Sermon for July 31st, 2022 - Revision history

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Iraneal: Created page with "==Psalm 129:1-8== A Song of Ascents. 1 Often have they attacked me from my youth —let Israel now say— 2 often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they ha..."

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Created page with "==Psalm 129:1-8== A Song of Ascents. 1 Often have they attacked me from my youth —let Israel now say— 2 often have they attacked me from my youth, yet they ha..."

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==Psalm 129:1-8==
A Song of Ascents.
1 Often have they attacked me from my youth
—let Israel now say—
2 often have they attacked me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed on my back;
they made their furrows long.
4 The Lord is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward.
6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops
that withers before it grows up,
7 with which reapers do not fill their hands
or binders of sheaves their arms,
8 while those who pass by do not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out!)

*NRSV subheading: Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 There are five parts to this prayer, five steps to take in order for healing and reconciliation to begin:
-The first two have to do with shame and repentance.  Verse 5: May all who hate Zion (and mount Zion is the metaphorical representation for God and God's people) be put to shame.
+The first one has to do with shame.  Verse 5: May all who hate Zion (and mount Zion is the metaphorical representation for God and God's people) be put to shame.
-Shame is what you feel when you know you've done something wrong, and everyone else knows you did something wrong, and you know that they know (and they know that you know) that you did something wrong.  In other words, everyone (including the wrongdoer) is on the same page about the fact that a wrong was done, and everyone is on the same page about who did it.
+Shame is what you feel when you know you've done something wrong, and everyone else knows you did something wrong, and you know that they know (and they know that you know) that you did something wrong.  In other words, everyone (including the wrongdoer) is on the same page about the fact that a wrong was done, and everyone is on the same page about who is responsible.
 Step two (still in verse 5): May all who hate Zion be put to shame AND turned backward.  To turn around (180 degrees), backwards, is the biblical concept of repentance.  It's re-orienting yourself in a new direction, which both physically prevents you from doing what you were doing before, and also sets the stage for getting back on the right path.  If you have been wronged, you can pray for these two things:
-That the wrongdoer
+That the wrongdoer (and the community) all acknowledge the wrong, and that the wrongdoer has a change of heart, a change of mind, and a change of direction.  It goes without saying that if you ARE the wrongdoer, these things are necessary pre-requisites to making things right, to being restored to the community and to right relationship with God.
-Let them be like the grass on the housetops
+The actions of the wrongdoer are like those seeds of grass--misplaced, but planted and sprouted nonetheless.  You can't un-sprout them, you can't undo what was done.  But you can pray that God will mitigate the effects of those seeds, of those wrongs--stopping them from growing and spreading.
-     that withers before it grows up,
-with which reapers do not fill their hands
-     or binders of sheaves their arms,
-while those who pass by do not say,
-     “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
-     We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
-#Shame (internal and external recognition of wrongdoing)
+In verse seven, the psalmist prays that these seeds of wrong will not be picked up by others--in other words that they will be seen as undesirable.  In the final verse, verse eight, the psalmist prays that no one--not even those casually passing by on the road--will bless the dying weeds growing on the roof.  Why would they?  You might pass by a corn field or a wheat field and congratulate the farmer on a great crop.  But you probably wouldn't go up to your neighbor and say, "Hey, those are some really nice half-dead roof weeds you got up there!"
-#Turn backward (same as repent)
-#wither before its time (dry up, become powerless)
+Put these last three things together, and you have a prayer that whatever wrong has been done would not spread any further, that no one would want it, and no one would bless it.  In other words, that the community would see the wrong for what it truly was, and not (as we so often do!) excuse it, accommodate it, or glorify it.
-#no one wants
-#no one blesses
+The first two parts of this prayer (acknowledgement and repentance) mostly involve the individual--the person who did something wrong.  But the remaining three parts involve the community; setting standards, educating each other, and being vigilant, so that we don't promote things that work against our calling to honor God and each other.
   May those who love us, love us.
@@ Line 65: / Line 64: @@
   May he turn their ankles,
   So we'll know them by their limping.

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 Psalm 129--the last in our series this summer on the Psalms--is a case study in how to pray for your enemies, and those who persecute you.  The NRSV subheading calls this a "Prayer for the Downfall of Israel's Enemies" and that's a pretty fitting title.  The Psalm begins with a complaint: "Often have they attacked me from my youth" and then invites the whole nation of Israel into the story:  "Let Israel now say, Often have they attacked me from my youth."
-We don't really know who the "they" is, but if you read the Old Testament, there are plenty of candidates: The Egyptians, the Philistines, the Amalakites, Hittites, Jebusites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians...take your pick.
+We don't really know who the "they" is, but if you read the Old Testament, there are plenty of candidates: The Egyptians, the Philistines, the Amalekites, Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians...take your pick. Israel had no shortage of enemies who (in the words of verse 3) plowed right through them and right over them.
 #Shame (internal and external recognition of wrongdoing)
 #Turn backward (same as repent)

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out)==
- May those who love us, love us.
+One day a man discovers a magical lamp, and upon rubbing the lamp, a genie appears offering him three wishes. But there's a catch. Whatever the genie does for the man, he must do twice as much for the man's worst enemy. The man thinks about it for awhile, and (quickly forgetting the catch) wishes for a billion dollars. The genie grants his wish, and the man is now a billionaire. This makes him tremendously happy...until he discovers that his most hated enemy is now a multi-billionaire. Furious and green with envy, the man goes back to the genie, and this time he wishes for great fame. His wish is granted, and the man is happy...until his fame is eclipsed by his greatest enemy, who becomes twice as famous. Finally, he returns to the genie, who informs him that this is his final wish. The man looks the genie in the eye and says, "Genie, I wish to be beaten half to death."
-  And those that don't love us,
-  May God turn their hearts.
+In the gospels, Jesus famously said that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  But what does that look like?  What exactly should we pray?  Do we pray for our enemies' health and happiness and wellbeing? Do we pray for their success...in persecuting us?  Or that they might somehow come to see the error of their ways and stop persecuting us?
-  And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
-  May he turn their ankles,
+Psalm 129--the last in our series this summer on the Psalms--is a case study in how to pray for your enemies, and those who persecute you.  The NRSV subheading calls this a "Prayer for the Downfall of Israel's Enemies" and that's a pretty fitting title.  The Psalm begins with a complaint: "Often have they attacked me from my youth" and then invites the whole nation of Israel into the story:  "Let Israel now say, Often have they attacked me from my youth."
-  So we'll know them by their limping.
 *NRSV subheading: Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies
@@ Line 34: / Line 37: @@
 #no one wants
 #no one blesses

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
       We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
-==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out==
+==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out)==
 *NRSV subheading: Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
       We bless you in the name of the Lord!”
-==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out!)==
+==Psummer of Psalms V: Psalm 129 (Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out==
 *NRSV subheading: Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies