Psalm 69.10-20, 30-33
Now I humbled my soul with fasting,
and they reviled me.
And I wore sackcloth as my clothing,
and I became to them a byword.
They speak against me, they who sit in the city gates,
while the drunkards make songs about me.
Yet I make my prayer to you, the Wisdom of the Ages.
At a favorable time,
God, in the wealth of your faithful love, answer me,
With your certain salvation.
Rescue me from the mire,
and let me not sink;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood waters overwhelm me,
Let not the Deep swallow me up;
let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, Gracious God, for your faithful love is good;
according to the wealth of your maternal love, turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your slave, for I am in distress;
hurry to answer me.
Draw near to my soul and redeem her,
on account of my enemies, deliver me.
Indeed, you know of my reviling, and my shame and my disgrace;
all my adversaries are before you.
Reviling has broken my heart, and I am despair.
I looked for consolation, but there was none;
And for comforters and I found none.
I will praise the name of God with song;
I will magnify her with thanksgiving.
This will please the Creator of All more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hooves.
Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts flourish.
For the Faithful God hears the needy,
and those who belong to her and are imprisoned,
she does not despise.
Let the heavens and earth praise her,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
As translated in Gafney, Wilda C. A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church.
(NY: Church Publishing, 2021) 228-229.
Today’s take on Psalm 69.10-21, 30-33
I make my prayer to the One Who Hears, rescue your middle masses
let us not sink to oblivion while
rich leftists and their rightist doppelgängers
egomaniacal politicians red and blue
covertly consort in greed, entitlement, power mongering
demand loyalty, forsake accountability and fail
in conscience and consciousness. No one is disposable.
I make my prayer to the One Who Hears, recover your middle masses
shield our ears from
outsized shouts of egregious excess
magnified by media moguls breaking whatever news
titillates and pads their pockets
drowning in the deep
middle masses cries. No one is disposable.
I make my prayer to the One Who Hears, unify your middle masses
escaping schemes from left and right
quench the flares they launch among us
spark our distaste for red herring suits
abortion, immigration, education .… all
hatched to mislead and distract
middle masses cries. No one is disposable.
I make my prayer to the One Who Hears, raise your middle masses
10,000 feet above the 2 face world
unleash our tongues to sing a tale
big enough for all to breath and be
in and of, with and through
the One Who hears and consecrates
your middle masses lives. No one is disposable.
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Have a listen to Walter Brueggemann's "Prophetic Imagination.... great stuff!
