Sermon, Psalm 82

This sermon is the second of three I delivered in the summer of 2024. I was happy with everything except for the title. I should have called it "Ignore the Little Gods." The video for my sermon starts at about 23 minutes. I will note that my stated goal was for the sermon to last 20 minutes, and my final time was about half an hour. But hey, on YouTube you can speed up the playback. Feel free to do so, or to not listen at all. 

As usual, the actual sermon I delivered on the day was a little different from this manuscript. Losing my place in the reading, responding to the energy of the congregation, and just plain misspeaking are the main culprits. Finding the differences between the manuscript and the video recording I leave as an exercise for you, dear reader. 

Psalm 82: The Obstacles in Front of Us

Robert Sack July 28^th, 2024

Holy Joy English Worship Service

God has taken his place in the divine council;

in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

“How long will you judge unjustly

and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;

maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

they walk about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I said, “You are gods,

sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,

and fall like any prince.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth;

for you shall inherit all the nations!        Psalm 82:1-8

Prayer

God who gives justice, Spirit who gives life, Jesus who gives salvation, bring your gifts to us your people, amen.

Introduction

When Frank and I decided to preach a series on the Psalms, Psalm 82 was not on my radar at all. It came up in one of my daily devotionals, and it immediately got my attention because of the following:

1. To modern eyes and ears, it is weird. Like, really weird. This “divine council” sounds like Greek mythology, with Zeus and Hera and Poseidon and all the other gods sitting around in togas talking about whatever gods talk about.

2. It’s also kind of cool. Like they could have snuck some of this into a Marvel movie and no one would have noticed.

3. Honestly, I didn’t understand this psalm after reading it just once. Or twice. On my own, it was just too confusing, like one of those puzzle boxes where you need to know the trick for opening it. I needed help to get through this one.

4. Since when do we believe that other gods exist? How do we deal with Our God talking to other gods when we believe that Our God is the only god?

5. How is this relevant to us today? Again, It feels old and weird and mythical, not connected to modern life at all.

To some people, these would be reasons to avoid talking about a passage of scripture. But I like unlocking a tricky door, especially if I can bring a bunch of friends through it with me. One of my goals today is to connect your life directly to this weird, old song. I’m going to start with a little direct interpretation by translation.

Translation

My first translation trick will be choosing different words. Words that are easier for us to understand. You can already find many different translations of this Psalm, online or in books. I am just taking what I like from them and trying to make the ideas clearer for us. It’s not my goal to replace the words of the Bible, but to help us to understand them better.

My second translation trick will be assigning the words to different physical characters, so it’s easier for us to see who is talking, and to whom they are speaking. Psalm 82 has three characters. The first character is a narrator who helps to explain what is happening. I will be the narrator. The second character is God. Igor has graciously agreed to help me out by reading the part of God. This was a big thing to ask, and I am very grateful to him. Thank you, Igor. The third part in Psalm 82 is the gods of the divine council. These gods never speak. You, the congregation, will play that part. Your only job is to be silent, as God speaks to you. Just like in the psalm. So, let’s begin:

Narrator: Your attention, please. The LORD has called for a trial! The LORD will be judging… the gods of the Divine Council. The LORD is about to speak!

God: [to congregation] Listen up, you “gods”: How long will you judge without justice, and do favors for the wicked?

[waits silently]

Your job is to give justice to the weak, to care for orphans, to protect the victims and the poor, to help those in need, to save them from the wicked! So do it!

God: [to Narrator] I called them gods, but like people, they shall die. Every power on Earth comes to an end. They will also come to an end.

Narrator: Do it, God! Judge them and judge the Earth! The whole world belongs to you!

It really helped me to understand Psalm 82 when I visualized it, and I hope that it helps you as well.

Vocabulary: “little gods”

I don’t want to go too far into the weeds on the word “God” today, so I’ll keep this short. “God” in verse one, is sometimes translated as “The LORD” in all capital letters, which means Yahweh, I AM. I will use “The LORD,” in this sermon to refer to the God who we usually talk about in church. I have decided to refer to the gods of this Divine Council as “little gods,” to distinguish them from The LORD. “Little” reflects both the spelling, which you can’t hear, and The LORD’s judgment on them.

Worship

The very idea of “little gods” brings us naturally to my biggest question: why does Psalm 82 talk about these other gods, when we believe that The LORD is the one and only true God? One answer, (and I believe there is more than one answer to this question), one answer lies in worship. Not just “worship” in the sense of a worship service, like this one, but something simpler.

By “worship,” I mean spending time and resources on things that we don’t need to survive. We consider some things more important than others. We even build our lives around some of them. The list of things that humans worship is long and varied. It includes entertainment, pleasure, family, friends, power over others, perfection, comfort, beauty, social status, and sometimes even The Lord. Nobody can worship just one thing. We divide our worship among this and that, mixing different targets.

Some things we worship as individuals, and some things we worship together, in groups. We will have to talk about individual worship some other time. Once again, my goal is to keep this under 20 minutes, and Psalm 82 is really about collective worship.

A Note on Psalms

I’ve talked about this before, but I want to remind you that a Psalm is a song, and a song is a kind of poem. Poems use imagery, which we all saw earlier. Images in a poem often stand in for other things, and invite interpretation. Which is what I am doing now.

Collective Worship

I believe that these “little gods” are some of the things that society worships collectively. In other words, a large number of people believe and focus on them. A society can collectively worship “freedom,” or “creativity,” or “loyalty,” or “control.” Or even K-Pop! Another word for this collective worship is culture! For example, Americans worship “Independence,” so much so that we have a holiday in July named after it that we celebrate with explosions!

These Little gods are not inherently bad, until they receive too much power. The little god “freedom” does not automatically make trouble. But when “freedom” has too much power, its worshipers refuse to wear face masks during a pandemic. Then “freedom” is walking around in the dark, causing chaos. I love the little god “creativity” and often give my time and resources to it. But when the worshipers of “creativity” make up stories that incite violence against a group of people, then the little god creativity is shaking the foundations of the earth.

The “foundations of the earth” in verse 5 of this poem are not the land on which we build our cities. The true foundations are The Lord’s values: Justice and Peace. In Psalm 82, The LORD is judging the little gods based on how the weakest people in society are treated.

Bad little gods

Any of the little gods can get out of control, but some of the little gods are born troublemakers. People do judge others without justice. People do give favor to the wicked. But why? What drives this kind of injustice? What makes people help a bad person and punish a good person? Why would we say that someone who hurts other people is a good person?

In Biblical (and modern) times, injustice is often driven by greed: a wicked person with money can hire the best lawyers, drag out trials, and avoid spending time in jail, while poor people can be thrown in jail for not paying a fine. In other words, we punish people for being poor. This is the behavior that The LORD is scolding in verse 2.

Let me share a more complicated, modern example. I am reading a book, called “Stolen Focus,” about why people today, like you and me, have so much trouble thinking and interacting with each other.

One reason that people have gotten worse at social interactions is because of our favorite social media companies. There is a company that hosts videos for free, on which you may be watching this sermon. When they suggest the next video for you to watch, they use algorithms. These algorithms do not think, they just notice what makes people stay on the website or in the app. Do you know what kind of videos make most people stay longer? Videos that make you angry or afraid. Fear and anger make most people want to watch more.

There are social media sites that let you share your personal news with others. If you do not search for specific news, guess what they show you? That’s right, news that makes you upset. Because when you are upset, you stay.

The owners and programmers know that these algorithms are not good for our mental health. They know that their products are tearing society apart, distracting people from positive parts of their lives, and making them believe lies. They are shaking the foundations of the world. Ask the owners and programmers if they allow their children free access to social media. They don’t. They know that they are pouring poison into the well of society.

Why do they do it? Why do we let them do it? Why do we reward them by using their apps, investing in their stocks, and not making laws to cut off the poison at its source?

The answer is simple: Because they make money. They make lots of money. Advertisers know that if they sell ads on these platforms, they will bring in piles of money. People use these platforms because they are free, so they save money. New laws are passed or shot down depending on who spends the most money. Money is the little god at the center of this, and many other problems. Money has become a powerful little god, and it is hurting everyone. Everyone except the people who have a lot of money, that is.

Of course, money is not the only bad little god in our world. Fear, prejudice, popularity, control. I’m sure you can think of others.

God’s Judgment

But there is good news: The LORD has judged these little gods, and condemned them to death. The world was founded on Wisdom, and these little gods have neither knowledge nor understanding. The world began with Light, and these little gods are walking about in darkness, shaking the foundations of the world. The LORD will not tolerate it. The trouble that humans have made for themselves will not last forever. On the other hand, God has not yet wiped them out. We are still dealing with these little gods today.

So what hope do we have for the present? What can we do right now? I believe that the answer is in the word we use to describe ourselves. What religion are we?

The Witness of Jesus

What does the word “Christian” mean to you? The dictionary says a Christian is someone who believes the teachings of Jesus. Which is okay, I guess. But the original Greek word, Christianos, means someone who follows the messiah. Not just someone who believes that Jesus was really cool and awesome, but someone who follows Jesus, trying to do what Jesus did, the way that Jesus did it.

Jesus is The LORD’s demonstration of how a god walks the earth properly. Jesus did not stumble around blindly, leaving a trail of broken people behind him. Jesus followed the trail of broken people left by the little gods. His eyes were open to the pain and suffering of humans, and he was moved by it. When Jesus saw pain, he brought healing. When Jesus saw hunger, he gave bread. And when Jesus saw people who were being crushed by the weight of their sins, he forgave them.

You know, Jesus actually quotes Psalm 82 when the Pharisees accuse him of blasphemy, for claiming to be the son of God. I believe that Jesus is taking his place as a proper role model, showing what it means to walk the earth in peace.

Don’t forget what Jesus said from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” We don’t realize that we are creating and maintaining these little gods. Little gods that can, and do, crush us.

Our Choices

The little gods are doomed. The LORD will surely prevail. In the meantime, we are caught in the middle, between the chaos that we have created, and a savior that we don’t deserve. We do have a choice, though: to side with The LORD, or to embrace the little gods that we have created.

My family has tried to live without worshiping this little god, money. It is hard. It has caused us problems. It is causing us problems now.

As a society, we rarely stop to ask some very important questions: Why is money more important than happiness, health, and safety? Why does our society believe that money is more important? Why do so many people agree to push our children so hard to get into the best schools, so that they can get the best jobs, so that they can have the best lives; even though most people agree that justice and mercy, kindness and humility, are worth more than money?

Standing with The LORD in opposition to the little gods will cost you. It may cost you friends, money, or reputation. Just remember that The LORD has already declared victory over the little gods.

Conclusion

At first glance, Psalm 82 looks like nothing more than an irrelevant, old, mythical play. It is old, and it is mythical, but it is anything but irrelevant to us today. It gives us the language and framework to better understand the struggle for the world that we are living in.

You may have noticed that Psalm 82 is written in the present tense, as though the action were happening right now. Right now as in when the Psalmist wrote it, but also right now as in July of 2024! The kingdom of Heaven is at hand! The psalmist saw it and proclaimed it, and we also see it and proclaim it!

The little gods of ancient Israel are not that different from our little gods today. We make, give power, and bow down to these little gods by agreeing together that we will not examine them too closely. We all get behind Aaron and his story about the golden calf walking out of the fire on its own. We collectively buy into the lie that the way things are is just the way they have to be.

The little gods will not prevail, because Our God, The LORD, the great I AM, has told us that they will fall. The question for you is, will you cling to the little gods as they are being destroyed? Or will you live as though they were already gone?

Prayer

Lord, the victory is yours. We can neither help you nor stop you. Give us the wisdom and strength to turn away from the little gods. Open our eyes to see the beauty in you. Open our hearts to feel the pleasure of your love. Open our hands to share your love with those around us. Amen.

Sermon, Psalm 78

Here is my latest project, the first of three sermons I will be delivering this summer.

The sermon itself is about 30 minutes long, and starts only a minute or so into the video. In the church service, I played my euphonium with the praise team, and there were prayers and other stuff. I enjoy playing my horn during church, but I think it's just a bit too much to do it on Sundays when I am preaching. It wasn't too stressful, but it did not leave time for me to talk to people before the service.

Here is my manuscript. There's a little adlibbing in the recording, but the main ideas stick pretty closely to the script.

The Path Behind Us: Psalm 78

July 14th, 2024

Ttangkkeut Church Holy Joy English Service

Introduction

When Frank and I decided to do a series on Psalms, I already had this one in mind: Psalm 78. The first two verses were memory verses at my previous church, and I took delight in memorizing them:

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old…

I love words in general. Nothing makes me quite as happy as expressing an idea as perfectly as possible, introducing my thoughts into your mind using nothing more than these clumsy sounds that come out of my mouth, or a combination of letters on a page.

I also love it when someone else does the same thing. I love reading, and can easily be taken to far places and times by words on the page. And these words from our scripture today, words about words, about ”dark sayings from of old,” and inclining your ears… I found them almost magical. An invitation to visit a world very different from our own.

So I have had Psalm 78 in mind for a long time. I even set out to memorize the whole thing. I got a little more than halfway through before giving it up in favor of just being able to read it on my phone whenever I want to. This is an enormous privilege, which all of us share. However, for most of history, people have not had easy, immediate access to the words of the Bible. Which leads us to the purpose of Psalm 78.

On the Path

The first commentary I looked at told me what I already knew: this is a history Psalm. (The second commentary basically said, “No, it isn’t!” but I’m trying to keep this sermon under 20 minutes. Maybe next time.) In a time when most people were not literate, stories and songs were the best way to share history and identity. For people to know who they were. You couldn’t take home a history book, much less look up things on the internet. What you could do was sing along with everyone, the way we sing together here. In fact, our singing today also helps us to know who we are:

“In His Time,” a reminder of God’s patience.

“Here is Love,” a reminder of God’s love.

“Here I Am, Lord,” a reminder that we are called to action, and

“I Love to Tell the Story,” a reminder that stories like Psalm 78 are at the heart of who we are: God’s People.

Sometimes all we need is a small reminder, a sign, but in the long run, we need to hear stories about how other people connect with God.

To be clear, if you are sitting here in church today, or watching on YouTube, or reading my words, there is a path that brought you here. That path is a testament to the faith of God, just as Psalm 78 is. In fact, to some people, your path will mean more than this path from 3000 years ago. For someone who does not already trust the Bible, your path will be a believable testimony, because you are standing right there, talking about what you have experienced. And of course, part of your experience will be with the Bible itself, and learning to trust it. Learning to see that you and I are on the same path that Israel was on so many, many years ago.

The Meaning of Parable

So Psalm 78 is a “History” Psalm, a partial map of how God literally traveled with Israel. It is important to remember that history is never just a list of facts or events. The point of history, especially in pre-modern times, was to form identity. To send a message. Maybe more than one. Therefore we know that the Psalmist has chosen the events of this song carefully. 

I want to draw your attention to the words “parable” and “dark sayings.” There is some disagreement as to what exactly these words mean, but most scholars agree that it has something to do with wisdom, and parables often hide wisdom in stories. The wisdom of Psalm 78 is not spelled out for us, but we can be sure that something is there. We are forced to work to find meaning in this story. 

Or maybe one of us works for it, then shares his ideas with everyone. Maybe standing in front of a group of people on a Sunday afternoon. In other words, if you read Psalm 78 as I asked you to do, and saw little more than a short version of Exodus and a hint of Joshua and Samuel, you are not alone. But in boiling all this history down to a handful of scenes, the Psalmist calls our attention to some important lessons.

God’s Mercy at Work

When I say a handful of scenes, I mean about 15, not including the introduction. I divided Psalm 78 into scenes so that almost every scene has just one action. And there are really only two actors in this drama: God, and God’s People, Israel. King David and Egypt are mentioned, but Egypt is just a memory, and David is more of a promise at the end. 

So 15 scenes. As I summarized each scene, it struck me that each could be put into one of three categories, with only slight variation in detail.

1. The People Rebel against God. They disobey God (9-11), they test God by doubting out loud that God will give them what they need (17-20), they do not seek God (32-37), they grieve and provoke God (40-41), and they turn away from God, worshiping idols (56-58). Five scenes in total.

2. God gets angry. First, he is full of wrath and a fire is kindled, but God does not act on this anger. (21-22) The second time, he kills “the strongest of them.” His anger goes out, but not to all of the people. The third time is a memory of the plagues that God delivered on Egypt, which the people had forgotten. I did not count the forgetting as one of their rebellions, but I could have. The last anger of God in Psalm 78 is in response to their idols, when God abandoned his dwelling place at Shiloh and his people. This is the messy time before Saul becomes King. (59-64) Altogether God’s anger is expressed in four scenes.

3. God shows mercy and gives grace in seven scenes. God establishes the nation of Israel (5-7). God leads the people out of Egypt, parts the Red Sea, manifests as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and gives them water in the desert (12-16). God gave them food abundantly (23-29). God atoned for them, and restrained his anger (38+39). God redeemed Israel from Egypt (42-51). God led the people to the Promised Land (52-55). God kicked out the invaders (65-66) and chose David to shepherd God’s flock (70-72).

Your count for God’s Grace may be different from mine, and that’s fine. Remember, I have a message as well. But it is clear to me that the psalmist is drawing our attention to the grace and mercy of God above all else. In this Psalm, the people never do right by God. They certainly do not earn God’s Grace and Mercy. The only thing that they do right is following God out of Egypt, but the emphasis in Psalm 78 is on God leading them out of Egypt.

The Affect on God

I believe that the Psalmist included God’s anger here in part to show the depth and breadth of God’s Grace. We all understand that it is much harder to be kind to someone you are angry at. The psalmist is showing that Israel was really getting on God’s nerves, which makes God’s patience all the more amazing. But the most moving part for me was verse 40.

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!

They grieved God, as we so often do. Yes, it’s time to put ourselves where we belong in this story: grieving God in the wilderness.

God is Always Faithful

In my youth, I found the story of Israel’s behavior during and after the Exodus to be puzzling: How could they see God’s hand at work and still doubt? Let’s read together (verses 12-16):

In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders

    in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

He divided the sea and let them pass through it,

    and made the waters stand like a heap.

In the daytime he led them with a cloud,

    and all the night with a fiery light.

He split rocks in the wilderness

    and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

He made streams come out of the rock

    and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Walking across the bottom of the Red Sea! Water in the desert, enough for thousands of people and their animals to drink! Remember, they came out of Egypt, where water was the center of life! The Egyptians worshiped the Nile and structured their lives around its seasons. But now Israel is following a God who simply pushes the sea out of the way, and pulls life from rocks!

On top of that, God literally led them as a column of smoke by day and fire by night! Think about that: for most of the Bible, God is invisible. But for weeks God was directly in front of these people, leading them out of captivity by completely humiliating the most powerful nation of their time! But what is their response? (verses 17-20)

Yet they sinned still more against him,

    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

They tested God in their heart

    by demanding the food they craved.

They spoke against God, saying,

    “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

He struck the rock so that water gushed out

    and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

    or provide meat for his people?”

As a child, I did not understand this cynical attitude. Children easily believe that their parents can do anything, because their parents have already done everything for them. But as we get older, we see that our parents can’t do everything. We may even doubt that they can actually do anything.

We do this with God. Instead of focusing on what God has done for us, we list all the things that God has not done for us: a bigger apartment, a nicer car, a better job, children that behave perfectly. We forget that God has given us a place to live, the means to move around, work that sustains us, and a family to love.

I have not just seen this over and over, I have lived it. I have felt God’s love, grace and peace in my life, and later doubted. I have seen wonders in the desert, yet asked, “Can God make a way for me?” When there was sand in my shoes, and I had nothing to drink but water from a rock, and nothing to eat but the bread of heaven, I dared to look around and say, “If there really is a God, can’t he do better than this?”

And what is God’s response? (verses 38-39) Please read with me:

Yet he, being compassionate,

    atoned for their iniquity

    and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

    and did not stir up all his wrath.

He remembered that they were but flesh,

    a wind that passes and comes not again.

Conclusion

Psalm 78 is an amazing poem, a window with a broad view of the story of God and humans. It reminds us that most stories involving God are anything but straightforward. Walter Brueggeman writes that, “In recital of memory there is hope for the future.” Psalm 78 reminds us of that hope. 

Though we can never fully appreciate the artistry and beauty of this song, we can appreciate, and take heart in, the themes: Whatever our failings, God is faithful. However often we turn away, God turns towards us. Even when we forget the works that God has done in our lives, God has not forgotten us. God remembers that we are but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.

 Remember your past. Remember the past of God’s people. Take hope. Amen.

So Many Firsts...

 I turned 54 years old this year, and I am still doing and experiencing new things. This should not be surprising, as my parents have led the way in doing new things in the past 20 years, including becoming involved in prison ministry, and many other things that are not my stories to tell.

But this year it has felt like the changes are dogpiling me, and it's going to get even more intense. I can't even get into all of it, but here are a few:

1. New learning management system (LMS). I've been on Google Classroom since Covid hit, with a little experience using Canvas many years before that. I was really leaning into GClass, but my university decided to drop it. So this semester I've been reacquainting myself with Canvas. It's certainly not a major change, but it does mean reconstructing a lot of tools that I had built for GClass.

2. For the past three weeks I have been experimenting with "flipping" my classroom. This will not require an extra-large spatula, or trampolines, and have not been using my middle fingers any more than usual. Instead, I am recording lectures that explain what I want students to do. They watch it as part of their homework, then do some writing to prepare for class. When they come to class, we can almost immediately start conversation exercises. My previous student talking time over two 50-minute periods per week was about 45%. This way I can push it up to around 90%. It's huge, but the prep on the video lecture is a bit rough. This is a fairly big change in mindset for me, and since I'm doing it mid-semester it's a big change for my students. Some of them hopped right on board this train, but some have dug in their heels. I may very well pay a penalty in poor student evaluations at the end of the semester for this move. Stress.

3. Last year I submitted a proposal for a new course which did not get approved. I am revamping it, and trying to make a course that will be acceptable. It's exciting, but it also falls into that "planning ahead" category which vexes me so easily. On it's own, not a big deal. Throw in a weird mental block on my part, and it is a struggle for me to not just give up on the idea and shred it to make confetti to throw at my pity party.

4. I did not max out my overtime this semester, but I'm one class short of doing so. I'm teaching nine classes with a total of about 190 students. For me that is a lot of people to deal with. Not a deal breaker on its own, but with everything else in my life this year, it's a handful of grit in the oil, just keeping track of all of those students and their assignments and their attendance and their excuses for not attending. At heart, teaching is an act of will, and even with cooperative partners, the more people you are teaching, the more willpower is required. And not all of my students are cooperating.

5. I have Mondays off from Kyungsung Universities. In the past, I've used my day off to catch up, plan, sometimes just chill out. But this year I am filling in as English teacher at the Waldorf school from which Maxine graduated and where Quinten is still attending. I teach four classes, 7th through 12th grades. The classes are not huge: the 9th and 10th grades together are my largest class at 15 students. Eleventh and 12th grades have a total of 10 students. Eighth grade has (I think) 10 and 7th grade has eight. So about 42 more students. They are fairly high energy, low ability, but also low fear and better able to focus than many of my university students, for Waldorf reasons.

6. I teach a small group of Waldorf school parents one evening a week, and attend band rehearsal on another. These insure that I am not getting enough sleep early in the week, so that I get to dose up on caffeine via my go-to beverage, the iced Americano. Which feels like it could be my nickname by the end of this year. We spend an hour working on their English, then they spend an hour working on my Korean, and it has made a huge difference for me! My Korean language skills have improved a lot in the past couple of years. 

No. That's not quite correct. I have improved my Korean a lot over the last couple of years. Which leads me to a new experience stemming from points five and six above:

Today was Teachers' Day in Korea, which is kind of a big deal. It's a government holiday, so I stayed home most of the day to get some work done. I could not attend the festivities at the Waldorf School to celebrate yesterday, but there was a local library fundraiser this evening at which I received a few cards. This year I received four cards, one each from a parent of one of the classes I teach. One was a beautiful, water-colored piece of cardstock with meticulous Korean writing on it. No envelope, so I noticed it right away and tried to read it.

Usually I breeze past messages in Korean that are longer than a sentence or two, but this one was directed at me, by a mother who I know, about her daughter, who has been doing very well in my class. I couldn't understand all of it, but I found that I was past a threshold that I did not previously realize existed: I could understand enough of the letter to get feelings from it. She told me that her daughter had been worried about having class with me and fitting in with the other kids (she went to a different school for a couple of years and just returned). The mother told me a little about what her daughter was doing in my class, which was very interesting to read, like hearing your own voice echo back out of a cave reshaped such that it might have been someone else calling out, but still recognizably my own.

I found myself moved to tears. It made me so happy that the student felt cared for, and that she shared it with her mother, who shared it with me. On top of all that, I was reading and understanding it in Korean!

As I said, it's been a stressful year, and it's only May. This letter was so refreshing, a reminder that what I do makes a difference. It's not always easy to see when you're in the trenches, so it's good to have a direct reminder from time to time. And it's the first time that I've ever been moved like this by a text written in Korean! So I am kind of proud of myself for that as well!

And now it is after 1 a.m., guaranteeing that I will not be quite at my best tomorrow. But I got this story written out before sleeping on it, topping off the whole experience with another little sense of accomplishment.