RCL Proper 13 B - Psalm 130 - Living the Message
Wait and Hope
"Such are the two great realities of Psalm 130 ... There is more than a description of reality here, there is a precedure for participating in it. The program is given in two words: wait and hope. The words are at the center of the psalm. 'I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD!'
The words wait and hope are connected with the image of the watchmen waiting through the night for the dawn. The connection provides important insights for the person in trouble who asks, 'But surely, there is something for me to do!' The answer is yes, there is something for you to do, or more exaclty there is someone you can be, be a watchman.
A watchman is an important person, but he doesn't do very much. The massive turing of the earth, the immense energies realeased by the sun - all that goes on apart from him. He does nothing to influence or control such things: he is a watchman. He knows the dawn is coming; there are no doubts concerning that. Meanwhile he is alert to dangers, he comforts restless children or animals until it is time to work or play again in the light of day...
Waiting does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying.
And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion of fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let him do it in his way and in his time. It is the oppostie of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it. That is not hoping in God but bullying God."
Eugene H. Peterson; Living the Message; HarperCollins Pubishers, New York, NY; 1996. Pg 56-57.
The words wait and hope are connected with the image of the watchmen waiting through the night for the dawn. The connection provides important insights for the person in trouble who asks, 'But surely, there is something for me to do!' The answer is yes, there is something for you to do, or more exaclty there is someone you can be, be a watchman.
A watchman is an important person, but he doesn't do very much. The massive turing of the earth, the immense energies realeased by the sun - all that goes on apart from him. He does nothing to influence or control such things: he is a watchman. He knows the dawn is coming; there are no doubts concerning that. Meanwhile he is alert to dangers, he comforts restless children or animals until it is time to work or play again in the light of day...
Waiting does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying.
And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion of fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let him do it in his way and in his time. It is the oppostie of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it. That is not hoping in God but bullying God."
Eugene H. Peterson; Living the Message; HarperCollins Pubishers, New York, NY; 1996. Pg 56-57.
posted by shaun | 9:26 AM
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