Back to the Beginning...Returning to the Psalms

There’s a scene in the latter third of The Princess Bride where Inigo, the Spanish swordsman, is found having gone “back to the beginning” after other plans had fallen apart. Like with the whole of the movie, it is both beautifully emotional and darn funny. Here’s the clip if you haven’t seen it (of course the scene makes a lot more sense if you have seen the whole movie, which is one of the best ever). Anyway, whenever I think of “going back to the beginning”, I think of Inigo and Fezzik.

But while I’m doing a bit of going back to the beginning, it isn’t because things have fallen apart. Instead, I’m going back to words that have spoken deeply to me in the past at significant times and I feel led to return to them again. Since 2014, I have read through the Psalms at least four other times and I have felt a strong leading to return to them now. I wrote about these times in the Psalms in the introduction to my new book, Ordinary BenchMarks as well as here. (this link is to an early draft of the preface of the book). I feel so strongly about the Psalms that, in a conversation with a new person at our congregation, I would be content if the Bible was simply the Psalms and the Gospels.

I just feel that the Psalms begin to rise up to speak whenever there’s something signficiant stirring. As I’ve been reflecting and writing the last few weeks, I feel like there is something coming (or already here) and I feel drawn back into these ancient songs and poems. But this time, I am going to be using a bit of a different “guide.” I don’t remember where I initially saw it recently but I just purchased this book as my primary source.

Opening to You by Norman Fischer, a Zen-inspired translation of the Psalms. Fischer makes it clear in the introduction that this is not a true translation coming from the Hebrew but intsead a translation drawing from zen-inspired practices. I was deeply intrigued by this idea and so here we go. As I work my way through the book, I will be sharing some photos and reflections based on what I read but I don’t think I’ll be posting those every day here but I’ll share a summary of them each week (I don’t know that y’all want my emails in your inbox every day). While I am going to strive for this to be my daily practice, I also want to give myself some grace with the ebbs and flows of life. So with that...Psalm 1.

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Psalm 1 - Place

When I first engaged the Psalms deeply, it was this tree that I saw as I read the ancient song. I returned to this space last Friday morning as I was feeling this Psalm stirring

But this time, what spoke to me was something a lot closer to home. The workout space in our basement, a “dead” treadmill, and returning to a public gym. These three photos show me (with three different hues from our lights downstairs) just after finishing up a yoga flow on Sunday morning before heading to worship

We have a lot of extra space there now because of the “death” of our treadmill (which is now folded up against the wall waiting for us to decide what to do about it). In this shifting, we flipped over the mats underneath and returned to having the multi-colored sides face up rather than the black/grey as they’ve been for the last four years. What I noted Sunday morning was how the light downstairs would change the dynamics of the colors but the yoga mat would stay as the constant in the middle. There is a “place” there for me in the midst of all the surrounding dynamics.

This was on my heart because of how Fischer shares part of Psalm 1. In the NRSV (traditional) translation, verse four says this about “the wicked” after talking about the flourishing of those who are rooted in the ways of God.

The wicked are not so
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, (Psalm 1:4-5 NRSV)

But Fischer puts it this way:

They are like chaff scattered by the wind
Endlessly driven, they cannot occupy their place
And so can never be seen or embraced
And they can never be joined

I loved how he writes of occupying a place here. The “heedless” as he calls them (instead of “the wicked”) are blown about, unable to find a place to be rooted. But that also doesn’t allow them to be in community with others as they are instead blown about.

But this place in my basement isn’t the only part. The other part of the treadmill issue is that, I have had to return to going to a gym for aspects of my working out. In 2020, I stopped going to a gym at the beginning of Covid and never returned to it. In the two weeks that I’ve been back, I’ve actually been grateful to be back because I am in space with many others who I would not otherwise be with on a day-by-day basis. While we’re not having deep conversations or anything like that, I am with and not alone.

So these three photos speak to a rootedness for me - a rootedness in my yoga practice of connecting to my body but also how this new space is tied to the fact that I am reconnecting with others beyond this space.

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Some More Noticings

The other morning I noticed these patterns along the lake. First, the curves of these loops and arches on the frozen water. How they emerge, I don’t know. But they are lovely and unique.

And then a few minutes later seeing these patterns of lines from the shore, to the dock, to the lines from the ice and the sunrise.

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Geekiness

I’m a huge fan of some of the Alien movies (Alien, Aliens, and then most recently Alien: Romulus. The others I just pretend never existed). Anyway, a few weeks ago a piece of driftwood showed up along the lakeside path and as I approached it, it looked like one of the facehuggers from the films. (Yes, this is a glimpse into my weird brain). Anyway, there have been a series of photos since as well as updates to the family about the status of the facehugger. Some have the comments I sent to the family below them

Face hugger update. Currently frozen, not dangerous.

Face hugger update. Status - more concerning. The face hugger seems to have moved. It also looks more like the shell of one that has implanted the xenomorph into the chest of a human. Staying vigilant

Face hugger update. Still on back. Hasn’t moved. Definitely dead, but still no word about implantation

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Enneagram 5 Moment

An irony in what I wrote about Psalm 1 above is in how I misread my “Ennea Thought of the Day” from a few days ago.

That’s what it said. But what I read at first was “I now release myself by rejecting others.” Once rooted at 5, always rooted at 5.

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Scout Moment

Dog paws!!!

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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