Sabbaticaling Part 4

Maybe it's the stage of life that I'm in, but one book that I've really appreciated is A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson.  I've referenced it at least a few times in sermons.  It's an excellent book about life-long discipleship in which Peterson walks through the Psalms of Ascent.  The Psalms of Ascent, or Pilgrimage Songs, are Psalms 120-134.  These 15 psalms would have been sung, prayed, and chanted as devout Jews journeyed up the mountain to Jerusalem for their religious festivals.  I've chose this book, along with the Psalms of Ascent themselves and Psalm 119, as devotional reading for this first month of my sabbatical.  See previous post here.

Each psalm deals with a different theme to guide the pilgrim on the life of faith.  Peterson gives each of them the following thematic title:

• Psalm 120 - Repentance
• Psalm 121 - Trust
• Psalm 122 - Worship
• Psalm 123 - Service
• Psalm 124 - Help
• Psalm 125 - Security
• Psalm 126 - Joy
• Psalm 127 - Work
• Psalm 128 - Happiness
• Psalm 129 - Perseverance 
• Psalm 130 - Hope
• Psalm 131 - Humility
• Psalm 132- Obedience
• Psalm 133 - Community
• Psalm 134 - Blessing

Over these last few weeks, I've taken a long obedience through these psalms and along with Peterson's commentary on each.  Through the journey these Psalms of Ascent bring us into an encounter with the joys and sorrows, ups and downs, false starts and grace-inspired action that are part of the life of faith in God.  

The most insightful new exegetical lesson I learned was from Psalm 121.  " I raise my eyes toward the mountains.  Where will my help come from?"  This is not, as I was accustomed to read, a moment of awe-inspired reverence one might experience when looking on the vastness of a rugged mountain landscape.  Rather, in the ancient world, shrines to ancient gods and goddesses were built atop mountains.  So when the psalmist looks at the mountains, he sees all these pagan shrines and asks a rhetorical question:  "Where will my help come from?"  Will it come from these false gods and goddesses that promise health, wealth, and success?  The answer in v.2 is a defiant "No!  My help comes from the Lord."

The part that most spoke to my heart is from Psalm 130 on the theme of hope.  Peterson quotes the writer Thronton Wilder:  "Hope is a projection of the imagination; so is despair.  Despair all too readily embraces the ills it foresees; hope is an energy and arouses the mind to explore every possibility and combat them... In response to hope the imagination is aroused to picture every possible issue, to try every door, to fit together even the most heterogeneous pieces of the puzzle.  After the solution has been found it is difficult to recall the steps taken - so many of them are just below the level of consciousness."   Psalm 130 has been a long-time companion of mine, and this quote along with it challenges as well as inspires me.  

  

And the most spirit-inspired insight came in Psalm 127 about work.  The two halves of the psalm feel disjointed as the second stanza seems to abruptly depart from the first.  The first stanza speaks of the futility of work if God is not involved in the process, and the second stanza starts talking about children being a blessing.  At first the two stanzas didn't seem to connect.  But after thinking about it a little longer, it occurred to me that children are an example of a work born of love.  The kind of work God calls us to is not the monotonous, hard slog of "everybody's working for the weekend."  Rather the kind of work God invites us into is work that is born of love; love for God, love for neighbor, and love of the world around us.  

So just a few reflections.  There were many more, and there are many more yet to be discovered.  Still, I'm glad for my time to read leisurely through these psalms while reflecting on God's call for me to continue my long obedience in the same direction.  

Sabbaticalling part 3

Here's part 1 and part 2.

And here's another reflection on Psalm 119....

8 times Psalm 119 mentions an experience of suffering.  For example...

• v 28:      My Spirit sags because of grief
• v 107:    I have been suffering so much
• v 153:    Look at my suffering and deliver me

Just to name a few.  The source of suffering isn't specified, but it is a result of external opposition and obstacles in the form of adversaries.  We may not know what exactly the psalmist experienced, but in a way we do know on some level because of similar experiences.  

But as a response to the psalmist's suffering, there is another refrain throughout the 22 stanzas that answers and responds to the experience of suffering.  17 times Psalm 119 answers the suffering with a version of the following refrain... 

• v 17    Be good to your servant so I can go on living
• v 25    Make me live again
• v 28    Now raise me up
• v 40    Make me live
• v 93    You gave me life again
• v 175   Let me live again

The most frequent phrasing is "Make me live again."

When we experience suffering, opposition, road blocks, and adversaries, these experiences suck life out of us.  They drain and steal life away.  Psalm 119 answers these experiences of suffering by pointing us back to God, the source of life.  God, as the source of life, sustains, renews, revives, and directs us so that life flourishes in the very circumstances that would try to extinguish the light of life.  

For the psalmist in Psalm 119, God is found in God's word; specifically the Torah, the commandments, the scriptures.  And for the Christian too the light of life from God can be found in scripture.  As well, the light of God's life in a dark world are revealed to us in the incarnate word (Jesus) and in the living word (the Spirit at work in the Spirit-led community).  

We hear echoes of Psalm 119 throughout the New Testament as well.  Two examples that come readily to mind are:

1) Matthew 11:28.  Jesus, God's incarnate word, says "Come to me all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads and I will give you rest.  Put on my yoke and learn from me"  In other words, Jesus is saying 'follow me, do as I do, act as I act, live as I live; it will cause life to flourish within you when you are suffering.'  

2) 2 Corinthians 3:17.  "The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom.  All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror.  We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory.  This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  Again, the Spirit leads to freedom, to fullness of life.  When we look, search, seek, and knock for God from within experiences of difficulty, the work of the Spirit transforms us into the glory of the Lord, into freedom, into newness of life.  And this is the same work of God's grace that led the psalmist through suffering to life as well.  

Psalm 119:50:  "My comfort during my suffering is this: your (three-fold) word gives me new life."

Sabbaticaling Part 2

Following up from my previous post, I continue to read Psalm 119.  One time as I was reading it, I didn't get past vs. 9.

"How can young people
      keep their paths pure?
By guarding them
      according to what you've said."

Yes, the psalm specifically mentions "young people" but the question of righteous living and discerning God's voice is a question for young and old alike.  And I continue to reflect on the concept of God's word, God's commandments and instructions, the things that God has said, in light of the three-fold word of God that Christians proclaim.

So, to paraphrase Psalm 119:9:

How can people keep their path's pure?
    How can people do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?
    How can people live a life of beatitude blessing?
By guarding them according to...
    What God has said through the written word (scripture, bible)
    What God said through the incarnate word (the life, teaching, and example of Jesus)
    And what God is saying through the living word (the work of the Spirit in the spirit-led
        community).



Prayer of response:
Speak to me O Lord.
Let me hear your voice
  So that I may keep my paths pure
  So that I may live in your reign
  So that I may bind up the broken-hearted

Speak to me in the manifold witness of your word
  May I delight in the scriptures
  Follow your Son
  and trust the Spirit at work among your people.

In the name of the three-fold God,
    Revealed by the three-fold word,
I pray.
Amen.

Sabbaticaling

I'm almost two weeks into my sabbatical, and so far things are going very well.  The girls have adjusted well to the three-hour time change and we've settled into our two-bedroom apartment at the Fuller Guest House.  Emiley and I have also figured out the kinds of routines that take into consideration the girls' need for naps and play and our own needs for time to do our own thing.

View from the 3rd Floor of Fuller Library

Along with settling in, enjoying Pasadena, and catching up with old friends and mentors, I've also found time for reading, prayer, and solitude.  My go-to spot is the third balcony of the Fuller library.  This was a favorite study spot of mine when I was a student here, and it comes with a pretty nice view as well.  I go here when I have a block of a couple hours.  When I don't have as much time, I simply go to one of the courtyards at the Fuller Guest House.

For this first month of the sabbatical I've chosen to focus on the psalms.  I've chosen the psalms because they are the prayers and songs of ancient Israel and are expressed in heart-language rather than head language.  A spiritual friend of mine recently asked, "Do you ever have an experience of God that isn't filtered through your head?"  He was being deliberately provocative, and I took his point.  I'm a left-brained person who spends way too much time analyzing, critiquing, and evaluating.  There is much that God intends and wants to say to me through the heart, not the head.

Fuller Guest House Courtyard

So I'm reading the psalms.  One psalm that I keep coming back to is Psalm 119.  It is the longest psalm in the bible. and for that reason alone I don't read it very often.  It is written as an acrostic poem, meaning each stanza or line corresponds to a particular letter.  In this case, there are 22 stanzas corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.  It's a psalm about delighting in God's word and a desire to know God's word more fully.  The 22 stanzas express this prayerful desire in overlapping ways, yet each stanza comes from it's own angle.  It has the effect of pulling one deeper and deeper into a love of God's word.  

As I've read through it, I find myself thinking of the dynamic expression of God's word in Trinitarian terms.  The psalm is written in reference to the law, to the Torah, so certainly the psalm is an expression of love for God's written word, the bible.  But there is also God's incarnate word (Jesus), and God's living word (the Holy Spirit).  So as I read such verses as...

v.5-6 "How I wish my ways were strong when it comes to keeping your statues!  Then I wouldn't be ashamed when I examine all your commandments."

v.11 "I keep your word close to my heart so that I won't sin against you."

v.33 "Lord, teach me what your statues are about and I will guard every part of them."

v.43 "please don't take your true word out of my mouth...'

v.50 "My comfort during my suffering is this: your word gives me new life."

etc...

... I consider what it all means in relation to the three-fold word of God.  I consider what it means with regard to understanding scripture, following Jesus, and trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  And the more I read the psalm the more I notice a growing desire to be more faithful to this dynamic, living, transforming three-fold word of God.  I want to grow a more comprehensive knowledge of the scriptures, I want to live a life that looks like Jesus, and I want to take the risk to trust the liberating Spirit that brings freedom and paves the way toward newness and fullness.  

My left brain wants to parse all this out and break it down and figure it all out.  But it can't.  And I'll take that as a good thing for now.