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20 January 2015

Making Room for God (Third Sunday after Epiphany)

Psalm 62


In a now-famous 1973 experiment at Princeton Theological Seminary, students were recruited for a study on religious education. First they completed personality questionnaires about their religion. Later they began experimental procedures in one building and then told to go to another building to continue. On the way they would encounter a man slumped in an alleyway (the victim's condition: hurt, sick, mentally ill, drunk? was to remain unknown to the subjects).

The researchers varied the amount of urgency they told the subjects before sending them to the other building, and the task they would perform when they got there. One task was to prepare a talk about seminary jobs, and the other about the story of the Good Samaritan. In one condition they the subjects were told that they were late for the next task, in the other that they had a few minutes but that they should head on over anyway.

In the alleyway the students were forced to pass a man sitting slumped in a doorway, who moaned and coughed twice as they walked by. After arrival at the second building, the researchers had the subjects give the talk and then answer a helping behavior questionnaire.

The results were revealing. The amount of "hurriedness" induced in the subject had a major effect on helping behavior, but the task variable did not (even when the talk was about the Good Samaritan).

Overall 40% offered some help to the victim. In "low hurry"situations, 63% helped; in "medium hurry"45%; in "high hurry" only 10%. There was no correlation between "religious types" and helping behavior.

Ironically, a person in a hurry is less likely to help people, even if he is going to speak on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Some subjects literally stepped over the victim on their way to the next building!

The results seem to show that thinking about norms does not imply that one will act on them. Could it be true that "ethics become a luxury as the speed of our daily lives increases"?

One way to apply the results of the Good Samaritan Experiment to the People of God is to say that someone studying the Word of God and going to church doesn't necessarily end up with a life that is lived by faith. The experiment suggests that one ingredient is vital for a person to live a life that truly reflects their faith:  time.

Taking time for God and ourselves is important. Another way to say that is that unless we make space for prayer and meditation, our lives will be nothing but an endless calendar filled with appointment after appointment.

Enter Psalm 62, the psalm assigned to next Sunday.

1 For God alone I patiently wait; he is the one who delivers me. 2 He alone is my protector and deliverer. He is my refuge; I will not be upended. 

3 How long will you threaten a man? All of you are murderers, as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. 4 They spend all their time planning how to bring him down. They love to use deceit; they pronounce blessings with their mouths, but inwardly they utter curses. (Selah)

5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! For he is the one who gives me confidence. 6 He alone is my protector and deliverer. He is my refuge; I will not be upended. 7 God delivers me and exalts me; God is my strong protector and my shelter. 8 Trust in him at all times, you people! Pour out your hearts before him! God is our shelter! (Selah)

9 Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. 10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! If wealth increases, do not become attached to it! 11 God has declared one principle; two principles I have heard: God is strong, 12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay men for what they do. 

Psalm 62 is what psalm scholars call a "trust psalm". When we make room in our lives for God, we do that in order to build a relationship of trust.

But there is more. The psalmist urges us to trust God, and no one but God. "For God alone I patiently wait; he is the one who delivers me."

A small Hebrew word, אַךְ (’ak), shows up 24 times in the entire Psalter ... and six of those times are in Psalm 62! The word אַךְ has both an absolute meaning ("only" or "alone") and an affirmative  meaning ("truly" or "indeed"). It seems as though the author had fun with the double entendre.

Here are the places where אַךְ occurs in our psalm:

verse 1  
For God alone ('ak) I wait quietly before God . . .
verse 2    
He alone ('ak) is my rock and my salvation . . .
verse 4    
Their only ('ak) plan is to topple me from my high position . . .
verse 5    
For God alone ('ak) all that I am wait quietly before God ...
verse 6    
He alone ('ak) is my rock and my salvation . . .
verse 9    
Common people are as worthless as ('ak) a puff of wind ...

The two meanings of the little word make the idea crystal clear:

God alone.
God indeed.

An itty-bitty two letter Hebrew word wants to teach us a big lesson for our faith. To trust in the Lord should mean to trust in the Lord alone.

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann writes, "The radical confession of God as refuge in Psalm 62 is a stunning minority report for most history epochs in human history; few have followed the route of the psalm."

That route is not an easy one. It is quite often a rocky one, and those who indeed follow it, are often beset with doubts and ridiculed by scoffers: "All of you are murderers, as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. They spend all their time planning how to bring him down. They love to use deceit; they pronounce blessings with their mouths, but inwardly they utter curses."

But rocky as that route may be, it is the only reliable one. God alone! God indeed!

Another chant from Taizé utilizes material from our psalm:

Mon âme se repose en paix sur Dieu seul:
de lui vient mon salut.
Oui, sur Dieu seul mon âme se repose,
se repose en paix.

In God alone my soul can find rest and peace
In God my peace and joy
Only in God my soul can find its rest.
Find its rest and peace.

So. Make room for God. God alone. God indeed. It will keep you on that road that leads to Life.




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