Daily Lectio: Sunday Morning, May 17

From this morning’s Psalms….challenging:

Psalm 10 (NRSV):  “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

And then, in 11, we have this wonderful image:

“In the Lord I take refuge….” (Ah, the richness of Buddhist perspectives here on “taking refuge,” on not having our religious practice be only cerebral, but recognizing that we are called to a full embodiment.

And then,

“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.

His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.”

But where is heaven?  Is “where” even an appropriate question?

And, from Nan Merrill’s rich translation, we have a very provoking image with the same verses:

“The Beloved dwells in the Holy Temple,

the sacred place within our hearts,

loving and testing each one of us.”

Heaven….God’s dwelling place…not far off, removed from us in terms of distance.  But rather, maybe removed in terms of our perception of God’s Presence…for the doorway to heaven is through our hearts, through our spiritual heart…

Blessings,

S+