Monday Matters (June 18, 2024)

June 18, 2024
3-1

Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss,
O Lord, who could stand?

3 For there is forgiveness with you;
therefore you shall be feared.

4 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him;
in his word is my hope.

5 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

6 O Israel, wait for the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy;

7 With him there is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

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.

What are you waiting for?

“Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will call upon the Name of the Lord our God.”
That statement from Psalm 20 invites us to think about where we put our trust. The psalm, which you may have heard in church yesterday (see above), reflects the time in which it was written, chariots and horses the measure of power and security. What are contemporary equivalents? Where are we inclined or tempted to put our trust?

Trust seems to be out of fashion. Recent studies indicate that only 27% of Americans have a great deal of confidence in 14 major American institutions on average, a record low since 1979 and a 5% drop from 2021, according to a poll conducted by Gallup. Newflash: The poll found sharp declines in trust for the three branches of the federal government, the presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress. But it doesn’t end there.

Last year, Gallup indicated that only 32% of those who were polled had trust in religious institutions. That means that a lot of folks have given up on that trust, joining the growing ranks of “dones.” I wonder if you’ve had an experience where your trust in religious institutions, and especially religious leaders, was shaken. My experience in parish ministry is that many people come to the Episcopal Church with deep wounds from other religious traditions. Our denomination has a healing vocation.

At the same time, I know all too well that in the Episcopal Church, there are all kinds of ways that we wound each other. I know that I’ve participated in that, that I have hurt folks. It’s why I get stuck every time I read Psalm 69 which includes this prayer: Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me. A mentor would commission Sunday School teachers with the Hippocratic Oath: Do no harm.

The depletion of trust happens in our relationships. A major theme throughout the psalms is the pain of betrayal. I read in those verses a foreshadowing of Holy Week, when those closest to Jesus betray, deny and desert. Those stories are included, I believe, to reflect that painful human experience of finding out that people who we trusted have disappointed us. I suspect each one of us have had the experience of being disappointed by someone close to us, an opportunity for forgiveness. I suspect each one of us have disappointed someone close to us, an opportunity for confession.

And can we trust ourselves? Do we rely too much on our own magnificence, on our talents, or our connections, or our resources? Are those things immutable? Will they last?

Trust is about where we give our heart. I’ve often quoted the desert father, Abba Poemem (He should get some kind of royalty.) He said: Do not give your heart to that which will not satisfy your heart. In other words, the expression of trust has a lot to do with an expression of love. We are called to trust in God, to trust that the final word is love, that the meaning in the universe is love, that even when it makes no sense, we were designed to show, share and receive love. When we hear the call to love God, it’s in many ways a call to trust God.

The psalmist often refers to God as a rock, a refuge, a stronghold. Jesus instructed his disciples to build on a strong foundation. It takes faith to practice that kind of trust. It’s the faith of Abraham, who left a comfortable life to go to a place God called him, not knowing where he was going. It’s the faith of Peter, who sees Jesus walking on the water in the stormy night watches and steps over the gunwale of his boat with trust that he can walk on water too. How are you being called to practice that kind of trust?

When our trust in institutions falters (the modern-day version of chariots and horses), when the church proves to be just a collection of faulty human beings, when those in closest circle hurt us, when our own resources fall short, the psalm calls us to trust the one who will not falter, to set our feet on a rock that is higher than we are (Psalm 61:2). Do you have occasion to practice that 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 (June 10, 2024)

June 10, 2024
3-1

Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.

2 If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss,
O Lord, who could stand?

3 For there is forgiveness with you;
therefore you shall be feared.

4 I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him;
in his word is my hope.

5 My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

6 O Israel, wait for the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy;

7 With him there is plenteous redemption,
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

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.

What are you waiting for?

Here’s one of my favorite questions to ask Episcopalians: When in your life have you experienced what you would call spiritual growth?

And then there’s a follow-up: What caused that growth to happen? While I can only go on anecdotal response, I will say that there is one answer that comes up most often, no matter what group I’m talking to.

People say that they experienced spiritual growth in a time of crisis, maybe when they hit bottom, maybe when they had exhausted every other course of remedy. That might well be the experience of the psalmist as conveyed in Psalm 30, which you may have heard in church yesterday. (Included above)

Take a look in the spiritual rear-view mirror this Monday morning and think about when you experienced spiritual growth, a deepening of your relationship with God and neighbor. Were you, like the psalmist, crying to God out of the depths? Maybe that’s how you’re feeling this Monday morning.

The psalm tells us that as we call to God from that particular place, there is no guarantee of a quick fix. We are called to wait for the Lord. Left to my own devices, that’s not my favorite thing to do. Do you know the prayer of St. Augustine as a youngster? He prayed: Give me chastity, but not yet. I have a flip side to that: Give me patience, and I want it now.

Waiting can be hard, whether we wait in line in a store, in traffic, or on the tarmac. On a deeper level, waiting can be hard as we wait for word from a college admissions office, or from a potential employer, or a doctor. Where do you experience this challenge? And how do you meet the challenge?

Waiting is an exercise in trust. It may take practice to believe that all will be well, that all manner of things shall be well, as Julian of Norwich reminded us. It calls us to focus on our relationship with a living God, and to recall how God has acted in the past.

Waiting is an exercise in gratitude. As we practice an attitude of gratitude, we find space to be in the moment, grateful for the ways that God has acted in the past.

Waiting is an exercise in hope. Last week, one of the great theologians of our time died at the age of 98. Jurgen Moltmann, no stranger to the cruelties of modern politics, guided a countless number of Christians with a theology of hope. As we give thanks for his life, ministry and witness, consider these reflections on hope which speak about waiting. He speaks about how we wait for the Lord, and how the Lord waits for us at the same time:

“But the ultimate reason for our hope is not to be found at all in what we want, wish for and wait for; the ultimate reason is that we are wanted and wished for and waited for. What is it that awaits us? Does anything await us at all, or are we alone? Whenever we base our hope on trust in the divine mystery, we feel deep down in our hearts: there is someone who is waiting for you, who is hoping for you, who believes in you. We are waited for as the prodigal son in the parable is waited for by his father. We are accepted and received, as a mother takes her children into her arms and comforts them. God is our last hope because we are God’s first love.”

God is our last hope because we are God’s first love. Dare we believe that?

The saying goes: patience is a virtue. St. Paul goes deeper, telling us that it is a fruit of the spirit, a gift. May this week be an occasion to grow in appreciation of that gift, and in understanding what it means to wait for the Lord, even as the Lord waits for us.

-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 (June 3, 2024)

June 3, 2024
3-1

Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind
and before and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

14 My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them.

16 How deep I find your thoughts,
O God! how great is the sum of them!

17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

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.

Memorize Psalm 139. It will change your life.

That’s what the Rev. James Forbes said to incoming students as part of our seminary’s orientation process, lo these several years ago. A good chunk of that psalm was read yesterday in church (see above). Every time it pops up in the lectionary, I think of that counsel from Dr. Forbes, who taught at the seminary and went on to be Senior Pastor at the Riverside Church in New York. I did my best to memorize it then, figuring he knew what he was talking about. I’ve often pondered why he picked this of all the psalms, indeed all the passages in scripture that might have chosen for our fledgling group.

The psalm says a lot about who we are, as it celebrates the mystery of the transcendent nature of God, broader than the measure of the mind, and as it celebrates our relationship to the Holy One.

For starters, the psalm reminds us (as if we needed it) that we are limited. It is just possible that we have grander visions of ourselves than are due. Dwight Zscheile, one of my teachers, says that a job of the church is to see what God is up to in the neighborhood. Too often in Christian history, Christians have behaved as if they are bringing God to places God couldn’t go without some help. We might even imagine that God is lucky to have us on the team. Where would God be without us?

Psalm 139 helps us see that God is in all things, present with us, surrounding us, preceding us, guiding us into a new future. That leads to an appropriate sense of humility. At the same time, it provides a comforting notion that there is a guiding hand in our increasingly chaotic world. Howard Thurman said that if God is the creator of all things, then all things are in candidacy for God’s high and holy end. Thurman may well have been channeling the psalmist.

In my own devotions in the morning, I often have to start by remembering that the coming day unfolds in the presence of God. It’s why the prayer from Psalm 19 is so important: “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.” I too often fancy myself a bit of a free agent. A friend recently gave me a postcard which reads: “Dear God, I’ve penciled you in for Sunday morning.” Ever felt like that? Psalm 139 calls us to recognize that in the limits of our humanity, humility before the God of all creation is the proper and holy response.

Second, the psalm reminds us that we are known. That can be a frightening thought, actually. I would not want my inner most thoughts projected on a screen. It would not be edifying, and it might be a career ender. The psalm tells us that God knows all about us, our sitting and rising, our innermost thoughts, all the words we utter.

Third, and perhaps most critical, the psalm says that while we are limited, and while we are known by God, we are also loved. It may be hard to see God’s love as unconditional, since so many of our human relationships proceed in a transactional way. Have you ever felt that if the people who love you knew some of your darker thoughts, or if they knew some things about the past, that your relationship would be off? The psalm says that we are known by the Holy One in ways that surpass even our own self-awareness. We are loved nonetheless. If that’s not amazing grace, I don’t know what is.

We are limited, for sure, and a recognition of that is key. It leads to holy humility in the presence of a power greater than ourselves.

We are known. There are no secrets to be kept from the Holy One.

And in it all we are loved, with a love from which we can never be separated.

Dr. Forbes was on to something. The embrace of those facts about ourselves can change our lives.

-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 27, 2024)

May 27, 2024
3-1

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)

May 20, 2024
3-1

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)

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)

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!

Monday Matters (April 29, 2024)

April 29, 2024
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Psalm 22:24-30

24 My praise is of him in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: “May your heart live for ever!”

26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

27 For kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules over the nations.

28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29 My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him;
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.

30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done.

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.

Beyond forsakenness

We read Psalm 22 a lot in church. Well, let me qualify that. We read the first 21 verses of Psalm 22 a lot.

The first part of the psalm appears several times in Holy Week, and comes up in the daily lectionary, usually on Fridays, a weekly reminder of the events of Good Friday. The psalm begins with the plaintive prayer: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It’s a prayer Jesus offered from the cross. The following verses in the psalm describe the deepest kind of suffering, including a break in relationship with God, a profound sense of isolation.

On those days when the church seeks to recall the passion, the suffering of our Lord, the first 21 verses capture that pain. The remaining verses, which were read yesterday in church and which appear in the column on the left, mark a shift in tone. That says something important about our life of faith. It says something important about Easter faith.

When I began parish ministry, the learning curve was steep. I started in a church in a university town. The congregation was filled with some of the smartest, most put together people I’d ever run across. I saved a New Yorker cartoon which captured my feelings at the time. It shows a young man entering a swell cocktail party. The bubble over the young man’s head reads: Yikes! Grown-ups! That was kind of how I felt.

But a memorable lesson of this season of steep learning curve came as I began to get to know members of the congregation. Perhaps because I was newly sporting a clerical collar, they would open up to me about what was going on in their lives. I came to realize that you can scratch the surface of the most put-together person and you will find some area of brokenness, a need for healing of body, mind, spirit, relationship, memory, some acute sense of the suffering of the world. It led me to believe that healing ministries are some of the most important ministries of the church.

I later served for a number of years at a large church in Washington, DC, a church with an active healing ministry, offering prayers for healing and the laying on of hands right after people had received communion. The lines were long. As some of Washington’s most powerful people came to kneel, asking prayers for healing, I confess I would sometimes think: What on earth do you need healing for?

What I’ve learned is that we all come to church bearing the experience of brokenness, an encounter with suffering, a need for healing, the sense that we may have been forsaken.

But that is not the last word. We can turn the corner. We can move beyond forsakenness. We can find a way forward. (I’ll repeat a reference to two books that capture this possibility. Uncommon Gratitude: Thanks For All That Is, by Rowan Williams and Joan Chittister, and Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott.)

The concluding portion of Psalm 22 is read in Easter season as a reminder that we are never promised that we can skip the challenges. They are part of life. But those challenges are not the last word. They need not define us or determine our destiny. In many of the resurrection appearances, Jesus makes a point of showing the disciples his wounds. His new life bore those marks. And perhaps those marks only made the joy of resurrection richer. When the psalmist says that his praise will rise in the great assembly, that signals the hope of the Easter season.

As we continue our journey through the Easter season, may it be a reminder that resurrection literally means we can stand again. All will be well in the end. If all is not well, it’s not the end. How can you savor that possibility, that promise 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 (April 22, 2024)

April 22, 2024
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Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.
He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

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.

Enough already

Years ago, I read a story in the New Yorker, a poem actually, about an exchange between Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller. I may not get all the details right but here’s the gist of their conversation. They were attending a cocktail party at the home of a rich, young investment banker on the end of Long Island. At the party, Mr. Vonnegut leaned over to Mr. Heller and asked something like this: “How does it make you feel to know that this young man made more money last week than you made from your novel, Catch-22?” Mr. Heller responded: “I have something this young man will never have.” “What’s that?” Mr. Vonnegut responded. Mr. Heller: “The knowledge that I have enough.”

We read Psalm 23 in church yesterday, on what has come to be known as Good Shepherd Sunday. It’s included above. The version from the Book of Common Prayer may vary slightly from the version most people know. That’s a good thing, as it allows us to hear this well-known psalm anew.

There’s much we can focus on in this psalm. What caught my eye anew this week was the first verse, which reads: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. In other words, the Lord is my shepherd and what I have is enough. It echoes the line in the Lord’s Prayer which asks for our daily bread. Not an overabundance, but bread that is sufficient for this day, the knowledge that it will be enough. The pastoral power of this psalm may come from the fact that in much of life, we battle a sense that whatever we have is simply not enough.

How do we come to a place in our lives where we sense that we have had a sufficiency, a gracious plenty?

It begins with an attitude of gratitude focusing on all good gifts around us, instead of focusing on what we might be missing. That grateful heart opens the doorway to contentment, which brings to mind the counsel of St. Paul as he wrote the beloved Philippian church. He spoke about his own sense of contentment, which I could imagine was a challenge for him: “I have learned to be content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13) In another letter to his protégé, Timothy, he writes: “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment.” (I Timothy 6:6).

A call for contentment can be complicated in a world marked by deprivation and gross income inequality. The persistent biblical call to work for justice and peace trumps any message of stay in your place. It’s not a message of passivity or helplessness.

But in a culture stricken with affluenza, symptoms being the nagging sense that whatever we have is never enough, an attitude of gratitude leads to contentment which leads us to notice that we have what we need. As the hymn reminds us: All I have needed thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness.

Where do you need to work on contentment in your life? Where does covetousness threaten contentment? And where do you need to embrace holy restlessness, an unwillingness to settle? As you embrace that restlessness, at the same time, remember all that you have been given, with a grateful heart. Remember that the world will tell you it’s never enough. Remember that you have a good shepherd.

-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 (April 15, 2024)

April 15, 2024
3-1

Psalm 4

Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause;
you set me free when I am hard-pressed; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

“You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory;
how long will you worship dumb idols and run after false gods?”

Know that the Lord does wonders for the faithful;
when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.

Tremble, then, and do not sin;
speak to your heart in silence upon your bed.

Offer the appointed sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord.

Many are saying, “Oh, that we might see better times!”
Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.

You have put gladness in my heart,
more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep;
for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

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.

Better times

It amazes me when I read the psalms to find that issues on the psalmist’s mind, expressed several thousand years ago, are issues we face these days. Who among us has not said: Oh, that we might see better times? How do we navigate that sense that things are going off the rails? People have posed these kinds of questions for centuries. Does this psalm, read yesterday in church and included above, have anything to say today, offering ways to navigate the times in which we live?

My wife and I went to hear Anne Lamott speak last week. It was great. She has a new book (her 20th) and her presentation was given on her 70th birthday. (Happy birthday, Anne! You are yourself a gift.) She is a deeply faithful person, even if in her theological reflections she throws in a few expletives. I especially love her take on prayer, by which she says that we only need three words to pray: thanks, help and wow.

That part about asking help is reflected in Psalm 4, and provides a way to approach those times when we wish for better times. The psalm begins by asking God to answer when we call. The psalm asks for help, for mercy.

The psalm carries this warning. Don’t run after false gods or dumb idols. Don’t give your heart to that which will not satisfy your heart. Doing so may feel like a quick fix, but it won’t get you where you want to go. I don’t know what the psalmist had in mind when mentioning dumb idols. What do you think they might be in our context?

The psalm also calls for a good look in the spiritual rear-view mirror, to see how God has acted in the past. The Hebrew Scriptures do that again and again, reminding the people of Israel to remember the ways that God has acted in salvific, healing, miraculous ways. We do that again and again in our prayers at eucharist, when we include a portion technically called anamnesis. That Greek word literally means not amnesia. Not forgetting. When we find ourselves in times of trouble, a dose of faithful retrospection can help us move forward.

The psalm also speaks of the power of silence, with a call to contemplative attentiveness, putting aside our own thoughts. Nicolas Malebranche, an 18th century priest and philosopher, said it this way: Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the soul. (again, indicating wisdom from another era can help us in our own. There is actually nothing new under the sun.) That kind of attentiveness can be blocked by our hankering for better times. In silence, we can attend to what God has to teach us right now, even as that moment may be filled with challenge. It’s a way of saying “here we are.”

And in the end, it’s about where we put our trust. An old hymn has this refrain: We may not know what the future holds, but we know the one who holds the future. For centuries, trust has been a key issue for people of faith, the confidence that all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well, even if we don’t experience that reality right this second. That kind of trust is a spiritual practice, something we get stronger in when we exercise it. Based on that trust, we can lie down and fall asleep. We can be at peace.

We may long for better times. But we are where we are. The good news this Monday morning is that God is with us.

-Jay Sidebotham