A meditation on Psalm 51

A MEDITATION ON PSALM FIFTY ONE.

This week, I went with my friend , Gary, to a "More Worship" event at St. Luke's. The theme was Lent, and a big part of Lent is repentance and Psalm 51 which we read through.

As, you may know, this Lenten period, I have focused on Joy. Now Psalm 51 isn't a psalm that springs to mind when thinking about Joy, but Joy does feature.

So let's reflect on this. The psalm is David's prayer to God and it is a SONG. Do we sing when we pray, or do we keep the singing for church? I think God likes it when we sing to him. We don't only have to sing when we're happy and everything is going great. The psalmist tells us (probably in song) to sing a New Song to the Lord.

David comes as a broken man to God and he cries out for forgiveness, appealing to God's mercy and lovingkindness.

Blot out — The sins had been recorded. They could legally remain there for every. But David appeals to God to intervene and remove it completely. God did it for David, and He does that for us too. He does it legally as His Son, Jesus paid the penalty for all our sin.

Wash me — David was not just concerned with the legality in the ledger, but He wanted to be rid of sin's hold on him. How it affected him personally. David asks God to wash him completely.

I was asked to paint an old garage door. It had been painted before, but the paint was peeling off and the looked patchy. The paint work needed renewing. Before I could apply a new coat of paint, I needed to remove the old one. I will tell you that that took a long time. People made suggestions as to how to deal with it. Some suggested chemicals to eat away at it, one person even suggested I use a blow torch to burn it off (an idea I dismissed immediately as I am not convinced I could do it without burning the garage downb). I went at it with a scraper. It did the trick. Well God doesn't take the easy way out he goes to work on that "old paint" and he removed every spot — leaving us spotless. Then He paints on the righteousness, thick and even.

It interests me that David appeals to God to "Let me hear joy and celebration AGAIN" (verse 8) and "RESTORE to me the joy of my Salvation".

He does not ask God to restore salvation. Salvation is ours, and remains ours from the time of our conversion. But because of our humanity, we have times in our lives when we move away from God. This may be a few minutes or last for many years. The effect this distancing of ourselves from God has is that we lose that true JOY.

There are things that may lift your spirits and bring a smile to your face, but JOY that lasts is found in our relationship with God. Also, when we seek our joy in other places, we find that though it may have us smiling, the after-taste is revolting and leaves us in a worse state than we were before.

Two people, poverty stricken, sleeping rough, being moved on at in convenient times, being soaked through by pouring rain, and cold because of a blasting wind. One of the two is extremely grumpy, swearing under his breath at the person who gave him a sideways glance. The other, greets the person, and smiles? It turns out the grumpy one lost a fortune and was once well off. The more cheerful one, has never had much and was on the street longer. The fact that the first found comfort and joy in his money means that now that that is not there, leaves him more bitter.

When we found we have lost touch with God, we may feel drained of joy. We can ask God to restore that Joy, and renew our spirits.

One remaining thought. It is not that God wants to spoil our fun and "kill our joy" but quite the opposite. When we are in a right place with our Lord, we can experience joy as we've never known it before.

The bones that were crushed under the weight of our sin will sing for joy.

My Wilderness

Forty years I wandered!

I wondered "Who am I?"

Do I belong

Or am I a stranger

Looking on

I went through the waters 

Like of every other

Carried on the arms of my mother

I had the sense I didn't fit in

Because my heart was "infected by sin"

Unclean, unclean!

They had me call.

And live outside the camp

Heal me, heal me, make me whole

Rid me of this curse of difference!

Oh my God, why am I condemned?

When I found you and you found me.

I cleaned you up, out and in

I did not leave a speck of sin

There is no reason to feel condemned.

I was all alone in great despair

When I heard Him say to me

John, my child, why are you there?

Don't you know I set you free?

Who I set free, is free, indeed!

Autumn

This post was written in October 2012:

Thought I'd share it again. Please feel free to comment.

Autumn

An acorn falls to the ground,

By natural processes it becomes embedded beneath the soil.

It's Autumn and the yellow, red and brown foliage blankets the land,

Like an electric blanket, emitting its own heat,

11As they mulch the piece of earth that is the nursery bed for a great oak.

Rain moisten the soil and the dead leaves give off a heat of their own.

Winter comes,

Everything dies back.

The colours fade and the world becomes a monochrome, black, white or grey.

Animals hibernate.

The wind blows, it rains, it pours, then it snows.

ALL DEAD?- NO.

Underground, and too slowly for any eye to perceive,

The seed germinates and starts to grow.

Spring arrives, the sun rises earlier, and thaws the snow,

White covering gives way to green,

Shoots break through and greet the new day.

It's no longer a seed - it's a sapling.

Over time, it grows, and the stem becomes a trunk.

Thicker, more sturdy,

Ultimately it's a landmark,  providing shade.

............................................................................................................................................................

Today,  we had a time of CREATIVE PRAYER. Fred announced the theme. Autumn and a verse of Scripture that seemed unrelated, but most definitely fitted with that that theme: 2 Chronicles 7:14 I concentrated on the phrase in that verse, "My People" and reminded me of another verse that I went to look up, though I had the wrong book in mind, the right chapter and verse. I looked up Joel 2:23:

Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the Autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both Autumn and Spring rains, as before.

24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - the great locust and the young locust,  the other locusts and the locust swarm - my great army that I sent among you.

26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.

27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.

Hoses 2:23 which is what I was looking for in the first place, says:

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.' I will say to those called 'Not my people,' 'You are my people'; and they will say 'You are my God.'

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that  He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Insidious

Insidious

It's insidious, they say,

the way

it catches us unaware.

How do I prepare

to avoid

agreeing with the enemy of my soul?

It's insidious! The thing seems so right!

It might

be the very thing that brings me down.

What are the warning signs that

flag up

that things are not as they should be?

It's insidious! Just a bit of fun;

a joke,

I didn't realise it would hurt.

It's insidious! I knew it wasn't quite true —

The lie

I told to get out of a fix

Before I knew it, I'd told six.

It's insidious! He was bringing me down

With his criticism and comments.

I was tired

I snapped and ...

He was on the ground.

Temptation does not come

as a bolt out of the blue,

but rather

Like a silent serpent slithering stealthily,

Seeking the second it should strike.

Like a lioness, crouching in the long savannah grass,

Focused,

For that moment to pounce,

before her prey can get away.

Like a crocodile, lurking, looking like an innocent log in the shallows of the waterhole.

Beady eyes,

Watching for its chance to spring into action —

tail swinging,

teeth snapping

on that tasty morsel that stood innocently sipping on the shoreline.

—-------------------------------------------------

Thinking about this poem, I  realise that temptation doesn't come upon us, all-at-once, suddenly like the strike of a serpent, the pounce of a lioness, or the crunch of the crocodile. That's more like the moment when we've succumbed to the temptation and do what, in our better judgment, we would not have done.

Temptation is more like the moments before that strike, the crouching, the lurking.

The encouraging thing is that predators don't always catch their prey. Sometimes even when they catch the animal, it manages to escape and live to tell about it.

We may have been caught, lured into sin and seemingly defeated, but realising our predicament, we CAN escape, maybe wounded, but not destroyed. We can't do it ourselves, but if we call on Jesus, confess our sin, he will bring us out. It's called repentance, which means turning around.

Philomena

I wathced Philomena, the film based on Martin Sixsmith book.

If you haven't watched, I highly recommend it. Though prepare for an emotional roller-coaster.

For me the issue was that the nuns were effectively stealing these children away from single mothers and selling them to rich American Catholic families. They judged the women, or in some cases girls who became pregnant and treated them cruelly. They did not even give the mothers the chance to say good by to their children. They lied to get out of facing the consequences of their actions.

The Catholic Church and other churches too are facing a legal actions because of the child sex-abuse by clergy and many people seeking compensation. However, it strikes me that they also should be facing the consequences of this type of crime against unwed mothers and their children who were forcibly parted and who were deprived of the chances of reuniting. This should be called what it is - CHILD ABDUCTION.

You, reader, are hopefully not responsible for actions as extreme as those described in this film, but it strikes me, that at the root of these actions was the view that sex was sin, and so the nuns believed that what they were doing in the belief that it was justified by the supposed sinful actions of the "girls". One wrong is not corrected by the perpetration of another wrong, and in the grand scheme of things, I believe that what the nuns did in the name of Christ and the Church was FAR MORE SINFUL than the supposed sin of the "Philomenas" - even if they enjoyed the sex. I hear someone saying - one sin is as bad as another and they all make us unworthy of Salvation - to which I say - that is nonsense. Are you really saying that someone who steals a few items from a shop is as bad as a mass murderer?

My concern is that we feel justified in our assessment of the perceived wrong of others to justify our own actions - we perceive someone to be lazy and thus deserving of their desperate situation, and refuse to give them anything, even though we could afford to. We make assumptions about a person based on the way they dress, their accent, or some other peripheral issue and then judge them. Not long ago I saw an article in the Evening Standard about a man who due to undignosed bipolar disorder, was singing a Rihanna song out loud on a tube train. Other passengers though it was hilarious and without his permission recorded a video which they posted and which went viral on YouTube. Them man fortunately was subsequently diagnosed and is getting the help he needs, but that video was an embarrassment to him. I wonder how the original poster would have felt if the man had been so mortified (the word comes from the Latin mors - death) him that he commit suicide? Maybe the poser felt entitled since the man was in a public space, and in the apparent opinion of the poster, deserving of ridicule.

This morning in Church there was an interesting prayer of confession which really struck me - I'd like to share it with you. (Slightly modified)

Forgive me, God of healing and humility, when I use the power of the crowd (or any other leverage at my disposal) to isolate and demonise those who are different, vulnerable or unwell. 
May I never exclude where I can embrace, or hurt where I can help but follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Lord of all. Amen

Toys

Some boys like to play with trucks
Other boys like dolls
Some boys practice rugby rucks
Others, gymnastic flicks and rolls,
All that could be said of girls,
Some like their hair short, others in curls

A toy’s a toy, a plaything, a tool,
A thing that they learn with, at home or in school.
One child wears jeans and a t-shirt,
Another, a blouse and skirt,
Whether girl or boy, it doesn’t really matter
Help the child feel good, whether thin, or fatter.

“Your gender-blender agenda,” I hear you declaim,
“It’ll bring us all down! it’s such a shame!”
I don’t know this agenda of which you speak,
What I know is, God made us all unique.
Now let me tell you that’s not my game,
I don’t want all children to be the same.

Boxing or Ballet,
That should be A-okay,
Doesn't matter what people say,
They don't make you lesbian, bi, straight or gay.
Many achievements towards which children aspire,
Whoever they are, let them do as they desire.

Some people take toys out of boxes, then
They put their children in,
Nicely labeled, each one to define
Girl aged six, boy aged nine.
Toys can fire a child’s imagination,
Help them discover, they’re a special creation.

© J. Fairlamb 28-12-14.

Lady Bishops

Wrote the original version on Sunday. This is a hopefully improved edition:

In the C of E
Now a lady, a bishop can be,
For many years this has been a source of much debate,
But now it's been accomplished, was it worth the wait?

Now we can follow our vocation
Without barrier or equivocation
To pursue the Spirit's flow
Whether woman or fellow

That said, the talking is not at an end,

Some see this as a dangerous trend
For them, the notion of women's leadership —
Nothing but an ego-trip.

As for me, I think it's good
Things are moving forward as they should,
An evolving Church in an evolving world,
Helping the flag of faith to be unfurled

Time for Christians to get real
Helping the poor find their next meal
Not wagging fingers — don't do this or that
But meeting people "where they're at"

All through life there are issues
About which a side we choose
Jesus calls us to love God and one another
Treating everyone as sister or brother.