tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post3986188109174905128..comments2024-01-31T07:54:13.816-08:00Comments on Diamonds in the Sky with Lucy: Clean HeartKayce aka lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01479940262271959482noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-68258146551852181042010-02-28T06:25:52.771-08:002010-02-28T06:25:52.771-08:00Dear Lucy--
Great reflections and discussion--than...Dear Lucy--<br />Great reflections and discussion--thank you so much. I'm going to post the URL to this post to mine. Let me know if that doesn't work.<br /><br />Come on over and join our rebel band! It's 'hot' topics here in Bend...and your post is so reassuring that we're not alone!<br /><br />Blessings of prophetic voice...Beth P.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02621990661878989356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-7839526693432769412010-02-27T20:13:15.392-08:002010-02-27T20:13:15.392-08:00What if we don't need to forgive ourselves. T...What if we don't need to forgive ourselves. The mistakes, whatever they are, are fact. A mentor once told me to simply give them over to the present moment. Imagine, the present moment, this angel of grace standing in front of you, and ordering you to do so, like a parent to a child. GIVE THEM TO ME, you hesitate, GIVE ME YOUR SINS she says, RIGHT NOW! And so you do, but you've held something back. So she says, AND THAT TOO, damn it, AND THAT, right now. And so you keep handing them over. All of sudden you're without sins, naked as the day you were born! Hooray! You are loved! 100 Hugs!kigenhttp://kigenkat.livejournal.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-78470659183234547382010-02-26T15:57:29.316-08:002010-02-26T15:57:29.316-08:00Your comments are most interesting, lucy, and they...Your comments are most interesting, lucy, and they express well the very real discomfort we have with some of the Psalmist's words. I used to attempt to "sanitize" the words of some psalms to fit my alleged Christian sensibilities, but, as I get older, I wonder if we are deceiving ourselves a bit if we assume we have nothing within us that resonates with these words. Remember, the "voice" in this psalm is that of the Psalmist and not God's. King David had much to feel guilty about, yet he was beloved of God. Perhaps his realization of God's love, despite his betrayals, is what brought him to ventilate as he did.Barbarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17078914306329037697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-72534711320426461892010-02-26T08:06:27.095-08:002010-02-26T08:06:27.095-08:00I've let go of the idea of a vengeful, judgeme...I've let go of the idea of a vengeful, judgemental God--and I feel a much better woman for it! Of COURSE we are loved--and I believe that we are loved no matter what. Most of us love our own children no matter what (maybe not like what they're doing, but love them? oh yes!). Why would we expect any less of God? I think it's Man's judgement and vengence we need to worry about.Karenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09182248478422009913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-32896988590644120502010-02-26T03:26:39.063-08:002010-02-26T03:26:39.063-08:00I read the psalm and your post in that order. In t...I read the psalm and your post in that order. In the psalm I barely even noticed the phrases about being born guilty. Familiarity, perhaps, that I ignored them. What struck me were the lines "Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure, wash me, make me whiter than snow. Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness;". Those seemed to me to speak purely of renewal, leading to the strength and beauty of the clean heart and steadfast spirit.<br /><br />Strangely, perhaps, I have little problem reconciling the imagery and language of many of the psalms with their collective underlying message as a body of praise, lamentation, repentance and reflection. It's an approach born of a different age and mindset.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-59991842184910080292010-02-25T11:18:56.249-08:002010-02-25T11:18:56.249-08:00Your indignation at the psalmist's groveling s...Your indignation at the psalmist's groveling spirit and fear is well-placed for me. A beautiful post!<br /><br />The ancient people suffered tremendously in naming, honoring, and understanding God and I'm grateful that scholarship, time, continued worship of God and Jesus' teachings has brought me to a different place in the modern age where I/we can rant and shake our fists at God comforted in God's ability to care for us no matter what we say or do!<br /><br />xoxoxDianna Woolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901349180265745138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-367820851765769142010-02-25T11:08:56.845-08:002010-02-25T11:08:56.845-08:00This psalm is a perfect example of religious think...This psalm is a perfect example of religious thinking in the time before Jesus. The whole idea of some angry God, out there, separate and punitive, is so unlike the loving presence Jesus came to share. The beauty of the psalms is their incredible humanness -- we've all so been in that self-flagellating space -- and it can be healing to give voice to that despair -- or allow a psalm to voice it for us. But we don't have to stay there; that's the joy of it.Diane Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03379544317007203762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-24337148491995889002010-02-25T05:49:29.340-08:002010-02-25T05:49:29.340-08:00AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
I cannot tell you how wonderful...AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!<br /><br />I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to read this today. I have begun to realize man's influence in things and do not discount the divinity within scriptures such as these, but have recognized that by relating to the people of the Bible as human beings (the same as me)I find myself more INSPIRED. <br /><br />It hit me for the very first time when I was preparing for a children's bible story and during the preparation my daughter said, "God said that?". It was in relation to destruction of man in the flood/Noah and building the Ark.<br /><br />WOW! Responsible for her at this time I decided to focus on the 4 gospels as we build our spirit and until she can understand and rightly divide these words.<br /><br />I appreciate this very much today Lucy. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07270178527947291611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-49427006243659658552010-02-24T21:29:10.417-08:002010-02-24T21:29:10.417-08:00Perhaps you would find The Prayer of Manasseh to b...Perhaps you would find The Prayer of Manasseh to be of some interest. You can find it in the Apocrypha. Before reading it keep in mind that Manasseh was the most evil king of Israel.Country Parsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02727241474360657192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-21037220769932401202010-02-24T16:52:48.622-08:002010-02-24T16:52:48.622-08:00Rich reflection here lucy, I appreciate your respo...Rich reflection here lucy, I appreciate your response. In the past I have done a lot of work with lament texts in the Hebrew scriptures and essentially what I came to was that the poetry acts as a container for our feelings of rage, anger, shame, hurt, etc. These were of course written by human beings, and the psalms are a way of giving voice to some of our innermost turmoil in a sacred context. God can handle it. I couldn't agree more than a punitive image of God is destructive to us, so how do we reclaim the sacred practice of lament in ways that are life-giving? Can we claim this language that often lives inside of us and offer it a place to be transformed?Abbey of the Artshttp://abbeyofthearts.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-6709203867967355522010-02-24T15:04:07.214-08:002010-02-24T15:04:07.214-08:00I choose to believe that its never God who turns h...I choose to believe that its never God who turns his face away from us; rather, its we, who turn away from Him. God will knock on the door of my soul, but it's entirely up to me to answer that knock, that call.<br /><br />I love the notion of lent as a time during which we turn toward god.roxanne s. sukhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16424834424208118694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-2075166946783149982010-02-24T14:42:25.245-08:002010-02-24T14:42:25.245-08:00I, too, have difficulty accepting that God would c...I, too, have difficulty accepting that God would crush bones and turn away His face if we are made in His own image.<br /><br />I find solace in a wonderful poem in Love Poems from God attributed to Meister Eckhart: "It is a lie--any talk of God / that does not / comfort / you." And also in this one: "How long will grown men and women in this world/ keep drawing in their coloring books / an image of God that / makes them sad?"Maureenhttp://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15693384.post-80911333255337877892010-02-24T14:40:05.994-08:002010-02-24T14:40:05.994-08:00I am with you on struggling with 'the notion o...I am with you on struggling with 'the notion of being <i>sinner(s) even as (our) mother(s) conceived (us)</i>...<br /><br />For having done a few things I am not proud of, I find this psalm fitting a certain longing for forgiveness, whether Godde's or my own.<br /><br />I like very much your two concluding paragraphs. Basically I agree with everything you say.<br /><br />Thank you for good challenging thoughts.<br /><br />Blessings.claire bangasserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12380558962103134334noreply@blogger.com