Open-ended, Life-centred,
Gospel-Focussed Explorations of Australian Prayer Book Psalms.
Psalm 1...PENTECOST PLUS 24 (A)
.... (For the
Gospel, please scroll)
INTRODUCTION: 1]PSS
used here are
alternatives for SS. after
Pentecost. 2] Robert Alter, ad loc, calls
this a 'brief, eloquent, Wisdom PS'. 3]
In v.2, where we have 'ponder', the Hebrew word is 'murmur' = learning
by reading aloud - as we can still see pupils in Islamic schools doing
in TV clips today.
WARMING UP: When we read a book, or paper, do we ever read
aloud?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1 Is 'walking' a meaningful
metaphor for living life? Whose counsel do we walk in? Whom do we 'follow',
whose steps are we walking in right now? Are we discerning enough in
choosing whom we walk after / with, or doesn't it matter whether
they're wise, faithful, etc., or 'sinners'? Do we ever find ourself
'sitting among' the scornful? (Maybe in the sense of being scornful of
our Faith?)
2. In our
eagerness these days to emphasise God 's love, do we always take God's
Law seriously enough, & more, delight in it? Is it worth taking
seriously what someone once said about 'Law and Love being two sides of
the one coin'? Does our taking God's Law seriously enough, &
delighting in it, extend to pondering it, taking it in, 'murmuring' it
(N.3), etc.? If we spend time taking in something other than God's Law,
might we have a problem? Might God have a problem with us?!
3-4 If our life is one of
these 'trees', where are we drawing our water from? Is the crisis in
rainfall, catchment, management, distribution, etc. in our own country
now a similar wake up call to that the PSt offers so poetically from
his M.E. background where water was / is so precious? Given our
familiarity with water as a metaphor for a source of spiritual power,
what does Jesus' offer of Himself as 'living water' really mean? Are we
taking that offer up so we're fruitful 'trees' for God?
What 'shape' are we in - our roots, branches, leaves, & fruit? Are
we prospering spiritually, whether or not we are in the material sense?
5-6 How do we tell if
someone is godly or ungodly? How does God tell? Does God see us as a
godly, fruitful 'tree', or simply a handful of ungodly 'chaff' right
now? Whatever our answer, what are we going to do about it? How might
it feel not to have a leg to
stand on before God? Or is that thought too terrible to contemplate?
7. Are we truly
conscious of God's care? If we aren't,
is that prima-face evidence we're on the wrong path, in the
wrong company?
PLUS: Does PS1 offer any wisdom for the kind of answers Jesus
is looking for in the Gospel (MT 22: 34-46)?
