Psalm Meditation 602
First Sunday After Christmas
January 1, 2012

Psalm 15
1 O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the Lord; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
(NRSV)

For such a short psalm, this one packs a pretty big punch. As I read it, no one gets in since each of us has done one or more of these things at least once. Even worse for us, when we do these things we find a way to justify it to ourselves so that we can proclaim ourselves innocent of the very sins that drive us nuts in others. I have noticed that some of those who get upset about other people gossiping can hold their own pretty well when the conversation turns to someone they know.

So if no one can abide in the tent of the Lord, how is it that so many of us believe that we are already at the doorstep waiting our turn to go in? For me, the answer lies not in our deserving so much as in God’s love for us. In Hebrew the word for that steadfast love is chesed. Christians are more familiar with the Greek word, grace. Through God’s love for us more than anything we have done to deserve it we will find a place in the tent of our God.

As we make resolutions to be better people at the beginning of the year, or any other time we make those kinds of resolutions, we can convince ourselves that we can, by our own effort, be the kind of people with whom God wants to be seen. Or we can put ourselves into the gracious hands of God recognizing that we cannot do enough to earn God’s favor. Through God’s steadfast, welcoming love we are given a place in God’s tent.

© December 26, 2011