Day 65 - A little bit of anadiplosis

The Lectionary readings for last Sunday offered John 21 – breakfast on the beach, Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus and some verses from Revelation where all the world worships God. I doubt if many preachers chose to focus on the psalm for the day: Psalm 30.

The editorial comment is “Thanksgiving for Recovery from Grave Illness” and also “a song at the dedication of the temple”. This suggests that not only is the psalm about healing from a physical illness but also that everyone who sings at the dedication of the temple has had a spiritual healing.

I love the psalms and I read them with both my head and my heart. I look for parallelism, anadiplosis, metaphors and similes. Then I look at the emotion within the psalm. This really is a thanksgiving psalm: v.2 “you healed me”; v.3 “you… restored me to life”; v.11 “you have turned my mourning into dancing”; and finishes v.12 “O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever”. (All from NRSV)

I also like to read the psalms in different versions. The author invites everyone in attendance to praise and thank the Lord: v.4-5 “All you saints! Sing your hearts out to GOD! Thank him to his face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.” (The Message)

He also is honest about who is in charge in his life: v.6-7 “When things were going great I crowed, ‘I’ve got it made. I’m GOD’s favourite. He made me king of the mountain’. Then you looked the other way and I fell to pieces.” (The Message)

So why am I looking at this psalm on a topical Thursday? Because being saved from death is always topical! We are surrounded by death and destruction: look at the news, listen to people’s woes, look into your own heart… do we praise and thank God enough? I have mentioned before in these reflections that since Covid 19 arrived, I have prayed only thanks at bedtime; I dare not start on intercession or I would never sleep.

In many Congregational churches, preachers tend to have two prayer “slots”: one at the beginning with often leads to the Lord’s Prayer and one nearer the end which is intercession – prayers for the needs of the world, the church, our families and friends, and ourselves. But somewhere in the first slot should be adoration, confession and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving seems to be the poor prayer relation in services for adults. But if we are not truly thankful for what God has done for us, how can we come before him and ask for more?

Father God, on a personal level I give you thanks that you have indeed rescued me from death and that my blood cancer remains in remission.

Jesus our Saviour, on a family and friends level, I thank you that most of those I know and love have survived Covid, either by not catching it or by recovering from it unscathed.

Holy Spirit, on a global level, I thank you for all who spread the love of God, through missionary work, through Bible translating, through giving of their time and money. Teach us all to be continuously grateful for all our blessings, Amen.

Elaine Kinchin