1 ADVENT B Psalm 80 David Eck
11/27/11
I. As we begin our journey through the season of Advent
---We're going to be looking at
---The appointed Psalm texts for the season.
This is going to be our window
---Through which we understand the significance
---Of the birth of our Savior
---And how we prepare for his coming.
Today's psalm is Psalm 80
---Which was one of the earliest psalms I translated
---For an upcoming recording project entitled "The Psalms: Remixed."
The members of Abiding Savior
---Have been my "guinea pigs" for this project
---Over the past three years.
I appreciate your willingness to journey with me
---Through these powerful texts.
My versions of the psalms are paraphrases
---Where I look at the original Hebrew with the eyes of a poet
---As well as the eyes of a scholar.
I look for poetic connections
---Which are not always obvious at first glance.
---I also try to find the best modern language
---That helps to convey what the psalmist is trying to tell us.
For example, Psalm 133 says that when kindred dwell in unity
---Is is like "the precious oil on the head,
---Running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron,
---Running down over the collar of his robes."
The first questions I asked about this Psalm were
---1) Who is Aaron?
---2) What does all this running oil mean?
After looking at the original Hebrew of the text,
---And researching a little bit of history,
---I translated this verse as follows
---"It's like fragrant oil that anoints the head and flows down the body,
---Bringing holiness and blessing to everyone."
My goal is not a literal translation
---But a paraphrase that helps us
---To enter into the psalms more deeply
---And understand their meaning for modern believers.
I have 30 psalms translated so far
---Over a period three years.
---It's a slow process but an enjoyable one nonetheless.
---It has been a part of my personal devotional time
---And has given me a profound appreciation
---For these beautiful texts.
II. Well that's enough about the process.
---Let's jump into Psalm 80 and see how it speaks to us
---At the beginning of the Advent season.
The central image in this psalm
---Is a transplanted vineyard,
---And the vineyard is not doing too well.
The emotional feeling this psalm conveys
---Is that Israel was once in a place
---Where it felt safe and protected,
---But that's not the case anymore.
---It now feels vulnerable and open to attack.
The desperation the psalmist feels is seen so clearly
---In verse 4-6 where he says
---"God of Mercy, are you angry with us?
---Do you not hear our prayers?
---Our tears are the only thing that feeds us these days.
---Our cup overflows with sorrow.
---It feels like we're fighting with everyone.
---We are a joke among those who wish to do us harm."
WOW! That sounds like a desperate place to live in.
---But we've all been there.
---Some of us are there right now.
We've all wondered a time or two
---If God was angry with us.
---We've all let like our prayers
---Were falling on deaf ears.
Therefore, we can relate to the lament of the psalmist.
---It is a lament that is front and center in the Advent season.
We hear it in the familiar opening verse
---Of a much beloved Advent hymn:
---"O Come, O come, Emmanuel,
---And ransom captive Israel
---That mourns in lonely exile here
---Until the Son of God appear."
The emotional context of this lament
---Is a feeling of loss, a feeling of being disconnected from something.
---It is a place of darkness
---Rather than a place of light.
---It is a place of longing for something better,
---A life preserver, a rescue squad,
---Anything that can lift us up
---From the "miry clay," as Psalm 40 puts it,
---And "set your feet upon solid rock."
III. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
---This is what Advent is all about.
---And if we rush too quickly toward Christmas
---We might very well miss out
---On the emotion conveyed in this important season
---In the life of the church.
This would be a great loss,
---Because many of us can identify
---With where the Psalmist is coming from.
Like the vineyard, we feel a bit uprooted or displaced.
---With an uncertain economy and shrinking incomes.
---We feel unprotected, ravaged by wild beasts of all sorts.
We've experience loss of jobs, loss of loved ones,
---And loss of health which leads us to lament:
---"Our tears are the only thing that feeds us these days.
---"Our cup overflows with sorrow."
We get stressed by the increasing commercialization of Christmas
---That has no room of Jesus
---Amidst the retail frenzy our nation has become.
Even some of our Christmas carols have been hijacked.
---Recently an increasing number of commercials on TV
---Have taken carols that used to proclaim peace of peace on earth,
---But now plead with us to buy more stuff.
God, have mercy on us all.
---Is it any wonder that this particular Advent season
---Makes us feel a little bit displaced?
---We feel like someone has pulled us up by the roots.
---We long for a place where
---Where we can be nurtured, once again;
---A place where the good soil of God's love
---Produces in us a bumper crop of blessing.
Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel,
---And ransom captive Israel, indeed!
IV. There's no doubt about it
---Psalm 80 is grounded in lament.
However, it does not leave us hanging there
---With our roots exposed
---And our branches vulnerable to predators.
It turns itself into a prayer.
---"Hear our prayer, Great Shepherd," the psalmist pleads.
---"You have kept an eye on your flock
---Since the time of Abraham and Sarah.
---Ruler of the Universe, light the way for us,
---Be strong for us, and deliver us from danger!"
The NRSV pleads "shine forth"…
---"Stir up your might, and come to save us!"
In this season of light, the Psalmists' cry
---Is echoed in the words of a familiar benediction:
---"The Lord bless you and keep you
---The Lord make his face to shine upon you
---And be gracious to you."
The Hebrew here can be best described
---As God smiling on us
---With love, with favor, with blessing.
Thus the prayer of this psalm is that God
---Will "tend the vineyard, once again."
---It asks God to "take care of what which you have planted
---And restore us to our former glory."
This is our Advent hope in the midst of Advent lament.
While the refrain I wrote for this particular psalm
---Is based primarily on verse 7,
---It expands the hope expressed in the entire psalm:
"God, draw us closer to you;
---Smile on us once again.
---Show us your kindness and keep us safe
---Within your love."
Oh, brothers in sisters in Christ
---We are fortunate because we know the end of the story!
---We know that the darkness of Advent
---Does not last forever!
We who sometimes walk in darkness
---Have seen a great light.
---Unto us a child has been born,
---Unto us a Son has been given.
---Authority rests on his shoulders.
---And his name is Wonderful Counselor,
---Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
---Prince of Peace." [Isaiah 9:2,6]
The Hebrew peace expressed here
---Is not merely the absence of tension.
---It is shalom, wholeness, health and prosperity.
It is fertile soil where our vineyard roots
---Grow big and strong.
---It is a feeling of safety and protection;
---Because if God is for us
---Who or what can be against us?
Advent lament gives birth to Christmas hope.
---The hope that Jesus, our Emmanuel,
---Truly walks with us
---When tears are the only thing that feeds us,
---When our cups overflow with sorrow.
If we find ourselves identifying with the Psalmist's lament this morning
---It is my prayer that we will turn to Christ, the Light of the World,
---And trust that he will fulfill our prayer:
"God draw us closer to you; smile on us, once again.
---Show us your kindness and keep us safe within your love." AMEN.
----------
Here is the entire Psalm translation without the sung melody on the refrain:
REFRAIN: God, draw us closer to you; smile on us, once again.
Show us your kindness and and keep us safe within your love.
L: Hear our prayer, Great Shepherd.
You have kept an eye on your flock since the time of Abraham and Sarah.
C: Ruler of the Universe, light the way for us,
Be strong for us, and deliver us from danger! R.
L: God of Mercy, are you angry with us?
Do you not hear our prayers?
C: Our tears are the only thing that feeds us these days.
Our cup overflows with sorrow.
L: It feels like we're fighting with everyone.
We are a joke among those who wish to do us harm. R.
L: Master Gardener, we remember
How you transplanted the vine called Israel.
C: You carried it from Egypt all the way to the Promised Land.
You carefully prepared the soil there and planted it.
L: Israel took root and grew like kudzu.
It prospered and flourished
With deep roots and strong branches.
C: So why do we, your prized vineyard,
Now feel so vulnerable and unprotected?
Why do we feel like we've been ravaged by wild animals? R.
L: Mighty God, we pray that you
Would tend your vineyard, once again.
Take care of that which you have planted
And restore us to our former glory.
C: We promise to be faithful to you.
Breathe life back into our withered branches
And we will praise your name forever. R.
Psalm paraphrase from The Psalms: Remixed by David Eck, © 2009. Used by permission.
0 comments:
Post a Comment