Cesky KrumlovThis week, I am preaching on Psalm 95. It is a Psalm that haunts me. When I went to St Andrew’s North Oxford as a kid in the 1970s they would chant this Psalm just before we went out to Sunday school. So the words got buried in my head right next to the multiplication tables and the words to Abba songs.
My kids won't have this experience, because we don't do liturgy like that anymore...
But this Psalm also haunts me because it is such a disquieting and uncomfortable Psalm. It starts out as a very normal and upbeat sounding Psalm, a Psalm of praise to God. But half way, it turns into a stern warning. It is like a cute furry animal you pick up and cuddle, that then bites you so that you scream... If you hear God's voice today, you better be ready and responsive. You had better be ready for what comes, receptive to its most angular and critical parts. You had better be soft-hearted...
It was a great choice to have this Psalm in morning prayer, just as the word of God was about to read. Come, let us sing for joy to God the rock of our salvation!... but, if you hear his voice today - and let's not mistake it, you ARE hearing his voice - be ready to receive it. Don't be deaf to it...
4 comments:
I see I have been taken off your list of links. Where did I go wrong? We didn't even get the chance to talk about it. I can change...I promise...
Don't take it personally. It is all about my cack-handed computer skills.
Yeah -- Martin.
Mike and I have been friends for about 21 years. That all changed about 3 weeks ago.
:)
How did your sermon go, MPJ?
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