Pentecost 23: Psalm 43: Exiled

 Over the course of this year, we’ve looked at many Psalms and themes. We’ve seen God’s interactions with humanity and creation as a Relationship (Feb. 5) of Hope (Mar. 26). God’s Call (June 11 entails Freedom (July 9) and requires us to Listen (July 23). As we deepen our understanding, we find that all are Included (Aug. 20) and Chosen (Oct. 15).

The current world situation of wars and violence in so many places may make us question our faith, though. We can feel like God has exiled us, like the ancient Hebrew people from the things we find comforting and certain. How can God allow such awful things to happen? Why would a loving God let pain and death seem to triumph?  The lessons this week ask and answer those questions in their own way.

Micah (3:5-12) warns the leaders of his time, and ours, of the results of action taken for the wrong reason, even while claiming to do God’s will. Micah calls out those who give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, “Surely the Lord is with us! Micah states, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Maybe we need to consider times when we've claimed 'God's will' on something that wasn't sharing of God's love, and was really 'my way' cloaked in religious claims... 

Jesus’ words carry a similar warning in the Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12). He says, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. Jesus reminds his followers, and us, the greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. It is far easier to give orders, than to be humble and serve in love. It is easier to say we know God's will than to take the time to discern the next step. 

The Epistle reading (1 Thessalonians 2:9-13) tells of a more grace-filled response from the people of Thessalonica. Paul notes, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers. The Greeks responded in with faith, while the religious leaders of Jesus’ and Micah’s time did not. These early Christians took time to internalize the message of God's love. 

Psalm 43 cries out for God to hear and give justice. We might echo that call. The Psalmist begs to be delivered from the deceitful and the wicked, then turns to God who is strength, light, and truth. At the end, the Psalmist affirms I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my savior and my God. Turning to God when we are confused, grieving, afraid, or just sad is always a good strategy. 

The Good News Translation calls this Psalm “The Prayer of Someone in Exile.” With so many refugees from wars and famine and other desolations, we could pray this in solidarity with each of them, feeling some of their pain and grief. In our own fears and uncertainties and griefs, we can pray this Psalm knowing that ultimately God will triumph and bring me to your holy hill.

There is a beautiful church and shrine in Hubertus, WI which my husband and I visited a decade ago. This image from the tower reminds me that what we see and think we know is just a small part of the whole story. We need to lean past the walls of our pre-conceptions to see more of the view. When we look around, we can see God's love surrounding and in us. Learn more about the Holy Hill Basilica and Shrine here. https://www.holyhill.com/

It would be far to easy to draw parallels to leaders in the current world situations and ignore our own faults and failings. We would be wise to ask ourselves some questions.

Do I feel in exile in my faith? Can looking at the broader picture of God's love help me?

Where have I failed to have compassion for the pain of anyone, friend or not, who I don’t know or don’t understand?

Can I pray Psalm 43 this week in solidarity with all who are in pain, fear, or exile?

Psalm 43 1 Give judgment for me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked. 2 For you are the God of my strength, why have you put me from you? and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me? 3 Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling; 4 That I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy and gladness; and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God. 5 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? and why are you so disquieted within me? 6 Put your trust in God; for I will yet give thanks to him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God. (Book of Common Prayer)

O God, declare me innocent, and defend my cause against the ungodly; deliver me from lying and evil people! You are my protector; why have you abandoned me? Why must I go on suffering from the cruelty of my enemies? Send your light and your truth; may they lead me and bring me back to Zion, your sacred hill, and to your Temple, where you live. Then I will go to your altar, O God; you are the source of my happiness. will play my harp and sing praise to you, O God, my God. Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my savior and my God. (Good News Translation)

Ash Wednesday: Humility

Throughout Epiphany, and Advent, we have been considering the Way of Love disciplines of Learn, Pray, Go, Worship, Rest, Turn, Bless.

We will continue this in Lent, as we look at the Book of Ruth as a symbolic analogy of God’s love for us. The story is about the love of a young Moabite woman, Ruth, for her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth remains with Naomi despite rational and societal urgings to return to her own home and people. It is also the story of God’s love for each of us.

Before we enter the heart and life of Ruth of Moab, we pause for Ash Wednesday, which is this week. The Gospel for Ash Wednesday is Matthew 6:1-6,16-21. Jesus gives his followers advice on humility even when praying and fasting.

Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

"So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The Gospel advises us to not look for acknowledgement by those around us. Instead, we should humbly offer our alms, prayers, and fasting to God. Humility, while not listed as one of the 7 disciplines of the Way of Love, is at the core of each of them. Indiana Jones, in the Last Crusade is facing the tests he must pass through to get to the true chalice. He has a guide book his father has compiled throughout his life that advises you must be penitent to pass through the first challenge. At the last moment, Indy realizes that to be penitent is to be humble and he must ‘Kneel, the penitent man kneels before God’. Diving to his knees he just escapes being decapitated. 

To be humble is to submit to God--to kneel. The Rev. Rosalind C Hughes, Rector of the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio, notes in an Episcopal Café posting, “Submission, now as then, is whispered as a dirty word. We prefer to project strength. But submitting to God, literally to place ourselves under God’s sending authority, under God’s mission – submittere; there is nothing more dignified, nothing more humble, nothing more empowering than that.” As we come to Ash Wednesday, may we present ourselves as humble, submissive, and penitent before God so that we can live into the Way of Love practices genuinely. 

When we take seriously the admonition to Rest we will humbly set aside time for Sabbath realizing that we are not the center of the universe and life will go on without us. Taking time daily to Pray and Worship reminds us that submit all we are to the One who really is in control. As we seek to Learn we humbly open our minds to new knowledge, understanding that we don’t actually ‘know it all’. Penitence informs how we Turn in order to Go and Bless those in our lives, so that we gain ‘treasures in heaven’.

May you have a blessed Ash Wednesday, and join me in living a humble and Holy Lent. 

Advent 1-Wednesday-Great Humility

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

As we consider the prayer for the First Sunday of Advent, we are reminded that Jesus, the Light of the Word, came in ‘great humility.’ St. Paul reminds the Philippians that they should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

Jesus was fully God, yet he became fully human in order to bring humanity back to relationship with God. Paul points out just a little later in Philippians that “[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.” (Philippians 2:6)

The image of a small ant, and D.L. Moody’s comment that ‘we may easily be too big for God to use, but never too small’ is another definition of humility.

What is your definition of humility?