Reaction or Response?

Tags

Ancient Songs Sung Anew, disaster, evil, fatigue, Lynn Bauman, misery, prayer, psalm 55, save me, senseless, tempest, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, violence

The psalmist is calling this morning for rest (PS 55) – not just because of fatigue but from all the evil in the world. What is most difficult for me to abide are the senseless killings in high schools that have increased exponentially this year. It’s so difficult to hear on the news about the lives of many good young people senselessly snuffed out for no reason except the revenge of a deranged shooter. Add to that all the disastrous weather conditions – the destructive storms and the monumental effects of the Hawaiian volcanic eruptions – and it’s no wonder that we might react to the cry of the psalmist.

And I say, “Had I but wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest…I would wait for the One who saves me from the violent storms and the tempest…Engulf them, O Lord; divide their counsels!”

The catch is in the last sentence of the quoted text which is not the end of the psalm. The psalmist continues, vehemently at times, desiring destruction by God of the evil perpetrators. In his commentary, Lynn Bauman writes the following thoughts that I believe are worth more than a passing glance.

The psalmist is at the stage in spiritual experience where he or she prays to be saved out of misery, but asks God to destroy the tormentors. This is certainly how we often feel. Is that the only prayer possible? What other forms of prayer are asked of us? (Ancient Songs Sung Anew)

 

 

 

 

 

Help!

Tags

care, dance with God, draw near to God, help, psalm 55, resistance, support, The Letter of James, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worries

There are times in life when we each need help. Asking for what we need is more difficult for some of us than for others. There are many reasons why this could be true in life but I’m coming to learn that resisting help is something we need to come to grips with and let go. Most of us are willing to give help; it’s just receiving assistance from someone else that takes more humility than some of us can muster. It might come easier to us if we considered that when we allow others to help us we are giving them the opportunity to be generous. However we overcome our overactive sense of independence, we need to do it – else how can we ever break down the walls of separation that keep us apart?

This concept also applies to our relationship with God (the most important word here being relationship). There are two lines in today’s readings that emphasize our part in seeking help from God. We can’t just go along assuming God will take care of everything to our liking. That may be the case, but put yourself in God’s place. How would you feel if your spouse or child or very good friend never asked for your help but always assumed you would take care of everything? Where is the relatedness in that? Where is the exchange, the gratitude – the love expressed? The Letter of James advises us to draw near to God and he will draw near to you. That reminds me of the synergy of the couples on Dancing with the Stars last night. If they were just thinking of their own steps, the dance was choppy and stagnant. Last night each of the five remaining couples were brilliantly connected, dancing as one. Don’t we owe God that kind of relationship? The psalmist gives the same kind of advice with a vivid verb in the refrain of Psalm 55, saying: Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you. Again I see the dancers, especially one couple in a contemporary dance, where the lifts were extraordinary and the partners so in sync that there wasn’t even an inkling that he would drop her.

Why not try a dance with God today – letting God lead but responding in kind? It might be good preparation for seeking the help of a fellow seeker/traveler on the earth.