Transformation

I like what Arthur-Jones does in his book, tracing the theological, social, governmental, and environmental transformation through the books of the Psalms.  We start with a humanity separated from Creation, a completely transcendent God that endorses monarchy, and a people subjected to both.  We move into a God that is Creator of all that is and deeply concerned about all aspects of Creation, humanity as an integral part of that Creation, and a seeming egalitarian society with God as the only "King" providing provision, blessing and fertility to all.  In this final version, everything rejoices, dances and sings to this liberating, Craftsman God where before, all trembled in fear (except the King who reaped the rewards of God's favor).

This articulates a convergence of several ideas that I've been knocking around this weekend.  Between reading the books assigned for next week (just McKibben's to go), I attended a church service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and challenging all in attendance to listen for their particular call to make the world better; watched the premier of Bill Moyer's new show on PBS which highlighted the politically engineered great imbalance between the "Have it Alls" and the rest of us; watched Michael Moore's "Capitalism:  A Love Story"; and read an National Geographic article on cities as a solution to environmental crises (see sidebar).  So there's all this bouncing around in my head - the failure of our economy, the degradation of the environment, the growing population, and how it all fits together.

And it really struck me how, in a social, economic, governmental and environmental system in which all were 'in it together' as God's Creation, in a place where God provided the things necessary for life - and not just sustenance, Arthur-Jones points out, but bread and wine, "good food and good times"(141) - in this subversively egalitarian environment (where even the trees and the water have a voice) the primary posture is joy and praise.  "Let everything that breathes Praise the Lord!" (Ps. 150:6) is the last word of this writing.  What does that say to us today, in our "Winner Take All" economy, government, ecology?