Meditation for March 4, 2008

From The Rev. Peter A. Munson

Psalm 100 (Book of Common Prayer version)

 

Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;

    serve the Lord with gladness

    and come before his presence with a song.

 

Know this:  The Lord himself is God;

    He himself has made us, and we are his;

    we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

    go into his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

 

For the Lord is good;

    his mercy is everlasting;

    and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

 

Be Joyful in the Lord

 

One day last week I took a morning walk with our dog, Sophie, around the neighborhood.  It is what Julia and I refer to as "the short walk" - we simply walk around the little lake that is nearby.  As I approached the lake, I heard the familiar call of red-winged blackbirds, as they perched on last year's cattails.  The sky that day was what I like to call that Colorado blue sky, and there were no clouds to be seen.  The lake was celebrating its new-found freedom from ice, and there were dozens of Canada geese and mallards lazily floating on the surface.  There was a touch of warmth in the air, a hint of spring.  As I took in all the sights and sounds of my surroundings, and felt the warmth of the sun on my face, I was aware of a certain joy that had come over me, and I said a brief prayer of thanks to God, for making such a beautiful place as this earth that we live in.

 

My thoughts quickly turned to all the terrible things going on in the world - in the Middle East, in Africa.  I thought of relatives and members of St. Ambrose who are going through challenging times right now.  I thought of the latest university shooting at Northern Illinois. As I write this, it appears that there is a potential for a new flare-up in South America.  The world is an unstable place, an unpredictable place - often a very violent place.

 

And yet... and yet... over and over again in Scripture, we hear the words, "Do not fear.  For I will be with you..."  And today I read, "Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song."

 

You might ask yourself at times: "With all that is going on in the world, with all that is wrong with the world, how can I be a person of hope, a person of faith, a person who reaches out to others in love?  And how - please tell me how! - how can I be a person of joy?"

 

There is only one answer that I can give for any hope or faith or love or joy that wells up within me.  It is this: there is a God, and as the Psalmist proclaims in Psalm 100, this God is good.  Not only that, but this God keeps breaking into our world - with all of its hatred, violence, and prejudices.  This God keeps showing up in our world, and to all those who would welcome Him and invite Him in and accept his most precious Word, this God - our God - says, "Fear not.  All will be well.  I have not only made the world, but I have already triumphed over all the powers of evil in the world.  Abide in me.  Stay close to me.  See with new eyes.  And I will continue to show you everything that is still wonderful in the world.  I will continue to show you the signs of the kingdom - My kingdom - right here on earth."

 

I see it in the beauty of His creation.  I see it in your beautiful voices raised in hymns of praise on Sunday morning.  I see it in the laughter that we share, and in the sparking eyes of God's children who are still eager to learn - whether they be 5 or 15 or 25 or 55 or 75.  I see it when someone offers deep listening to another person.  I see it in those who cook and serve and offer conversation at the Homeless Shelter, in those who build homes for Habitat, in those who give generously to Episcopal Relief and Development, and in parishioners who vote - in faith - for funding a deficit budget, because they believe in a God who will provide, and in a God who will lead us to where we need to go.  I see the kingdom breaking through when you welcome new people to St. Ambrose, and invite them to your homes for dinner.  I see the kingdom whenever someone is open to the transforming power of the Spirit.  I see the kingdom when people do, in fact, grow and change, and when folks persevere and make it through difficult and dark times and come out on the other side, with their faith in God very much intact, and the "Hallelujahs" and "Alleluias" still being offered in their prayers to God. 

 

Yes, the world can be a very crazy, even a scary place.  And yet...every Sunday, without any hint of self-deceit or hypocrisy, we can and do "enter his gates with thanksgiving" and "go into his courts with praise".  We "give thanks to Him and call upon his Name".  Why?  Because we know - we have experienced for ourselves - that the Lord is good, that his mercy is everlasting, and that his faithfulness does indeed endure from age to age.

 

And so, despite all the people around us who think we might be a little crazy, or in some sort of denial, we can be joyful.  For we are joyful in the Lord.