Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c

1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name; make known his deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him, and speak of all his marvelous works.
3 Glory in his holy Name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face.
5 Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
6 O offspring of Abraham his servant, O children of Jacob his chosen.
23 Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob became a sojourner in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord made his people exceedingly fruitful; he made them stronger than their enemies;
25 Whose heart he turned, so that they hated his people, and dealt unjustly with his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
45 Hallelujah

This year, Monday Matters is focused 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.

True religion

As I was looking up which psalms were to be read in church yesterday, my eyes drifted off to note the collect assigned for the day. It’s one that catches my eye each time it comes around. My interest lies in the prayer: Increase in us true religion. What do you think constitutes true religion? Who gets to decide?

Right now, there’s a lot of debate in our nation about the role of religion in our common life. There are forces insisting on injecting religious texts and precepts into schools, medical decisions, public policy. When I consider the policies of those pushing for religious intervention, I’m all the more convinced of the need for separation of church and state. There are any number of folks claiming religious authority that I would not want deciding for me what true religion means. (I appreciate the wisdom of theologian Dave Barry who noted: People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.) And I’m certain that a vast majority would not want me to select the person to determine what true religion means in our common life.

Now maybe if Dolly Parton was in charge, I’d want her to do that work. I would not be alone. Lacking that opportunity, think with me this morning about what true religion is all about.

You may have heard Psalm 105 in church yesterday. It provides insight into true religion. It begins and ends with praise, by giving thanks to God and by glorying in his name. As the psalm begins with praise, it ends the same way, with a simple hallelujah. In other words, true religion begins and ends with a humble recognition that our lives unfold in the presence of a power greater than ourselves, in the confidence that such a greater power is in essence about love. That can be hard to believe at times, but if we can even embrace of bit of that as true, I believe it leads us into true religion, which is an attitude of gratitude and a spirit inclined toward praise. Start today with some thanks and praise.

The psalm calls for our own intention and participation in true religion. It instructs us to search for the Lord and his strength. We are to continually seek his face. There is a persistence called for by true religion. We have skin in the game. We are meant to continue the search even as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. What does that search look like for you this morning?

The psalm calls for us to remember. Religion finds its roots in the word religio which means to bind again. There’s an aspect to religion that involves remembering what God has done. We do that every week in the eucharist, with a prayer that includes in one form or another a citation of the good things that God has done in the past. That portion of the eucharistic prayer is referred to in technical liturgical terms as anamnesis. Literally not amnesia. Not forgetting. How quickly we forget. Religion brings us back. And it does so not in isolation but in community. We can’t do this alone. As we are bound again to a tradition, we are bound to each other.

One aspect of true religion not noted in this particular psalm surfaces later in the New Testament. In the letter of James, a practical guide to putting faith to work in the world, the author says that, among other things, true religion is a matter or helping orphans and widows (James 1:27). I take that as shorthand indicating that true religion exhibits a preferential option for the poor, finding Christ in those pushed to the margins. If you heard a reading from Romans in church yesterday, it speaks of the call to pray for enemies, to forgive them, to be in relationship with the “lowly”. That’s such a Jesus thing. According to St. Paul, Jesus did not take equality with God as something to be grasped but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant (Philippians 2).

We live at a time when it may be more palatable to be spiritual and not religious. A lot of that has to do with the dismal way that religious institutions have failed, the damage they have done, the injustices in which they have been complicit. Which makes it all the more important, as religious endeavor to search for the Lord and his face, to continually seek his face. Think today about how you might define true religion. What are its key components? How might you practice it this week?

-Jay Sidebotham