Psalm 50 - The Fear of the Lord

This Psalm is filled with a lot of tough language. It is a Psalm that centers on the fear of the Lord - a combined sense of reverence and fear. Reverence of what God has done and a sense of healthy fear of what God not only has done but what God can do. It is a lot easier and “safer” to think of God just as a warm and loving presence and that is true but there is also another reality to God. If we truly believe that God is over all and in all and through all and through God all things came into being in some way, then there needs to be a sense of that healthy fear of the Lord. This Psalm speaks of it when it begins by acknowledging God “summoning the world from the rising to the setting of the sun” and how God “shone forth // arriving // breaking the silence // a fire before you / / Swirled round with a terrible cloud.” The Psalm continues by speaking of all the things that do not reflect faithfulness to God and then ends with this...

Think about your heedlessness
And do it soon
Before the backlash of your deeds
Tears you to pieces
And even I cannot help you -

So yeah - fear of the Lord - pretty evident throughout this. For me, part of living out the fear of the Lord is a deep sense of humility - recognizing my place in comparison to the whole. It is acknowledging that I am far from the most important in the world right now and that my life and my existence is a small blip in the bigger story and presence in the world. That doesn’t mean that I don’t matter but that I am not the center.

Our day on Thursday on the southwest coast of Ireland (The Dingle Peninsula) really spoke this for me. Part of it is the stark, natural, and harsh beauty of that part of the country and part of it was the history through which we walked and that we touched with our own hands.

Between Cork and Dingle, we made a stop at a prayer labyrinth that was rather underwhelming compared to what it looked like online. But on our way back to the main road, we came stopped at a cemetary filled with Celtic crosses as gravemarkers. Some of them were brand new, others were over a century old.

A few hours later, as we drove along the Slea Head Loop on the SW part of the Dingle Peninsula, we first came to a site where ancients had built these beehive structures out of flat stones. The structures are over 2,000 years old and are still standing strong. These were also not just placed randomly but some of the buildings were arranged in specific ways to line up with Orion’s belt, in a way similar to that of the pyramids in Giza. Walking through these, like the baptismal font from the other day, I was thinking about all of those who had passed through these places and those who first built them. Humbling. My 50+ years of life is a tiny blip in the larger history.

These structures are very similar to ones on the island off the coast of here known as Skellig Michael. Skellig Michael has become geek-famous for being one of the filming sites for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The island doesn’t allow visitors at this time of the year but on the beautifully clear day we had, we think we caught a glimpse of the island upon which many other similar structures stand.

As we continued to drive we came to see the awe-inspiring cliffs that line the western coast of Ireland. This ended up being the first of two trips out to these cliffs that day.

We returned to the cliffs that evening for sunset - this time to the Dunquin Pier area. It was stunning to walk around this incredible natural beauty but also honoring the land, recognizing that getting too close to the edge could be a dangerous step and being mindful of where we were and what we were doing.

And there were even a few photos of me! The photographer doesn’t usually show up in photos!

See the black dots on the top of the cliffs? That's me!

And then some funnies and cuteness...Some Star Wars geekery, visually descriptive signs, and a sign of new life...

All of this - the majesty of the cliffs, the ancient history through which we walked, and even the beauty of a new life...all of it - how can we life in humility with others, with nature, and with God?

Next up - Doolin and the Cliffs of Moher!

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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