This experience of being in seminary was the ultimate group project.... Cheers to family, friends (all around the world!), colleagues, and professors who made this ongoing journey possible! (This all came about because of a grant at SPU given for faculty to take classes in the School of Theology. What an incredible gift to have had this amazing opportunity to get my Master of Arts in Theology with a concentration on reconciliation and intercultural studies the last 4 years!).
Reflections below from a Lectio reading of Psalm 67 this week with my Lectio group (I asked if we could focus on this passage since I'd be reading it this week at the service... Thanks, Kristi! :)
“May God be gracious to us
and bless us and make his face shine on us...” (Psalm
67:1)
This sounds so much like the blessing
we are taught
to use to bless others
in Numbers 6:24:
“The Lord bless
you and keep
you; and be
gracious to you.
The psalmist has learned to bless.
The psalmist is teaching us to bless.
God, mark us,
brand us,
claim us
with your grace
to remind us that we are yours….
Let all
people thank and enjoy you[2].
And help us remember that in all things,
we belong to you.[3]
let the earth display your exuberance.
And may we,
like the earth,
out of delight and gratitude,
display exuberance too….
May we be who we were
created to be.
We don’t get the credit.
This isn’t about us…
This isn’t some prosperity gospel…
It’s a response to God’s goodness.
It’s what it looks like to be well and whole.
It’s shalom.
God is
the one who blesses
and the
one who gives the growth.
Not to
us,
O Lord,
Not to
us.
But to
your name be the glory! [4]
and an awareness of your mercies
so that we will walk through our days
With reverence and wonder….
[1]
NIV Translation, Psalm 67:5
[2]
The Message Translation, Psalm 67: 5
[3] Barbara
Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, page 25.
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