Direct Connection?

Tags

coronavirus, psalm 50, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I should probably apologize in advance today for sounding like “a broken record” but, after reading the statistics about the spread of the coronavirus and then turning to the psalm for today, I feel compelled to comment in a manner similar to yesterday’s post. Psalm 50 is so direct and poses a question so apropos to our situation that there can be no doubt about the connection. Here is what I mean:

THE HEADLINE: Florida sets one-day record with over 15,000 new COVID cases, more than most countries.

PSALM 50: (God asks:) Why do you recite my statutes and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?

Are You Ready?

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, kindness, Lent, psalm 50, thankfulness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Suddenly, it seems, we stand on the threshold of Lent. Who has had time to prepare? I realize I am speaking for myself here. Between planning for travel, re-orienting from different time zones and calculating what the weather will be like tomorrow or next week even if I’m not leaving town, I could easily say I am not ready for the upcoming 40 days. And yet I have only to look at Psalm 50, the psalm response in the lectionary readings for today, that states clearly a pattern for correct practice, a way of living that does not change but only deepens with determination and desire.

The psalmist speaks for God and says, This is what I want from you. Offer me a grateful heart. Fulfill the vows that you have made…I’ve made my case, here’s what I want, a sacrifice of thankfulness in all that honors me. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew: the Psalms as Poetry, p.125)

It seems to me that the world is desperately in need of kindness and positive behavior so that a Lent during which we live in right relationship, not only with God but with our neighbor, is the perfect choice. (How could we love one without the other?) And it is clearly a choice. We cannot honor God and leave our neighbor in the lurch. It will be necessary, I think, to remind ourselves of the practice of inclusive love several times a day – maybe when we look at our watch or phone with the question, “What time is it?” Maybe it will be enough for some to rise with the sun and offer the day in praise and good works to God as the light returns. You know yourself. Do it your way.

But just one more necessary component: do it all, in whatever way, with a smile.

Commitment

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action, covenant, inaction, psalm 50, relationship, sacrifice, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s lectionary includes verses from Psalm 50 in which the psalmist expresses God’s desire for us to “step up” in our response to life, suggesting that our sacrificial offerings (bulls and goats – or for us checks and cash) are not enough. God says, “Why do you recite my statutes and profess my covenant with your mouth though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?”

We could take offense at this and use more words to defend our actions or inactions. If I am honest and look in the mirror, I must admit to that kind of behavior at least some of the time. But then I hear verse 14 wherein God seems in need of relationship with us. “No! But this is what I want from you. Offer me grateful heart. Fulfill the vows that you have made.” It’s as if God is asking from us what each of us wants from others: the willingness to say what we mean and mean what we say – and then to live into what that means.

How can I refuse?

 

 

 

 

 

God Says, “LISTEN TO ME!”

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, deeper, gratitude, hear, joy, listening, psalm 50, thankfulness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformed

I’m always interested when the Psalm response in the lectionary consists of some verses from a long psalm that fit a specific purpose directly without any extraneous “sidebars” of intervening verses. Today my antenna was up because the stated title of Psalm 50 in the book Ancient Songs Sung Anew was “God Calls the World to Listen.” Since I had spent yesterday presenting to two different groups on the topic of “The Art of Sacred Listening” I was, you might say, “all ears” for the message. I wasn’t disappointed. Here are the salient points.

Hear me, my people, I am your God…I do not fault you for your offerings; your holocausts are clear. But I ask for no more heifers to be brought from flocks and farms. I need no more goats offered up from all your herds. Do you not realize I have all these and more? I’ve made my case; here’s what I want, a sacrifice of thankfulness in all that honors me. (vs. 8-10a, 23)

I have this vision of someone sitting on an over-stuffed recliner chair (a Lazy Boy?) surrounded by all kinds of material gifts – but all alone with the stuff – looking very sad. Perhaps we might interpret God as saying to us in our own time and place something like this: “I know you’re doing your duty – coming to church with items for the food pantry and your weekly envelope – but it seems lately that it is just that – a duty! I don’t need your duty! I want your heart!”

I’m not suggesting that we stop supporting the place where we worship, nor do I think God would want that. I do think, however, that this might be a good time to go to a deeper place to see if we are being transformed by our participation in the worship services, awakened to love of those who worship with us. If so, it seems that our only response would be one of consistent gratitude and heartfelt joy. And God would be happy too.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Morning in the Convent

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community life, community sharing, confidence, convent, Exodus, horarium, Julie Andrews, Luke, Martha, Mary, meals, Moses, praise, prayer, psalm 50, recreation, sacrifice, Saturday, schedule, tasks, teaching, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, The Sound of Music

In the “good old days” when I was young and eager – especially in the novitiate, but also in the convent at my first teaching assignment where I lived in a group of 21 Sisters – life was very structured and predictable. The “horarium” (schedule) of the days was built around times of prayer, teaching school, meals and community sharing time – known in the novitiate at least as “recreation,” a.k.a. the hour after supper when we relaxed and talked to one another while knitting or listening to music or some such simple activity before preparing schoolwork for the next day. Saturdays were set aside for cleaning and other charges (read: household tasks) or meetings and the occasional planning time for community celebration days.

Today is Saturday. Although nearly everything has changed about the rhythm of community life, it seems that the Saturday horarium is part of our DNA that has not disappeared. I woke up today feeling altogether unable to even make a list of necessary tasks, nevermind the possibility of achieving anything. Lying lazily in bed listening to the birds who’ve been up for hours, I heard Julie Andrews singing in my head: What will this day be like…I wonder…as she was getting up her gumption to take on a job as a nanny for the seven children of the widowed Captain Von Trapp.

Having seen The Sound of Music several times over the years, I have learned a lot about attitude – starting with the above-mentioned song about confidence. I was reminded of that in my short reverie this morning and so got up determined to face the day in a positive way. Downstairs I encountered two of my three housemates who had been up maybe longer than the birds – one having already accomplished preliminary tasks that would allow her to concentrate next on what is central to her major plan of the day and the other whose response to a needy phone call of yesterday had allowed her to formulate a plan much larger than the requesting person could have imagined. The most amazing thing about my encounters with all this news was just a smile, knowing that difference does not mean distress and that we are now free to live our commitments as we can and use our energy for the highest good of ourselves and all others.

I practically laughed aloud when I returned to do the one task that is not discriminated by the day of the week. (This blog is a discipline that marks my days, much as the horarium of yesteryear gave shape to everything.) It is all a question of listening to God speaking through whatever is in front of us. Each one of the readings told me that this morning. How can I not proceed in delight?!

1. EX 24:3-8. When Moses came to the people and related the words and ordinances of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us.”
2. PS 50:1-2, 14. God the Lord has spoken and summoned the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth…Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfill your vows to the Most High…
3. LK 10: 38-42. Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

Amazing, no? Happy Saturday to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do It Yourself

Tags

discipline, doormats, Ezekiel, humility, Lenten journey, Matthew, new heart, new spirit, practice what you preach, psalm 50, responsibility, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s readings are very clear that discipline is an inside job. I noticed it first in the verse before the gospel which proclaimed, “Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” (EZ 18:31) This is different from the more familiar (to me anyway) line about God saying, “I will take from you your stony hearts and give to you natural hearts.” Today God is calling us to responsibility; we need to do the work of repentance, not just talk about it. In Psalm 50, God asks, “Why do you recite my statutes, and profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” That makes me think of the old adage, Say what you mean and mean what you say.

The gospel gives us another familiar line that moves the conversation from a consideration of our speech to action. He’s speaking to the crowds about the scribes and the Pharisees (the people in charge) but we can all take to heart the lesson: Practice what you preach from the descriptions of what Jesus is talking about. “For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they do not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen…They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.'” The advice of Jesus ends the reading and is a good reminder for all of us. “The greatest among you,” Jesus says, “must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (MT 23:1-12)

Just a caveat about that last quote. Jesus is not interested in us making ourselves “doormats” for people to walk over. He is talking about mature service and true humility, qualities that can never be faked because they come from the inside, not from any action we can perform. So today I will “watch my step” on this Lenten journey, making sure I’m not looking for applause but doing my best to be authentic in all I do for God and for those I meet along the way.