Ps. 79:1-9, 13 will be our responsive Call to Worship. It raises the sin question. I want to avoid the "here's why it happened" angle--I don't know the data. What I do know is that the sins I've heard trumpeted in the last 11 days were all--the other guys. I do that too. Even when I talk about the sins of "our country," I really have in mind those bums who disagree with me. V. 8 here supports that thinking in a historical way I think healthy: annotated as in my Bible it reads, "Do not remember against us the sins of our (racist) ancestors, who rarely considered that category. I, as a racist, think about it all the time--that accounts for my annotation! I do think we've learned something. I do think that as we respond to this altogether new experience of violence (for comfy caucasians), we will not long abide the simple answer which, for the moment, provides a handy "balm" for our anguish. But v. 9 reminds me that I am a sinner--Rick in VA in the gospel discussion has got that right, I think. So, while tempted to thank God that I am not a Pharisee, I wonder what sinfulness that besets me might the congregation accept as theirs also in a way that makes us desperate for the security that only God can give us. And there may be the clue--desperation for security comes only when our presumedly effective security measures strip us nekkid. In desperation, maybe we will reach out to form relationships--with local Muslims, for example; maybe we will break the chain of recrimination and finger-pointing at motes, and so create an affirming aura around us instead of yielding to the compulsion to condemn. It's quite late (I need to start the bulletin!), and I still don't have my focus clear, but I am as certain now as I was on Monday that all four lections zero in on the world's raw uneasiness since 9/11. GG in NC
Date: 8/27/2004
Time: 1:38:11 PM
It's three years later now, but I still think of 9/11/01 when I read this. I think I read somewhere that this psalm is still read weekly at the Wailing Wall, the last remnant of the temple the Romans tore down in 70 A.D. Now that is holding onto a hurt. The psalmist wrote it before that about some other outrage, so I guess it is alright to appropriate for our current pain also. Will there ever be a day when we no longer need to console ourselves for the past injustices and simply live in the present blessings? If not here, then in heaven. Hold onto one another for now. Justice will roll down someday. tom in TN(USA)
Date: 9/8/2004
Time: 6:43:46 AM
Just as the people in Jeremiah fail to experience the healing within their grasp and, therefore, persist in their pain, so in these verses the psalmist cries out in weary despair. Yet, even in despair the psalmist recognizes that salvation and compassion come from God.
Date: 9/11/2004
Time: 7:58:14 PM
When was this first contribution written?
I'm weeping with Jeremiah, and horrified with the Psalmist about how we have become a taunt to the nations. I really, really want to preach a political sermon. Anyone else wrestling with this?
kbc in sc
Date: 9/14/2004
Time: 7:47:04 PM
to KBC, as an american son of spanish parents, I am reminded of the explorers who came to mexico looking for gold, they didn't find it. and the pilgrims coming to America seeking religious freedom and founded a prosperous Nation. Lord help us keep our priorities straight. In His Service, John Rodriguez
Date: 9/16/2004
Time: 1:48:13 PM
Got to love this Psalm! Here we found the model of praying through our anger and frustration.
Taking the matter to God and trust in His judgement would be better than take the matter into your own hands.
There are so much injustice and evils in the world around me today, and they even leak into the church.
Let me raise the same unison voice to the author of this Psalm and cry to God for deliverance and for give our sins, for His name's sake and glory. (Not becuase we deserve any of it).
Coho, Midway City.