Readings
for Pentecost 8C:
Psalms 138, 147
July 25, 2004
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Dag Hammarskjold* of Sweden was one of the most outstanding and highly respected international leaders of the 20th century. As Secretary-General of the United Nations, he devoted his time and talent in pursuing the principles of the United Nations Charter: international cooperation and reconciliation toward a peaceful world. Hammarskjold viewed his work not simply as a political role but as a religious calling. On his travels around the world, Hammarskjold took with him, three items: a copy of the New Testament, a copy of the Psalms, and a copy of the United Nations Charter. These items were found in his briefcase that was recovered after the plane crash that took his life in 1961.
Hammarskjold understood that the book of Psalms presents nothing short of God's claim upon the whole world. It articulates God's will for justice, righteousness, and peace among all peoples and nations. Like millions of other faithful people who came before him, the psalms were an important part of Hammarskjold's spirituality and understanding of God. Today, I will complete my sermon series on the psalms, focusing my comments on psalms of "new orientation." I will use Psalms 138 and 147 as my texts.
The psalms are a collection of Hebrew poetry, set to music, and collected over a period of many centuries. Though many of the psalms are attributed to the authorship of King David, they were actually written by different people, for different reasons, at different times. In his book, The Message of the Psalms,** Walter Brueggemann divides the psalms into three categories which reflect the three different seasons of the human experience. They are: psalms of orientation, psalms of disorientation, and psalms of new orientation. The season of orientation is that time in our lives when things are going according to plan, when we experience equilibrium in our lives, and the universe seems to be well-ordered. However, chaos can impinge upon this sense of orientation and equilibrium. When loss, illness, and alienation come crashing into our daily lives, pain and disorientation result, and darkness becomes our only companion. Fortunately, over time, the light overcomes the darkness and new life emerges from the ashes of destruction. We call this season, a time of new orientation, a time of new possibility and new life. In Christian terms, we call this the season of resurrection.
If you have ever gone through a divorce (with all of its pain, anger, and disorientation) and then were able to love again, then you can give thanks for this time of new orientation. If you have ever lost a loved one (experiencing many years of deep grief) and then suddenly find yourself re-joining the human race, then you can praise God for this time of new orientation. If you experienced the effects of World War II, the Third Reich, or the theatre war of the Far East, and then saw the gradual rebuilding of Europe and Japan after the war, then you know about the possibilities of a new world orientation.
A new orientation can arise out of the depths of despair. It is a gift from God; a new coherence made present to us just when we thought all was lost. It is a move from the pit of chaos that we thought we would never escape. The people of Israel always credited this new orientation to the intervention of God. Their response to this new life was one of delight, amazement, wonder, awe, gratitude, and thanksgiving. These sentiments are reflected in their psalms of new orientation: "I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up and have not let my enemies triumph over me…You have turned my wailing into dancing; you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy." [Ps. 30] "I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard me cry. He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure." [Ps.40] "Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things. With his right hand and his holy arm, he has won for himself the victory." [Ps. 98]
The psalms of new orientation include psalms of thanksgiving, psalms of enthronement, and psalms of praise. Let's take a look at the psalm that was appointed for today. [See Ps. 138, BCP 793]. Psalm 138 is a song of thanksgiving. This prayer remembers a time of need that has now been resolved. The reason for the thanksgiving is because of God's love and faithfulness. In vv. 4-6, it is the community on earth that is offering praise. Even the kings take notice. In vv.7-8, the psalmist alludes to the difficulty, the time of disorientation, although the specific problem is not spelled out. In the last line, "the works of your hands" refers to God who intervenes in unheard of and unexpected ways.
The Psalter is full of psalms that praise God from whom all blessings flow. The people of Israel centered their lives on God. Instead of seeing themselves as independent, autonomous individuals, they knew they were completely dependent on God's grace and justice. Praise was their response to God's presence in their lives. Praise is a form of prayer. "We praise God, not to obtain anything, but because God's Being draws praise from us." [BCP 857] In our public worship together, we sing songs of praise throughout the liturgy such as: In the doxology when we "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," or in the Gloria Patri- "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit." In some religious communities, the Gloria Patri is said at the end of each psalm as a way of keeping in mind the need to open up the heart to praise God, no matter what the situation may be. Let's take a look at a psalm of praise, # 147. [BCP 804]
Psalm 147 is a hymn or song of praise that is part of the final collection of psalms, each of which begins and ends with Hallelujah. The reason for the praise is found in vv. 2-6. In 587 BCE, Jerusalem and the Jewish temple were destroyed and the people were exiled to Babylon. This psalm was probably written after the Jewish people were allowed to return home to the land of Israel and to rebuild the temple. This kind of deliverance elicits thanksgiving for a people of faith. This sentiment of gratitude is expressed in the remainder of the psalm along with the acknowledgement that God is intimately involved in the world, in creation, and in redemption.
Please note that not all of the psalms fit into a neat pattern of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation. Some psalms include all of these seasons of human experience while others express only one or two. Some psalms start off with a note of praise (which is typical of new orientation) but end with a note of disorientation. Why don't the psalms always end with a high note if God is all powerful and all loving? The psalms do not always end in a high note because they reflect real human life. Healing and deliverance from pain is rarely a linear process. We come to a place of deliverance, a place of peace and well being, through a process that is predominantly spiral; a process where pain and joy pass each other time and again, until the light final overcomes the darkness.
The psalms are a valuable resource for our spirituality; an avenue through which the believer can enter into communion with God. But if we were to read the psalms only to "feel good" and to maintain the status quo, then we would lose out on the true power and fullness of the psalms. The biblical faith of the psalms is not romantic. Biblical faith clearly articulates that evil strikes at all that is crucial and precious. It calls upon us to cry out, to resist, to fight against those powers that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God. The psalms are not meant to silence us or to have us embrace the status quo of oppression and injustice. The psalms give voice to the raw reality of human experience which includes pain as well as joy. The psalms motivate us to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being- not by our own ego strength alone, but with God through whom all things are possible- even resurrection from the dead.
So let us sing a new song to the Lord. Let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to him with psalms!
[Turn to psalm 147, found in your bulletin on page 5.]
*The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Vo. IV, pg. 641; Abington Press, 1996.
** The Message of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann, Augsburg, 1984
| Updated 7/31/04 |
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