Psalm Meditation 1197 ¶Pentecost ¶May 28, 2023 ¶Psalm 81 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+81&version=NRSVUE (NRSV) ¶Though most of us hate to be punished for anything, we are okay with God punishing us as long as it also means that our enemies suffer humiliations galore at some point in the future, and we are back to being God’s favorites once again. We like to know that God is really on our side. Anything bad that may happen to us is punishment for some sin we may have committed inadvertently, or even purposefully. We want to know that we are special, and that all the people we don’t like are on God’s naughty list. ¶We conveniently forget that God is not our special property. If we are set apart, it is not something we have earned it is something that God has chosen to do for us. My guess is that every faith and religion is of the opinion that God has a special claim on them/us, and has a special mission for them/us. We each want our relationship with God to be exclusive, that we are the only ones to have God’s attention and affection. What if, God loves each and all of us as if we were unique and specially set apart for some task and purpose? Like spokes in a bicycle wheel, we come from and go to separate places in order to fulfill the special function we have. ¶It would be good if we could see each other as companions on the journey with wide variations in our relationship with God and with each other. God does want to subdue our enemies, however not in the way we are used to having that happen. God wants us to submit to the power of relationship that allows us to get along even as we disagree in all manner of things. Rather than vying to destroy each other, I believe God would like to gather us at the table of companionship where, “I would feed you[d] with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” ¶May 23, 2023 ¶LCM