Meditation for 1 July 2010
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Psalm 131
1 O Lord, I am not proud;
I have no haughty looks.
2 I do not occupy myself with great matters,
or with things that are too hard for me.
3 But I still my soul and make it quiet,
like a child upon its mother’s breast;
my soul is quieted within me.
4 O Israel, wait upon the Lord,
from this time forth for evermore.
Stilling Our Souls
In the fast-paced world of the 21st century, in a time when the amount of information available to us seems to double every few years, on an earth with an ever-growing population, there has probably never been a time in history when it has been so important to still our souls.
The BP oil spill in the Gulf, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy, the stock market, unemployment, political polarization, health care, the immigration debate, increasing mistrust of institutions, the divorce rate, the high school dropout rate, the billions of people who live below the poverty line while greedy CEOs and athletes and actors make obscene salaries… is it not true that our souls need to be stilled, lest we go stark-raving mad, or – even worse – stop caring?
I would suggest to you that – on a daily basis – we must take our attention away from what we see as the “great matters” (verse 2) of our time, and quiet our souls, “like a child upon it’s mother’s breast.”
The past two days for me have been terribly disjointed, due to the air conditioning going out at home, and having to rearrange my schedule around that of a repairman’s. (Thus no meditation going out on Wednesday.) Compared to all the things happening in the world, this could definitely be classified as a minor annoyance. But if you are anything like me, sometimes it’s that one unexpected thing – the unexpected expense, the unexpected demand on your time, the unexpected change in the planned schedule – that can get us going… and set us “off”.
All the more reason for making some space in the day – no matter what else happens – to quiet our souls. Sometimes when our routine is interrupted, we need to have a little flexibility and move our quiet time to another part of the day. For if we get no quiet time with God – especially if we get no quiet time with God for days on end – we risk losing our footing in this world. That is because God is both our life and our light; Jesus is both our foundation and our way; the Holy Spirit is both our creativity and our source of strength. And if we turn our backs on this Holy Trinity and get caught up only in the “great matters” of the world, we die.
Two nights ago I sat down with Julia and we had ten minutes of quiet together. Then we talked about what we had each heard during the quiet.
Last night, I drove back to church (for the second time of the day) and joined two other people for Centering Prayer around the altar. After Centering Prayer ended, five of us were there for Evening Prayer.
Both of these times of stilling my soul, one at home and one at church, were life-giving, and – in a very real sense – life-saving.
If we do not wait upon the Lord – as individuals, as a faith community, as a nation – then we are just spinning our wheels, pursuing things that we see as “great matters”, but not having any true wisdom or strength or creativity to contribute. If we do not wait upon the Lord, we have a tendency to add to “the problem” – whatever it may be – even as we are trying to solve it.
Perhaps you recall that story where Jesus visited the home of Martha and Mary, and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to what he was saying, and Martha, “distracted by her many tasks”, asked Jesus to tell Mary to get up and help her with the chores. To which Jesus replied, “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
Mary knew the importance of quieting the soul and connecting with God. Maybe we can learn something from her, so we don’t squeeze the one necessary thing right out of our lives.
“O America, wait upon the Lord, from this time forth for evermore.”
It makes no sense to not wait on the One who – ultimately – is in charge of everything.