Psalm Meditation 1265 ¶Proper 19 ¶September 15, 2024 ¶Psalm 125 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+125&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶We like to think that God is like we are when it comes to rules. Those who follow the rules get rewarded and those who don’t get punished. It isn’t even about winning and losing, it is that eventually the bad people get found out and pay the price for the bad stuff they have done and the good people get some kind of good stuff as a thank you and acknowledgment for doing the right thing more often than not. After all, it’s only fair that punishments and rewards match our behaviors, even if it isn’t right away. ¶But what if God is not like we are? What if God treats us as if we are each beloved children. We reap the consequences of our actions for good and ill, while being loved beyond our understanding. So, God won’t lead ‘those’ people into places of fire and isolation any more than God will lead one of us to a place like that. God will discipline (teach) us how to be the people we are called to be and lead us toward a life of loving community together with all on whom God lays a lovin claim. You know, everybody. ¶While it is human to believe that we are good and all of ‘those’ people who are not like us are bad, that doesn’t seem to be the way God works among us. God desires that we be drawn into the ever expanding circle of those who know they are loved by God. That way certainly is not the ‘right’ way by our standards of fairness, and yet God does seem to love us as well as those we don’t like, including those who don’t/can’t/won’t acknowledge God’s claim on their lives for whatever reason. ¶September 9, 2024 ¶LCM