Psalm 146

1 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, for there is no help in them.

3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, and in that day their thoughts perish.

4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! whose hope is in the Lord their God;

5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; who keeps his promise for ever;

6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.

7 The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

8 The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.

9 The Lord shall reign for ever, your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.

Hallelujah!

(This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen. Please note that these days in the church, there are two tracks of readings in the lectionary, offering a choice of psalms. Your church may or may not have read the psalm included in this email.)

From the place of my own smugness (a rather large, comfortable, well-tended place, thank you very much), I can easily identify those Christians out there on the current political scene who might have kept Gandhi from becoming a Christian. At the same time, I wonder what he would say about my life, and the ways I am so unlike the Christ. What would he say about your life? I find myself returning to the Litany of Penitence which we hear on Ash Wednesday. It asks forgiveness for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty.

These thoughts on how we live faithfully in society, how we live with each other, were prompted by the psalm reprinted in this email, a psalm you may have heard in church yesterday. The psalm reflects a message found throughout scripture as it describes God’s character. God not only made heaven and earth, but gives justice to those who are oppressed, food to those who hunger, release for prisoners, sight to the blind, lifting up those who are bowed down, caring for the stranger, sustaining orphan and widow. In other words, caring for those the world disregards or marginalizes. We hear that message repeatedly in the psalms. 

Jesus is one who began his ministry with a Spirit-filled, life giving, loving and liberating sermon about his call to bring sight to the blind, release of prisoners (see Luke 4). He used a parable in Matthew 25 to say that when his followers fed the hungry, visited the prisoner, clothed the naked, they were doing so to him.

Which presents us with a challenge in the current political climate. We can have differing ideas about the best way to care for each other. But there is nowhere in scripture any permission to disregard those in need. In light of recent news, why not close with a quote from Stephen Colbert: “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.”

One of the spiritual practices promoted by RenewalWorks research is referred to as pastoring the community. It means being present for neighbors and caring for neighbors, near and far. It means attending to those in greatest need in those communities. There’s plenty of opportunity to do that, right in our neighborhoods, in our nation, around the world. It comes as we use our time, talent, treasure, our voice and vote. How might you use such holy opportunity this week?

-Jay Sidebotham

Some additional thoughts:

May we banish from our hearts and souls all that does not reflect Jesus. -Brother Lawrence

Those who cannot see Christ in the poor are atheists indeed. - Dorothy Day

As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins.

-The Most Rev. Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret. It leads only to evil. -Psalm 37:8