Psalm Meditation 1193 ¶Fourth Sunday of Easter ¶April 30, 2023 ¶Psalm 53 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+53&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶It is easy to pass judgement on those with whom we disagree. These days we can find folks on any side of a question ready to brand those with whom they disagree as fools, and worse We brand others as deluded sheep who follow along innocently behind leaders we see as wrong. One way to look at this is to imagine a favorite book, play, or movie as if it were told from the other side of the action. Suddenly, your favorite protagonist is now the villain when the story is told from the perspective of those we have so readily despised in the original version. As we are able to do this, we begin to see that things are not always as cut and dried as we would like them to be. ¶The psalmist says that God looks on us and wonders if there is any wisdom at all among those made in God’s image. The psalmist sees ’those people’ as the ones God plans to reform or destroy, however we each have attitudes and behaviors that could use adjustment, especially in our dealings with those with whom we disagree. It is interesting that we see ourselves as on the side of God and ’those people’ on the side of evil. In a play about the American Civil War, there is a scene in which two generals readying to face each other on the battlefield pray the same prayer that God will be will ’us’ and help us to destroy ’them.’ ¶As we begin to cast judgement on those with whom we disagree, we do well to pause and ask ourselves if they have any goodness on their side. Are we guilty of some sin in the past that they are finally in a position to avenge? Have we judged someone as evil when they are simply different? Is God on our side alone or does God love them as intensely as God loves us? Is it possible that God would rather teach us to wring the evil out of ourselves than pick which one of us deserves to be eradicated from the presence of God? ¶April 24, 2023 ¶LCM