Psalm Meditation 829
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 8, 2016

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)

We are not the first generation, and we are not likely to be the last that calls something faithfulness to God that is actually pretty far from the faith to which God calls us and we claim to respond. God has a soft spot for the downtrodden, the oppressed and the excluded so when someone claims that God supports the person/people in power it is likely not the voice of God that is being heard. When our God wants us to be rich, to have everything our little hearts desire, it is not the God of Abraham and Sarah.

We do our best to make it sound as if we are the downtrodden as folks begin to question and challenge our power position. Even then we are not the downtrodden and oppressed for whom God’s heart beats. When we look up at those in power and know that it is a matter of time before we trade places with them we are not in the forefront of God’s mind and heart. The word of God is not for those whose power is waxing or waning it is for those for whom power is a foreign concept.

The word, power and presence of God are for those whose voices are not heard in the halls of power. The chances are good that if you are reading this the word of God is not directed in your favor. There is a voice around you whispering a need. God hears it and invites us to quiet our power seeking, power challenging rhetoric long enough to hear the voices drowned out by our rancor. ‘Be still and know that I am God’ is also an invitation to be still in order to hear the voices of the people of God.

May 2, 2016
LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/