Opening: 100 Days of Psalms and Prayers

Written by: Julia Smolucha

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 (Day 29)

Katie Snipes Lancaster

Psalm 29 (from Robert Altar’s 2007 translation)
The Lord’s voice is over the waters.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord is over the mighty waters.
The Lord’s voice in power,
the Lord’s voice in majesty,
the Lord’s voice breaking cedars,
the Lord shatters the Lebanon cedars,
and makes Lebanon dance like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.

An Opening Word
Psalm 29 imagines God’s voice, glory, power, and majesty over water and land: God’s voice booms, essentially across all that is. Above I included the passage from Psalm 29 about the cedars of Lebanon, often symbolic of the lofty, but geographically Lebanon also serves as the northern border of Israel. A few verses later the Psalmist mentions the Wilderness of Kadesh down on the southern border of Israel (eastern Sinai). So we first geolocate God’s voice over water and land and then geographically (and geopolitically) at the northern and southernmost border of ancient Israel. Just as we instinctively know the wide expansive metaphoric scope of Woody Guthrie’s “from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters,” the ancient near eastern readers of Psalm 29 would have envisioned their whole world under God’s voice upon hearing mention of the cedars of Lebanon and the Wilderness of Kadesh. How would you write a psalm like this today? From Lake Avenue to the Botanic Garden? From Lake Michigan to the Mississippi? From the rainforest to the ice caps? From the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy?

Mystic Thomas á Kempis on the other hand, inverts the paradigm and instead of focusing on the expansiveness of God, he turns inward looking for God within, with the ultimate goal of union with Jesus Christ. Born in what is now Germany in 1379, Thomas á Kempis became a brethren of the Common Life, a monastic order focused on education and care for the poor. He did not dedicate his life however, to the physical care of the poor, but instead found deep spiritual impact in the work of copying manuscripts for the widespread system of libraries and choirs. Such introspective work with texts took him further inward, and he wrote a highly influential text called “The Imitation of Christ,” which uses simple language to express a spiritual Christ-centered life. Intensely personal, he advocates against materialism and consumerism, and champions humble, simple devotion to Christ (as his book title suggests, he pioneers this idea of imitating Christ). Below is not so much a prayer, but a way of understanding love, but such love can draw us deep into the presence of God.

Prayer from the Mystics: Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471)
By itself, love makes everything that is heavy, light;
and it bears evenly all that is uneven.
It carries a burden which is no burden,
and makes everything that is bitter, sweet and tasteful.
Amen.

The Unnamed, IX: The Quintuple Divorcée

March 12, 2023

This Samaritan Woman story is a particularly appropriate text for Kenilworth Union. In the first church constitution the founders wrote: “Recognizing the minor differences which exist among believers… we have united as a church of Jesus Christ upon the great essentials of the Christian faith.” For all of our 130-year history, unity across our differences has been a guiding principle. At the same time Protestant Christianity in the United States was breaking into what historian David Hollinger calls two broad groups: the ecumenical and the evangelical. If you wonder how churches like this one exist in a rapidly fracturing religious landscape, you will find Hollinger’s book a provocative read. Kenilworth Union remains fiercely independent, but Hollinger would label us more ecumenical than evangelical for three reasons: our participation in the movement of the World Council of Churches, the way we read and interpret the Bible seriously but not literally, and the fact that senior ministers come from mainline Protestant traditions. And yes, women preach and pastor here.

The Unnamed, VIII: The Hyphenated Woman

March 5, 2023

Don’t let the shocking, insulting nature of that comment be lost on you. It was not a compliment. It’s still not a compliment. “You dog!” I say to my son when I challenge him to a dollar a hole on the golf course and he collects $18 every time, just by getting lucky, every time. “You dog!” Forgive my language, but Jesus comes this close to calling her a bitch, a female dog. But here’s where the story gets good and becomes Gospel. Look at this pushy mother’s response to Jesus’ blunt, unmannerly metaphor. She doesn’t take offense; she doesn’t walk away huffing “Well, I never...”; she doesn’t resent it; she doesn’t argue with it: she enters Jesus’ metaphor. She wrestles Jesus’ metaphor from his grip like a University of Michigan linebacker, runs the other way, and takes it home for a stolen turnover touchdown.

The Unnamed, VII: The Woman with the Chronic Condition

February 26, 2023

Twelve years waiting to touch the fringe of power, just so she no longer has to live on the fringe of her community. And I love the way Mark talks about Jesus’ miracle-making machine. The instant she touches the fringe of his power, she can feel in her body that she is suddenly well. The bleeding stops just like that. Likewise, Jesus feels the power exit his body. That is such a nice narrative touch, don’t you think? That miraculous power is tangible; that energy is palpable; it’s like a shock of static electricity. Giver and receiver alike can feel the exchange of energy; the down at the back of both necks stands up straight. “Who touched me?” Jesus instantly demands. They say there is no such thing as a dumb question, but Jesus’ disciples think this one might just qualify. “Who touched you?! Jesus, you’re a hot celebrity crushed by a milling mêlée of humanity; everybody’s touching you!” “No!” he says. “Somebody touched me with faithful intent. I know the difference. I know when someone wants something from me.” Jesus sounds angry, but he’s not; he is amazed; he is astonished by this towering but anonymous faith.

Opening: 100 Days of Psalms and Prayers