Rev. Jean's Bible Study

Let’s get political.  Psalm 72 is called a Psalm of Solomon.  Although King Solomon is remembered as a great king, the Bible also tells the story of his corruption, his forced labour, his greed, his excesses and oppression.  We can read this Psalm as it appears on the surface, as praise for a wise and holy ruler or as Solomon’s sincere prayer for himself.  Or we can read it as a plea for the government that we all wish we had.  Photo by Shubham Sharan (unsplash)   Give the king your justice, O God,      and your righteousness to a king’s son. 4  May he defend the cause of the poor, give deliverance to the needy,      and crush the oppressor. 5  May he live while the sun endures, 7  May righteousness flourish   and peace abound, until the moon is no more. 8  May he have dominion from sea to s...

  Psalms for a Pandemic Summer 8   Psalm 96   Psalm 94, that great cry for vengeance, is wedged in between Psalm 93 and 95 which is followed by Psalm 96.   Read together they express the magnificence and righteousness of God.   Our response to God’s judgment and mercy is praise. Our God is not one to let wickedness flourish for long.   Although we regularly hear about the foolishness and selfishness that this pandemic has brought forth, it has brought forth much more care and community, compassion and a desire for justice.   Why is it that the former is more newsworthy than the latter?   What can we do as people of faith to capture the desire for a better world that is surfacing in our common discourse and bring it to reality?   Giving praise to God may seem irrelevant to bringing about systemic change but it is our starting point.   When we express our faith in God we are expressing not merely intellectual assent but trust. ...

Once we express our anger we have to learn to give it up, to give it up to God.  The Psalms (and the Bible in its entirety) are absolutely confident that vengeance belongs to God and not to us humans.  Only God is capable of appropriate vengeance.  We want a God who is only loving and kind, gracious and forgiving, but the Psalmist who was experiencing intense persecution, suffering and despair wanted a God who would exact judgment and punishment.  Turning our desire for revenge over to God is not easy because we see in our world that the good suffer and the evil prosper.  Life does not seem fair, is not fair. God does not seem to exact the vengeance we want!  Trusting in God’s ultimate, mysterious and sometimes unsatisfactory vengeance means that we do not get pulled down into the vortex of violence, revenge, hatred and rage that is the cause of our suffering.  We can live with the love and mercy, joy and peace that we wish for everyone.   ...

Psalm 58   Does the nature or nurture debate extend to morality?   Psalm 58 claims that some people are born evil. I once lived in a good neighbourhood full of kind and considerate families.   In one home there was a child whose mental health problems were leading to violent actions even at the age of ten.   The parents were devastated, mortified, conflicted and confused.   The rest of us struggled with how to be understanding yet keep our children safe.  I have heard people claim that the virus is God's judgment on the world for its sins, or God's way of dealing with over-population.  This is not a God I would worship.   How do we rationalize the presence of suffering and evil in God’s good world?   The Psalms just accept its reality and pray for release and hope for redemption.   Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?     Do you judge people fairly? 2  No, in your hearts you devi...