Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Pentecost - Year C

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

What does "bless the lord" mean when everything depends on the whim of said lord?

The psalmist is not accepting of a lord, in season or out. There is a plea that the psalmist's action will be pleasing, that the psalmist will have an edge. Blessing here is contextually restrained by a desire to have "sinners" get their comeuppance and for the psalmist to have access to all the perks - to get fed.

To push this psalm into a later experience of Pentecost is not particularly helpful, other than filling a liturgical slot.

A human desire for uniqueness and excitement can lead to limiting Pentecost to the visible movement of spirit. Pentecost is also the assembling and/or waiting, whether the spirit is anticipated or given up on. It is not particularly Pentecostal to not be willing to wait together while out of season. Death and resurrection are all around — waiting for power to be revealed and shared is not. We seem to be enamored of the heightened times of crosses and empty tombs, less so of ordinary processes such as waiting together.