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| Image by TsaiProject |
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A GREETING
You are my hiding-place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
(Psalm 119:114)
A READING
I resolve and swear to keep your ordinances of justice. I have suffered much, O God, give me life as you have promised. Please accept my heartfelt praises, Lord, and teach me your decrees. Though constantly I take my life in my hands, I never forgot your Law. Your decrees are all the inheritance i’ll ever want—they’re the joy of my heart. I set my heart to keep your statutes, forever and to the end.
(Psalm 119:107-9;11-12)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)
A PRAYER
God of goodness, we give thanks
for the gift of life, wonder beyond words;
for the awareness of soul, our light within;
for the world around us, so filled with beauty;
for the richness of the earth, which day by day sustains us
for all these and more, we offer thanks.
- from the Mishkan T'fillah: Shabbat: a Reform Siddur,
edited by Elyse D. Frishman
A THANKSGIVING
Even as I waited for your goodness, so for your kindness I hope.
By your forgiveness, you relieve my pains,
and in my troubles you comfort me,
for I depend on your compassion. Blessed are you, O God,
for you have done these things and you have put into the mouth
of your servant hymns of praise, and a prayer of supplication....
And I retain strength.
- the Thanksgiving Scroll (Hodayot)
(1QHa XIX:34-38, tr. Carol Newsom)
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| Image by Randall Niles |
Psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms, stretching to 176 verses in 22 sections. Each section begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, making it an acrostic. Psalm 119 echoes other Psalmic themes of lament, anxiety, despair, hope, gratitude, thanksgiving and praise in its prayer that God be manifest among the faithful. And it also stands apart. If we can imagine a choir of 22 different individuals coming from different points of view and social locations, we might have a closer window on the voices that actually live within the psalm.
Some sections are written in a more youthful and spirited style, in which the petitioner is saying to God, please tell me what I need to do to have your steadfast love. Should I do this, should I do that? I love your laws, is that what pleases you? We can almost feel the urgency of a young and energetic petitioner. Another section might reflect the voice of a weary and downtrodden soul who has suffered a great deal and is waiting for God to somehow redeem them. Yet another section might describe the quiet commitment of a pious member of faith who simply rests in the knowledge of God's goodness. In this way, Psalm 119 reflects the whole body of the psalms: there are many different voices, each looking for a way of explaining and showing God their desire for God's love and for loving God.
The word ‘commandment’ comes up often in this psalm, as does the word ‘law.’ The presence of these words is more in the nature of the relationship between spiritual desire for well-being and the deep desire for God's presence and love in community. The Psalmist seems to understand that faith is a multi-faceted prism in which the central light is God.
Psalm 119 was popular with the community at Qumran, a settlement on the northwestern side of the Dead Sea. These communities came and went during the 200 years before Jesus and also overlapped his life. Those who lived there were most often renegades, rebels from the Jerusalem temple and other communities who needed to get away. All of the verses in our scripture portions today are contemporary versions of the only surviving excerpts of Psalm 119 that we have in the Dead Sea scrolls. These are the verses that most kept the community going.
Is it possible to be both radical and orthodox? In a contemporary understanding, we know that it is when we use laws to restrict and limit other people, and judge them, that they can lead to harm. But even the biblical writers experienced changes in point of view: Deuteronomy (second law) rewrites the laws of Exodus and Numbers with new insights. The psalms are where the people had a chance to push back at God and express their discomfort within the law, even as they loved the law. In our contemporary time, we sometimes miss these nuances. Instead, we can sometimes polarize -- assigning groups of people into camps and belief systems. Meanwhile, each of us holds a mixture of approaches, politics, ideologies, and faith beliefs. There are ways in which we might be progressive in our thinking, and also conservative in our practices. The community at Qumran knew how to hold these contrasting realities.
What are the ways that your perspectives have changed over the course of your life? How did these shifts help deepen your spiritual life?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
The Dead Sea Scrolls represent approximately 100,000 fragments that were discovered in clay jars in 1947 and 1948. In the years since, they have been studied in detail by scholars and pieced together in many cases to form composite documents. Some scrolls survived more in tact than others. One of these is the Great Isaiah scroll. The largest of the first seven scrolls discovered, it is also in the best condition of that first group. Until 2011, scholars had to travel to the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem to study any of the scrolls closely, and many of them are in such delicate condition that they cannot be directly handled. In 2011, however, the scrolls were digitized. Now a scholar can examine them online, with instant English translations comparably outlined from the Hebrew text. In addition, special technology borrowed from NASA has allowed the illumination of text not previously visible to the human eye, in the previous underlying versions that are on a given fragment. Parchment and leather were difficult to obtain and highly valuable. A scribe might choose to simply write over what had been there previously. In this way, the work of the scribes lives on, two millenia after it was first set down.
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| The Great Isaiah Scroll, which can now be explored in detail online. See link above. |
LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!