Psalm 29

In seminary, one of my professors (Bishop Carder, I think) mentioned how cool he thought it was when he'd heard of someone who read a new psalm for year year of their life. I think for that person it was a way of memorizing the psalms, and in general the repetition of scripture can be a really great discipline. I have to admit that I don't keep a daily practice of reading my "annual" psalm along those lines, but from time to time I do take a peek. Now that I'm onto year 29, here is the new psalm:

1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
worship the Lord in holy splendor.
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!

This is a good (but challenging) word for me today. I spent the latter part of yesterday, my birthday, wallowing in wanting more attention. More about me. After all, I told myself, it's my birthday I know that birthday or not, though, that sort of attitude is pretty much the core definition of SIN. Focus on oneself.

I have to admit there's still part of me that feels a bit whiny in a 5-year-old sort of way. But I hope God will take that from me. And I hope like this psalm, this year will be about God and what God is doing, and God's power, and not so much about me.

Development experts tell us that babies literally think the world revolves around them. It makes sense. They cry and there is someone their to meet their need, even desire. The early church fathers described sin as an inward focus. So I think that another way we could think of it is that we're all born thinking the world revolves around us...some of us just never grow out of that. Faithful discipleship is about growing up. Getting over oneself, and learning to serve God and neighbor. That's never as easy as it sounds, but it is who we are made to be. Birthday or not.