21 February 2006

Brueggemann moves us into practice of "praise and complaint" as a way to this other as he continues in "The Covenanted Self."

...the Psalter is the laboratory in which Israel works out its dangerous, inscrutable life with this most significant other, the Thou upon whom our life depends. This God, as Israel witnesses, is indeed "wholly other"... The otherness of God for Israel is like the otherness of mother, who valorizes in self-giving, self-forgetting ways, and who in holiness has God's own life to live, completely without regard for Israel. This God must be praised... This God will be praised, exalted, magnified, blessed, and Israel's true vocation is indeed to get its mind off itself and "glorify God and enjoy God forever."

This "wholly other" has a way of helping Israel (and all of us) "get it mind off itself." For when we are focused on our own lives as the center of all things, there is very little chance that we will know much about our neighbor and when that is the case, we will care very little about our neighbor. Unless, of course, the neighbor and everything else within creation can somehow serve us...but when neighbor and creation are seen and used in this manner...we still have our minds stuck on ourselves. The psalms of praise remind us of the one God whose love for us is without end and therefore the strength for our day. This strength and this courage and this foundation or rock is for a life that takes on the shape of the "wholly other." This life is not one turned-in-on-itself. Instead, the psalms remind us of the other way of the one who is "wholly other." We give praise to our God for a self-giving that becomes the substance of our lives that provides us with a true sense of rest for now we be assured of one who will sustain and nurture possibilities even when there appears to be none.

Connection: It cannot hurt to praise God within this day. In fact, it may bring to this day a bit of a new direction and focus in a world that tries to teach us to be self-consumed.

Praise to you, Compassionate and Powerful God. As we remember you great deeds among your people we find that your presence is forever "for us" and forever the rock upon which we can stand no matter what powers try to oppress us. Praise to you, O God of Life. Amen.