Psalm Meditation 806
First Sunday of Advent
November 29, 2015

Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all day long.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.
11 They say, “Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.”
12 O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all day long, though their number is past my knowledge.
16 I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power
19 and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
20 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my honor, and comfort me once again.
22 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.
24 All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help, for those who tried to do me harm have been put to shame, and disgraced.
(NRSV)

A teddy bear, a body pillow, a friend, a significant other, a spouse; just a few of the things and people we grab onto for comfort in times of stress and trial. The psalmist calls God a rock and a fortress which are good strong, immoveable images when strength and protection are required. Strength is not always found in hard, cold places. There are times in which we gather strength in the softness of a loving touch or the warmth of another. (even if that warmth is simply our own reflected back to us from a teddy bear or pillow.) Whatever the source, whatever the image there is strength and restoration in the company of another.

Often it is those least able to ask for help who are most in need of it. The silent nerdy types are the best targets for those who grasp and pick and bully those around them. Because they are more withdrawn in a variety of ways they are easier marks for those who look for people who ‘deserve’ to be picked apart. The recipients of the grasping, picking and bullying don’t have the interest or wherewithal to make friends and connections so they are already isolated from a larger community. They have no one to stand with them against ‘the hand of the wicked.’

These are the people held in God’s heart. The downcast and the outcast are dear to God; if for no other reason than that they are dear to so few others. The presence of God does not make the grasping, picking and bullying any less relentless than before, it can make the sting of it all more bearable. To know that one is precious in the eyes, mind and heart of God makes one better able to suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.’ Being aware of God’s love also opens a person to the love of the community of God’s people. To be in community with others give us hope, strength and a voice of our own, all of which we can use for ourselves and for others.

November 23, 2015
LCM