Psalm Meditation 507
Third Sunday in Lent
March 7, 2010

Psalm 146
1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!
(NRSV)

Depending on political party and nationality we each have a favorite leader who was well on the way to saving the nation and perhaps the world as this chosen one reached the end of that nearly divine term in office. And no matter who it is we have to ignore much of both their personal and political life in order to remember them so well. Many church folks have a particular pastor who means the world to them for one or more reasons. I was advised on more than one occasion that pastors grow six feet for every year they are gone and that it is a good idea to invite those saints back from time to time as a reminder of their true stature.

All this to say that as we put our trust in people we are going to be disappointed. It is also true that if we put our hopes in some future person who will make everything better we are going to find ourselves disappointed. No one person or group can fix all the problems faced by a single congregation let alone a nation or a world. Hard as it is, we do well to work together with our tensions and disagreements out in the open. Even that won’t solve or fix everything, however it does get us lots closer.

We do well to look to God for advice and counsel. God rarely reaches in to stir the pot, however God has been known to give each one of us gifts to be used in concert with the gifts of others in helpful ways. We can fight over every little thing or we can make the time and effort to listen to God and to each other for a helpful course of action. It may be that one side has it right this time and the other side gets it right another time. It may be that the answer is totally elsewhere and we simply need a moment to stop, look and listen just as we were taught in elementary school.

God loves us and wants what is best for us in all things. That does not mean that what we want is best or what God wants for us. Faithful living is not easy, however it seems to be worth the effort and may even end up being fun. “The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!”

© March 1, 2010