Psalm 15

1 Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle?
who may abide upon your holy hill?

2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from his heart.

3 There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil to his friend;
he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.

4 In his sight the wicked is rejected,
but he honors those who fear the Lord.

5 He has sworn to do no wrong
and does not take back his word.

6 He does not give his money in hope of gain,
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

7 Whoever does these things shall never be overthrown.

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. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.

There is Always Something

A favorite novel, “All The King’s Men,” written by Robert Penn Warren, describes the political power of a charismatic populist politician named Willie Stark, modeled on Huey Long. As governor of a southern state, Willie Stark wielded power and bent rules and found himself running up against what everyone thought was an unimpeachable judge. The narrator of the novel and the political leader had this exchange, a key message I recall from the novel:

“It all began, as I have said, when the Boss, sitting in the black Cadillac which sped through the night, said to me (to Me who was what Jack Burden, the student of history, had grown up to be) "There is always something." And I said, "Maybe not on the Judge." And he said, "Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie (childish version of the word “diaper”) to the stench of the shroud. There is always something.”

Sounds to me like Willie Stark may have been reading St. Paul, who said in his letter to the Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

As a practical joke, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, sent a telegram to each of 12 friends. All were men of great virtue and respected in society. The telegram simply read, “Flee! All has been discovered.” Within 24 hours, the story goes, all 12 had left the country! Maybe Sir Arthur agreed with Willie Stark and St. Paul. Maybe there is always something.

Then we hear from the author of Psalm 15, a psalm which you may have heard in church yesterday. The psalm begins with a question: Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? Who may abide upon your holy hill? If I were to paraphrase, the psalmist asks: Who among us makes the cut? Are we all too compromised to be worthy of standing in the house of the Lord?

The psalmist outlines a pretty high bar, which I suspect none of us would ever clear. We’re talking about someone who leads a blameless life, always speaks the truth, guileless, without contempt for others, sworn to do no wrong, unbribable. That’s the kind of person who will “never be overthrown.” Here’s the rub. I can’t say that I’ve ever met anyone who totally fills that bill.

So where does that leave us? Is there hope for any of us?

I take the psalm as aspirational. As people of faith, we are called to take steps towards making that vision a reality in our lives. It is to press on toward the goal of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ (another quote from St. Paul). At the same time, as people of faith, we take to heart what St. Paul said about all of us sinning. Or as Reinhold Neibuhr, Billy Graham, G.K.Chesterton and Paul Tillich each noted in his own way, original sin is the one empirically verifiable doctrine of the church.

That’s part of the reason we don’t get very far in our liturgies before we offer confession, summing up our shortcomings with the recognition that we have not loved God with our whole heart. We have not loved neighbor as self. There’s not a day when that summation is not true of my life.

That's why the gospel is all about grace. We rely on mercy, on forgiveness. And as we enjoy that great gift, we can then embrace the freedom to take steps towards that kind of blameless life, a life of integrity and kindness. We can show grace as we come to know grace. Of course, we won’t always get it right. But we face all kinds of growth opportunities to move in that direction, to realize that aspiration. How might you seize those opportunities this week?

-Jay Sidebotham