Sixth Sunday of Easter – C2

Sixth Sunday of Easter – C2

Years C
Psalm 67

May G*D be gracious to us. Let all the peoples praise G*D.

May G*D continue to bless us. Let all the ends of the earth revere G*D. Or...
May the earth yield her produce. May all people everywhere hold G*D in awe.

Thoroughly plural in nature, the Psalm moves from a time of sowing to a time of harvest hoped to extend sufficiently to a next harvest. There is a sense of timelessness within time.

At the same time it gives direction from the "us" of the chosen to the "us" of others. Here time runs its usual sequence: first me, then you.

This interplay of creation's fecund increase and human's unequal participation in love or healing brings us to the usual paradox of praise - praise in anticipation and praise in response. Praise is not just praise but also technique to get some other goal met.

It might be helpful to question whether or not your sense of praise these days is that of anticipation to be completed or that of result accomplished and established. A hunch says, wait a bit - it won't be long before it switches and we will need to operate out of the other mode in order to make any sense out of present circumstances.

= = = = = = =

selah music
pauses
interrupts
accentuates
makes light of
tosses aside
flouts
rejects
weighs
balances

selah praise
breaks patterns
connects across time
calls to account
completes
drives onward
keeps a beat
raises questions
brings us to all
and all to mind

selah living
finds sabbath everywhere
harvests where it does not sow
praises in disaster
heightens paradox
looks beyond today
sounds like silence
slows a tango
speeds a polka
and rests