Opossum Screed: January 2019

Happy Birthday, Jackie

100 years ago today, Jackie Robinson was born to a sharecropper family in Grady County, Georgia. Before he broke baseball's color barrier, he tried to help break the same barrier in the U.S. military during World War 2. Considered a rising star in the army, however, his career was torpedoed after being court-martialed because he—a commissioned officer—refused an "order" from a white driver to sit in the back of the bus.

Tessellated Praise

Praise the Lord! Praise the Name of the Lord; give praise, O servants of the Lord, you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his Name, for he is gracious.
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

✙ Ps. 135:1-4 ✙

Psalm 135 is a lovely psalm, but it has no title. It is a mosaic—tessellated praise, consisting of quotations from other songs. Because of this, it has not been regarded as highly as many other psalms. But what greater praise can any of us aspire to, really, than to lift up to God the great songs that those before us have sung? How can we improve upon what has already be said?

Certainly God wants my song to be unique and for me to put my faith in my own

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord.
May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

✙ Ps. 134 ✙

This psalm was probably intended for the Levites, those who were anointed priests of God, and whose right, duty, and privilege it was to invoke God's blessing on the people from the holy place. The extent of the blessing that comes through God's appointed priests is here defined. The God doing the blessing is not some god of wisdom or agriculture or warfare or fertility. This God is the creator of all that is, and as such, all blessing comes from the One Israel calls the Lord.

It is Protestant theology that the priesthood has not been lost or become dormant, nor does it continue on through a select few or through a particular class or family. The priesthood is alive and well and is shared by all believers. It is also Protestant theology that though the physical temple on Mount Zion

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

✙ Ps. 133 ✙

Even in the Bible, the norm was for people to dwell a little apart. Much is made of this need in several places, such as the separation of Abraham and Lot. Even more famous was the separation of Jacob and his uncle, Laban, for they set up a remembrance of that separation (a heap of stones) with these words, 'The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.' Because this stack of

O Lord, remember in David’s favor all the hardships he endured.

✙ Ps. 132:1 ✙

I was willing to pass over the first verse of this morning's psalm without giving it much thought. Charles Spurgeon convinced me otherwise:

With David the covenant was made, and therefore his name is pleaded on behalf of his descendants, and the people who would be blessed by his dynasty. God, who changes not, will never forget one of his servants, or fail to keep his covenant; yet for this thing he is to be entreated. That which we are assured the Lord will do must, nevertheless, be made a matter of prayer. The request is that the Lord would remember, and this is a word full of meaning. We know that the Lord remembered Noah, and assuaged the flood; he remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.

✙ Ps. 131 ✙

This is probably the most beautiful psalm that deals with humility. It's not condemning the search for knowledge, but it does seem to eschew seeking knowledge for its own sake. In Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, the principle character, in whose voice the the novel is written, has been asked about predestination by someone he suspects only wants to raise a contentious issue. He says after the fact that he doesn't like to discuss these matters with

There are many places in the Bible that encourage me to wait for God. The most encouraging is found at the end of an already beautiful chapter, Isaiah 40—

Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

As beautiful as that brief passage is, it cannot match the passion of the waiting and watching I find in Psalm 130:

Today is the final day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

—John 15:12-13

I'll conclude this week with the prayer for the unity of the church found in the Book of Common Prayer:

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

✙ Ps. 130:1-4 ✙

The late great Eugene Peterson, in his little book Praying with the Psalms (HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) said that

there is no trouble so severe that it cuts a person off from God; there is no sin so powerful that it removes a person from the greater power of forgiveness. The witness of the troubled, suffering, and afflicted who prayed and found their lives

There's a downside to unity, because I think there's judgment for those who aren't interested in it, who work against, or who try to divide and conquer. Here's how Curtis Mayfield put it:

There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner
who would hurt all mankind just to save his own.
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner,

The Lord is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.

✙ Ps. 129:4 ✙

This verse reminds me of Malachi 3:2 which asks a question and provides and answer:

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller's soap.

God's goodness is such that it consumes by its very existence that which is evil. The cords of the wicked are therefore cut away not so much by, but

Today is 6 of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

—Philippians 2:1-2

A Different Estimate of What Happiness Consists Of

Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

✙ Ps. 128:1-2 ✙

Calvin wouldn't agree with the NRSV's translation of Psalm 128:2. Though it does not actually jibe with the major points of his own theology, he concedes that it should probably read as one thought: When you eat the fruit of the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall go well with you. This, he says,

teaches us that we ought to form a different estimate of what happiness consists [of?] from that formed by the world, which makes a happy life to consist in ease, honors, and great wealth.

Though there are many references to unity in scripture, none is better known—or more beloved—than Psalm 133. Here it is being sung to the tune Eastgate using the words of the 17th century Scottlish Psalter.

The Bread of Anxious Toil

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.

✙ Ps. 127:1-2 ✙

It is not his first point or lengthiest commentary on Psalm 127:1, but Calvin rightly identifies works righteousness as one of this verse's meanings:

Now, if our terrestrial condition depends. entirely upon the good pleasure of God, with what wings shall we fly up into heaven? When a house is planned, or a certain manner of life is chosen — yea, even when laws are enacted and justice

Though when we think of the concept of Christian unity, we imagine that it refers to reaching out across denominational lines. But surely when Jesus prayed "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), he must also have been praying for unity among people of different ethnic backgrounds. And so on Martin Luther King Day, let us ask forgiveness for the brokenness of the body

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

✙ Ps. 126:4-6 ✙

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows,
fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze;
by and by the harvest, and the labor ended,

Water into Wine: The Change Within

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom.

—John 2:9

Something gets said in the account of Jesus’ first miracle that sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s when Jesus calls his mother Woman. The wine runs out, and Mary tells Jesus to fix things. His reply? Woman, what concern is that to you and me? Seriously, who talks to their mom that way—and right in front of people?

There are two schools of thought on this topic. Well three really, because one of them is to simply mistranslate it and have Jesus call his mother Mother. [1] But we have to let it stand as it is. And so it’s possible that calling your mother Woman in first century Palestine was simply a term of respect, such as Ma’am.

The second explanation is much more theological. But there might be something to it. It points to a change in Jesus’ relationship with his family. Distancing himself from his mother as he’s beginning his ministry is a clear indication that his focus has changed and his people are no

Today is the Sunday within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Appropriately enough, the appointed epistle reading for today includes this verse:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. —1 Cor 12:4

And the United Church choir is singing Allen Pote's Many Gifts, One Spirit, which is a prayer for Christian unity. The video below is of a different choir,

It seems like just yesterday that the denomination was drilling into our heads that red and black were by far the most eye-catching colors to use in our branding. Apparently the human brain is now more into aqua, since the new

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.

✙ Ps. 126:1-3 ✙

Though fortunes might be figurative here, I feel the NRSV's translation of בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה, אֶת-שִׁיבַת צִיּוֹן seems too material. There's no mention of fortunes in the Hebrew, but rather of captivity, and using a figure of speech to translate שִׁיבַת just sugarcoats something I need to read about. The best translation would be:

Today is the second day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The song on my mind is Bob Gillman's praise chorus, Bind Us Together:

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together
with cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together—
bind us together with love.

There is only one God, there is only one King;
there is only one body—that is why we sing:

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together
with cords that cannot be broken.
Bind us together, Lord, bind us together—
bind us together with love.

Back when I was in Puerto Rico, I translated this one (using Ecclesiastes 4:12 and Ephesians 4:5) into Spanish for an Emmaus weekend:

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore.

✙ Ps. 125:1-2 ✙

Psalm 125:1 is a bit ironic, considering that the name Mount Zion has historically been applied to three different hills in or near Jerusalem. Thus it appears that it can indeed be moved. But if I look at it differently, I might think about the Christian concept of Zion, which refers not to a geographical feature, but to the invisible church—that is, not the institutional church with all its inconsistencies and shortcomings, but the church chosen by God which

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins on the feast day called the Confession of Saint Peter (January 18) every year, and ends on the feast day of the Conversion of Saint Paul (January 25). The theme this year is Exodus 15:6.

The most well-known unity hymn in my tradition is a song called In Christ

Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

✙ Ps. 124:8 ✙

This was supposedly John Calvin's favorite verse of scripture, and it is the verse he used to open every one of his worship services. So there is no better commentary available on it than what Calvin himself said. Here it is (at least the second half of it):

As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he has mercy upon us.

✙ Ps. 123:2 ✙

The words of today's psalm are beautiful, but it's difficult for the 21st century mind to grasp the full meaning of them. So I'm going to leave it to a fourth century mind to do the commentary:

We are both servants, and a handmaiden: He is both our Master and our Mistress. What do these words mean? What do these similitudes mean? It is not wonderful if we are servants, and he our Master; but it is wonderful if we are a maiden, and he our Mistress. But not even our being a maiden is wonderful; for we are the church. Nor is it wonderful that he is our Mistress;

In the Bible there are fifteen Songs of Ascent (Pss 120-134). There's some debate as to their original intent, but the one that makes sense to me—and which is by far the most evocative—is that they're the songs that were sung by pilgrims on their way to worship God in Jerusalem. With that as my assumption then, I consider Psalm 122 to be both the most typical and beautiful of these psalms:

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

✙ Ps. 121:7-8 ✙

How few are to be found who yield to God the honor of being a keeper, in order to their being thence assured of their safety, and led to call upon him in the midst of their perils! On the contrary, even when we seem to have largely experienced what this protection of God implies, we yet instantly tremble at the noise of a leaf falling from a tree, as if God had quite forgotten us. Being then entangled in so many unholy misgivings, and so much inclined to distrust, we are taught from the passage that if a sentence couched in a few words does not suffice us, we should gather together whatever may be found throughout the whole scriptures concerning the providence of God, until this doctrine—that God always keeps watch for us—is

He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

✙ Ps. 121:4 ✙

God is 'the Keeper of Israel.' No form of unconsciousness ever steals over him, neither the deeper slumber nor the slighter sleep. He never fails to watch the house and the heart of his people. This is a sufficient reason for our resting in perfect peace. Alexander said that he slept because his friend Parmenio watched; much more may we sleep because our God is our guard. 'Behold' is here set up to call our attention to the cheering truth. Israel, when he had a stone for his pillow, fell asleep; but his God was awake, and came in vision to

One side of baptism that I think we like best is the idea of cleansing and refreshment. We can all relate to a nice bath, of course. But there are many other images that come to mind. A dip in a cool pool on a hot day. Or how about children jumping through a lawn sprinkler in the summer? You can picture the spray oscillating in the sunshine creating its own rainbow, and kids sailing with abandon through the water droplets suspended momentarily in the air, even as they create their own rainbow. Or speaking of summer vacation and refreshing water, how about getting a drink from the garden hose when we were kids? We might not do that now, but there’s no denying that there was something especially refreshing about that during our

January 6 is a holiday called the Epiphany (the day the Magi visited the infant Jesus). On the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the western church (i.e. Protestants and Roman Catholics) celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.

I Lift My Eyes

There are no question marks in ancient Hebrew, so Psalm 121:1 is ambiguous. Older translations made it a statement, with verse 2 being a continuation of the same thought. Here are those two verses in the 16th century Geneva Bible (the later KJV is similar):

I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence my help shall come.
Mine help cometh from the Lord, which hath made the heaven and the earth.

New translations, though, make verse 1 a question, with verse 2 being its

Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents of Kedar.
Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.
I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

✙ Ps. 120:5-7 ✙

Psalm 120 is not an uplifting psalm, but it is moving. Mainline Protestants who are overly dependent on the lectionary might never encounter it, however, since it is never used in the Revised Common Lectionary.

The most meaningful words of this psalm to me are found in verses 5-7. And when I study it more closely in the original language, I discover that the two English verbs live in verse 5 and have... dwelling in verse 6 should probably

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

✙ Ps. 119:176 ✙

The last verse of the longest psalm needs none of my blather, for Jesus himself commented on it in a parable [Matthew 18:12-14]:

Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.

✙ Ps. 119:161 ✙

There is something particularly disturbing when a ruler of a vast nation targets the weakest among us for blame and persecution. John Calvin, who had himself been driven into exile because of his faith, had a special insight into this:

Here the Psalmist, informs us that sore and grievous as his temptation had been, he was restrained by the fear of God from desiring to attempt anything unworthy of the character of a godly man. We are prone to fall into despair when princes who are armed with power to overwhelm us are hostile to and molest us. The evil is also aggravated from the consideration

The appointed reading from the Hebrew scriptures this coming Sunday is Isaiah 43:1-7. One good hymn that goes with this passage is How Firm a Foundation. Another is the one above by the late Susan Peterson, which I discovered on the Cyberhymnal site. The tune (named after its composer) is also used for Near to the Heart of God (listen below).

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he

Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your justice.

✙ Ps. 119:156 ✙

What a beautiful verse to look at this morning!

But first, some editorializing: I think in the first clause, I'd prefer compassion (instead of mercy) as a translation of רַחֲמֶיךָ. And as for the word מִשְׁפָּטֶ, which in older Bibles is translated as judgment(s), the word justice (as here in the NRSV) is much more appropriate. In the United States, we don't have a Department of Judgment, we have a Department of Justice. And the word מִשְׁפָּטֶ

I rise before dawn and cry for help; I put my hope in your words.

✙ Ps. 119:147 ✙

I want to refer back to two other psalms this morning. The week after Thanksgiving, I meditated on the beginning of the 108th Psalm, in which the psalmist says, "I will awake the dawn!" Now, if I were to read this morning's verse in an old translation, such as the Geneva Bible (or the King James), I might think it said the exact opposite:

I prevented the morning light, and cried: for I waited on thy word.

If I concluded that the psalmist in Psalm 108:2 cannot literally awake the

Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.

✙ Ps. 119:140 ✙

Psalm 66:10 says to God, You have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried—and we might expect to be tried by God, refined like a precious metal. Though today's verse uses the same verb (*צָרַף), it's in reference to God's promise being refined, not to God's servants. This is not to say that there are impurities which need to be purged from the word, but rather that my understanding of God's word might be based on false assumptions or thoughtless acceptance of what others say about it, and so needs to be tested

On Breaking Down Walls

An Invitation to the Table on Epiphany

Not every story surrounding the birth of the Christ Child is taken literally by every Christian. For example, some doubt the virgin birth. Others question whether Jesus was really born in Bethlehem and not Galilee. Still others find the story of the angels’ appearance to the shepherds a bit hard to swallow. But there’s really only one that everyone can agree is untrue, and that’s the story of the three wise men. After all, it’s impossible that three men traveling a long distance together would ever have stopped and asked for directions.

In all seriousness, though, I’m not going to debate the historical truth of the day we call the Epiphany. It either happened or it didn’t. We cannot prove or

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

✧ Ps. 119:130 ✧

What a wonderful verse to think about on the Feast of the Epiphany. Reading the Gospel According to Matthew is like a 28-chapter unfolding of the Word Incarnate, shining light on God's mighty acts in the life, death, and resurrection of Messiah. And very close to the beginning is the story of the

Most people assume The First Nowell is a Christmas carol. But it's actually an Epiphany song. Another thing about it is that there's no reason to sing it at all if you're just going to leave out some of the stanzas because you think it's too long. The song is a story, complete only if sung in its entirety.

Caught Waiting

Thomas Manton (1620-1677)

It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken.

✙ Ps. 119:126 ✙

This is a difficult verse, and the Bible seems to be of two minds on the subject it treats. On the one hand, we are told not to put faith in mortals, but only in God. On the other hand, we are told to take just or righteous actions, since God has put that responsibility into our hands. So how do I discern the difference between the consistent actions of a faithful Christian and the extraordinary intervention of God when things have gone too far? Is now, such a time? After all, respect for God's law seems to be lower than ever

As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold;
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright;
so, most gracious God, may we
evermore be led to thee.

May God send light to shine on you
and truth to lead you.
Let them bring us to God’s holy dwelling.
Let us go to the altar of God.
For God exceeds all other joy.
Why are you downcast,
and why should your souls be disquieted?
We hope in God our help,
to whom we bring praise and thanksgiving.

O Holy God, we thank you
that you have called us together in this hour

An encounter (in ten frames) between an owl and a fox in Cobourg, Ontario, just before 2 in the morning on January 4, 2018.

I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.

✙ Ps. 119:113 ✙

This verse is interesting. The double-minded spoken of here are obviously people, but Calvin objects to this, saying that the noun סֵעֲפִים refers not to the people, but their crooked (or vain) thoughts. And this is exactly how the 16th century Geneva Bible (as well as the 17th century King James Version after it) translated it.

I hate vain inventions: but thy Law do I love.

This rendering reminds me of the 22nd of the Church of England's 39 Articles of Religion, which states that the

Dolly Parton has given away 100,000,000 books to children through her Imagination Library. Most Nobel Peace Prizes have been won for far less. Here's her rendition of a classic Christmas spiritual.