Psalm 139
“God-Made”
July 12, 2020
Most reality television shows don’t do much for me. While I admire the talent on shows like The Voice or American Idol, I don’t have a lot of patience with the professional singers and songwriters who are doing the coaching and judging and an audience that is cheering all of this on. Competitions which pit gifted singers against each other makes me kind of sad.
The only reality shows that I really get into are the ones where something is being created. The Great British Bake Off is a way for amateur bakers to put their skills to work side by side with each other. Maybe its because those of us who are home bakers can take comfort in the fact that a chocolate souffle can be made using different approaches, it’s not all about appearance and that taste is at least as important as looks. It helps that the bakers and judges are mostly kind and gentle and fairly soft-spoken to these American ears.
The show Making It is one that inspires me. The creativity and ingenuity of the craftspeople who compete with plenty of encouragement and support from the hosts makes me wish I was a bit craftier. The fact that the crafters come from a wide range of backgrounds and put disparate skills to work for themselves is a big part of the draw.
In both the Great British Bake Off and Making It what keeps me watching and gets me invested in the outcome is the fact that there is present inherent skill, ingenuity, and a willingness to help each other make the most of their talents by jumping in to give each other assistance when needed, often without even being asked, are at the heart of what happens with these ordinary yet gifted individuals.
The details that God paid attention to in making every being, each of us, are amazing and the Psalmist can’t help but express his awe and profound gratitude. I invite you to find your pulse right now on your wrist or your neck. We can’t help but be amazed at the circuitry that is the human body. On these hot summer days when we’re feeling most like a damp dishrag, consider the detail that went into creating a way to release rather than hold in the heat of our bodies. The fact that over the course of decades the brains of men and women around the world were put to use to devise a way that we each are right now looking at screens or listening to phones to capture today’s words and music and bringing them to us from miles apart.
All the words we have for God fall short of all that God is. In this Psalm, attempts are made to capture the majesty and power that is God and in all that God is, there is also a desire for God to bend to the Psalmist’s will. We often skip over certain parts of this Psalm because they seem too hard on the ears and the heart with wishes for destruction and hatred in God’s name. But this is life. We may want to stay in the place of God’s great love and goodness but there is also pain and suffering which this writer doesn’t gloss over. He is advocating for the treatment of God’s perceived enemies to be the same way the psalmist would treat the enemies of anyone he loved. He knows he can say what’s on his heart, however mean-spirited, because God already knows him so well. Maybe naming it helps release it.
That this Psalm begins with the image of God as seeker is deeply reassuring. God continuously goes looking for us, following us wherever we are, be it celebration or grief. This is the God of infinite knowledge and searching that is so intimate. Having made us, God is caring for God’s treasured creation and there is no where that God isn’t. There are no secrets from this God.
Forget the concept of social distancing, God is in, and around, and among us – hemming us in. Having molded and shaped us, we are God-made.
It is clear in this Psalm who is creator and who is created. The weaving and knitting is the physical activity that yields each new being – each of us. To be declared fearfully and wonderfully made is to reinforce the beginning of Genesis where creation is proclaimed “good.” We are the embodiment of God’s handywork. Remembering this in times of anger or disappointment or grief may mean turning once again to these words of the writer who captures the God that is both embodied in all that we are as well as being distinct from us as the creator of it.
Let us pray these words where once again another writer attempts to give voice about the God who made us. This prayer is inspired by Psalm 139 from Steve Garnaas-Holmes (www.unfoldinglight.net):
Holy One, Root of Being,
you are not distant, but within me.
You are the core of myself;
you are the stem and I am the flower.
You are the love from which I radiate.
You are heart and nerve, and I am your flesh.
You know my pain; you walk each step;
you understand my mistakes from the inside.
You are the treasure within me
I have not yet discovered.
You are Presence itself: here, in this moment
and at the bottom of the sea:
happy, I am within you;
depressed, I am still in your heart.
I can’t hide from you, who live in my unconscious.
My awareness is the tip of your iceberg.
I flow from you like light from a flame;
you create me in each breath.
I do not understand this mystery
I simply celebrate your grace.
I open my eyes to see;
I open my heart to receive you.
My life is praise. I sing
with humility, gratitude and joy. Amen.