Living Clamorously Foolish?

 Thoughts on Psalm 148

Today is the 5th Sunday of Easter and the appointed Psalm is 148.

This is a familiar praise psalm, one of the ones in which the writer calls on all of nature both animate and inanimate to praise God. It is a fairly straight forward message, so looking to understand it a bit more, I looked up what Hebrew word was used for praise. I’m not at all familiar with Hebrew, but this is what I found. The word used for praise was  hallal and it could have several intentions; to boast, to shine, to celebrate are a few. We simply use the word praise which brings to mind participating in some type of corporate worship. I think that this can create in us a sense of compartmentalizing our relationship to God. But, hallal , for me anyway, broadens what that means. Look at the psalm, the writer urges all of God’s creation to praise, to shine (reflect God?) to celebrate, to boast, I think to reflect the joy and the goodness of God. This is not confined to a corporate worship moment, but it strikes me as a way of existing in God. Our lives are not compartmentalized into secular and spirit; we exist either living (joyfully) within the realm of God or living in tension with God within the realm of God. That tension is always rooted in my self-interest, putting my interests for my well-being before God and before others. 

In Psalm 148 the writer invites us let down our self-interest guard, to let go of the tension and exist in the realm of God in joy. One use of hallal that I found interesting is “to be clamorously foolish”. I think that would be what people would think of us if we lived lives of joyful God-interest and other-interest; joyfully putting the interests of others before my own interests. In Romans 12 Paul describes characteristics of living as Christians and the section revolves around love. I like one particular passage in that section in which he says “Outdo one another in showing honor (love).”  What a world that would be! What a world it is as we shine within the realm of God living clamorously foolish lives.

From Fishermen to Shepherds

 From Fishermen to Shepherds

John 21: 1-19

This past Sunday was the Third Sunday of Easter and for some the Gospel Lesson was from John 21. This is the account of Jesus meeting the disciples on the shore after they have gone back to fishing and his subsequent conversation with Peter. I have always liked this account, a natural meeting of friends along a beach in the early morning. I have previously looked at this as one more example of Jesus revealing himself after death, and or course, the significant “Do you love me” conversation with Peter. This morning, though, something else struck me. Something “hidden in plain sight” as it were. 

In the absence of Jesus and his immediate teaching and actions, in the absence of a sense of where they should go from here, the disciples returned to what they knew, to what gave them purpose prior to meeting Jesus. They went fishing. Using their talents to provide for themselves was what they (we) were trained to do. It was how one survived and provided for personal and family well-being. Re-enter Jesus, providing an abundance of fish and a breakfast of bread and fish. Then comes the conversation with Peter (with each of us), and Jesus refocuses Peter(us) from fisherman to shepherd; from ones who gather, produce, create to get what we need for our own well-being to ones who receive from God’s abundance what we need as we feed,  tend, care for others (and God’s creation). 

This line of thinking can lead us into self-examination. How do I use the resources with which I have been blessed? Am I fishing to provide for self or am I shepherding to help others? What kind of existence do I lead when I take my focus off of Jesus and revert to “what I know”, to self-interest, forgetting that God’s abundance is enough for me, forgetting that my focus should be first on God and then on others? 

Here’s the good news, Every time I fall into this fishing focus on life, there is Jesus, standing on the shore with breakfast prepared in abundance to sustain me for the work of shepherding, of feeding and tending his creation and for life in God’s community.

How will you shepherd today?