Psalm 29: Baptism of our Lord

 Welcome to this look at the Psalms for each Sunday from the Episcopal Church lectionary. Today is the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. The Psalm is number 29 which is full of images of God in nature and acting through nature. We’re looking at the New Revised Standard (NRSV) and Message (MSG) versions of the Psalm because sometimes different wording can show us something we never noticed. For instance, the first two stanzas of the psalm are very different. The NRSV translation calls on all to ‘ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.’ The MSG says gods and angels shout encore and we are called to ‘stand at attention’ and ‘dress your best to honor him.’

The psalm calls us to join in the heavens and the earth in glorifying and honoring God. As the psalm proceeds, we see God upon the waters, in the thunder. God is smashing the trees and making mountains skip. These are powerful images of storms and earthquakes. One of my favorite lines is that ‘the voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire’ or in the MSG ‘God’s thunder spits fire.’ Isn’t it a lovely image that God’s voice is the cause of lightening?

God also ‘sets the oak trees dancing, A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.’ In the NRSV the ‘trees writhe.’ In this case I like the MSG better because, to me, writhing implies pain while dance is more joyful. In either case, we are invited to join nature in praising with “Glory!” We can do this because God is in charge, ‘enthroned above the flood, giving blessing and peace to all.

This image from a trip to OK last year, is a reminder of God acting in and through nature, both in tempest and in peace. 

Think about this psalm in relation to Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. We hear that the heavens parted and the Holy Spirit descended saying ‘you are my Beloved.’ The same God who makes the heavens, mountains, and trees dance stood in the Jordan River and heard the Spirit say, ‘you are Beloved.’ God is in and above the flood. The Creator and creation were one in that moment.

God stands with us in the traumas and turmoil of our lives, too. The psalm extolls God working powerfully in nature. God works just as powerfully in our lives. That’s a good thing to remember as we continue our journey in 2023. The One who makes the mountains skip also calms the storm. The psalm ends with a great promise: ‘The Lord shall give strength to his people; the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.’

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, *  ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; *  worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;  the God of glory thunders; *  the Lord is upon the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; *  the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; *  the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon; 6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, *  and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire;  the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; *  the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe *   and strips the forests bare. 9 And in the temple of the Lord *  all are crying, “Glory!” 10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; *  the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore. 11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; *  the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

1-2 Bravo, God, bravo! Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!” In awe before the glory,  in awe before God’s visible power. Stand at attention!  Dress your best to honor him! 3 God thunders across the waters, Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—God, across the flood waters. 4 God’s thunder tympanic, God’s thunder symphonic. 5 God’s thunder smashes cedars, God topples the northern cedars. 6 The mountain ranges skip like spring colts, The high ridges jump like wild kid goats. 7-8 God’s thunder spits fire. God thunders, the wilderness quakes; He makes the desert of Kadesh shake. 9 God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches. We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!” 10 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne  from which his power flows,  from which he rules the world. 11 God makes his people strong. God gives his people peace.

 Next week we’ll look at Psalm 40.

Lent: Pray for Nature

 We are continuing our Lent journey of praying for the World, Church, Nation, Social Order, Natural Order, and Family as inspired by prayers at the end of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP). I’m also borrowing from the Episcopal Church’s 2021 Lent curriculum: Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent, which is exploring the seven disciplines of the Way of Love.

This week we consider our response to and prayers for Nature. If they had experienced the dramatic weather, fires, floods, and other natural occurrences recently, the ancients would have said that Mother Nature, God, or the gods are angry. With our scientific understanding, incomplete as it is, we know that the wild weather has more to do with climate change and shifts in global wind and wave patterns. Our human actions including over-farming, deforestation, and damming rivers have caused some of the changes we are experiencing and experts around the globe are sounding warnings.

What can we do as one person or one group? Perhaps the easiest answer is use and waste less. That’s difficult in a system that comes wrapped in plastic and is highly disposable. We have to make hard choices about where and how we buy things. And that can be uncomfortable or even costly. Being good stewards may force us to make difficult choices.  

Recently Matthew Fox called attention to the fact that in the rebuilding of Notre Dame, some ancient French oaks may be felled as reported in this article: French oaks from once-royal forest felled to rebuild Notre Dame spire | Notre Dame | The Guardian Fox says “Surely, with ingenuity and advanced technical know-how, we can find alternative ways to rebuild this cathedral, architects with a conscience, who respect the holiness of trees amidst the fragile circumstances old trees face today.” (Eco Justice and Notre Dame Cathedral: An Urgent Call to Resist - Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox) He is calling on the planners to make some hard choices for the good of current and future generations.

The Lent curriculum notes that the Anglican Church of Canada has added a new line to the Baptismal covenant: “Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation and respect, sustain, and renew the life of the Earth?” The writers note that “Similar language has been proposed at Episcopal General Conventions [to] remind us that we are tied to this creation by our baptism – we have been united with Christ, who entered into the world out of great love for creation…we as Christians can conceptualize sabbath in an eco-stewardship mindset would be to think of giving sabbath REST to the earth through conservation. In the Bible, even creation gets a sabbath break every jubilee year, when the people do not work the soil. As sabbath people, we are seeking to conserve the energy and resources we use.”

In this week’s Lent curriculum we are reminded that we all need Rest. The land and even (esp.?) we humans. However, “We do not live in a culture that encourages REST. All too often, we are forced to work harder and longer hours, and it shows in our health. Yet, from the beginning, God – who rested on the seventh day of creation – set rest into the pattern of all life. Truly practicing the Way of Love means spending time with God in sabbath rest…we can help each other find ways internally to pause and receive the gift of sabbath. The act of rest and restoration is a part of the cycle of rebirth that is God’s hope for us and gift to us…Sabbath rest provides the opportunity for God to refresh us, to breathe new life into us…The gospels record numerous times when Jesus retreated to a place of sabbath to reconnect with God and to receive the strength he needed to continue his ministry {Luke 5 for one].”

It can be tempting to think that our actions of Sabbath rest, for ourselves or the land, will not make much difference in climate change or in the world at large. This image from Facebook is a reminder to me that we are part of the entire larger picture and it all boils down to the fact that one person turning to God and walking in love CAN make a difference.

How can you start your own Sabbath-making practice? Perhaps a sabbath from digital media for a certain amount of time; or making a plan to get out into nature and really look for the new life beginning to peek through the soil or the buds on the branches. Turning off your electronic devices is not just a sabbath for you, but it is a brief sabbath of electricity use which in a tiny way benefits the planet.

Giving ourselves and nature Rest isn’t easy., but it can make a difference. We do have to be intentional about it. In the first weeks of lock-downs around the world, it was noted that the air cleared up with less cars on the road. Now, as people return to getting out more, the air is getting polluted again. To me this is a dramatic example of human impact that we don’t realize.

Can we pay attention to where our food comes from and how much energy is used to get what we ‘need’ to our homes? Since so many of us are relying on delivery services during this pandemic, we may need to be extra intentional about our ordering habits. I, for instance, have started using the Amazon ‘delivery day’ option which is supposed to group your purchases into one box and one delivery date instead of getting items piecemeal over several days.

Over this week, you might ponder these questions:
How can you as an individual ‘tread more lightly’ on the earth?
Can you think of ways to use less or recycle more?

We close with this prayer from the curriculum and one from Prayers and Thanksgivings at the end of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).

O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds, that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p. 825)

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p. 827)

Next week we will consider how Worship can impact our prayers, and action, for social order.

Gratitude Journey: Nature

It’s the end of October! How many other feel like it can’t be possible that the year is nearly over? Over this year, we have journeyed together on this blog through many topics. During Epiphany we considered more deeply the seven practices of the Way of Love introduced by Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. Then for Lent, we continued looking at the Way of Love disciplines by studying how they are applied in the Book of Ruth. In the Easter season we looked at ways we might respond to God’s call on our lives. Since the beginning of June, we’ve met several women whose lives are evidence of what happens when we live out the Great Commandment to “love our neighbor as ourselves”. These women changed their world for the better. Whether through teaching, or nursing, or advocating, or writing they impacted their communities.

The world and our lives are always changing. The world of James of Jerusalem, Florence Nightingale, Sojourner Truth, or Teresa of Avila isn’t the world we live in. They each lived in a time and culture that was filled with change and turmoil. (Has there ever been a time when that isn’t true?) In our time, we are made aware of all the changes and challenges because media of many sorts keeps us informed, or perhaps over-informed. It can be unsettling.

We need to be reminded Who is really in control. One way to do that is to pause, look for God, and then to say ‘thank you’. This simple action empowers us to move beyond the negatives and focus on what God is doing in our lives, and around us. Despite the headlines, we can be grateful for the small and large miracles in our daily lives.

I invite you to start now and spend the month of November on a Gratitude Journey. On this blog, I’ll offer a theme for the week, which you can use, or ignore.

You can make a journal, or you can just travel along with the blog (and Facebook). A journal doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You can just staple a few pages together. Or you can go all out and find an actual journal to record your thoughts, images, or scriptures about what you are grateful for. As you make your entries, they can be one line that says, “I am grateful today for (or because)…” It could be a scripture verse or even a picture that reminds you to be thankful.
This week’s theme is: Nature. As the seasons change you may find many things to ponder on your Gratitude Journey, or mention in your Gratitude Journal.
The Old Testament reading for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, is from Joel. This hymn of joy for the harvest is my first entry on my Journey. Joel call on the people to “be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil….You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God…I will pour out my spirit on all flesh…” (Joel 2:23-32)

This citation is praise to the one who reminds Israel, “I, the Lord, am your God.” As we look around us, Nature can inspire us to remember that God is the One who Creates and fills all things. What do you see as you look at Nature this week? Follow me on Facebook where I’ll post something I am grateful for every day (or try to!). Feel free to respond with your own posts of things you are thankful for.

You might want to take a walk outside to see what God is doing in Nature, or look up some of the writings of Hildegard of Bingen. If you need more Biblical inspiration, consider some of these Bible verses: Genesis 1, Psalm 19, Psalm 95, Psalm 104, and many others.