Let the Sea Roar...

You may not buy where I went with the theme of God's victory (and either way, you should let me know -- post a comment!), but it gives me a different understanding of a creation that would praise God than I had before.

And how does creation praise God? Well, the Israelites praised with song and music (much like we do in our worship today). But not just the Israelites -- the sea, and all of the creatures of the sea and earth were to make joyful noise to the Lord (really interesting, since in the ancient world water was seen as the boundary line for civilization. The waters symbolized chaos, and in the creation stories, God orders creation out of the chaos that existed before. I don't know whether this understanding of water as chaos still resonated in the 6th century BCE, but it is powerful to think that all of creation, even the unmanageable parts, were to praise God).

What is most profound for me is that the difference in how the different parts of creation praise God. The psalmist calls the Israelites to "break forth in joyous song and sing praises" with the lyre, melody, trumpets, and horns (4-6). The earth is called to praise with its very being. The sea roars because that's what the sea does. Anyone who's experienced floods know that the waters do 'clap'. And for those of us who have spent time in the foothills of the Appalacians or the Hill Country of central Texas, we have heard the hills can't help but 'sing' when the wind whistles through the trees.

We think of singing, praising, playing music as voluntary -- it's something we do when we choose to do it. The earth lacks that sense of volition -- its 'joyful noise' is its inherent response to having been created. The sea, the earth, and all that's in it can do nothing else. Sure, the sea can be calm, floodwaters recede to a light 'lapping' at the shore line, and the hills can sit quiet in an eiry silence. But always, again, comes the roar. Without will, without choice, without thought.

I wonder how our praise would be different if it became simply a part of our being, as opposed to something we express out of a recognition of our gratitude. This praise doesn't have to be directed to a god many of us don't know -- it could be praise to the union we do know with the rest of existence. Praise for the union many of us forget in our busy, urban, disconnected lives.

How would we be different if our praise weren't us saying "thanks. I appreciate that!" but "this is me. I can't do anything else"? What would our roaring sound like? What is the response we can't help but to make in recognition of our gift and responsibility of union with each other?

Love you,

Becky

...for He Has Done Marvelous Things

Wow! I'm not very comfortable with images of God as warrior either, but doing a little digging on this subject turned up a lot of really trippy information. It may not help me sit with this picture of a martial god, but it gives it better context for me!

Here is what I've learned about the first part of this psalm (and all the psalms in "Book Four" of the psalms: there are 150 psalms, written by different people at different points in Israel's history, so they reflect different aspects of the troubles and joys the Hebrew's experienced over the course of hundreds of years. They were subsequently collected and arranged in five 'books'). Psalm 98 was likely written around the time when Israel was freed from Babylonian captivity by the Persian king, Cyrus in 539 BC. The historical biblical account is given in Isaiah 45 (the whole story of the Babylonian exile can be found in Isaiah 40-55).

So, the author of this psalm is pretty excited to be released from Babylonian captivity, both because it didn't seem like the Persians could defeat the mighty Babylonian empire (so it had to be divinely inspired!), and because once Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, he allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and build their temple. That was a pretty big deal -- he didn't have to do it, and it gave the Israelites (who had a physical attachment to God at God's 'dwelling place') the opportunity to honor and worship their god in a way they had been denied during the exile.

Obviously they would see this as a good thing. When the second part of verse one says "His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory," the psalmist is alluding to the 'right hand of righteousness'. In Hebrew scripture, 'righteousness' and 'justice' often go together to describe God's purpose with creation (if you'd like a quick rundown on that, you can check out one of the first posts I ever wrote!)

This victory wasn't an unjust victory over the Babylonians (God mucking around to do whatever God wants) -- it was God using a foreign power (the Persians under Cyrus) to throw off a maurauding oppressor (Babylon). It is the United States in World War II defeating Hitler to liberate the Jews; it's NATO in Kosovo to free the Kosovar-Albanians from Milosevic; it's the international community in the Sudan to free the millions of displaced families from the ravages of the Sudanese military. . . . Wait. . . . Damn. Psalm 98 was written by a concentration camp survivor, or a Kosovar refugee returning home. How could mere people defeat the German military? Or take down Milosevic? It has to be God, acting out of God's righteousness to reestablish harmony within creation.

We read words like 'vindication', 'victory' (and at the end of the psalm 'judge') and often hear Toby Keith singing that hateful song that came out after September 11th. That's not where the psalmist is going here. The psalmist is just saying thanks for the chance the Israelites were given to start their lives over again.

The chance to worship their god in god's temple. . .

the chance to raise their kids in their homes. . .

to visit their parents' graves. . .

to work the same fields their grandparents tilled.

If that were taken from us, and miraculously we got it back, how would we respond?

Love you,

Becky

Now I Want to Sing!

You guys are absolutely wonderful!!! I'm really sorry I couldn't get the podcasting to work (clearly I have a little learning to do over the summer!), but I promise to keep at it once this semester is over and try to get something running in the next month or so. I'll let you know when that happens!

You all wrote some really wonderful comments (it always makes me happy and a little unsettled that you guys naturally seem to see a lot more in scripture than the girl who's going to seminary -- guess that's what makes these projects so useful!). I saw two big themes in your comments that I wanted to follow up with. I'll tackle God as Victor in the next post, and Nature as Celebration in the post following that.

Also, I've responded to some of your specific questions on the earlier post if you'd like to go back and see what I was able to dig up. Just scroll to your comment, and you'll see my comment attached.

And quick trivia: James Luther Mays from the Interpretation Bible Commentary on Psalms says that Psalm 98 was the Old Testament text that Isaac Watt's used to write "Joy to the World!" Who knew!

Before getting into the themes you uncovered, I want to share an interpretation of Psalm 98 written by Walter Brueggemann in 1999. Walter Brueggemann is an old testament scholar and minister who has published a wonderful book of prayers (Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth) he used to open class when he taught the Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. Here is his response to Psalm 98:

We will not keep silent

We are people who must sing you,
for the sake of our very lives.

You are a God who must be sung by us,
for the sake of your majesty and honor.

And so we thank you,
for the lyrics that push us past our reasons,
for melodies that break open our givens,
for cadences that locate us home,
beyond all our safe places,
for tones and tunes that open our lives beyond control
and our futures beyond despair.

We thank you for the long parade of mothers and fathers
who have sung you deep and true;

We thank you for the good company

of artists, poets, musicians, cantors, and instruments
that sing for us and with us, toward you.

We are witnesses to your mercy and splendor;
We will not keep silent ... ever again. Amen.

For Brueggemann, Psalm 98 is about the journey of a people and the union of our lives across time -- the past was brought into the present for us; now we carry this present for the sake of the future. I find true beauty and an awesome responsibility in that.

Love you,

Becky

The Podcast is coming!

Hey you guys,

Sorry, but I'm having some technical trouble with my first podcast. I'll have it up by Friday.

I hope everyone is having a great week, and thanks for helping with my project! If you'd still like to comment on Psalm 98, go right ahead!

Love you,

Becky

Psalm 98

Hey there!

This is the first post in my experiment on using blogs and podcasts to engage biblical texts. For an overview of what we're doing, check out my last post "An Experiment." Today, I'm posting the text of the piece of scripture we're looking at, and giving a set of questions to guide our conversation. You guys post your responses/reactions on the "comments" link at the bottom of the page. Ready? I'm so excited! I hope this works!

Psalm 98
(God's Kingship)

1 O sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
have gotten him victory.

2 The LORD has made known his victory;
he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.

4 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.

7 Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who live in it.

8 Let the floods clap their hands;
let the hills sing together for joy

9 at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Now, the questions:

1. What does this passage evoke in you? Does it make you happy? Uncomfortable? Does it seem familiar? (Why?). Have you ever felt like the person writing this psalm?
2. Do you think you've read this or something similar before? If so, can you remember when?
3. Is anything unclear/confusing?
4. Are there specific images, words, or references that speak to you more strongly than others?
5. Do you ID as a person of faith? If so, which faith? How does that influence how you read this psalm?

Right now, I'm just gathering first impressions with the passage. If you want to ID yourself by your first name, that will make it easier for me to know who you are. If you'd rather stay anonymous, that's totally cool too.

Thank you!

Love,

Becky

An Experiment

Here’s the thing – I am taking a class at Wesley on biblical interpretation (how to take texts from the Bible and peel back their layers to see a fuller, more historically contextualized picture, at the same time we come to understand better how our own histories influence how we read scripture).

I’ve been writing papers all semester (and have a great group of friends who have read these passages with me, to help broaden my view of the passages we’ve analyzed), but we’re doing it differently for the final project. We can come up with any method we want to engage the text, and I want to use a combination of this blog and a series of podcasts that I will link to the blog.

Can I get you guys to help me? Here’s how it will work:

• starting next Monday, I will post the text and a series of questions for you to think about (all trying to gather your initial reactions to the passage). If you will please read them, and post your responses to the questions (you can post anonymously if you’re nervous about posting with your real names!), I would appreciate it.
• Then, next Wednesday, I’ll post the first podcast with some background information on the text, when it was written, the author’s motives for writing it.
• On April 17th, I’ll follow up with the responses you guys post, add some more questions for you all to think about.
• On the 19th, I’ll post another podcast that talks about main textual themes, engaging any translation issues (it’s tricky to move from ancient Hebrew to modern English!) and how any imagery is thought to have been viewed by the original audience.
• Finally, on April 24th, I’ll try to bring our reading of the text with its historical context, and we’ll see what we get!
  

Pretty please with sugar on top?! I promise it will be painless and fun. And hey, we’ll all learn something!

Okay, I hope you guys will come along. Now, I want to leave you with something I just heard:

Happiness is an emotion; joy is a disposition (happiness is the weather; joy is the climate), so don’t lose your joy, even when your happiness is gone.

Love you,

Becky