Psalm Meditation 1050
Proper 13
August 2, 2020

Psalm 112
1 Praise the Lord! Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his commandments.
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.
4 They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with those who deal generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved; they will be remembered forever.
7 They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord.
8 Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.
9 They have distributed freely, they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.
10 The wicked see it and are angry; they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing.
(NRSV)
We are used to being the star of our own story, so when we step into God’s story we naturally assume the role of protagonist. Of course we delight in the commandments of the Lord. Of course we are mighty in the land, upright, wealthy and righteous. We stand firm in the ways of God and we expect to come out on top in all disagreements, arguments, and disputes. We have every intention of being the very best at following in the footsteps God has mapped out for good folks like us.

What if this is not about us? Not that we are bad people, just that we leave out some of what God lays out for righteous folk. We not only leave it out, we flat out ignore it. We are okay with bringing up our children the way we were brought up, properly. It is the parts about helping others that we could do without. The part about distributing freely and giving to the poor rankles a bit. We worked hard to get what we have and none of those lazy poor people deserve any of what we worked so hard to get. Except for that pesky part about sharing with others is part of what it means to be righteous.

It is easy to deflect this critique, to make excuses for what we have and have not done for the sake of others. And God calls us to the hard work of taking off our rose colored glasses to look at ourselves in the clear light of day. Chances are pretty good that we are not as righteous and upright as we want to be. And we are just as guilty as the people we gossip and trash talk about. If we read the Psalms as if they are teaching us, disciplining us, moving us off of our normal track we will see that God loves to lead us toward what it means to be a conscious, aware, and active child of God.

July 27, 2020
LCM