1 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
for it is good for the just to sing praises.
2 Praise the Lord with the lyre; on the ten-stringed harp sing his praise.
3 Sing for him a new song; play skilfully, with shouts of praise.
4 For the word of the Lord is true and all his works are sure.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the loving-kindness of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers up the waters of the sea as in a waterskin
and lays up the deep in his treasury.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
stand in awe of him, all who dwell in the world.
9 For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught;
he frustrates the designs of the peoples.
11 But the counsel of the Lord shall endure for ever
and the designs of his heart from generation to generation.
12 Happy the nation whose God is the Lord
and the people he has chosen for his own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven and beholds all the children of earth.
14 From where he sits enthroned he turns his gaze
on all who dwell on the earth.
15 He fashions all the hearts of them and understands all their works.
16 No king is saved by the might of his host;
no warrior delivered by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; for all its strength it cannot save.
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him,
on those who wait in hope for his steadfast love,
19 To deliver their soul from death and to feed them in time of famine.
20 Our soul waits longingly for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart rejoices in him; in his holy name have we put our trust.
22 Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us,
as we have set our hope on you.
Dr Elisa Granato; remember her name. She may be one of the Covid19 heroines. For she is the first person to volunteer for the vaccine trials at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. Time will tell. But three-months into the worldwide race to develop a vaccine, the first trials have begun on this, St George’s Day. This might be day of rejoicing to look back on.
I have been struck today by the imagery of heroism. What does a hero look like? St George, clad in armour, lance in hand to kill a dragon, is one image. It is militaristic. It is a picture of daring do, courage, bravery and taking the battle to the enemy. Much of the language around Covid19 has included that kind of ‘battle’ language. Our Prime Minister, using Churchillian phraseology, in his addresses to the nation a month ago. As he announced the lockdown on March 23rd, he talked in this way:
But in this fight we can
be in no doubt
that each and every one
of us is directly enlisted.
Each and every one of us
is now obliged to join together.
To halt the spread of
this disease.
To protect our NHS and
to save many many thousands of lives.
And I know that as they
have in the past so many times.
The people of this
country will rise to that challenge.
And we will come through
it stronger than ever.
We will beat the
coronavirus and we will beat it together.
Geeing up the British public with this kind of language might have some effect. But it also raises questions for me about what kind of heroism truly counts. It raises for me questions about what kinds of leadership we need in these times. Is might right? Or will a disposition of humility win the day?
The psalmist, in this Psalm 33, has something to say about the weight that we put on our own strength and ability. It is a psalm which critiques military might or that ‘macho-style’ of leadership which perhaps many of us worry about in the world today; these self-styled men of action bestride the political landscape in far too many countries.
And yet, what we have discovered is that a virus so small and virulent, is able to bring huge economies built on might and military strength, to their knees.
Psalm 33 posits a different disposition. God, not mortals, is sovereign and his loving kindness encircles the world (vs5). God is the creator who knows all that has been created, including humans, individually and communally as nations. In the psalmist’s imagination, he or she sees the Lord looking down from heaven and seeing ‘all the children of earth’ (vs13). From this vantage point God ‘turns his gaze on all who dwell on the earth’ (vs14). And then we learn that God ‘fashions all the hearts of them and understands all their works’ (vs15). This is an intimate picture. In a few short verses, the sweep of the psalmist’s vista takes us from universal throne to the individual heart (the moral seat, the motivating agent, of the human being).
Then in another glimpse of creative inventiveness, the psalmist’s praise-song takes us into a very counter-cultural place. Might fails, even the most powerful king or ruler: ‘No king is saved by the might of his host; no warrior delivered by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; for all its strength it cannot save.’ (vs17-18)
St George had his lance which he drove into a dragon, as one of the myths of his life goes, in order to save a whole town gripped by fear. A lance of a different kind, a needle carrying a potentially life-giving vaccine to bring relief to a world gripped by fear, is a contrasting image for us today. The psalmist is in tune with this idea. Instead of might and militarist language, of fight and battle, the language of the psalmist leads the reader into a different world. A world where God’s loving gaze is upon ‘those who fear him, on those who wait in hope for his steadfast love’ (vs19).
Waiting in hope is what we do tonight. We wait in hope for the vaccine trial which begins today with a far from militarist hero, but a humble microbiologist who, out of conviction of her profession, is willing to volunteer as the first person to be injected with the vaccine which could save millions of lives. This is something to sing about as a sign of God’s loving kindness.
This psalm is the first to suggest musical instruments should be used to praise God with. Rather than roars of an army, songs of praise unite and builds up the people. Tonight, a Thursday night, our street was full of clanging and banging instruments, singing bowls and saucepans, clapping and cheering – for all the selfless, loving, sacrificial acts of service being offered up in hospitals and care homes and through the work of many other key workers and volunteers. More and more people are coming out at 8pm to show sustained appreciation. It remains a moving moment of communal unity. A sign that the hearts of many people are being enlivened not by military language but humble service.
[1]
Common Worship: Services and
Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.
In both Ps 33 (v.18) and Ps 32 (v.9) we read of “the eye of the Lord”. God’s loving gaze is always on us, watching over us. God our Creator’s eye has vigilant care for us. It is an eye of love not an eye waiting to watch us do something wrong, to catch us out. It is the eye of a loving parent, like the eye of a mother who can’t take her eyes off her newborn baby with total and unconditional love. It is the watchful eye of those working in ICU who constantly monitor machines to check levels and their patients’ responses. It is the eye of loving and steadfast kindness.
ReplyDeleteWe hear so often of the need for PPE including visors to protect eyes from the virus and masks for faces. Only today have I learnt that the elastic of mask can rub behind the ears and cause skin problems so a member of our congregation and her daughter are now making headbands for NHS staff to alleviate this problem. They have made so many their sewing machine broke but having now bought a new one the production continues. They have made over a thousand and continue to do their bit to support those on the front line. Thank God for those whose watchful eyes see a problem and then respond with acts of generosity.