Open-ended, Life-centred,
Gospel-Focussed Explorations of Australian Prayer Book Psalms.
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18...PENTECOST PLUS 7 (A)
.... (For the
Gospel, please scroll)
INTRODUCTION: 1]After
Pentecost, the alternative PSS
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] This is a very Davidic PS, seemingly from a time when he was
going through a bad patch. 4]
In v.15 'triumphal shout' appears to refer to a liturgical activity.
WARMING UP: How excited do we get about God - as excited
as this PSt?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
1-2 Is our singing to
God confined to the hymns or other religious songs we sing in church,
or do we have our own songs? How much do we notice the words of what we
sing from hymn books & the like? Are there times when we feel like,
or actually do close our books rather than sing something so old hat
it's pathetic, or so theologically wrong it's shameful? Do we ever make
up our own songs to God - to our own tune, or a well known one, as we
live each day? How much do any religious songs we sing praise
God's loving-kindness & faithfulness? Have we experienced enough of
these two God-qualities for us to be able to sing of them?
How strong is any sense
we have of the connectedness between us &: a) the ancients of faith
& their connectedness to God? &, b) our own forbears &
their connectedness to God? Or doesn't that kind of thing matter to us,
isn't important any more?
3-4 Do we
have any sense of covenant between God & us? If so, is it because
we are His 'chosen'? Do we find it easier to think of us making some
kind of covenant with God, than God making a covenant forever with us -
as with David? What is the essence of 'covenant'? How important is
continuity to us? Is any sense of continuity we have a matter of: a)
life expectancy? b) property? c) our 'extension' into the next &
other generations? d) whether people remember us well, badly, or at
all? Where does God come into any continuity we expect or hope to
experience? Or doesn't He?
15-18 Assuming the
'triumphal shout' is a reference to some liturgical practice [N 4] how
triumphal is the worship we take part in / contribute to? Would anyone
observing us worshipping realise it's something we're getting excited
about? At a simple level, how well do we participate in responses we're
expected to make? Does worship make us 'happy' in any meaningful sense?
Do we make our worship 'happy' by the way we enter into it? Does the
imagery of 'light' play any role in the way we think of God, worship
God?
What is God's 'righteousness'
& why should we 'rejoice' & 'exalt' in it? Do we actually
rejoice in very much, exalt in very much, let alone God? Are we
conscious of God being our glory / our strength / the one who 'lifts us
up'? Do any of these ways of thinking of God play any role in our
relationship with God & others? Do we have any sense that our ruler
/ s 'belong to God'? Do our rulers have any such sense of belonging to
God? Or is that just silly thinking? What moved the centre of the
universe from God to our rulers & us? Are we still better off with
what we've got than the kinds of religious dictatorships some people
have imposed on them? How much is a lack of any sense of God's holiness
at the root of what any of us put up with today?
PLUS: Does reading the
PS in the light of today's Gospel (MT10:40-42) help at all?
