This is a psalm that originally spoke of the stubborn hearts and repeated rebelling of God's people, despite God's goodness and generosity. In the original psalm, God grew angry and finally allowed the people to die off to see if it would make any difference with them.
I believe my rendering of this psalm speaks to a Thean worldview, one in which we as Creatures still rebel and in which God still resists that rebellion, but in which rebellion, resistance, and resolution are imagined in a very different way.
Psalm 78
Hear my teaching, my sisters,
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
That which we have heard and known,
and what our foremothers have told us,
we will not hide from their children.
We will recount to generations to come
the liberating deeds and loving power of Thea.
She established wisdom,
which she gave us to teach our children;
That the generations to come might know,
and the children yet unborn;
that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
So that they might discover their divine identity
and live as icons of her in the world.
She worked marvels in the sight of our foremothers,
in the land where they were once slaves.
She split open the sea and let them pass through;
she made the waters stand up like walls.
She led them with a cloud by day,
and all the night through with a glow of fire.
She split the hard rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as from the great deep.
She brought streams out of the cliff,
and the waters gushed out like rivers.
And she said to them, “This!
This is what I want you to do for your fellow Creatures!”
But they strayed from the path she had given them,
rebelling in the desert against her.
They tested her in their hearts,
demanding food for their craving.
They railed against her and said,
“Can you set a table in the wilderness?
True, she struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed;
but are you able to give bread
or to provide meat for her creatures?”
When Thea heard this,
a fire ignited in her heart,
For they had no faith in Thea;
how could they possibly have faith in themselves?
So she commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
She rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
So mortals ate the bread of angels;
she provided for them food enough.
She caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
and led out the south wind by her might.
She rained down flesh upon them like dust
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
She let it fall in the midst of their camp
and round about their dwellings.
So they are and were well filled,
for she gave them what they craved.
But they did not believe in her promise,
that her power to work miracles was also their power.
They remained steadfast in their stubbornness
and had no faith in her wonderful works.
Then Thea woke as though from sleep,
like a warrior refreshed with wine.
She set her eyes on her Creatures,
whom she had always loved;
And she whispered in their hearts once more,
that they might recognize their true calling, their deepest yearning,
and become her miracle-working hands and feet and heart in the world.
I believe my rendering of this psalm speaks to a Thean worldview, one in which we as Creatures still rebel and in which God still resists that rebellion, but in which rebellion, resistance, and resolution are imagined in a very different way.
Psalm 78
Hear my teaching, my sisters,
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
That which we have heard and known,
and what our foremothers have told us,
we will not hide from their children.
We will recount to generations to come
the liberating deeds and loving power of Thea.
She established wisdom,
which she gave us to teach our children;
That the generations to come might know,
and the children yet unborn;
that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
So that they might discover their divine identity
and live as icons of her in the world.
She worked marvels in the sight of our foremothers,
in the land where they were once slaves.
She split open the sea and let them pass through;
she made the waters stand up like walls.
She led them with a cloud by day,
and all the night through with a glow of fire.
She split the hard rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as from the great deep.
She brought streams out of the cliff,
and the waters gushed out like rivers.
And she said to them, “This!
This is what I want you to do for your fellow Creatures!”
But they strayed from the path she had given them,
rebelling in the desert against her.
They tested her in their hearts,
demanding food for their craving.
They railed against her and said,
“Can you set a table in the wilderness?
True, she struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed;
but are you able to give bread
or to provide meat for her creatures?”
When Thea heard this,
a fire ignited in her heart,
For they had no faith in Thea;
how could they possibly have faith in themselves?
So she commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
She rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
So mortals ate the bread of angels;
she provided for them food enough.
She caused the east wind to blow in the heavens
and led out the south wind by her might.
She rained down flesh upon them like dust
and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
She let it fall in the midst of their camp
and round about their dwellings.
So they are and were well filled,
for she gave them what they craved.
But they did not believe in her promise,
that her power to work miracles was also their power.
They remained steadfast in their stubbornness
and had no faith in her wonderful works.
Then Thea woke as though from sleep,
like a warrior refreshed with wine.
She set her eyes on her Creatures,
whom she had always loved;
And she whispered in their hearts once more,
that they might recognize their true calling, their deepest yearning,
and become her miracle-working hands and feet and heart in the world.
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