Earnest Prayer

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awe, bless us, blessings, guiding, health, instrument of praise, Lynn Bauman, psalm 67, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I made the mistake this morning of catching up on national news before turning to my blog. Finding everything to be distressing or conflictual, I reverted to the readings of the day and found Psalm 67 which reminded me of the necessity and the comfort of prayer for the world. In gratitude for Lynn Bauman’s translation, I may print it and keep it in my prayer space as an everyday goad to positive thinking.

O God, have mercy upon us and bless us with the light streaming from your face. 
And so that here on earth we know and walk your ways, restore us back to health again.
May every person, every creature become an instrument of praise to you. 
And may you be the song that makes us glad, and every nation sings with joy,
For your pure justice reigns and rules, guiding all with equal hand.
May every creature, every person, then, be an instrument of praise,
And earth itself abound with a fullness yet unknown, as you alone become “our God” for everyone.
Your blessings fill us full, and cover us and earth with awe from edge to edge. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.165)

Memorial Day Weekend

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an instrument of praise, celebrate life, creation speaks, defend, Lynn Bauman, Memorial Day, praise, presence of God, psalm 67, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

We sit today in the middle of what is celebrated during this weekend as the beginning of the summer season (although the calendar announces that late in June). Memorial Day weekend sees us stretching back to remember those brave people who have defended our nation in times of war and who have served throughout our history in all manner of capacities to preserve our freedom. By extension, we celebrate life: family, friends, colleagues – with picnics, baseball games in parks, laughter and prayer for peace in gathered communities of faith. At this hour we live in hope of weather that supports our plans, but in reality that doesn’t matter much; it is our presence together that creates the success of the day.

Psalm 67, the lectionary offering for today, can be considered, writes one commentator, as an international hymn of praise. Lynn Bauman says that our task as contemporary creatures is not simply to pray for ourselves, or narrowly for those around us who are dear to us, but to give voice for the whole earth. This is what it means to become “an instrument of praise” through which the whole creation speaks. Imagine yourself as creation’s voice, as an instrument through which those without voice can enter with praise the presence of God. Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p.166)

May the blessings of this weekend be great and may our gratitude mend division so that true peace may find a home in our hearts!

Weather Report

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, Lynn Bauman, pray, presence of God, psalm 67, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, vision, voiceless

This spring has been unusually cold and rainy. Today promises to be the only day this week with no rain but predictions also say we may be wet again by 6:00 this evening. Before I start to moan and groan about it I need to pay attention to Psalm 67 which today reminds me to look farther and deeper than my own back yard. As Lynn Bauman suggests, Our task as contemporary creatures is not simply to pray for ourselves, or narrowly for those around us who are dear to us, but to give voice for the whole earth…Imagine yourself as creation’s voice, as an instrument through which those without a voice can enter with praise the presence of God.

He is speaking, of course, about more than the weather although in some places the loss occasioned by that one element in the world has lately been monumental. He goes on to offer a challenge to us that carries us beyond the borders of our own lives and our own times to a larger vision. Listen:

Reflect upon your vision of the future for the world. There is often a wide gap between the the vision of beauty held out for the world and the experience of pain and ugliness we find within it. Those who pray hold these two regions together and will not let them fall apart.

As you pray this prayer (Psalm 67) imagine yourself praying for the voiceless creatures of earth, and for those human beings who have lost hope that such a future might even exist. (Ancient Songs Sung Anew, p. 166)

Light for the World

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, brighter heart, clearer mind, darkness, health, instrument of praise, Jesus, light, light of God, mercy, morning, psalm 67, sunshine, truth, window

We haven’t had much morning sunshine lately but the light of dawn does come early now. As a first task this morning I felt the need to make a list of things to remember – contacts that are overdue from email, calls that I haven’t returned, “homework” for upcoming events…The last entry is something that generally only occurs to me with the morning sun: I must wash my bedroom window. How much more needful it appears when the sun shines! What a difference a little Windex and elbow grease would make.

In the gospel today Jesus says that he came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes may not remain in darkness. He also says he didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. It’s only if we see the truth and reject it – maybe through laziness – that we get into trouble. While I know that speaking of my window as analogous to the light of God in the world is a totally ridiculous stretch, it does make me consider whether I am willing to make the effort to see clearly to the world outside of myself.

Psalm 67 calls out today from Ancient Songs Sung Anew a prayer that similarly lifts me toward the world outside. O God, the psalmist cries, have mercy upon us and bless us with the light streaming from your face. And so that here on earth we know and walk in your ways, restore us back to health again. May every person, every creature become an instrument of praise to you.

The sun is up over the mountain now – fully streaming toward the house. I can hardly see the tree beyond my window, so harsh are the remains of winter’s storms. It seems today must be the day to clear away the impediments to the light, both inner and outer, so that tomorrow may find me with a clearer mind, a lighter, brighter heart.

Which Instrument Are You?

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divine, instrument of praise, joy, justice, light, music, praise, pray, psalm 67, song, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worship

Psalm 67 may be considered, says one commentary, “an international hymn of praise because it calls all nations and peoples of the earth to enter into the worship of God…” In speaking of the Psalms as they appear in the Hebrew Scriptures, this commentary continues: “In many of the Psalms there is a ‘we’ versus ‘they’ mentality. This sentiment has been overcome in this Psalm, and thus speaks, perhaps, of an unusual development in the religious ideals of the Hebrew people. They have moved from a narrow conception of the divine to one that is shared by all peoples of the earth…Our task as contemporary creatures is not simply to pray for ourselves, or narrowly for those around us who are dear to us, but to give voice for the whole earth…Imagine yourself as creation’s voice, as an instrument through which those without a voice can enter with praise the presence of God…There is often a wide gap between the vision of beauty held out for the world and the experience of pain and ugliness we find in it. Those who pray hold these two regions together, and will not let them fall apart.”

I was heartened by these words and so would like to suggest that each of us choose our favorite music-making instrument, visualize ourselves at our place in the great orchestra of the nations and play – pray – (singing?) this version of Psalm 67 (aloud!) for the reconciliation of the whole world. Ready? Begin:

O God, have mercy upon us and bless us with the light streaming from your face. And so that here on earth we know and walk in your ways, restore us back to health again. May every person, every creature become an instrument of praise to you and may you be the song that makes us glad and every nation sings with joy, for your pure justice reigns and rules, guiding all with equal hand. May every creature, every person, then, be an instrument of praise, and earth itself abound with a fullness yet unknown, as you alone become “our God” for everyone. Your blessings fill us full, and cover us and earth with awe from edge to edge. (translation and commentary by Lynn Bauman)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Year of Blessing

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blessing, God, light, mercy, Moses, New Year, psalm 67, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

For the last few days, I’ve been ending emails and phone calls with the phrase, “Happy New Year!” and have been receiving that wish as often as I offer it. We actually do that quite often in our culture. Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! (the more inclusive, non-specific, politically correct choice), Happy birthday! Bon voyage! Vaya con Dios…You get the idea.

The psalm refrain for this morning (Ps. 67:2a) brought this custom of what we generally call “best wishes” into the realm of “blessings” and started me on the way to a New Year’s resolution. May God bless us in His mercy, it said. A great wish, a prayer even, that we might utter in supplication every morning. Taking a look back at the first reading from the Book of Numbers (6:22-27), I found an even broader possibility. Moses was getting a lesson from God on how to bless the Israelites: Say to them, God tells Moses, The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

I thought upon hearing that how empowering the instruction was. It became the job of Moses, not just God, to impart a blessing to the people. (We Catholics hear that one sometimes as the dismissal from the Mass.) Down through the ages songs of blessing have been sung, creative prayer services have included blessings on those gathered and, perhaps most intimately, parents have blessed their children each night before they sleep with words, a hand on their heads, the sign of the cross on their foreheads or a sweet kiss that adds a message of love to the blessing.

I think I’ll resolve to make every day a day of blessing this year, making sure that someone in my world (our world) receives from me a word of hope, of solidarity or, best of all, of love. So let it begin here:

May this year of 2016 be new every day for all of us, offering us the opportunity to begin again to be the best we can be while accepting that God loves us just the way we are!

Short Story

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everyone, faith, Gentiles, God's vision, praise, psalm 67, story, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

My father’s version of “to make a long story short” was more expressive. He would just say, “short stories” and we knew to summarize. I feel that today’s readings call for the same. The first reading has Isaiah telling the people God’s vision of a world where foreigners are welcomed making “God’s house a house of prayer for all peoples.” In the second text, Paul speaks the same message to the Gentiles. In the gospel, Jesus was accosted by the Canaanite woman who challenged his statement that he had been sent only to “the lost children of Israel.” She kept at him when he told her it wasn’t right to “take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs” with the line, “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master’s table” so, in the end, Jesus was converted to the fact that everyone belongs to God. It is faith that saves us.

That summary about who belongs is expressed most clearly for me this morning in Ps. 67: 5-7 which proclaims: Let every creature, every person, then, be an instrument of praise, and earth itself abound with a fullness yet unknown, as you alone become “our God” for everyone. Your blessings fill us full, and cover us and earth with awe from edge to edge.

Everyone. Everything. No exceptions. Amen to that!