Psalm Meditation 1315 ¶Proper 17 ¶August 31, 2025 ¶Psalm 41 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2041&version=NRSVUE ¶I am not sure that ‘Happy’ is the best translation for the first word of this psalm. The people I know who consider the poor are not usually happy about what they find. They find people who are dishonored, disrespected, made to feel invisible just to name a few. Those who consider the poor have to contend with those who believe that poverty is a sign of laziness, a choice if you will. If not a choice, it is a punishment for some sin of those in poverty, rather than those who really are the cause of the poverty; the greedy and selfish among us. ¶A better word is blessed. To be blessed is to be honored by God. Those who consider the poor are doing the work that God calls each of us to do. That often means being scorned by those who blame the poor for their poverty. In some cases it means becoming a target for that same scorn. It is as if helping people out of poverty means that there will be less for ‘me’ as ‘those people’ take too much for themselves as ‘I’ have always done. However, God gives courage and wholeness to those who do the work of God. ¶Martin Luther King Jr said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." We are called to be active in participating in that arcing of the moral universe as we do what we can to eliminate the impediments to justice that continually rise to confront us. As we serve the of steadfast love, we make it possible for the poor, the weak to stand and rise by their own courage and power. ¶August 25, 2025 ¶LCM