Open-ended, Life-centred,
Gospel-Focussed Explorations of Australian Prayer Book Psalms.
Psalm 65:8-13...PENTECOST PLUS 9 (A)
.... (For the
Gospel, please scroll)
INTRODUCTION: 1]The
alternative PSS
set for after
Pentecost are used here. 2]
Psalms
are poetry for singing;
personal, depending not on rhyme, but on developing an idea,
contrasting it, etc. They date from pre-1000 BC (David)
to mid 400s
BC. Being of their day, we may
find attitudes in some PSs abhorrent. 3]
Though most of us are not closely connected to the land now, PS65
challenges us to food for thought - & action - on one of the
world's greatest issues of all time.
WARMING UP: Do we have
any farming background at all?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
8-10 Does the imagery
of God having a hands-on approach to the land speak to us at all? Using
the PSt's imagery, would those on the land today have a better chance
of making & keeping it fruitful if we all worked more with them
& with God in caring for it - whatever that takes? Is God's place
in all this vital to any solutions / approaches we might take to
keeping the land 'watered, rich, & fertile'? What is God's place
in all this? Can we actually do anything to reverse the degradation of
land & water that's bringing our land & those who farm it to
desperation point, or has it gone so far that no-one, or at least only
experts can 'fix' it? What must members of farming communities in some
parts of Australia & elsewhere feel when they read or sing this,
esp. v.9 in church?
From our knowledge of God in Scripture (such as here) & our
discernment of the leading of God's Spirit, could we imagine what God's
view on using food crops for bio-fuel might be? Do we all share any
responsibility for the fact that more & more people in more &
more parts of the world are starving more constantly as a result of
globalisation, climate change, questionable land practices, & the
way we're using precious foods resources?
11-13
How conscious are we of God 'crowning our year(s) with goodness'?
Aren't there just too many people in too many places who don't
experience God's goodness because of what others do to them or don't do
for them, for us to believe or expect them to believe what the PSt says
is true? How readily can we distinguish 'God's tracks' in our world
today? Now that we're seeing our pastures on the whole 'running over'
less, what help & hope can the PSt's way of looking at things give
us? Including whether we're seeing many hills - or any other features
of the land - 'girded with joy' much these days?
What's the reality of our use / misuse of the land today as distinct
from the magnificently imaginative poetic vision the PSt has here? Can
we hope to bring vision & reality together in any realistic way?
What would that cost us? Are there ways we can / could yet 'shout for
joy & sing' like the land & its produce do here? What changes
might we have to make in the way we see & do things to close the
gap between the creation's fruitfulness & human greed, etc?
PLUS: Although He
wasn't a farmer, might a passage like this have coloured Jesus'
appreciation of the land & the farming imagery He uses?
