Psalm 1:1-6

1:1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; ² but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. ³ They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. ⁴ The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ⁶ for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

The word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.

Happy are those who delight in the torah of the Lord, They are like trees planted by streams of water.

Happy trees. Happy little streams. Everything is possible here.

These phrases are not from the psalmist.

These are the words of Bob Ross who hosted the Joy of Painting on PBS. The show would begin with Bob standing in a dark room beside a blank canvas.

His two-inch brushes seemed better suited for trimming a window than painting a landscape. Undaunted he would begin to lay down bold brush strokes, never letting the paint completely dry before placing another coat. As he painted he would talk to the viewers at home in a soothing voice. Here is a good place for a happy tree.

And he would load up his brush with burnt umber and titanium white and a willow tree would appear on the canvas.

Everything is possible here, he would say as he loaded up his brush.

If a brush stroke slipped, he would tell the viewers not to worry,

There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

From the beginning of my sermon preparation I decided that I would use Bob Ross as a way to understand Psalm 1.

But there were some errant brush strokes on the canvas of this service that came to light in a series of emails from Lisa Knowles. You see the epistle reading for this week is 1 John 5:9-13, but I told Matt that I needed 1 John 5:1-6 which was last weeks lectionary reading.

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Good morning, George!

 I contacted Ken Birmingham re: the epistle reading in the PowerPoint for this Sunday. (Matt sent him the file for review before he left for vacation.)  The reading included in the finalized PowerPoint is 1 John 5:1-6.

 Let me know if we should keep it as is, or have Ken try to change it to 1 John 5:9-13.  Then I will confirm the reading with Mitch so that he is prepared.

 I’ll hold off on the bulletin printout until I get the go ahead from you.

 Talk to you soon!

 Lisa

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I sent Lisa the bulletin information and pondered what to do about the Epistle reading. It wasn’t long before I had another email in my inbox and a decision had to be made.

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Hi George,

 Thanks for getting all the bulletin info to me.  I left the Epistle reading as 1 John 5.1-6 for right now.  I am almost positive that that is the reading that Matt put in the PowerPoint and forwarded to the Bernardo family (based on copies of emails that I have from Monday and Tuesday of this week).  I will try to confirm it for sure so that Mitch knows what to read, and it matches with what’s on the wall behind him.

 I will be in the office from about 9-1 tomorrow and Friday.  I usually print and fold the bulletin on Thursday, but I can wait until Friday if you have any changes or concerns. 

 Talk to you soon,

 Lisa

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This was some last minute chaos.

What if Ken didn’t have time to get it done?

What if Mitch came prepared to read 1 John 5:1-6 and it was 1 John 5:9-13 projected behind him?

What if the changes were made and this story doesn’t make any sense because everybody else got it right? What would Bob Ross do?

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So I sent Lisa an email that said.

Don't mess up what is already messed up.  It is a happy accident.

Peace,

George

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Lisa sent one last email to confirm that the crisis was over.

Thanks George!  We’ll go with what we’ve got.  Happy accidents are a great way of looking at things!  I’ll have to remember that more often.

 Have a blessed day,

 Lisa

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With the crisis successfully averted, and the successful use of a Bob Ross quote even before the sermon began, I continued my sermon preparation seeing the psalms through the eyes of a painter.

Psalm 1 is the first coat on the canvas of the Psalms.

In it the Psalmist lays down broad brush stokes that cover the breadth of the Book of Psalms. The recurring metaphors of trees and flowing streams are introduced to ground us in the lyrical language of the Psalms as we meditate on them.

As William P. Brown, writes in his book Seeing the Psalms, “The psalmist is a cultivator of images.”

How we interpret these images depends on our understanding of the meanings of the text itself. Who can understand Picasso or Salvadore Dali if they have no understanding of the meanings of the images depicted? How much more can we appreciate the genius of these artists with a little background information? How can our understanding of words and images enrich our appreciation for the Psalms?

One important example is in the NRSV translation of the second verse.

It reads: but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night.

The Hebrew word torah is translated in this passage as law.

But the primary definition according to the Hebrew dictionary of torah is instruction or teaching.

If we fail to take in the nuances of the word torah, we limit our ability to appreciate the fullness of the text.

This could lead to a limited understanding of the Psalm itself.

As Christians we understand that we are saved by faith in Christ.

With this understanding, “It might be held, for example, that such an emphasis on Law is contrary to the spirit of the New Testament, especially as found in Galatians and Romans.”¹

But we can, by expanding our understanding of the word torah, open up the text to a broader understanding of its meaning and gain new perspectives that enable us to more fully appropriate the Psalms for our journey of faith. We are called not only to meditate on the law, but on all of the instructions and teachings of the Bible.

To put it another way:

The Bible is not a paint-by-numbers kit that we are trying to fill in.

It is a painting, in which the instruction from God blends and bleeds through, layered teachings building one on top of the other to give us a complete picture. It is this whole picture on which we are to meditate.

This meditation is not a passive activity; but neither can it be forced.

We don’t just read God’s teachings and move on, never taking them to heart. We must dwell on them, like a tree planted by moving waters.

A tree doesn’t have an intake valve to fill up on the water it needs to survive; it must absorb the water through the roots. It is a slow process, yet it is the only way that a tree can take in water. Likewise we must remain dwell in the word until we can fully absorb it, like a canvas absorbing paint.

There is a painting term that I would like to introduce that will help us better understand what we are seeing in the text.

Chiaroscuro – it is Italian for light dark and is defined as a bold contrast between light and dark. Chiaroscuro defines objects without a contouring line, but only by the contrast between the colours of the object and of the background.²

Here the Psalmist uses chiaroscuro to give depth to the psalm and depth to the character of the righteous versus the wicked. The Psalmist draws on all of the torah of the Lord to create this contrast.

The wicked walk and listen only to their own counsel-

they never consult the instruction of God.

They scoff at the Lord and the Lord’s teachings.

They are never still and are like chaff blown about by the wind.

They have no roots. They are dried up and useless in a desert land.

Contrast the Psalmists imagery of the chaos and unsettledness of the wicked with the imagery of the tree of the righteous. The tree moves in the wind, but it is not blown down. Its leaves do not whither and fall off to be blown about by the wind, but are constantly nourished by the streams of God’s instructions that flow up from the roots, through the trunk, and out into the branches.

The tree is alive because of the waters and it bears fruit in season.

The tree moves upwards, stretching out its branches to absorb more light, its roots spread out to take in more of the waters.

The righteous love the light and the instruction of God.

Psalm 89:15 “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the person who delights in the teachings of the Lord and on the Lord’s teachings they meditate night and day. Like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers. Blessed is……

“Blessed is” is an introduction formula that is used throughout the Psalms. In the Psalms it is used to express the blessings and happiness that one receives when one lives in a right relationship with God.

Throughout the psalms and Old Testament we can find this “blessed is” formula. Even some that sound vaguely familiar to Psalm 1.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 ⁷ Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. ⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Psalm 112:1: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.”

Psalm 94:12 “Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law.”

Psalm 128:1 “Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.”

Walking in Gods ways, walking in the light.

As we meditate on these words we are able to make the associations with others who walked in God’s ways throughout the Old Testament.

Our understanding of the Psalmists art grows deeper and we find more examples that further enrich our understanding.

Genesis 6:9 reads Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

And Genesis 5:24 says: Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.

Hebrews 11:5 fleshes out this portrait of Enoch saying, ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and "he was not found, because God had taken him." For it was attested before he was taken away that "he had pleased God."

Righteousness therefore is a way of being, a way of living ones life. The righteous delight in God and walk with God. It is important to note that the delight that comes from following God’s instruction is not our modern conception of personal happiness. Mortimer J. Adler, in Ten Philosophical Mistakes points out that, “the mistake made by most modern philosophers [is] that [for them] happiness is a psychological state rather than an ethical state, i.e., the quality of a morally good life.”³ The delight of righteous is that they live lives that are pleasing to God and walk in God’s ways. This is not a short lived, temporal happiness based on emotion, but an enduring and ethereal happiness grounded in the knowledge that we are walking in God’s pathways. The righteous are motivated from a genuine love of God’s instruction. The righteous respond with joyous faith to the instructions which comes from God’s gracious love.