Sons of Korah



Psalm 85  A psalm of the sons of Korah


1
You have been gracious to your land, O LORD, *
    you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.


2
You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
    and blotted out all their sins.


3
You have withdrawn all your fury *
    and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.

4
Restore us then, O God our Savior; *
    let your anger depart from us.


5
Will you be displeased with us for ever? *
    will you prolong your anger from age to age?


6
Will you not give us life again, *
    that your people may rejoice in you?




7
Show us your mercy, O LORD, *
    and grant us your salvation.


8
I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, *
    for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
    and to those who turn their hearts to him.


9
Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
    that his glory may dwell in our land.


10
Mercy and truth have met together; *
    righteousness and peace have kissed each other.


11
Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
    and righteousness shall look down from heaven.


12
The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, *
    and our land will yield its increase.


13
Righteousness shall go before him, *
    and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
For the upcoming Sunday, December 4, 2011, Advent Two, Year B, we have Psalm 85, a song of the sons of Korah. They seem to have been a family group who were designated, perhaps by David around 1000 BC, to prepare, perform and lead music in worship. The group must have carried on somehow, because this psalm is said to date from about 520 BC, after the return from Babylonian Exile. God who had punished the people by handing them over to the Babylonians had later freed them to return home to Jerusalem. Nearly a generation has passed. Rebuilding is going slow. The city and its walls and the temple are still in ruins. Canaanite neighbors have conducted raids. There has been a drought, the crops have been terrible, and there has been some famine. Things are not going well. The people are disheartened. 
Psalm 85 reflects the situation and appeals to God for help: You have given us our land back, but are you still so angry? Will you not bless us again with the salvation of prosperity so that we may praise you joyfully? It’s a community psalm of lament, isn’t it.
Today, the Sons of Korah are an Australian musical group who bring an inspired presentation of the psalms. Some of their music, very listenable, can be heard on line. In 2008 they had an album, “Rain,” and currently they are introducing a new album, “Wait.” They will be in concert this week, December 1 and 2, at St. Jude’s Anglican Church, Carlton, in Melbourne, Victoria, and the new album will be on sale.
My Australian travels in the late 1970s and early 1980s always included a week or more in Melbourne, with Sundays exploring worship in different Anglican parish churches. Melbourne has half a dozen or so Anglican parishes, and my visits were long ago, don’t remember whether St. Jude’s, Carlton was one of them. May well have been though.
TW+
P.S. Here we go again. It might be my nature but it surely is not my place to judge the lectionary framers as idiots, but here we do indeed go again. For Sunday, they have cut verses 3 through 7 out of Psalm 85, gutting it of its being in order to repurpose it. Bubba is not pleased.