Tuesday, December 6

^{Psalm 33:18-22}

¹⁸  Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
          on those who hope in his steadfast love,
¹⁹  to deliver their soul from death,
          and to keep them alive in famine.

²⁰  Our soul waits for the LORD;
          he is our help and shield.
²¹  Our heart is glad in him,
          because we trust in his holy name.
²²  Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
          even as we hope in you.

This excerpt from Psalm 33 (in the daily lectionary) resonates quite well with our waiting and longing for the coming of Christ.  Notice verse 20, and the use of "Our soul waits for the Lord..." and "Our heart is glad in him..." (emphasis added).  As Western thinkers, it's easy to grasp the concept, even if still highly abstract, of my soul and my heart.  My soul doesn't have to wait for anyone else to get with the game.  My heart prays, waits, hopes for the coming of Christ this Advent.  But what is our soul/heart anyway?  Is it some communal spirituality?  Is it a statement of belief or doctrine?  Is it simply a reflection of our communal priorities?  Can we find it in our annual budget?  Who determines "our soul?"

Remember that this is a psalm, a song, and in our context these verses might be comparable to congregational hymn singing.  We're not collectively singing "I" but "we."  But who are we?  We aren't just a group of I's.  We are something particular and distinct as a group that cannot be understood in the singular.  Like a mixed chorus of melodies and harmonies, we sing our own individual lines, yet they fit together to create something much more wonderful and beautiful.  Notice that this psalm says less about who "we" are and more about who God is.  Is our identity then rooted in God's identity?  John Calvin opens his Institutes of the Christian Religion by asserting that "without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God."  He continues, "indeed, our very being is nothing but subsistence in the one God."  So who are we, but chosen and called by God to be God's people, delivered from "death" and "famine?"

As we journey through the season of Advent, and God is revealed again to this world of death and famine,  who has God called us to be?