September 26, 2021 – Psalm 19
Psalm 19
Staying Grounded in Creation and the Bible
Lectionary 26B – September 26, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Apparently, God speaks to us.
Many people ask me if God is still speaking as God spoke to God’s people long ago.
My text-book response is that yes: God is always speaking to us!
But it is hard to hear.
There is so much talking all around us, and there is so much noise within us that
it is very hard to hear that still, small voice of God.
I am sure all that is true.
I am sure God is always talking to us.
And I am sure that it is often difficult to separate God’s voice out from all the other voices
chattering away to us every hour of every day.
However, the Psalmist has no such difficulties!
The Psalmist affirms enthusiastically and joyfully that God has spoken and that
God continues to speak very clearly in ways that are super clear!
And the Psalmist is pretty sure that if you want to hear God speak,
all you have to do is take a walk in nature, or read the Bible.
These are the place the Psalmist is certain God is talking very clearly.
The first part of the Psalm is about how God speaks in nature.
“The heavens are telling the glory of God,” sings the Psalmist.
Nature can tell us many things about God, particularly about God’s loving care for us.
Even if you just take one thing – the sun – there is no end to how much this tells us about God.
The sun which God made gives us light during the day when we are busy and active,
and then recedes at night to give us rest.
It provides heat for us when we are out in it, and it heats the earth with a lingering warmth for the night.
Above all, it gives life: without the sun’s energy, nothing would grow and our planet would be dead.
The Psalmist acknowledges that, okay, nature doesn’t use actual words to praise God and
maybe God doesn’t use speech directly in nature to tell us things about God, but still:
some things can be pretty clearly known about God through creation.
“There is no square inch of earth so barren,” writes the preacher Fred Craddock,
“that the observing eye cannot see, in the lower left hand corner, the signature of the artist.”
As much as nature tells about the wondrous care, generosity and benevolence of God,
there are some questions that it cannot, seemingly, answer.
Why are we here? What is our purpose? How best can we live?
And so the writer moves on in the second part of the Psalm to praise another way in which God speaks:
through scripture – or, more specifically, through the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
It is very unfortunate that the word Torah in the Psalm is translated by the word “law.”
At the very least, it should be translated “instruction,”
and it means, at its most basic, simply the first five books of the Bible.
It would be hard, if not impossible, to summon up the enthusiasm the writer has for “law”
the way we commonly understand that.
But the writer is very enthusiastic about the first five books of the Bible!
The Torah is perfect! And sure! And clear! And true!
It brings life! And joy! And bring wisdom! And enlightenment!
Indeed, the Torah is more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey.
The first five books of the Bible are valuable
They speak clearly of how human beings are made in order to delight in one another,
care for one another, and together care for creation.
And they show clearly how God models this care in caring for us.
God rescues people from slavery where the societal model was exploitation,
instructs them in how to share what they have with one another in the wilderness,
and gives them a place where they can model this life-giving way of living to the whole world.
This is why we are here.
This is our purpose.
This is how we live: in order to bring life.
That is the purpose of Torah.
But in the final analysis, this is not just a one way conversation.
God does not want to do all the talking, whether through nature or scripture.
God wants, rather, to be in relationship with us.
God wants to be in dialogue with us.
God want us to speak too.
And so in the last part of the Psalm, the writer addresses God.
The writer acknowledges that they are not perfect.
And so they ask for forgiveness – which can be expected from God based on what is known of God’s character.
The writer simply asks at the end that their speaking – their internal speaking as well as external –
might be acceptable to God.
I do not know the circumstances in which the writer wrote this Psalm.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a difficult situation in which the writer needed grounding.
Perhaps the writer was wondering what we often wonder: is God even talking any more?
And so the writer affirms that God’s speaks through the creation God has fashioned,
and that God speaks clearly through scripture.
God, certainly, may speak in many other ways – and as we know,
God often speaks to us through our neighbours, often very unexpectedly.
But God reliably speaks through creation and through scripture,
and God wants us to respond, to dialogue with the divine, to hear what is on our hearts.
As James reminds us this morning, prayer – talking with God – is always appropriate!
When we are well, praise and thank God.
When we are ill, we should pray and bring our concerns to God.
When we are worried about the state of the world, we should offer our worries to God and
ask God to do something about it – and maybe God will, through us.
We are meant for relationship not only with one another,
but for relationship with the one who knows us best, who fashioned us in our mother’s wombs.
The past year and half have been profoundly disorienting, as everyone knows.
Last week I mentioned that what has grounded me in such a disorienting time has been
the love I have received and the love I have given.
To that I might add that the wonder of nature and the voice of scripture have continued to assure me that
God is still speaking, and that what God has said is:
I care for you and always will.
Beauty and goodness are at the heart of creation.
I delight in this world and uphold it – but be a steward of nature’s keeping, for it needs you right now.
Care for one another and allow yourself to be cared for.
Above all, care for the vulnerable and work for justice.
Be a community that welcomes all, that shares its gifts within and without.
And trust that I am with you, always.
Amen
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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