Psalm Meditation 1168 ¶All Saints Sunday ¶November 6, 2022 ¶Psalm 22 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+22&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶If I say, “Aaaaas youuuuuu wiiiiiish,” or, “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die.” many of us will instantly think of the movie ‘The Princess Bride.’ Those two lines will remind us not only of the scenes in which those lines are spoken, but the whole movie. When Jesus spoke the first line of this psalm from the cross, the effect was the same for those witnesses who were familiar with Hebrew Scripture. One of my First Testament professors said, “Given his circumstance, his economy of language is understandable.” Jesus did not have to recite the whole psalm to bring it to the minds of those who knew it. ¶If we do not know it as the first line of the psalm, we see it as a cry of despair and abandonment, Jesus feeling the full weight of the world pressing down on his wrists and ankles. But there is more to the story. Yes, there is the despair, even wondering why God helped people in the past and not ‘me’ in this time of pain and suffering. There is also the word of hope that God will rescue and redeem those who are faithful in times of affliction and death. God will provide for those unable to provide for themselves for any number of reasons. ¶In our times of despair and abandonment God is with us. We may be hard pressed to say where God is, however God is with us in the good, the bad, and the in between times. A statement in Latin attributed to the Delphic oracle says, “Vocatus atque non vocatus deus aderit.” “Bidden or not bidden God is present.” It reminds us that we don’t have to call on God or even believe in God for the divine presence to be at work in and around us. Especially this week of All Saints it is good to remember that we are not abandoned or forsaken even in our suffering. ¶November 2, 2022 ¶LCM