Psalm Meditation 1148 ¶Proper 7 ¶June 19, 2022 ¶Psalm 26 1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind. 3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. 4 I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites; 5 I hate the company of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. 6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, 7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and telling all your wondrous deeds. 8 O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell and the place where your glory abides. 9 Do not sweep me away with sinners nor my life with the bloodthirsty, 10 those in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me. 12 My foot stands on level ground; in the great congregation I will bless the LORD. (NRSV) ¶The good part about avoiding worthless, hypocritical, wicked evildoers is that we are unlikely to be influenced by them. We can continue in our innocence and purity to the end of our days. We live as those who are already in the presence of God, waiting for the day we are presented with our robes and wings, with a pass key into the pearly gates. We get to keep our clothes and our hands clean, since we refuse contact with anything that might leave a stain on us. ¶The difficult part of sitting with worthless, hypocritical, wicked evildoers is that those prone to judgment will come to number us among the folks in these categories. We will be judged as ‘less than’ by all the folks who live the ivory tower existence of innocence and purity. Our hands are dirty, our clothes are stained and disheveled, and we are more readily tempted to take the easy way, knowing that it leads where no one really wants to go. ¶Interestingly, God demonstrates in word and action a willingness to live and work among those we can so easily look down on. We hear and see that the place for God’s people is in and among those most in need of rescue from the easy way out. We can offer our ‘thoughts and prayers’ to those in need, however we are our best selves when we also offer our hearts and hands to change the systems that keep folks in a position of need. There is a place for purity and innocence. There is an important place for dirty hands, doing the work of God among those most in need of God. ¶June 13, 2022 ¶LCM