Imagine that you have received more than one invitation to the same thing. Each invitation was unique. Each stunningly put together. One was business-like with facts and outcomes. One was poetry like in a well-written greeting card. One invitation was given during a conversation. One in a compelling exhortation. Four invitations have been given to you this morning – it is the same invitation presented to you in 4 styles, 4 variations of the same theme. The Word from Ezekiel, Psalms, Matthew, and Romans – are an invitation to life.
Not only an invitation to life,
but a wholeness of life.
The scripture readings for this
15th Sunday After Pentecost relate to and reflect on the law of God,
inviting hearers to a ‘rule of life’ that opens one to abundant life.
For our time together, I
have chosen to open the invitation from Psalm 119.
Professor W. Dennis Tucker
Jr., describes the importance of receiving and opening God’s invitation. He
writes, We might do well to understand Psalm 119 as a remedy for the kind of
meandering life that chases everything,
and yet is satiated by
nothing.
Do you live a meandering
kind of life? Chasing purpose and meaning; happiness and fun; accomplishment and
promotion. Maybe the meandering feels like being on a hamster wheel, with never-ending
busy-ness, expectations, responsibilities, pressure, survival, work,
accumulation of wealth and things, to-do lists, checklists, bucket lists, leveling
up, trying every new thing or hobby? Meandering, in this case, refers to being
untethered, aimlessly searching, going down the proverbial rabbit hole,
doom-scrolling, being unable to settle --- always feeling a need, a want for
more ---
We might do well to
understand Psalm 119 as a remedy for the kind of meandering life that chases
everything,
and yet is satiated by
nothing. Psalm 119 is an invitation to life, offering a pathway to
wholeness; where one is satiated, fed, full, saturated, satisfied.
Psalm 119 expresses delight
in God’s law. Eight words are used throughout the Psalm to expand one’s
thoughts about God’s law, the others are: commandment, ordinance, statue,
decree, precept, word, and promise. All are descriptors of God’s teaching and a
structure for applying to daily living. The Psalm encourages the study of God’s
teaching as a way of life. The Psalm has God as teacher and creation as
classroom.
The Psalm is written in 22 sections
– each section containing 8 lines to contemplate and mediate on.
Each of the 176 lines of the
poem are a variation of the same theme, the same message said in a different
way.
The Psalm is meant to be read
aloud, to be heard. The repetition of the variations on the same theme, work
like a classical music piece that grows a theme, rifting off the same melody, and
in doing so offers expansive insights. Variations create pathways that activate
the mind, spirit, emotion, and body. The practice of the repetition, and the
hearing of the words, evoke contemplation and spark the imagination to possibilities
of the invitation to life, by accepting and practicing a rule of life.
There is an old adage - Insanity
is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The invitation to life by
accepting and practicing a rule of life, is a gift, an offering to ground oneself,
to focus, and to commit --- not to the same thing over and over that the world
tells us we to chase – but rather, a rule of life that embraces and nurtures a
relationship.
Invitations are sent by someone
to someone. Here the invitation to life comes from God, revealed in law, and received
and practiced by human beings. In Psalm 119 the invitation boarders on the ridiculous,
going way-over-the-top to make sure the invitation is heard. The Psalm has 176
repetitions of relationship grown between God and humans through the embracing
of law, a rule of life. Surely there will be at least one that gives pause to
each person hearing the Psalm, that entices a person to consider the invitation
to life.
In section 5, that is vs.
33-40, the first of the two sections we recited earlier in the service, we can
separate each line into its two parts to really hear the reciprocal relationship.
The first portion of the 8
lines sound like this:
Teach me, O Lord the way of
your statues / Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
Lead me in the path of your
commandments / Turn my heart to your decrees /Turn my eye from looking at
vanities / Confirm to your servant your promise/ Turn away the disgrace that I
dread / See I have longed for your precepts
There are eight verbs. Each
is the action of God. The Psalmist asks God to – teach, give, lead, turn,
confirm, and see. God’s action is emphasized by placing it at the beginning of
each thought. God and God’s action is the starting point, as well as the energy
and catalyst of the human response to accept the invitation and live by a rule
of life.
The second portion of each
line are: And I will observe it to the end / And observe it with my whole
heart /For I delight in it / And not to selfish gain /Give me life in
your ways / Which is for those who fear you /For your ordinances are good / In your
righteousness give me life.
Human response is expressed as
a wholehearted, positive attitude, bathed in goodness.
As I have pondered Psalm
119, I wondered how this rule of life might be expressed in our daily lives.
Why bother giving one’s whole heart to a relationship with God that grows through
the observance of commands?
The unfulfilling answer is
that the observance of commands, changes our hearts and us. I read a quote this
week by Mahatma Gandhi reflecting on the 7 deadly sins. His description names
sin, but it also names the missing pieces that only come through living a rule
of life. Gandi name sin as:
Wealth without work, Pleasure
without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science
without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles
A rule of life is practice
that grows and influences one’s work, conscience, character, morality,
humanity, sacrifice, and principles.
In September we focus our
prayers on things school related. Our Bible Study this Tuesday considers
learning as a lifetime necessity. Consider some of the ways we learn: school, continuing
education, skills training, experiential knowledge, reading, listening to pod-casts
… Sunday scripture, sermon, hymns, and prayers.
I suspect many of us feel
that we do not learn and grow as much as we did in formal education settings.
Schools have schedules giving
order to each day. They ensure students get all the subjects, not just picking
and choosing what they like or feel they need. Each year students get a variety
of teachers and classmates. Schools have in place codes of conduct to assist in
making a safe environment for everyone. There are rules.
God is inviting you into
relationship, through a rule of life. Where focusing and contemplating on God’s
law, grows understanding and relationship with God. On Psalm 119 Professor James Mays wrote, the
instruction comes from God, but it must become part of the servant of God. It
must be gathered into the store of the heart, the mind and mentality with which
one thinks and wills. The heart itself must be converted from all else. The
word is reason and opportunity for the human heart to be whole. (pg.
385 – Interpretation Series: Psalms)
And it is here – being in
relationship with the One, in the classroom of creation, God’s kindom -
one gets off the hamster wheel and stops
chasing that which is empty.
And in this action is filled
with the promise of abundance, inclusiveness, comfort, praise, hope, steadfast
love, faith, trust, understanding, delight, and life – wholeness.
