Political prayer

A friend (my son's godfather), asked for some thoughts on prayers he was rostered to make at his church's morning gathering.

They were to touch on:

1. the forthcoming Australian referendum regarding the formation of what would amount to a third house of parliament and a formal constitutionally significant consultative body for the executive government, and
2. the needs of refugees.

I offered the following thoughts: 

Referendum

We pray for the forthcoming referendum that whatever the outcome, opportunities for the gospel in remote places will arise and that our brothers and sisters who live in such places will be able to proclaim your word with effect and bring your salt and light to communities where people have no hope.

[I think anything more might be too political, and as a church I don't think we care much about politics except that the gospel is able to flourish and people hear it meaningfully and turn to Christ in repentance.]

Refugees

We pray for those fleeing persecution and war. Particularly for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We ask that your church in all places will be hospitable to those who are persecuted and that we might effectively make representations to the government on behalf of those fleeing persecution because of their Christian faith; that they may find succor in this land.

We also pray that the difficult task for refugees in coming to grips with the disparate cultures of their hosts will be eased by their faith in you, and those who have not turned to you in repentance and belief may hear your gospel and be obedient to it.

Later I added:

Oh, and another theme to bring in: "Paul teaches us to persevere in times of our momentary light affliction. We pray that your indwelling Spirit equips your saints in difficult circumstances, whether here or abroad, to be faithful witnesses to your grace and power and to be encouraged despite their circumstances as he world sees them, to continue to grow in grace and in communicating your gospel."

 

Evidence for God

The primary evidence, to my mind, apart from the life, teaching and resurrection of Yeshua of Nazareth (which is THE primary evidence) is that God as creator prior to and external to the world (the entirety of the cosmos), his creation, is the only adequate and reasonable ground of our sense of transcendence -- expressed in our pursuit of relationship, beauty, joy, delight, even peace; none of which are finally meaningful in any way in a materialist conception of the cosmos. The obvious expression of transcendence in daily life is the mind and the fruitfulness of our awareness of and fellowship with other minds. Mind transcends material.

Our desire for God (or its inverse, often vehement in atheists, libertines, hedonists and Epicureans) expresses this ground - that we are not merely supervenient upon matter -- whatever that may be--but are truly connected to the source of mind, of life, and all significance which flies in the face of death, that comes from that connection.

Being the creator, Christ -- back to the true prime-- integrates our experience of the creation or sense of meaning and purpose and stands as the explication of the human dilemma and its resolution.

The human dilemma? Man cannot be his own integration point: it manifests in his discontents arising from alienation: the sense of disquiet, of separation (sin in the Bible). Man cannot be his own integration point because he is limited and contingent and must reach outside himself for resolution of his manifold disjuncts with reality. To casual observance transient (Ps. 103:14ff), or ephemeral, inexplicably ungrounded in a creator-less conception; or, on closer knowledge, navigating his own futility as all his being appears to collapse in death and be rendered nugatory -- yet, there is the paradoxical wonder of personhood and relationship.

The starting point of self-hood: I am not not myself, but distinct and individual, is content-less in isolation and forlorn in mere contingent human relationship. It can only be integrated in fellowship with the one who is, necessarily: resolution by our union with Christ for fellowship with our creator, Yahweh.

The Festival of Psalms

We held this festival recently at church: partly as worshipful encouragement, partly as godly entertainment and partly as education and outreach. It was designed to be 'visitor friendly'.

The choir took most of the running, along with congregational singing, and read segments and prayers.

The read segments included academic, devotional and exotic (!) components. The exotica was a North American Indian translation of Psalm 23.

But it was the academic segment that was most interesting.

The story of the Psalter

Widely respected scholars such as Brevard Childs, Gerald Wilson and James Mays have demonstrate that the canonical editors of the Psalter had clear intent. The Psalter, as we have received it, is organized into five books, with the 'seams' being marked b doxologies and psalms of theological significance. Royal psalms are placed with wisdom psalms at the seams, Typical of Hebrew literature, however, our modern demand for clinical and forensic certainty is not met.

There is a thematic development through the five books within the Psalter. The first book (Ps 1 -- 41) frequently shows David in trouble, crying out to god for vindication. The second book (Ps 42 -- 72  generally sows David comfortably on the throne but with hints of decline emerging. the third book (Ps 73 -- 89) show Israel in decline, her monarchy ineffectual and her people in dire circumstances. Psalm 89 puts this problem most sharply. God's covenant with David, with which the first three books of the psalms are primarily concerned, has apparently failed.

The fourth book (ps 90 -- 106) seems to be the editorial centre which poses the question, "What will happen now that the covenant is broken?" A response to this problem is developed throughout book four and in book five (Ps 107 -- 150). The response can be summarized:

• Yahweh is king
• He has been our 'refute' in the past, long before the monarchy existed
• He will continue to be our refuge now that the monarchy is gone
• Blessed are they that trust in him!
  

So the Psalter is a symphony in five parts, swelling towards triumphant songs of praise to God who reigns over his people, despite the swirling currents of chaos and opposition.

Remembrance of Things Past

Sorting through old papers over the last couple of days I came across my father's memorabilia. He died in 2006 and while those memories have faded, many returned as I looked through his and my mother's photographs.

Photos taken by him, and of him, we children, our mother and other relations.

I found my parents' wills, my father's funeral and executor's arrangements and, most poignant of all, a set of reminders I had made for the day of the funeral.

My father had been a musician when younger, and played the clarinet for pleasure, teaching, with local orchestras and bands and for his small church until his death. He asked that at his funeral we play the Going Home movement from Dvorak's Symphony from the New World (see here for a wonderful arrangement).

This is my reminder list:

-Tape of Dvorak

-Tape of Dad + Mum + Dv [or Dr...I forget what this referred to, but dad and mum had performed a number of items together, notably Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock--many an evening this put we kids to sleep as they performed together in the lounge room after we had gone to bed.]

-Polish Shoes [i.e. make them clean, not their nationality]

-Mount on plastic

-clean ribbon

[I have no idea what the last two were for]

-call Jeanette

-S----: dad's cashmere jumper + our gift

-call RSL 9625 5500

-Normie C. check speakers?

-Emma A - check work to perform [dad's clarinet student]

As I went through these things I pondered the brevity of life, its griefs, its joys. The joys we shared as a family, the wonderful life our parents provided and our wonderful wider family: cousins, aunts, uncles in abundance and grandparents alive through our childhoods.

But for all its ups and downs, life runs like sand through our fingers: impermanent, mainly unnoticed, and quickly forgotten by those who may come after us. The futility and horror of death sat with me. It is unremitting, and confronting. All the great things we have to remember others by remain only in images and scraps of notes on paper, memories of course, the odd recording.

I looked at my father's old harmony notebook, which grew into his notes about anything. Fragments of his rich and creative life were in my hands, but once it was his flesh and blood. His thoughts, his loves, his hopes and his ambitions.

The Psalmist came to mind (Ps 103:14-16):

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes

When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.

 But the lines preceding, full of such hope:

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is his lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
For he himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.

I then turned to my favourite passage; written perhaps centuries before the psalm, yet also full of transcendent hope and the power and love of God (Job 19:24-26):

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
“Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;

Amen