Psalm Meditation 530
Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 15, 2010

Psalm 125
1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous might not stretch out their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways the LORD will lead away with evildoers. Peace be upon Israel!
(NRSV)

In biblical times and for some people today, God rewards goodness and punishes evil. So, if you are sick or you lose your job or things aren’t going well for you it is because God is mad at you and probably for something you did that was upsetting to God. As far as the health of the nation, that all depends on the goodness or wickedness of the leader. If the economy is good and the nation is at peace all must be right between God and the ruler. If the nation is doing badly in the current war and the economy is suffering it must be that God is upset with the current ruler.

While this is a comforting solution it does fly in the face of a God who chooses to love us no matter what. If it all comes down to our actions relative to the will of God for us we can always find actions to support our viewpoint. God has ample reason to be both pleased and annoyed by any person, group or nation to justify a perception of God’s wrath or favor. There is a place for personal responsibility for our actions summed up in the idea that we are punished by our sin more than we are punished for our sin. There is also a strong place for God actively and constantly seeking to draw us into ever deeper relationship.

As we concentrate on things that lead us away from the will and way of God we are less open to recognize the presence of God in our lives. As we are less aware of God’s presence our choices become more limited and less lofty. We find ourselves looking out for a limited and homogenous group of concerns and people. Through it all, God continues to love us and to invite us to make broader and deeper choices that lead to wholesome relationships and to a deep and abiding peace with God, others and within ourselves.

© August 9, 2010