Psalm Meditation 799
Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 11, 2015

Psalm 120
1 In my distress I cry to the LORD, that he may answer me:
2 “Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.”
3 What shall be given to you? And what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents of Kedar.
6 Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
(NRSV)

I don’t know what the psalmist means with these verses, however the last two speak to me of being in a minority on an important topic. For the psalmist, it is being for peace in a time of war. Once talk of war begins the voice of peace is a very unpopular one; even if it is the more sensible course it is drowned out by the sabre rattling of those who want war. War and peace is one of several topics in which it is difficult to be in the minority, especially when it feels as if it is a minority of one.

In some cases the lone voice need only speak out to discover that there are others who agree and kept silent out of fear. Those others were so sure that they were alone it was easier to go along than to speak out. Two or three may still be a minority, however a dissenting group of two or three is stronger than a solo voice and stronger still than one suffering in silence.

The voice of God rarely booms with the authority of the majority. The way of God is rarely the easy way.

October 5, 2015
LCM