?

What are churches offering as talents (their ministries) in and to the communities they reside in?  

Are they directly aimed at promoting justice?  

Are they directly aimed at demonstrating and encouraging the practice of kindness?  

Are they directly aimed at forging pathways in which we and others can humbly walk with God in the beauty of God's creation?  

Many of the larger mainline denominations, including the Episcopal Church, are much better at focusing their overall ministries on justice, practicing kindness, and forging pathways to walk humbly with our God, but what about our local churches?  Where do they fit in?  Where does my church fit in?

It is not a matter whether individuals and families should support our local churches with their time, talents, and treasures. They should and they do.  It is a matter of having a vested interest in ensuring that what the Lord requires takes precedence in our church’s ministries and practices.  The Trinity of Stewardship and the Trinity of Requirements is not, and should not be solely aimed at individuals as much as it must be the aim of the churches they belong to.  

All of us know churches need money to keep the lights on, to pay its salaried and part-time staff, and fund its various ministries. All of us know we need to volunteer our time and offer our various skills and abilities to serve.  That’s been drilled into us from the first day of Sunday school, but that is only one side of the proverbial coin.  

Giving to God what is God’s is both a collective and personal responsibility and we should not separate the two.  It’s a “both/and” response to what the Lord requires.  In general, people have no problem getting involved in and giving to what is experienced and seen as beneficial and productive. It is when people experience the benefits of church life in their lives that they will find themselves saying with the psalmist,“What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows [to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God-nw] unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people” [Psalm 116].

* * * * * * * * * * 

God of peace, whose impartiality is made known in the abundance of your creation, strengthen our will to use our time, our talents, and our treasures to fulfill what is required of us.  Help us to do justice, instill in us the love of kindness, and guide us along the path of humility that we may ever walk with you by giving of ourselves to your service, through Christ our Lord.  Amen 

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

JOY AND PEACE, NO MATTER WHAT - A REFLECTION

 This reflection was written for the Sunday Devotion for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on October 11, 2020

Philippians 4:1-9

My brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+In the peace of Christ +

In a time of much divisiveness and tension in our nation and the world, it can be difficult to find something to be happy about; much less, something to rejoice over, but that is what Paul in his timeless letter to the Philippians is telling us to do.  Of course, Paul is not talking about being happy with the way things are but rather experiencing and expressing true joy, no matter what is taking place around us.  Joy and happiness, like fairness and equality discussed two Sunday’s ago, are not synonymous terms.  Just as most of us settle for what is fair, most of us settle for being periodically happy, but joy, like equality, raises our experiential expectations considerably.  

So much of what Jesus taught; so much of what the entirety of Scripture teaches is about depth perception, looking beyond and beneath the surface of all that entertains, glitters, and disturbs.  Unlike happiness, which is a temporary emotion that comes and goes depending on the situation one finds oneself in, joy is a state of being; something that resides in and radiates from the core of one’s being.  

Paul likens joy to gentleness.  Joy tempers the edges of our emotions by presenting an undisturbed and compassionate presence; a sense of trust that all will be well even when everything around one seems to be falling apart.  Joy is a gift few are aware of possessing, but like all God-given gifts, those who feel the joy of God radiate it.

Joyful people are prayerful people.  Prayerful in this sense doesn’t mean someone who is on their knees most of the day and night but rather, like joy,  prayerfulness becomes a way of being.  Joyful people, like people of prayer,  carry with them a sense of God’s nearness.  There is an attitude of thankfulness expressed in their activities; a joy in being and a joy in being able to serve others.  Their very actions and activities become acts of prayer in themselves.  

Yes, there are times when we need to set aside time and, like Jesus, to be still and intentional in presenting what is on our minds and in our hearts.  There are times when our thoughts run amok and we find ourselves worrying about things we can do little about.  At such times, it is good to let those worries take on the form of intentional prayer.  Prayer is a way to address what we can’t do on our own or struggle with doing.  Prayer opens us to the possibilities residing in the inevitabilities of this life and allows the gentleness of joy to permeate such moments.

One of the most familiar and intriguing statements in today’s lesson is Paul’s comment on the peace of God:  “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   

Peace, like the word love, takes on many meanings, but strictly speaking peace means the absence of that which disturbs or disrupts. The “peace of God” is unfathomable.  While it exceeds one’s ability to comprehend, it can be felt because the peace of God offers an equilibrium that defies definition.  The peace of God is in the category of what one might describe the “holy” irrational (to borrow the psychologist and mystic, Otto Rank’s understanding of the irrational as necessary to and for human existence).  

The closest expression of this sense of irrational equilibrium that comes to mind is found in Psalm 139: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me;’ even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” [vs. 11-12]

In these two verses from the psalm comes a sense of something much deeper than contentment.  They convey a sense of protection; a sense of being insulated from that which can disturb or disrupt our hearts and minds.   In spite of what we may experience on the surface of life, beyond and beneath such experiences there is a peace that runs deep; a peace that puts everything in the balanced perspective of God’s love. This peace is what we experience as the presence of Christ expressed in the prayerful invitation to pass peace in our lives, “The peace of Christ be with you always.”

Both the joy and peace of God, like the love of God, flows deeply in every human soul.  The peace of God is not affected by the the distractions that allure, disturb, and disrupt our lives.  Paul’s invitation to rejoice is a call to access the depth of our being and to present in daily living the gentle joy, the irrational peace, and the all embracing love of God.  

Amen.

* * * * * * * * * *

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm

THE COSMIC TORAH - A REFLECTION

 This reflection was written for the Sunday Devotion for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on October 4, 2020

Psalm 19

This version of  Psalm 19 is from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, 

       and the firmament shows his handiwork.

2 One day tells its tale to another, *

      and one night imparts knowledge to another.

3 Although they have no words or language, 

      and their voices are not heard,

4 Their sound has gone out into all lands, 

      and their message to the ends of the world.

5 In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; 

      it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;

      it rejoices like a champion to run its course.

6 It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens

      and runs about to the end of it again; 

      nothing is hidden from its burning heat.

7 The law of the Lord [The Torah of Yahweh/God] is perfect

      and revives the soul; 

      the testimony of the Lord is sure

      and gives wisdom to the innocent [simple].

8 The statutes [precepts (guidance)]of the Lord are just

      and rejoice the heart; 

      the commandment of the Lord is clear

      and gives light to the eyes.

9 The fear [to be in awe] of the Lord is clean

      and endures for ever; 

      the judgments [manners (ways)]of the Lord are true

      and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

      more than much fine gold, 

      sweeter far than honey,

      than honey in the comb.

11 By them also is your servant enlightened, 

      and in keeping them there is great reward.

12 Who can tell how often he offends? 

      cleanse me from my secret faults.

13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous [arrogant (proud)] sins;

      let them not get dominion [rule] over me; 

      then shall I be whole and sound,

      and innocent of a great offense.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my

      heart be acceptable in your sight, 

      O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

[NOTE: The bracketed italicized words offer an alternate translation (interpretation) of the original Hebrew words used in this psalm. - NW]

REFLECTION

+

     Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, 

O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

+

This familiar opening to sermons preached in Episcopal churches is a direct quote of the psalmist’s prayer at the close of today’s psalm.  I want to start with that prayer as a way of exploring this unique psalm, which blends the concept of the “Torah (law) of the Yahweh (Lord),” in the original Hebrew text of this psalm, with the cosmic declaration of God’s glory.   

What can be a bit confusing is this psalm starts out with the heavens declaring the glory of God in verses 1 through 6 and then switches gears to talk about “the Torah of Yahweh” in verse 7.  This switch intrigued me and led me to research the original Hebrew text of this psalm.  As a result, I found that most of the “legal” terms used in this psalm have other meanings indicated by my italicized inserts within the psalm.  As noted in the past, Hebrew is a contextual language; in that, the meaning of specific Hebrew words are determined by the overall contextual setting.  

Some biblical scholars consider Psalm 19 to be the combination of two different psalms; the heavenly declaration of God’s glory and the psalmist’s meditation on “the Torah.”  While this may be the case, I propose that the psalmist intentionally is referencing the Torah in a specific way to explain the psalmist’s experience of awe and wonder while meditating on the firmament of heaven.   The closing prayer of this psalm is one of cautious humility in having had an experience that “gives light to the eyes” through a pure awe-inspiring experience with God’s cosmic creation.  

Awe of this magnitude challenges one’s ability to say anything that captures such an experience.  Words fall short trying to explain a feeling that is beyond words.  What the psalmist distills from this cosmic experience is an orderliness that brings the Torah to the psalmist’s mind.  

Before proceeding, it will help to have a better understanding of the term torah, a Hebrew word which is rooted in the concept of instruction and guidance.  In Judaism the Torah is understood in two ways; as the written Torah and oral Torah.  

The written Torah is understood as the first five books of the Old Testament.  The Ten Commandments from today’s Old Testament lesson in Exodus are often understood as the Torah, which is how many Christians apply the term, but in Judaism the Ten Commandments are  properly understood as mitzvoth (required practices), which is the Hebrew word for commandments.  The Ten Commandments, along with over 600 other mitzvoth, are found in the written Torah.

The oral Torah is broadly considered oral traditions handed down from Moses and the interpretations derived from written Torah and its mitzvoth.  They are the topic of much discussion found in the rabbinical writings of Judaism known as the Mishnah written around the 3rd century CE, and the Talmud that began in the 5th centuries CE and beyond.  This practice of interpreting the written Torah is likely what the psalmist was doing when meditating on the firmament of heaven and seeing the Torah of Yahweh writ large in the cosmos, which will be identified in this reflection as the Cosmic Torah. 

What the psalmist experienced in meditating on the vault of heaven was the Sun and Moon being guided by unheard precepts; that they and all the entities in the firmament of heaven have their manner of communicating; as in, one day informing the next day and one night informing the next night.  The psalmist takes delight in the apparent orderliness displayed in the cosmos.

The Cosmic Torah, like the written Torah, proclaims the profound love God has for all creation. The psalmist sees in this cosmic orderliness divine wisdom that gives guidance to the stars and to the simple.  The Cosmic Torah, like the written Torah, demonstrates something other than intellect at work. The psalmist discerns an underlying current of divine wisdom that has no speakable explanation other than the experience of wonder at the breadth of God’s created love.  

Such wisdom makes no sense to those who are secure in their rationalizing intellect, but it carries weight with those who know they do not know; those who remain open to instruction and are simple at heart, those who possess a righteousness found in the innocence of simplicity.

As one nears the end of the Psalm, the psalmist’s humbling encounter with something larger than the affairs of humankind prompts the question how one, so limited in understanding, can avoid committing offense against the righteous, orderly ways of God?  So the psalmist prays, “Keep your servant from presumptuous sins, let them not get dominion over me.”  

Presumptuous sin (arrogant sinning) is something that proceeds from a sense of entitlement, pride, and self deceit.  The psalmist is cognizant that engaging in presumptuous sin can subjugate and recoil on those who engage in such offensive behavior.  To ignore the glory of God in all creation comes with a heavy price.

Presumptuous sins lead to act of violence against the natural world, that proceeds from arrogance and greed. 

Presumptuous sins lead to violence between humans, that proceed from a sense of pride in one’s culture, politics, race, religion and social status.  

Presumptuous sins lead to acts of violence against the human soul, that proceed from the most destructive and oldest of presumptuous sins, the willful deception of self and others.

This psalm invites us to humbly step away from the allure of presumptuous illusion and step outside; to get out of our heads and into our hearts; to look up and look around, to be silent and meditate deeply, humbly, and reverently on the Cosmic Torah.  

* * * * * * * * * * 

Loving God, our strength and redeemer, increase our mindfulness so that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts are always acceptable in your sight.   Amen

* * * * * * * * * *

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm