Psalm 46

Pentecost +3 – Year A

Psalm 46

G*D is a place of safety, not security. In this sense we finally realize that our building has been on shifting sands not able to bear the weight we assigned to foundational material. We keep trusting in surfaces, not their depths. In some sense this is creation – sandy, slippery, changing.

A part of our response to this is to then run about as noisily as we can to set things right, to move our house to a different foundation and then a different one. We insist on keeping the house without consideration of its foundational environment.

If only we were still for a bit. Eugene Peterson puts it, "Step out of the traffic!" Were we to take as long a loving look at G*D as we experience being looked at by steadfast and expansive love we would note that living on shifting sands is exactly where we need to be – living on sand is our rock. Remember back to all the strange folks who have set out on journeys, to enter into temptations, to know that hometowns aren't where its at, to trust resurrectional processes over any other, and to live life as though it were worth something. Remembering that we are among the traveling saints of old, we know we are always sliding down a sand dune of some sort and we can enjoy the ride.

Whatever sand you have built upon, G*D is with you. Stop, Look, and Listen and join the chicken crossing to the other side of the road. After all, as Grandpa says, "In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough." So, you're living on sand - build lightly, not a bigger barn. It is time to get back to tent living, not palace construction.