Scripture Text (NRSV)
Psalm 79:1-9
79:1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have
defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
79:2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of
the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of
the earth.
79:3 They have poured out their blood like water all around
Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
79:4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by
those around us.
79:5 How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous
wrath burn like fire?
79:6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. 79:7 For they
have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation.
79:8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very
low.
79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your
name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake.
Comments:
Ps. 79:1-9, 13 will be our responsive Call to Worship. It raises the
sin question. I want to avoid the "here's why it happened" angle--I
don't know the data. What I do know is that the sins I've heard
trumpeted in the last 11 days were all--the other guys. I do that too.
Even when I talk about the sins of "our country," I really have in
mind those bums who disagree with me. V. 8 here supports that thinking
in a historical way I think healthy: annotated as in my Bible it
reads, "Do not remember against us the sins of our (racist) ancestors,
who rarely considered that category. I, as a racist, think about it
all the time--that accounts for my annotation! I do think we've
learned something. I do think that as we respond to this altogether
new experience of violence (for comfy caucasians), we will not long
abide the simple answer which, for the moment, provides a handy "balm"
for our anguish. But v. 9 reminds me that I am a sinner--Rick in VA in
the gospel discussion has got that right, I think. So, while tempted
to thank God that I am not a Pharisee, I wonder what sinfulness that
besets me might the congregation accept as theirs also in a way that
makes us desperate for the security that only God can give us. And
there may be the clue--desperation for security comes only when our
presumedly effective security measures strip us nekkid. In
desperation, maybe we will reach out to form relationships--with local
Muslims, for example; maybe we will break the chain of recrimination
and finger-pointing at motes, and so create an affirming aura around
us instead of yielding to the compulsion to condemn. It's quite late
(I need to start the bulletin!), and I still don't have my focus
clear, but I am as certain now as I was on Monday that all four
lections zero in on the world's raw uneasiness since 9/11. GG in NC
I still think of 9/11/01 when I read this. I think I read somewhere
that this psalm is still read weekly at the Wailing Wall, the last
remnant of the temple the Romans tore down in 70 A.D. Now that is
holding onto a hurt. The psalmist wrote it before that about some
other outrage, so I guess it is alright to appropriate for our current
pain also. Will there ever be a day when we no longer need to console
ourselves for the past injustices and simply live in the present
blessings? If not here, then in heaven. Hold onto one another for now.
Justice will roll down someday. tom in TN(USA)
Just as the people in Jeremiah fail to experience the healing within
their grasp and, therefore, persist in their pain, so in these verses
the psalmist cries out in weary despair. Yet, even in despair the
psalmist recognizes that salvation and compassion come from God.
I'm weeping with Jeremiah, and horrified with the Psalmist about how
we have become a taunt to the nations. I really, really want to preach
a political sermon. Anyone else wrestling with this?
kbc in sc
to KBC, as an american son of spanish parents, I am reminded of the
explorers who came to mexico looking for gold, they didn't find it.
and the pilgrims coming to America seeking religious freedom and
founded a prosperous Nation. Lord help us keep our priorities
straight. In His Service, John Rodriguez
