Psalm 16 Common English Bible
Protect me, God, because I take refuge in you.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
Apart from you, I have nothing good.”
Now as for the “holy ones” in the land,
the “magnificent ones” that I was so happy about;
let their suffering increase because
they hurried after a different god.
I won’t participate in their blood offerings;
I won’t let their names cross my lips.
You, Lord, are my portion, my cup;
you control my destiny.
The property lines have fallen beautifully for me;
yes, I have a lovely home.
I will bless the Lord who advises me;
even at night I am instructed
in the depths of my mind.
I always put the Lord in front of me;
I will not stumble because he is on my right side.
That’s why my heart celebrates and my mood is joyous;
yes, my whole body will rest in safety
because you won’t abandon my life to the grave;
you won’t let your faithful follower see the pit.
You teach me the way of life.
In your presence is total celebration.
Beautiful things are always in your right hand.
Nancy and I spent yesterday looking at possible new homes in the Western Suburbs of Chicago --- the process of looking for a new home is at times overwhelming because we are confronted with so many choices.
Townhouse or single family
Ranch or multi-storied
How many bedrooms
How big
And I could go on and on
And of course, the problem is, we are never certain that something better isn’t going to come along.
So we wrap our minds and bodies up in knots --- and if we are not careful become paralyzed.
But life is all about choices.
Those choices all seem to be momentous, and we start forcing our children to make choices at an early age
What activities should I participate in?
What University should I attend?
What major should I choose?
Who should I marry?
Where should I live?
What compass should I follow?
And we fear that if we make the wrong choice, we are doomed to failure . . . and some would even add damnation.
I think I have shared this before --- but I received my call into ministry when I was a sophomore in college --- or at least that is when I first recognized it.
But it took me a number of years to CHOOSE to follow that call
I stuck my toes in the water
Got involved with a campus ministry
Actually, was hired by a local congregation to do college age ministry
But it wasn’t until Stewart died, that I really made the decision to go all in and follow Jesus.
Father Richard Rohr likes to say that Roman Catholics have made idols out of Bishops, Popes and doctrine --- and Protestants made an idol out of the Bible.
And I clearly fell into the idea that the BIBLE was the answer to all of life’s perplexing problems.
It was a user’s manual and had all the answers
I remember learning that the Bible stood for
Basic
Information
Before
Leaving
Earth
After Stewart died --- my biblical worldview was shattered. And I began to decide not to follow the BIBLE --- but to follow Jesus.
As I say that --- I am sure that some of you are getting a little nervous
It became obvious to me that one could follow the Bible and not really follow Jesus
The question is which one comes first
Which one created the frame for the other
And for me --- I chose to follow Jesus and let Jesus frame the bible and not the other way around.
We all to choose who we will follow.
One of the key stories for me became the invitation to relationship with God that is found in the book of Deuteronomy
God speaks to Moses and the Hebrew people and offers them this choice.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, (Deuteronomy 30:19 NRSV)
Choose life!
Our Psalm is saying the say basic thing.
We are not sure who wrote Psalm 16.
Some attribute it to David
Others, maybe surprisingly, attribute it to possibly a Canaanite --- someone who was living in the land when the Israelites conquered it and made the choice to follow Jesus.
Regardless of who wrote it --- the author seems to be suggesting that we all have the option of choosing who our what we are going to follow in life.
The psalmist speaks of choosing God using the image of a cup (verse 5) by contrast with those who “choose another god” (verse 4).
The “cup” here is a way of describing what a person’s life is going to be like, or their “lot in life.”
This “cup” or life may entail many different things
Punishment or suffering
Blessing and salvation
The same idea that is found in Deuteronomy.
We can choose which path we will follow.
When the psalmist says, “the Lord is my chosen cup,” the psalmist is not claiming the power to control what happens to them.
Rather, the psalmist is choosing to follow God and confessing trust ---
that in doing so, God will protect and take care of them.
Think of this in relationship to our receiving God’s grace.
We do not earn grace.
But in turning away from false gods and turning toward God, we are in a position and posture to receive the grace that God offers.
Even our ability to choose to turn toward God is made possible by grace
In our Wesleyan theology we call this prevenient grace.
REMEMBER --- choosing God is not something we achieve
It is a response to the gifts and promised of God.
The psalmist describes what being attuned toward God looks like for them:
Confessing faith and trust in God (verses 2, 5, 10-11)
Looking to God for instruction and help via prayer, Scripture, community (verses 1, 7, 11)
Praise, rejoicing & gratitude (verses 6 - 11)
The challenge for us is --- How can we position ourselves to be shaped into the vessels we were created to be?
How can we choose the living water?
How do we choose life?
The reality is --- most of us inherited our faith.
We --- like Cooper and Finn --- were baptized as babies or young children and not given the choice.
Regardless of when this journey began --- we must choose to follow Jesus
Choose to follow EVERYDAY
We like to talk about the ancient Greek or Roman cultures being ones with a pantheon of gods ---
But we have created our own pantheon
We elevate sports heroes to god like status
Or our musical gods
Or movie and TV stars
How do we CHOOSE LIFE and follow Jesus?
For me it is a conscious choice
What is going to frame how I approach life?
Do I approach life with my agenda or God’s?
For years I served on a scholarship committee that gave out full tuition scholarships to Indiana public universities.
I found the process fascinating
We all had the same basic criteria to “judge” students.
Actually, some of the basic scoring and sorting was done prior to the students’ applications ever getting to me.
Most of that was based on HOW MUCH the student had done
Grades
Types of classes taken
Activities they were involved it at school and home
But when it came down to the nitty gritty --- what becomes the paradigm?
And what I came to see, is that each of the seven of us on the committee operated out of slightly different paradigms.
The longer I sat on the committee --- the more I tried to bring my paradigm into alignment with my Jesus worldview.
And by that I mean that I shifted from looking for the negatives in peoples applications (which were easy to focus on)
Things missing
Typos
Poor grammar
I began trying to hear the possibilities
What their dreams and hopes were
Was it a better system than the others ---
I don’t know
But what I do know is that it changed my attitude
I focused on the life-giving aspects of their applications and not the shortcomings
Unfortunately, I think we in the church fall into the same trap
We focus on the gods of our own making --- things like:
We have always done it that way
Attendance numbers
Status and significance
And forgotten about the life transforming possibilities that God is offering
Connecting and building relationships with our various ministries
Soccer program
Children’s Day In
And our newest ministry --- our Summer Camp --- in which we have over 80 children already signed up despite our late start.
We got a phone call this week from a funeral home asking if we would be willing to hold a funeral for a non-member
What we were told was they did not particularly want a religious service
Our think in our default stance it is --- let’s pass --- why do we want to bother with this.
But I said sure, let me meet the family and see if we can get together on the same page so that we can honor and celebrate this loved ones life
What I came to find out was this was a “gay” couple that had not had good experiences with the church --- but the family and friends really wanted a service in the church.
As we met, I was able to focus on our connections and not our differences
How God loves ALL and that we could celebrate that love.
At a second meeting I asked one of the friends why they had ended up calling us at Meridian Street?
The answer I got surprised me
It wasn’t because of our inclusion statement --- (they did not know it)
It wasn’t because of the rainbow colors on our sign (they didn’t see them)
They came because one of the close friend’s children played soccer on our fields.
We don’t know how God is using our ministries.
But what I do know is --- God is.
Why am I so encouraged by our new Summer Camp program?
Because it builds more opportunities for us to love our neighbors.
As we continue this Lenten season --- God asks us what god we are going to follow?
The gods of our own creation
--- our own agendas
--- or the God of grace and love?
Choose life!
Let God fill your cup to overflowing with love and grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment