On October 25th, Frank Scoffield Nellessen spoke to the psalmist’s vision of God’s world in Psalm 1.
In this time of change and upheaval, summer uprisings that brought cracks in law enforcement and culture to the forefront, and another difficult presidential race — the idea of delighting in law brings tension. What do the seemingly idealistic words of Psalm 1 say to us in such a moment?
Frank sees Psalm 1 as casting a beautiful vision of the world. The psalmist sees that God’s law is delightful — and is actually a window into another world: a vision of God’s world.
This isn’t the kind of law that is enforced. There are limits to enforceable law. This can be tricky to wrestle with.
In Christianity’s history, the law was often reduced as a set of codes to obey, a code of ethics. This led to churches enforcing codes of conduct, and often to judgement, shame, and guilt.
Still for us, it can be tempting to to reduce the words and stories of scripture into a set of ethical codes and standards. For us, it would be: if I just attended one more protest, lived a little more sustainably, loved one more enemy… This also avoids judgement and guilt. Yet neither sentiment fits the description of the psalmist.
In the words of Jewish mystic Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, God’s law is not a set of imperatives to be obeyed, but an indicative of divine presence — an indication of a life that is already existing in God’s world. In this framework, our human relationship to law is not one of knowledge and obedience, but in meditation and participation — of relationship. You sit with it, listen to it, let it fill you.
And Jesus reveals the spirit that was before and that is beyond and that is above and below the letters of the law, because this law is only delightful when it brings healing.
But do these values match those of our society? Does our society value kindness?
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Watch the zoom video as Frank shares these ideas and more with heart.
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Hear audio only:
Pasadena Mennonite Church 