Monthly Archives: May 2024

Monday Matters (May 27, 2024)

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Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name;
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice;
the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and
Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire;
the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe
and strips the forests bare.

9 And in the temple of the Lord all are crying, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.

11 The Lord shall give strength to his people;
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.


This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

Honor

Someone once told me that preachers have only one sermon. That may be hyperbole, but I confess that I probably do have only one wedding homily. I find that a key word in the liturgy for the Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage is the word “honor.” And it bears repeating. As a couple enters into the covenant of marriage, they commit to a relationship, to another person, not to a bunch of rules. Key to making that work is to hold the word “honor” at the center of life together. On a daily basis, a couple might ask: How can our interactions this day honor each other, speak well of each other, seek the best for each other? They could do worse than to post the word “honor” all over the place. By the door. On the bathroom mirror. Over the dashboard. As a screen saver.

This call to honor is not limited to marriage. In baptism we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons and love neighbor as self. That’s a way to describe honor. We commit to strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. Not just those human beings who we like, or who can help us get ahead. Everyone we encounter deserves to be honored.

The idea is echoed throughout the scripture. As St. Paul is giving instructions to the community of Christians in Rome, he tells them how to live in community, how to live in response to the gift of God’s grace, love from which we can never be separated. In Romans 12, he says: “Outdo one another in showing honor.” What would that competitive spirit look like in your interactions this week? With your family? At work? In traffic? Waiting in line at the grocery store? In your social media posts?

And it’s not just about honoring the people around us. In the Hebrew scriptures, we read again and again a call to ascribe to the Lord the glory (or honor) due his name. The word for glory in Greek is doxa which means to honor someone’s name or to make much of that person’s reputation. That verse shows up in the psalm we read at church yesterday (on Trinity Sunday. See above. It’s a psalm often read in church as offertory sentence, i.e., at a time when we invite those present in church to share their financial resources. That’s certainly one of the ways we honor the Lord. But there’s more. We give honor due God’s name in our sacrifice of thanksgiving, our expressions of praise and gratitude, in our service to those in need, in the ways we use our time, in the ways we use our God-given gifts, in love of God with heart, body, soul, mind, strength.

Reflect on the word honor this week. It can seems to be a quaint, old-fashioned word. It may seem out of fashion in a world where people are encouraged to look out for themselves first and foremost. It may have been cheapened in a world where we speak of honoring credit cards. But it gives a great way to think about our love of neighbor. How are we honoring the people around us?

And as part of that reflection, perhaps the heart of that reflection, what would it mean to ascribe to the Lord the honor due his name? What exactly is due the Lord in this regard? Many of us, even professional religious folk (not naming any names), spend part of our time as functional atheists. We forget that God (not the church, not ourselves) is the star of the story. I have a hunch that if we begin with a recognition that our lives unfold in the presence of the God who created us, if we ascribe to the Lord the honor due his name, our ability to honor others will follow. In doing so, we may find the way God intends for us.

How does that sound to you this Monday morning? I’m glad to hear your thoughts on the word “honor.”

-Jay Sidebotham


Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule. (Now accepting signups for Fall 2024 cohort)  Sign up now!

Monday Matters (May 20, 2024)

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Psalm 104:25-35, 37

25 O Lord, how manifold are your works! in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

26 Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number,
creatures both small and great.

27 There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan,
which you have made for the sport of it.

28 All of them look to you to give them their food in due season.

29 You give it to them; they gather it;
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.

30 You hide your face, and they are terrified;
you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.

31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
and so you renew the face of the earth.

32 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in all his works.

33 He looks at the earth and it trembles;
he touches the mountains and they smoke.

34 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will praise my God while I have my being.

35 May these words of mine please him;
I will rejoice in the Lord.

37 Bless the Lord, O my soul. Hallelujah!


This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

The Levity of the Leviathan

A friend says that she believes in God because of tropical fish. She thinks that the creative intentionality revealed in the great variety and great beauty within her fish tank attested to divine hand.

Her comments came to mind as I read the psalm heard in church yesterday (see above). It’s a psalm celebrating God’s creative work in its great variety. Among all the things God created, the psalmist cites the leviathan (a.k.a., a whale). The psalm tells us that God came up with that creature simply for the sport of it. Just because it was fun. Just because it brought joy. Just because it was amazing.

Creation could have simply been functional. I’m no scientist, but if it was all just mechanistic, inevitable evolution I’m not sure we’d have experienced the levity of the leviathan. This psalm comes to remind us, as we celebrated Pentecost yesterday, that the Spirit is at work in all of creation (See Proverbs 8:22-31 for a discussion of the way the Spirit has worked in creation.)

All of which is to note that a big part of faithful life is living in amazement. Abraham Heschel put it this way: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement…to get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal. Everything is incredible. Never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.’

What does it say if we refuse to be amazed? Do we take the marvel of creation for granted? Does that suggest a lack of gratitude? Does it mean our lives are not filled with levity or wonder?

Over the years, the biblical refrain that we are to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness has come to mean more and more to me. It says that God’s intention in creation is to bring holy beauty into a world where there is plenty of ugliness. It does not deny the ugliness. Rather, it serves as a reminder that the God of creation cares how we look at the world.

I’ve mentioned this before, but Albert Einstein noted that we can look at the world in two ways. Either nothing is miracle or everything is miracle. So, a life lived with radical amazement accomplishes what?

It means we live our lives with a sense of gratitude, mindful of the amazing grace that surrounds us, not the least of which is divine love from which we cannot be separated.

It means we live our lives with a healthy sense of humility. Not the kind of humility that makes us a doormat for Christ (or others), but with the sense of life unfolding in the presence of a power greater than ourselves.

It means we live our lives with a sense of joy and wonder, perhaps the same joy that the creator experienced in making up the idea of a whale. That joy can sustain us through all that is not wonderful, all that seems less than amazing, all that is boring.

What amazes you? May this Monday, and this week, be marked by that holy sense of amazement. Keep your eyes open for that which you find amazing.

-Jay Sidebotham


Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule. (Now accepting signups for Fall 2024 cohort)  Sign up now!

Monday Matters (May 13, 2024)

3-1

Psalm 1

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;
everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.


This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

The Stream

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. A few centuries later, a desert father named Abba Poemem cranked it up a bit and said: Do not give your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.

I hear both statements as challenge. They make us think about where we give our hearts, what we value, where we spend our time, where we draw our strength. What are the resources we tap in our own journey? The implication of these statements is that we sometimes treasure things that will not sustain us. We treasure that which is of no ultimate value. These statements also imply that we have agency in deciding what we value, and where we will seek resources for a meaningful life.

That’s what the first psalm is getting at. It’s included above, and you may have heard it in church yesterday. As the first psalm, it’s been described as a preface to the 149 psalms that follow, an introduction to this remarkable repository of wisdom teaching. Some of it was written 3000 years ago and yet I find the psalms speak as if written yesterday.

As in many places in scripture, this first psalm presents a spiritual fork in the road. The choice was expressed by Joshua as the children of Israel entered the promised land. He said: Choose this day who you will serve. The choice was expressed by Jesus in Luke’s version of the beatitudes which includes blessings and woes, two distinct pathways.

The first psalm speaks of those who are blessed in the ways that they choose to make their way in the world. They choose not to walk or linger or sit in the ways that counter God’s life. Note the verbs: walk, linger, sit. There are all kinds of ways we can live our lives separated from God’s life, some more active than others.

The blessed ones are like a tree planted by a source of water. They have given their heart to that which satisfies their heart. They’re plugged in, meditating on God’s teaching day and night, letting that wisdom permeate all they do.

Compare and contrast with those separated from that life-giving stream. They are not plugged in. Their battery is empty. They have run out of gas. They’re running on fumes. They are like the chaff which the wind blows away. They have no root.

Yogi Berra said: When you come to a fork in the road, take it. As the psalm presents this choice, it is describing two kinds of people. My own experience is that on any given day, I can be both of those folks. Emily Dickinson said that she believed and disbelieved a hundred times an hour. She said it made her faith nimble. I don’t know how nimble my faith is, but I do sometimes try to walk both paths at the same time. Sometimes I plug into the life giving stream. Sometimes I prefer to try to rely on my own grand skill. Is there any hope for conflicted folks, like me?

With all this talk about our agency, a reminder that all is grace. There is a stream that can give us life is a gift. That gift remains available, always. There’s always a way to come back, to take steps on the right path, to plug into the life-giving stream.

What might you do to walk in that blessed way today? What might you do to tap into that loving, life-giving, liberating stream this week?

-Jay Sidebotham


Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule. (Now accepting signups for Fall 2024 cohort)  Sign up now!

Monday Matters (May 6, 2024)

3-1

Psalm 98

1 Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things.

2 With his right hand and his holy arm
has he won for himself the victory.

3 The Lord has made known his victory;
his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel,
and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5 Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6 Sing to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of song.

7 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it,
the lands and those who dwell therein.

9 Let the rivers clap their hands,
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,
when he comes to judge the earth.

10 In righteousness shall he judge the world
and the peoples with equity.

O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We’ll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

Name that tune

Is there a song title that captures the way you’re feeling this Monday morning? Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen? You’re so vain (Carly Simon)? Is that all there is (Peggy Lee)? Glory days (The boss)?

I rarely remember sermons, even my own. But I remember a sermon that I heard more than 20 years ago, a sermon on Jesus’ parable about the sower and the seed. It’s the one where a farmer throws out seed on the ground and some of it takes and some of it doesn’t, for any number of reasons. The preacher focused on seed that was carried away by the birds of the air before it could take root. He compared it to those of us who may have had dreams snatched away. He noted the tragedy of people who never have the chance to sing their song in life. Maybe that’s been your experience. Maybe you know people who have had the experience. Maybe life’s challenges made you stop singing your song.

The psalm above is chosen for the sixth Sunday in the Easter season. You may have heard it in church yesterday. It’s an invitation to celebrate the possibility of new life. The psalm issues that invitation by calling for a new song, a song to the Lord. So what is the new song that you would like to sing with your life? What does it sound like? What are the lyrics? Minor or major key? And what was the old song?

In the Bible, when amazing things happen, people break into song. One of the oldest pieces of biblical literature is the song attributed to Miriam (Moses’ sister) after the deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20, 21). Hannah broke into song after her son, Samuel, was born (I Samuel 2:1-10). Hannah’s song offered a template for Mary’s song, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Mary broke into song when she met with cousin Elizabeth and both of them realized they would bear children, one of them too young, the other too old.

Many of the psalms were songs offered in liturgy, reflecting the range of human experience. For me, one of the most poignant psalms, emerging from the experience of exile, has the children of Israel asking their captors: How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? The fact is, we may feel that our lives unfold in a kind of exile. We may wonder how we can manage a song. We may not feel like singing, thank you very much. And that is precisely when we hear a call to a new song.

Yesterday’s psalm seems to imply that we have a choice about the kind of song we want to sing with our lives. I’m wondering what a song sounds like when it is informed by the news of Easter. It’s a song that would reflect the possibility of resurrection, which means to stand again after one has been knocked down. It’s a song that would include an alleluia refrain, guided by praise of the God of creation. It’s a song that would reflect the joy of a dead end turning into a threshold.

Fact of the matter is, singing helps.

But don’t take my word for it. Whether the new song is metaphor, or an actual piece of music, hear the wisdom of Martin Luther: “My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.” Hear the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Music will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” Hear the wisdom of Leonard Bernstein, particularly apt these days: ‘This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever.” As you think about your own song, pray the collect for artists and musicians printed in the column on the left. Celebrate the healing power of music, the power of a new song.

The old adage has it that the person who sings, prays twice. When we find our song, it stays with us in ways that intellectual propositions, theological constructs, and even brilliant sermons can not. As you make your way through this Monday, as you make your way through the Easter season, as you make your way through life, find your song. Name that tune. And sing it.

-Jay Sidebotham


Interested in RenewalWorks for your parish? Learn more about how RenewalWorks works!

RenewalWorks: Helping churches focus on spiritual growth

RenewalWorks is about re-orienting your parish around spiritual growth. And by spiritual growth – we mean growing in love of God and neighbor.
Churches can launch as part of a fall or spring cohort or go on their own schedule. (Now accepting signups for Fall 2024 cohort)  Sign up now!