Pentecost +20 Sunday – C2

Pentecost +20 Sunday – C2

Years C
Psalm 66:1-12 or Psalm 111

Psalms sound differently if intoned in the cadence of someone trudging into exile or if celebrating the overcoming of another.

Praise can remind us, in the midst of the deepest despair, to focus where some ultimate returning might yet come from. Anything other than this far-reaching possibility is no longer on the table. Praise is a precursor of return to better days and is cast in terms of that which was understood before the calamity.

Praise can remind us, in the midst of great glee, that everything is falling into place for an on-going, endless, jubilation. We have overcome and nothing will stop us now. We have praised God and passed the ammunition. All's right with our world.

Try reading these Psalms in these different voices and see which rings truest for you.

= = = = = = =

we are in a spacious place
where past pains can be let go
there is plenty of place
plenty enough for peace

we are in a spacious place
where future conquering is open
there is plenty of place
plenty enough for claiming

we are in a spacious place
where pain and victory intersect
there each can find its place
without interacting

we are in a spacious place
where even more options come together
there each place
touches each

we are in a spacious place
where choice of voice
determines character
and next covenants