Still

 “Be still, and know that I am God! 

I am exalted among the nations,

 I am exalted in the earth.” - Psalm 46:10

In discussing this verse with a friend today, it occurs to me how undervalued stillness is in many Christian traditions. In my experience, stillness can be a struggle because people find it difficult to quiet their minds from racing thoughts, pressing needs, and clamoring desires. The inability to be still or have a quiet mind then becomes a source of shame or guilt, instead of its own reflection point. 

In the Lutheran tradition, we value the tension that plays between positive and negative construction. This is most clearly evident in our interpretation of the 10 Commandments. While the written word is in the negative construction, "do not do this", the interpretation includes a positive construction, "Instead, do this".

Is there a way to put both positive and negative construction on stillness? 

Positive: Being still will help me draw closer to God. 

Negative: Being still will help me recognize the things that are not God. 

In that second construction, it is easier to realize stillness will help us reject the things that are not God. 

My to-do list- not God. 

My negative self-talk- not God

My stresses about things I cannot control- not God

My guilt over things done and left undone- not God

My frustrations with others- not God

As each of these things appears in my mind, I have the chance to acknowledge them and to note that they are not God. They do not get the space or the honor that I have chosen to give to my Creator. If they want time, they have to wait. They are not God. 

In acknowledging what is not God, we have the opportunity to sink into stillness and be present to God's presence in and around us. If God is neither all those things, nor in them, where is God? How is God speaking to us? How does stillness lead us more deeply into God's truth? 

In the days ahead, there are likely to be many things that wish to assert their dominance in our minds and lives. Be still for a moment. Do they bring life? Do they offer wholeness? Do they contain hope and true justice? If not, they are not God. Let them go. 

Continue in stillness that you may better recognize what is not God and embrace the One who is. 

Psalm 25, Revisited

In Hebrew, Psalm 25 is an acrostic psalm. The beginning of each sentence forms the alef-bet down the page. 

I have re-written Psalm 25, in Revised Julia Edition, to be an acrostic of the English alphabet. 

All of my being belongs to you, O Lord, 

Because of this truth, I trust in You alone. Consent not that the forces that oppose You to triumph in my life.

Do not allow any of Your faithful people to become discouraged or embarrassed because of their hope in you. 

Educate me in Your ways, O Lord. Teach me the feel of Your road. 

First things first, and that must always be You. 

God of all things, You alone offer true wholeness and peace: salvation.            

Happy is the one who learns this and waits for You. 

I beg you to continue in mercy and everlasting compassion, O Lord,  

Just as you did for Sarah, Ruth, and Hannah. 

Keep no mementos of my sins- against You or others.

Let Your own eyes of love be the lens through which You see me. 

Majesty is revealed through constancy and goodness, which certainly describes the Lord. 

Neglecting no one, the Lord offers guidance in faithful discipleship.

O God, those who are willing to listen will hear and receive Your guidance,

Patiently, the Lord corrects and guides the faithful to a holy life. 

Questioners find a way of surety and eternal mercy when they follow the Lord. 

Remember, O Lord, Your Divine reputation and forgive me all my many sins. 

Since we fear, love, and trust the Lord, we will not be without direction or help. 

Those who listen to God will find the justice, life-fullness, and family they desire. 

Ultimately, the Lord does not abandon those who want to be God’s people. 

Victory over sin and death belong to the Lord, who includes even me in that triumph. 

When You think of me, O God, pour out the healing you know I need in my whole being.

X-ray those who hate me, see their insides, and protect me from what may truly harm me. 

Yes, I seek a life of wholeness and self-control as I wait for you. 

Zion, the original people of Your heart, awaits Your redemption. Hasten to them, O God. 

Rend the Heavens: Advent Day 6

Rend the Heavens text: May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor. – Psalm 72:4

Prompt: Yearn

God in heaven, what would this look like?

You withstood David’s murder of Uriah and his adulterous tendencies, allowing the defenseless Bathsheba not only to be raped, but to experience the death of her child.

You allowed Solomon to conscript his own people for the building of the temple- a building meant to honor you, but raised on the backs of people with choices take away.

Constantine was permitted to use your name and your story for the shaping of his own plans and expectations, forever altering how those who follow you would be viewed- within and without the Way of Christ.

So many have hung their harps on the willows, unable to sing your songs.

So many have screamed to the winds for you to dash the descendants of their enemies against the rocks.

So many have wept and wept and waited for joy in the morning that did not come.

Can you not feel the yearning of your creation? Do you not feel our strain and grief for healing and resolution and all that you have promised?

“How long, O Lord” is too stale a question now? We peer into the depths out of which we cry, listening to our own echoes, and wonder if you are there are at all? If you are planning to act ever? If you have forgotten your covenants, your end of all the bargains, your own character?

I yearn not to be your defense lawyer, your apologist, your witness.

I long to be overwhelmed by your power, your action, your holy fury.

Lord, hear our prayer.

And in your mercy, answer us.




Originally written for and posted to RevGalBlogPals.org

Psalm 29 for Alaskans.

Give credit to the Lord for all power, all glory, and all strength.

Give the Lord worship that is holy and beautiful, a response to God’s glory.

The voice of the Lord roars across the oceans and whispers in the streams.

The voice of the Lord is strong and gorgeous.

The voice of the Lord bends the spruce and snaps the birches.

The voice of the Lord stirs the bear and leads the salmon.

The Lord makes the people of the land to skip like moose calves

And the people of the water to frolic like seal pups.

The voice of the Lord bursts forth like a river relieved of an ice dam.

The voice of the Lord shakes the bases of the Alaska range.

The voice of the Lord rumbles, stirring molten rock

And all around God’s throne shout, “Hallelujah!”.

The Lord resides above the tumult, yet sees everything.

The Lord reigns forever.

O Lord, give strength to your servants;

O Lord, give them the blessings of peace.

Future Perfect Tense

While Japan is still shaking and ears are still rattling in Beirut and no one is sure what happened in Paris, except that there is a lot of blood and grief... I feel still as I wait to understand how to pray.

It is almost as though praying for peace has become a kind of false prophecy, for I have seen how the forces that oppose God and God's will in the world go to all kinds of lengths to avoid peace.

I sought out several translations of Psalm 27, particularly verses 13 and 14.

The New Revised Standard Version says:

I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

All of it is a future hope as well as guidance toward the future. 

The New American Standard Bible reads: 

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.

This points to the idea that the psalmist has had an experience of God within the concreteness of earthly life and applies that lesson to his (or her) future expectations of the Holy One. 

The New International Version: 

I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

Again the outlook is ahead and not behind.

The NASB is the closest to a literal translation of the Hebrew, whereas the other two are attempting a balance between the beseeching spirit of the psalm and the actual words thereof. Our prayers have to do the same thing. We cry out to the heavens with our grief and our frustrations- HOW LONG, O Lord- and we wait. Yet we also keep living- tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow- with the faithful expectation of seeing God's good work in the world. 

We lean on what we know to be true, because of what we have seen and heard, and we trust that it shall bear fruit again- even in our lifetimes- for the healing of the earth and all who dwell therein. 

Psalm 23, Revisited (ReBlog)

This is an edited repost from here.


The Lord is my mechanic, I’m satisfied by his work.     
She keeps me tuned and running smoothly.
He leads me to open roads, 
    She grants me peace in congestion. 
God’s mercy and grace toward me reflect well on her reputation. 
Even when I need serious maintenance, 
    I know the cost has been covered;for you are with me;    
       your torque wrench and your lift platform— they comfort me.
You bang out my dents and mend my scratches,
In front of those who treat me with disdain.
You keep my fluids filled,    
    My belts are tightened.
Certainly safety and stability will pursue me on all of my expeditions, 
And I shall ride in the chariot of the Lord forever.

Psalm 131: Thoughts

Psalm 131 was one of the selected readings for tonight's evening prayer.

The New Revised Standard Version reads:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high.I do not occupy myself with thingstoo great and too marvelous for me.But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mothermy soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lordfrom this time on and forevermore.

 There are beautiful images here. I feel subsumed in the image of "like a weaned child with its mother". When I hold my children in my lap, they are cradled against the breast that once fed them. They hear a heart beat that they knew in the womb, heard in the their first weeks, that beat near their ear as they fed, and that lulled them to sleep again and again.

Though my youngest has been weaned for over a year, she still comes to my lap for stillness, for consolation, for a little rebirth. Leaning against my breast again is coming back to the fount that gave order and life to each of them for so long. It is the place to regroup, recharge, re-covenant with the love that gives them the strength to go out again, try new things, fail or succeed.

Even for adopted or bottle-fed children, the metaphor holds for the lap as the place of comfort.
It holds for the heartbeat within a familiar chest as a re-orienting rhythm.

What an image for us to consider in our relationship with our Creator. That we have a place of peace to snuggle into, to be cradled, to be re-acquainted with our most primordial selves.

When we are at peace in closeness with what Is, Was, and Ever Shall Be, we are like a beloved child, held and comforted, for whom all is right with the world.

Psalm 2- Seymour Revised Version

Psalm 2

Why do forces- even people- try to be greater than God?

Kings, presidents, governors, village elders come together and say, “We have power. We can subvert the Lord’s plans- especially the Lord’s plans for the beloved.”

The Lord smiles, but is not amused.

When the Lord acts, all will know!

The Lord will speak from a place of determination and frustration, saying: “YOU WILL NOT PREVAIL OVER MY CHOSEN.”

I will dare to share the Lord’s words.

The Lord has revealed to me:

“You are my child. Today, every day, I give you life.

Ask what you will of me.

Your place in creation is my gift to you.

All that you can comprehend- and beyond- is your inheritance.

Those who would conquer you will taste defeat.”

Thus, I warn the presumptuous rulers:

Be smart! Be wise! Be alert, you who think you are gods.

Serve the Lord. Serve the Lord alone.

His wrath is great, but his mercy is greater still.

There is joy for those who recognize the Lord is God and take their rest in that truth.  

Psalm 1 (Seymour Revised Version)

Psalm 1 

There is joy in the path of truth-

Happiness in doing things God’s way.

Those who do this find deliciousness in God’s word-

It nourishes them- body and soul, day and night.

The ones who listen, who heed, bloom.

They blossom and bear fruit.

Bursting forth, they are ready for harvest in all they do.

Those who do not listen, who do not heed the word-

They do not have the same experience.

They are affected by every wind that blows.

They cannot prosper.

And they do not understand the joy and consolation of the Listeners.

The Lord sees all, calls all, desires all.

The path of truth prevails,

But the road of lies will not be preserved.