September 23, 2014

Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord! [Alleluia!]
  Sing to the Lord a new song,
  His praise in the assembly of the faithful!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker,
  let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise His name with dancing,
  making melody to Him with timbrel and lyre!
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
  He adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
  let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
  and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to wreak vengeance on the nations
  and chastisement on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
  and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
  This is glory for all His faithful ones.
Praise the Lord!

Joy of Creation
“Joy of all creation”

It’s curious how joyful praise of God is intertwined here with graphic exulting in military victory: imprisoned captives, two-edged swords, wreaking vengeance, chastisement, execution. Christian reinterpretation turns this rightly into a spiritual hymn of triumph over sin and death, but it’s worthwhile to see again that the Psalms—like the Bible as a whole—is unafraid of tensions and powerful feelings. 

I was recently rereading Martin Luther King’s 1963 Letter From Birmingham Jail and was struck by a similar tension as he responded to criticism of his disruptive methods. 

Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

But the psalm also calls us to “Sing to the Lord a new song.” In his deeply pastoral commentary, Saint Augustine puts tensions in perspective. He says that what marks our song as “new” is “love for the things of eternity.”  This encompasses not only love of God, but care for each other, for civility and kindness in our words and actions, a willingness to overcome the strife that is all too natural in human relationships. For “charity praises the Lord, discord blasphemes the Lord…”

Whoever loves earthly things sings an old song: let him that desires to sing a new song, love the things of eternity. Love itself is new and eternal; therefore is it ever new, because it never grows old….And this song is of peace, this song is of charity. Whoever severs himself from the union of the saints, sings not a new song; for he has followed old strife, not new charity.

In new charity what is there? Peace, the bond of a holy society, a spiritual union, a building of living stones. …

For I ask, and say, “What is it that you sing?” You answer, “Alleluia.” What is “Alleluia”? “Praise the Lord.” Come, let us praise the Lord together. If you praise the Lord, and I praise the Lord, why are we at variance? Charity praises the Lord, discord blasphemes the Lord….

Earthly enmities, earthly passions, earthly egos, earthly fears: these are all the “old song” of earthly things. May the Lord protect us from all of that and put in our hearts His new song. 

Metropolitan Council begins Meeting

First & Finest
The First and Finest, by Fr Robert Holet (Bloomington: Author House, 2013)
Fr Robert Holet
Father Robert Holet

Yesterday the Metropolitan Council was privileged to begin its Fall meeting with a retreat on stewardship led by the Very Rev Dr Robert Holet, a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA who specializes in this area. His recent book was sent in advance to the MC members (The First and Finest: Orthodox Christian Stewardship as Sacred Offering.)

Met Council
Metropolitan Council Retreat

He acknowledged that the response to the topic “stewardship” is often an inward groan. “Oh no, we have to hear about money again.” But Father Robert deftly lifted stewardship out of the money category and placed it in the big picture of how each of us relates to Jesus Christ. “It starts with how each of us responds to Christ and why.” He kept bringing us back to the parable of the loaves and fishes. We think we have too little to feed the crowds, but like the disciples we are still told, “You give them something to eat.” And if we do that, the Lord will unexpectedly bless those who receive what little we have to give. And he will bless us too.

Semianry Immaculate Conception
Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, Huntington, NY

To start this kind of life of stewardship it’s useful to begin by doing: do some small service for the sake of others in the name of Christ. “This is often enough to crack open each person’s giving spirit. People have to see God at work in their own lives. That He can multiply what little they think they have to offer. And when they see this, then everything becomes possible.”

The Metropolitan Council meeting begins formally today with the report from His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon. The Council is holding its meeting for the first time at the former Roman Catholic seminary of the Immaculate Conception, now a retreat center in Huntington.