PSALM 139 – THE EVER-PRESENT GOD

 

PSALM 139 – THE EVER-PRESENT GOD

SUNDAY 17^TH JANUARY 2021 - First after Epiphany

The words of this psalm are still felt to be a classical testimony to what theologians intend to convey by such concepts as the omnipresence, omnipotence, and omnificence of God.

When people discuss the actions in the world of the living, we ask if God is all three then why does he allow some things to happen? The psalm is not an abstract philosophical discussion but rather and examination of the poet’s experience of God.

 

1     0 Lord you have searched me out and known me:
you know when I sit or when I stand
you comprehend my thoughts I long before.

2     You discern my path and the places where I rest:
you are acquainted with all my ways.

3     For there is not a word on my tongue:
but you Lord know it altogether.

4     You have encompassed behind and before:
and have laid your hand upon me.

5     Such knowledge is too wonderful for me:
so high that I cannot endure it.

6     Where shall I go from your spirit:
or where shall I flee from your presence?

This is a dialogue with God in that it is addressed to the object of his enquiry. It does not start with a concrete proposition but rather posits a ‘thought experiment’ in which the poet speaks to God in the hope of being able to speak well with him.

13   I will praise you for you are to be feared:
fearful are your acts and wonderful your works.

14   You knew my soul and my bones were not hidden from you:
when I was formed in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15   Your eyes saw my limbs when they were yet imperfect:
and in your book were all my members written;

16   Day by day they were fashioned:
and not one was late in growing.

God knows the poet’s every movement, reads his thoughts before he thinks them, and understands the full meaning of each word he utters. God surrounds like a city wall, and his protecting hand is always near. Such perfect knowledge is quite beyond the poet’s (and our) comprehension.

17   How deep are your thoughts to me O God:
and how great is the sum of them!

18   Were I to count them
they are more in number than the sand:
were I to come to the end I would still be with you.

The poet doesn’t spend time on the vastness of creation but on the wonder of the small, like we find it fascinating to observe the activities of a weaver building a nest, he turns to looking at the wonder of our physical world and delights in the way God creates each part of us as we grow in the womb. Before the poet was born The Lord recorded the number of days given to him. This poetic statement of the comprehensive knowledge of God, incomprehensible, but precious to the poet.

The comprehensive knowledge that God has of us, depicted in this poem is because he loves us and will always be with us.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the appointed psalm.

PSALM 29 - THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

 

PSALM 29
10^th January 2021
THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

This is a psalm of new orientation, appropriate to the season of new year, and to the beginnings of a liturgical new year. It is very obviously an enthronement song set at the time when a new king would be enthroned. Some scholars believe this one the oldest psalms in the Book of Psalms because it reflects aspects of Canaanite songs that were present when the Hebrews came into Palestine.

1       Ascribe to the Lord you sons of heaven:
ascribe to the Lord glory and might.

2       Ascribe to the Lord the honour due to his name:
O worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness.

The summons to worship is addressed to ‘sons of heaven’ though the Christians appropriated this phrase to mean themselves. So the psalm came to be a prophecy about the Lord Jesus. Historically, it was about the call to worship of the supreme God by all other gods who did not have the same power as the Lord.

The chaotic images of breaking, blowing, washing and noise reflect the constructive aspects of creation because the constructs of the gods are being broken down by this powerful God. Genesis 1 shows creation as being spoken into existence. In this poem we are brought into the wonderful immediacy of creation and can see our God at work.

3       The voice of Lord is upon the waters:
the God of glory thunders, the Lord upon the great waters.

4       The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation:
the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice.

5       the voice of the Lord breaks the cedar-trees:
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon-

6       He makes them skip like a calf:
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7       The voice of the Lord divides the lightning flash:
the voice of the Lord whirls the sands of the desert
the Lord whirls the desert of Kadesh

8       The voice of the Lord rends the terebinth trees
and strips bare the forests:
in his temple all say 'Glory'.

In verses 3 to 8 one is struck by the repetition of the word ‘voice’ in an active form. The voice of the Lord gets things done; it sorts out the very mountains and seas so that the creation senses and responds to the commands of the Lord. This in opposition to the words of other gods, the whole world responds to the Lord. It echoes the vision of God as experienced by Moses and Elijah in their meeting with the Lord.

The other gods watch this decisive action, and they render their verdict. The other gods watch the display of power. They assign sovereign authority to this one and none other, as they cry out ‘Glory!’.

9       The Lord sits enthroned above the water flood:
the Lord sits enthroned as a king for ever.

10    The Lord will give strength to his people:
the Lord will give to his people the blessing of peace.

When the chaos is overwhelmed and driven from the field, a blessing is appropriately given from the newly established throne by the newly recognised king. The movement from ‘glory’ to ‘peace’ is not unlike the Angel Song at Bethlehem (Luke 2:14).

This poem is one that give us hope as we see about us the chaos of uncreation that threatens our lives – out of it the hand of God is at work; ours it is to figuratively put our hands into His hand and walk with him.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the appointed psalms.

PSALM 148 - Praise for God’s Universal Glory

PSALM 148 - Praise for God’s Universal Glory
First Sunday after Christmas
27^th December 2020

This is one of those psalms that are full of joy and bliss. Somehow the people gather to sing praises to the Lord. There are no crises hanging over the people. God has been merciful. The psalm joins all creation in a song of praise. The glorification of the Creator and Preserver of the world fulfils the ultimate depth of meaning which unites the inanimate created things and the living creatures in a mutual relationship; to praise the sole majesty of God is the final goal which unites the whole universe in a communion of God’s service.

1          Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!

2          Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!

3          Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!

4          Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

5          Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.

6          He established them forever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

The song of praise sung by the heavens opens in the heights the grand symphony which the world created by God sings to the praise of its Maker. This has echoes of the song attributed to St Francis of Assisi, ‘Brother Sun, Sister Moon’.

7          Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,

8          fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!

9          Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!

10        Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!

This part talk of the worship offered by both heavens and the earth (and even sea monsters or dragons that were part of ancient creation myths) form part of this choir of praise to the creator. Verse 8 mentions ‘fire and hail.....stormy winds’ all part of a visit from God in person. Remember Elijah in the mountain, who had a vision of God with all these attributes around him.

11        Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!

12        Young men and women alike,
old and young together!

13        Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.

In this third section where the call to sing the praise of God form the conclusion, the poet turns to humankind, in particular to the rulers of the world of nations and to the whole cult community, comprising all age groups

14        He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

Belief in salvation is the whole culmination of the poem and that is of crucial importance to the whole world. For it points at the same time beyond itself to the consummation of salvation which the angel host proclaimed from heaven to all the world at the first Christmas as the Good News of the birth of a Saviour.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the psalms.

PSALM 126 – THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL REAP WITH SHOUTS OF JOY!

PSALM 126 – THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL REAP WITH SHOUTS OF JOY!

13^th December 2020

Third Sunday of Advent

Homely and yet profound piety is here combined with noble simplicity of artistic form in a wonderful harmony which imparts to this widely known psalm its singular value. The psalm is like a precious stone in a simple and yet worthy setting. The gentle spirit of a heartfelt and trusting hope based on faith pervades the whole psalm; and from this very trustfulness springs the strength of that hope which is a living fountain of true piety. It proves equally true of the pure childlike delight in the hoped-for happiness and blessing (vv. I-2), of awed and wondering praise of the majesty and grace of God (v. 3), of the intimacy and assurance with which the psalmist prays (v. 4), and of the powerful comfort which that hope imparts on the way through darkness to light (vv. 5-6).

 

1    When the Lord turned again the fortunes of Zion

then were we like men restored to I life

and our tongue with singing.

‘The Lord has done great things for them’

and therefore we rejoiced.

As the streams return to the dry south

shall reap with songs of joy

shall come again in gladness bringing his sheaves with him.

2    Then was our mouth filled with laughter:

At the very beginning of the psalm the faith of the cult community spreads the wings of its thoughts in a bold flight into the future and looks into the smiling fields of blissful hope as through a widely opened gate they do not dare to push open with their own hands. The gate which separates the dismal present from the bright future, knowing by faith that the decisive transformation of their present circumstances lies in the hand of God alone. Therefore, their entire hope is founded on God.

 

3    Then said they among the heathen:

4    Truly the Lord has done great things for us:

5    Turn again our fortunes O Lord:

6    Those that sow in tears:

 

The community’s supplication is followed by the answer, which was probably uttered by the priest or a prophet. The promise is clothed in the proverbial image of the sowing in tears and reaping with shouts of joy. The imagery developed when the Yahweh religion was taking over from Canaanite agriculture religion. In order to understand this image, which does not simply speak of the periodic succession of sowing and reaping in the sense, for instance, of the proverbial phrase ‘The calm after the storm’, we must study it in the light of its contemporary background. It is a common ancient idea, which is reflected in various customs of Near East nations, that the time of sowing was to be considered as a time of mourning. We know from Egyptian examples that sowing was accompanied by funeral hymns as a symbol of the burial of the god Osiris. At the root of this ceremony was the interpretation of the natural process as the dying and rising again of living things, a view which, as discoveries at Ras Shamra have confirmed, was also shared by the Canaanite cultic myth, and which has also found expression in the German proverb: ‘Do not laugh when you sow; otherwise you must weep when you reap’; it also underlies the biblical parable of the grain of wheat which must die in order to bear much fruit (John 12.24; I Cor. 15.36). It is only from this point of view that the phrases used in the psalm, ‘those who sow in tears’ and ‘they go along weeping' become intelligible. The poet shows his artistic power in keeping the metaphor of sowing and not adding an explanation. Of course he intends a reference to their present calamities; in present - suffering and death he discerns not only the allusion to the future of a new life but, as in the case of the seed corn planted in the earth, he sees already at work the mysterious power of God which creates new life out of death.

 

7    He who goes out weeping bearing the seed:

 

This is an incredibly hopeful and exciting poem that should buoy us up at this time of the surge in COVID-19 cases. Through all the fear and doubt that we experience from our fellow human beings the vision of faith we can see the exciting work of our Saviour who said, ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain: but if it dies, bears much fruit.’

Thank you Fr Graham for your weekly narrative on the psalms.

PSALM 85 – COMFORT AND HOPE

PSALM 85 – COMFORT AND HOPE
6^th December 2020
2^nd Sunday of Advent

 

This is the psalm set for the second Sunday in Advent and continues in some our Advent themes of expectation.

It has a background of liturgical expression couched in a responsorial way – someone starting and another group responding. When they first sang this psalm there were no prayer books or music sheets with parts marked out in bold print (like now) for all to sing together. Those gathered at the Temple or shrine would usually know the words off by heart and know when to join in.

1     O Lord you were gracious to your land:

you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
and covered all their sin.
for he will speak peace to his people to his
faithful ones whose hearts are turned to him.
and his glory shall dwell in our land.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other;
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
And our land shall yield its plenty
and tread the path before his feet.

2     You forgave the iniquity of your people:

In this first part of the psalm the members of the congregation recall the past as they pray, holding it up to themselves and to God. Their faith takes comfort in the nature and the providential role of God, who withdrew his wrath and proved his gracious will by forgiving their sins.

Verses 3-7 are not reflected on here, but they form a lament asking God to come and answer their prayers. And there is a change…

8     I will hear what the Lord God will speak:

A prophetic voice speaks to the congregation demanding that they listen to hear whether God speaks, and he does, giving the word ‘peace’. He, and the congregation with him, anxiously listen for what God will say to them in reply. The people, the community of the faithful, have now received the answer they had longed for from God. At the moment of the crisis of their faith, as they were in danger of ‘falling into folly’ and of doubting God’s salvation, God himself intervenes to revive and strengthen their faith by his word.

9     Truly his salvation is near to those that fear him:

But the prophetic seer has more to tell: the peace and salvation is imminent, and the glory of the Lord will dwell in the land – a new year, season, epoch is coming. Sounds like some Christmas songs. In this worship service the people are given the vision of the divine – heralding a new start.

10   Mercy and truth are met together:

11   Truth shall flourish out of the earth:

12   The Lord will also give us all that is good:

In verses 10 – 12 there is a wonderful set of images where truth, mercy, righteousness, and peace are persons that meet, kiss, flourish and look down. It is a dynamic and lively image of the characteristics of God being present and alive to the people. The poet in a magnificent picture visualizes how the mythologically personified powers of divine love and faithfulness, of righteousness and peace as God’s messengers at his advent are at work to fashion the end of time.

13   For righteousness shall go before him:

The conclusion of the poem, which once more makes the theophany the centre of the events leads to the same view. God appears like a king, suitably escorted, to usher in the age of salvation. Righteousness precedes him like an outrider and Salvation follows in his way.

There is a wonderful sense that this psalm takes on the pattern of Judaeo-Christian liturgy. The first part of our liturgy is often filled with praise which looks to the past graciousness of God; then while still in the past we turn to requesting God for forgiveness; this is followed by listening for God’s message to his people, and concludes with a time of meeting, of communion with God. Isn’t it wonderful that when you look at the psalms you discover more and more ways to discover the fullness and variety of our religious life.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the psalms.

 PSALM 80      LET THY FACE SHINE

29^TH NOVEMBER 2020 – ADVENT SUNDAY

As the psalms often show we humans are ‘Janus’ faced: we look forward to the coming times, and backward to the past and combine them in our thoughts and decisions. This poem looks to the distant past – some have a ‘good times’ view, but some in more recent times are of major dislocation.

Because of the mention of Joseph, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh the psalm’s writing can safely be dated to the time of the Assyrian invasion when the Assyrians conquered the northern tribes of Israel and threatened Jerusalem. In this critical situation the tribes have assembled in the sanctuary to bring before God their lament, their supplications, and their intercessions

1     Hear O Shepherd of Israel you that led Joseph like a flock:
you that are enthroned upon the cherubim shine out in glory;

2     Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh:
stir up your power and come to save us.

These two verses are an invocation to the Almighty because a disaster has already overtaken them (Assyrians, drought, famine) led to the calling of the people together to lay their common complaint to God. It follows the pattern of communal payer. The first part is a remembrance or a reminder to God of his care for them in past ages. Having presented that picture to God the people respond with the first request in the chorus, probably said by all the people, for God to act.

3     Restore us again O Lord of hosts:
show us the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.

In his power he merely must shrug his shoulder and the people are saved. Verse 3 shows the strong faith of the community who believe this is possible on God’s part if he turns again and brings about that encounter in the theophany from which all divine blessings flow.

4     O Lord God of hosts:
how long will you be angry at your people’s prayer?

5     You have fed them with the bread a of tears:
and given them tears to drink in good measure.

6     You have made us the victim of our neighbours:
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

Verses 4-6 reflect the affliction of God’s people is fundamentally a trial of their faith. They suffer from being separated from God, from being subject to his anger, though they are probably not without a sense of their own guilt. The faithful who have lost confidence in their God give vent to their bitter disappointment in the supressed irony of the statement that the food and drink that they are indebted to their God consisted in a full measure of tears. The land that they had been promised was now wrenched away and given to those ‘who laugh us to scorn’.

7.    Restore us again O Lord of hosts:
show us the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.

Despite the preceding picture of dislocation, the people still cry out in faith.

17   Let your power rest on the man at your right hand:
on that son of man whom you made so strong for yourself.

18   And so we shall not turn back from you:
give us life and we will call upon your name.

The cult community envisages once more the seriousness of their position. They do not shun the bitter truth that their very existence is imperilled, not only their material position but their innermost being; for he who threatens them is God himself. In this situation the faithful thus threatened make one last effort, a last bold venture, and in supplication throw themselves into the arms of this God. It is precisely because it is God who threatens them that he is their only help and that their affliction cannot be his final word. Verse 17 echoes the new testament picture of Jesus, the one at the right hand of God the Father – no wonder this was a popular psalm for Christians who saw their fulfilment in the coming of Christ Jesus.

19   Restore us again O Lord of hosts:
show as the light of your countenance and we shall be saved.

The affliction of their life of prayer, movingly expressed in the lament in verse 4, is thus overcome. Only now, too, the radiant light of the divine presence appears in all its fullness in the refrain’s petition, in which the people of God, assured of their salvation, find their way back to God and to themselves.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly commentary on the appointed psalm.

PSALM 100 – Make a joyful noise to the Lord all you lands!

PSALM 100 – Make a joyful noise to the Lord all you lands!

SUNDAY 22^ND NOVEMBER 2021

CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY

1.         O shout to the Lord in triumph all the earth:
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his face with songs of joy.

2.         Know that the Lord he is God:
 it is he who has made us, and we are his we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture.

3.         Come into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise:
give thanks to him and bless his holy name.

4.         For the Lord is good his mercy is for ever:
his faithfulness throughout all generations.

 

Imagine that you are in the vast golden courtyard of the temple when music sounds and choir of men sing out:

O shout to the Lord in triumph all the earth: serve the Lord with gladness and come before his face with songs of joy.

And you know, like the bells that ring at the start of our worship that worship is about to begin! We gather, moving toward the great fire of the holocaust altar and the bronze sea, the excitement is almost palpable. The chorus replies and with all your fellows you sing out the refrain:

Know that the Lord he is God: it is he who has made us, and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

There is a real sense of expectancy and hope, things have not been going well since last spring; there was a low yield to the barley, and two of your sheep were killed by lions. The political situation was all topsy-turvy with the Egyptians to the south and rumblings of the Assyrians to the north. The high priest and his fellow priests are tense and upset because of this prophetic activity, going on around Jerusalem.

All this pales into the background of your mind as the rest of the people join with the priestly choir and respond with heartfelt joy:

Come into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise:
give thanks to him and bless his holy name.

There is lots of movement as the crowd streams upwards and toward the singers. You murmur that ‘Yes, it is good to give him thanks.’ This where I belong as a member of the people of Israel despite the things that may have gone wrong it is still the Lord God who has rescued me and my family, and I am here to give him praise!

For the Lord is good his mercy is for ever:
his faithfulness throughout all generations.

Despite the lows of the year, and the problems we still face I can still say, ‘For the Lord is good his mercy is for ever’. And this is the chorus of all my fellow Israelites!

The joy expressed in this psalm is simultaneously derived from God and joy in God; it emanates from him and returns to him, and in that process lies the deepest meaning of old testament worship. The hymn ‘Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices’ shows that the Christian church, too, lives by this fountain of piety.

Thank you Fr Graham Alston for your weekly narrative of the psalms.