Psalm 49 - What's Most Important

So, today was our last full day in Cork before we head to the southwest and western costs of Ireland (Dingle Thursday and Cliffs of Moher area on Friday). It was primarily a town day as we visited St Anne’s Church and Bell Tower and then the Butter Museum (yes there’s a museum about butter here - super awesome) and then just wandered Cork for most of the rest of the day. Overall, another really great day on the Emerald Isle.

The Psalm today focuses primarily on the foolishness (or heedlessness in Fischer’s translation) of putting one’s trust in riches. Here’s some of how Fischer puts Psalm 49:

No amount of money can redeem a soul
It cannot be ransomed with gold
For a soul is worth far too much
And if you try to purchase it
It is lost forever
...
Will the wealthy live endlessly?
Will they buy their way out of the grave?
...
A person is not an enduring idea
A person perishes, like any animal
Such is the foolish faith of self-confidence
The end of those pleased with their own self-talk

In the midst, the Psalmist writes of a confidence for those who have sought to put their trust not in their own strength, their own riches, or their own wisdom but putting their trust in God. Here’s the beautiful way that Fischer shares verse 15:

For you
Will guide my soul
Even in the land of the dead
It won’t gurther there blind -
you will take me.

What I heard in this Psalm today wasn’t just a screed against the wealthy.¹ What I heard today was a message about what is most important - how we treat others, how we show love, how we live empathy. And I saw that in the stunningly beautiful vision statement we read at St Anne’s Church today here in Cork.

We visited this church because its tower is one of the highest points in the city and you can pay to go to near the top of the tower as well as ring the bells on your way up (we chose to play Hey Jude on the bells). After our walk to the top and our musical offering to the neighborhood, we went into the sanctuary where we read this:

Whoever you are and wherever you are on your journey in faith you are welcome in this place.

We are an inclusive Christian community in the Anglican tradition in the heart of Cork seeing to serve God, follow Christ, and change the world. Starting with ourselves.

We trust in the Spirit of God who opens up new and liberating ways to experience the love of God.

We are welcoming of both human experience and human diversity.

We are committed to using the Bible seriously, and seek to understand it in the light of that same experience and diversity, and of what this age knows and Biblical writers did not, and could not, know.

We are committed to a Church that coveys the Christian message in signs and symbols, especially in the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.

We are committed to taking all people seriously - married and single people, gay and straight, those who have a natural faith, and those who struggle with belief.

We are committed to identifying and affirming what is good and identifying and opposing what is evil, and living as best as we can in the confusion in the middle.

I was in awe of the simple power of this message. It centers on the love of Jesus, on a radical sense of belonging for all people, and on recognizing and honoring things like science, discovery, and the complexities of faith. This statement really gets to the heart of the theme for today of what is most important. This statement doesn’t set up walls of who is in/out or who is worthy/unworthy but instead says, “Jesus welcomes you and so do we.”

The original church is thought to have been built sometime around 1190 meaning that Christian worship has been taking place on that site for over 800 years! After our time in the tower, we took in the unique beauty and history in the santuary - a beautiful stained glass depicting one of the healings in Luke and a baptismal font from 1629 that was one of the few things that survived in the church during the siege of Cork in 1690. Think of how many have been baptized in this same font over the centuries!

Here’s some of the photos from St Anne’s:

Playing with some B&W. The stairs going up to the top and then a few of the city from the outside

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I also got out for a brisk five mile walk early this morning and was treated to a uniquely Irish sunrise while also enjoying seeing little wet paw prints on the path in front of me zigging back and forth from the dewy grass and down into the water. Some of the paw prints were barely noticible (from the dew) and then were much more pronounced when that same dog likely took a quick dip in the water and then returned to the path. This went on for a long time. A doggo was having a great morning!

The doggo pawprints and two of the sunrise photos

I loved how there are two sun reflections on the water. The one on the left and then the one reflected off the windows across the water

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And finally a few from our wanderings around Cork this afternoon, including photo evidence of The Butter Museum!

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

PS - Scout also visited the top of the bell tower!

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1. I fully acknowledge that while I am nowhere near those that are often spoken of as the “rich” (Bezos, etc), I am still wealthy in the standards of the world and so this Psalm is not only an encouragement to me but is also a convicting word for me as well.