23 February 2006

More of a tie to the psalms as part of the way we engage this "wholly other" - from Walter Brueggemann.

...I read the Psalter as a dialectic of self-assertion in complaint and self-abandonment in praise, just as the child must first claim self and only then notice mother. I have no doubt that theologically and emotionally, self-assertion precedes self-abandonment, for there is no self to abandon or to pledge loyalty unless that self has been claimed and valorized.

Unfortunately, self-assertion can become so much a part of our lives that self-abandonment, especially for the sake of others...any other, is simply forgotten. This is why the tension is a must if we are to be healthy, faithful people. Years ago I read an article by a woman who was concerned that we too often focus on the sin of being "puffed up" and so self-centered that we cannot live peaceable within community. We can be so full of ourselves that we cannot stand to see or hear about the needs of others. Well, she came at this from another point of view. She said that this is not the essence of sin for many women. Rather, there is no sense of self...therefore, there is no self-assertion. In both of these cases, we turn what God has created - our humanity - into something else. We have rejected our God created humanity by either trying to make ourselves more than what we are or not allowing us to be lifted up into the position God has given us. The psalms may be a place to begin to hear some of that tension that would be good for all of us not matter what side of sin we claim as our mode of operation.

Connection: Could this discipline of self-assertion and self-abandonment become a part of each of our days? I think it would do us all well to consider such an adventure. In fact, it would do us well to help one another follow such a direction for life.

We ask you to lift us up, O God, that we many find our place within your glorious Reign. For it is then that we can freely praise you, enjoy the gift of life you have given us, and then have the confidence to give ourselves away to others. By the power of your Holy Spirit, lift us up into this vision of life. Amen.