Hi Readers,
I was just reviewing the texts for this Sunday and looking back at the previous version where I studied them in the Sunday Stretch. As I read through the prayers, I was struck that a number of them remain the same, starting off with a petition for peace and end to the violence in Ukraine.
Maybe mid-summer can feel that way every year, this sense of fatigue setting in when you keep working and working and hoping - eventually - that there will be a moment of rest or accomplishment ahead. Instead, it often seems like we keep praying the same prayers, desperately hoping for change - and maybe for accountability for the people in power who keep subjecting the rest of the world to so much violence and injustice (oh hey, can you tell we just celebrated 250 years of America under our most corrupt president ever?)
There’s another consistency though, and that one is found in the Word itself. It is perhaps one of the reasons I have returned again and again to the Lectionary readings after nearly 13 years of ordained ministry. When you dwell deeply in Scripture, especially in Jesus’ words - but also in a Scriptural interpretive lens shaped by grace, inclusion, wonder, and humility - you cannot help but see that God is so much bigger than we imagine. You cannot be manipulated or shamed by the ones who claim “THE BIBLE IS CLEAR” and then use its words to condemn, to hate, to kill, to destroy.
As Jesus says in John 10:10:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
For this reason, we return to these texts today - and we pray anew these prayers, even as many await fulfillment and resolution.
Today we return to our study specifically of the Lectionary psalms. But I do want to point you also to this edition of the Sunday Stretch, which covers the other readings for today. And a reminder, too, that I will be preaching this morning at 10:45 (CT) at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church.
Let’s get to the Psalm!
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Psalm 65:9-13
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
10 You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
11 You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.
For our study of the Psalms (and other songs of Scripture), I’m going to make a suggestion. Psalms - like poetry - require deep contemplation and study. Each word is weighted and heavy. So even though my typical tendency is to read quickly, I’m going to force myself to slow down. To read each word again. Aloud.
OK, I just did that. How about you?
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