Psalm Meditation 1350 ¶Fifth Sunday of Easter ¶May 3, 2026 ¶Psalm 74 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2074&version=NRSVUE ¶One of the most effective ways to demoralize a nation is to destroy their religious buildings and monuments, especially if there is a single state religion. Barring that, it is important to influence the strength of one of the larger religious groups to become the most powerful in the nation. Through political influence and media concentration on that one group, it begins to seem obvious that this is the religion that controls the nation. Once established, that religion becomes a means to destabilize the national order. ¶Israel already had their national faith, so adversaries had only to get to wreak havoc with those monuments and buildings to humiliate the whole nation. Destroying the Temple from the outside in, was a form of intimidation by letting the people know that God’s inability to protect the dwelling place of God, meant that God could not protect the people any better. While it has often been a weapon of war, the people of Israel could not be as easily cowed as other peoples. ¶Maybe the reason God commanded that there be no graven images for this chosen people was to keep faith in peoples’ hearts rather than in buildings, monuments, and images. In the midst of bemoaning the destruction of the Temple, the psalmist lifts up great deeds that God has done for and around the people. It is the creative activity of God in all of creation that is the real Temple, the real assurance of the presence of God in all things, all times, and all places no matter what else happens to those who call on the name of the LORD. ¶April 27, 2026 ¶LCM