Psalm 30

1 I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.

2 O Lord my God, I cried out to you,
and you restored me to health.

3 You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead;
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.

4 Sing to the Lord, you servants of his;
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.

5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye,
his favor for a lifetime.

6 Weeping may spend the night,
but joy comes in the morning.

7 While I felt secure, I said, "I shall never be disturbed.
You, Lord, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains."

8 Then you hid your face,
and I was filled with fear.

9 I cried to you, O Lord;
I pleaded with the Lord, saying,

10 "What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?

11 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me;
O Lord, be my helper."

12 You have turned my wailing into dancing;
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.

13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing;
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

Ordinary Resurrections

Of course, Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus, a central tenet of our faith. But it is also about the possibility of resurrection in each one of our lives.

One of the most important books I’ve ever read is by Jonathan Kozol, an educator who focused especially on children living in poverty in our nation. He spent several years hanging around a school and church in the South Bronx, listening to the stories of the children who lived in those disadvantaged environs. He writes about the work of a heroic Episcopal priest who served that community, facing great obstacles. It might sound like a depressing book. But the pages reverberate with hope. The book is entitled Ordinary Resurrections. It was from that book that I learned that the word resurrection literally means to stand again. So when I’m feeling kind of knocked down, I think about those children. I think about the prospect of finding a way forward.

The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of the Christian faith. But it’s not the only place in the Bible where people find that way forward, where they are able to stand again. Abraham and Sarah, childless and according to the letter of Hebrews, as good as dead, have a child while they are in their nineties. Moses finds a way through the Red Sea. Daniel emerges from a lions' den unscathed.

My reflection on resurrection was prompted by the psalm you might have heard in church yesterday, reprinted above. The psalmist finds all kinds of ways to describe resurrection. God brought the psalmist up from the dead, restoring his life when he was going down to the grave. Weeping may last the night, but joy comes in the morning. Wailing is turned into dancing. Sackcloth becomes a garment of joy.

All of this points to the centrality of resurrection in our faith. As an Easter season discipline, spend some time reflecting on I Corinthians 15. St Paul makes the point that because Jesus was raised, we will be raised as well. He goes further and says that our faith makes no sense if we don’t believe resurrection happens. We believe that resurrection will happen as we transition from this life. But as Jonathan Kozol suggested, rather ordinary resurrections can happen here and now. Weeping may last the night, but joy comes in the morning, in the smallest ways, and in the midst of life’s greatest challenges.

It all comes back to the story of Jesus, which is the heart of the matter. Hear the gospel according to the New York Times, with an opinion piece by David Brooks, a column which appeared last Friday. As he looks around at our world contending with power-hungry paganism, he affirms the possibility of light shining in that darkness. In the face of current political currents, he ties it back to Jesus. He writes:

For the Romans, the cross was a symbol of their power — their power to crucify. The early Christians took the cross as their symbol, too, but as a symbol for compassion, grace and self-sacrificial love. Christianity is built on a series of inversions that make paganism look pompous and soulless: Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The last shall be first. The poor are closer to God than the rich. Jesus was perpetually performing outrageous acts of radical generosity, without calculating the cost.

Having passed through that cross, he was resurrected. He stood again on Easter morning. Because of that, we can stand again as well. In the weeping that marks our nights, that may be hard to believe. But as people of faith, as people of hope, we are called to hold on to that possibility. We are helped in that as we embrace the stories of the Bible. We are helped in that as we witness ordinary resurrections around us. We are helped in that as we help others to stand again. How might you do that this week?

                                                    -Jay Sidebotham