Psalm 104

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

Many, perhaps most, consider God purposeful, as in goal-oriented. There is specific divine intent.

God can also be understood as creating a process of unfolding discovery.

In the original Hebrew, the final line above reads:

לִוְיָתָן, זֶה-יָצַרְתָּ לְשַׂחֶק-בּוֹ. (Livyathan zeh yester sachaq)

Yester is to form. It is also to imagine, to devise, to frame up. There is the suggestion of creating potential.

The potential here is for sport - for sachaq - for joy, for playing music, for dancing, and for laughter.

Psalm 104

Psalm 118

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

God can transform insufficiency and failure.

The transformation may not, however, always seem to us a "success".

The Hebrew translated as success is צָלַח or tsalach, meaning to advance quickly, progress, or rush.

The original meaning - still used sometimes - for success is to come after or come near to (as to succeed in office).

We are called to follow God, to come near to God: this is success.

Psalm 118

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!

Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

This early morning the moon and stars are hidden behind thick clouds.

Lightening flashes, thunder roars, great gusts of wind bend branches.

The original Hebrew for praise is הָלַל or halal, also meaning to flash forth light.

Psalm 148

Psalm 115

May the Lord give you increase,
both you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

May the Lord yaceph you and your children is the original Hebrew.

May the Lord join with, add to, do more, do again both you and your children. I read increase by joining with us.

The blessing is in the joining or rejoining with us, not in giving us further excuse or means to go our own way.

Psalm 115

Psalm 111

He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant for ever.
Holy and awesome is his name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practise it have a good understanding.
His praise endures for ever.

This wisdom is a shrewd skillfulness and prudent problem-solving.

This understanding is a cunning, practical insight.

We ought fear nothing but God, and this is only the beginning.

We are called to love God and neighbor with wisdom and understanding.

To be as harmless as doves and as wise as serpents is our charge.

Psalm 111

Psalm 66

I will come into your house with burnt-offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt-offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.

The thanks is not requested, much less directed.

Yet we feel compelled to give thanks, even extravagant thanks.

For life, for love, for the sweet smell of a star-lit morning, we give thanks.

How do I give thanks for gifts and opportunities beyond measure?

In song, poem, dance, cathedral... and in love for stranger and enemy.

Above is of the St. Anselm window at Canterbury Cathedral.

Psalm 66

Psalm 113

He raises the poor from the dust,
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

The notion that God would become man and live among us, not as a king, but as a teacher, healer, and friend is a radically egalitarian notion.

Prior to the Jesus movement most religions -- and certainly Western religions -- celebrated heroes and hierarchy.

Jesus celebrated the poor, the needy, and the barren, and in his resurrection set the stage for their spiritual resurrection and earthly transfomration.

Psalm 113

Psalm 40

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt-offering and sin-offering
you have not required.
Then I said, ‘Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.*
I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.’

Whatever the intent (if any) behind our creation, I expect we have been a surprise, sometimes happy, often not.

But whatever sort of surprise I recently caused, God is ready to embrace and welcome, forgive and redeem.

God will listen, if only I will pause to tell and in telling acknowledge my own intention and lack-of-attention.

Psalm 40 (Assigned for Good Friday)

Psalm 27

Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

On this anniversary of the crucifixion we are reminded of our potential for destructive error, self-deception, and wanton cruelty.

The evidence continues to accumulate: daily, hourly, by the minute.

Despite all this Jesus prayed, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." We seldom know.

I am my own worst enemy. I give thanks for the help of Jesus in battling my enemies.

Despite my neglects and betrayals, the Lord is my light and my salvation.

Psalm 27 (Assigned for Holy Saturday)