Watching for Whales
Dear Sutton and Savannah,
Each of you has confessed that you are more likely to describe yourself as a lake-person rather than an ocean-person. And I’m guessing that it is mostly because what is beneath the surface of a lake seems less foreboding than what might be beneath the surface of the ocean. If given the option, I’m also guessing you both would prefer a clean, clear pool over swimming in either a lake or an ocean. The unknown can be so unsettling!
-Dad
Inside Out Lectionary Letters
Year A - Pentecost (Texts, Art, Hymns)
Readings for Sunday, May 24, 2026
Acts 2:1-21 / Psalm 104:24-34, 35b / 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 / John 20:19-23
Summary of Psalm 104 24-34, 35b
Psalm 104 celebrates the vastness, beauty, and interconnectedness of creation, portraying all life as sustained by an ongoing divine presence that continually breathes renewal into the world.
Scripture as a Mirror of the Soul
What if we had the same awe for the inner parts of ourselves as the psalmist expresses for the visible creation?
The first half of the psalm lists the many components of nature, its beauty and interconnectedness. The same could be said of the components of the human soul. It is both a completed whole, and a compilation of many parts. The parts are interconnected and their depth and breadth stretches all comprehension. This includes the shadow parts, as identified in the psalm as the leviathan.
In ancient times the leviathan was a giant sea creature often associated with chaos. The psalmist tells us that it was designed to "frolic" or play, not designed for chaos. Similar to the leviathan, the shadow’s presence in the deep waters of the unconscious contributes to its mystery and to our apprehension. But when we see the shadow as part of the whole, we might begin to see how its energy and capacity can lead to new understanding of the expanse and majesty of creation. We are invited into the frolicking nature of the shadow. Wholeness is not achieved through elimination of the shadow, but through learning to hold all the energies of the soul within a larger, Spirit-filled harmony.
Importantly, wounds, pain and trauma are not to be ignored or minimized. However, neither are they to become the center of our identity. Rather, wounds belong within the whole ecology of the self or soul. The psalmist relishes in the way the Spirit of God enlivens all of creation. Likewise the inner journey is enlivened, and flourishes, when we allow the spirit within to breathe on all that comprises our soul; to bring about nourishment, health and vitality. And this soul includes the divine spirit within. Then, as described in verse 30, there is an expansion of creation by the renewal that the spirit brings.
Many people approach the soul or psyche as a problem to fix, a battle to be fought or a moral project to clean up. The psalmist speaks of all creation with wonder, and therefore invites us not to “fix” the soul, but to behold the soul with humility, wonder and awe.