Eastertide
April 15, 2015
Scripture Reading: Psalm 4
When you are disturbed, do not sin;
ponder it on your beds, and be silent.
Selah
Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord. –Psalm 4:4-5
Apparently the Bible translators differed in their understanding of the word that appears in this scripture as “disturbed” because they footnote it as “Or are angry.” I am glad they include that footnote, because each word carries a different connotation. There is a righteous anger that arises when dealing with issues of justice. When we are thusly angry, the steadying hand of God is required to guide our actions in appropriate directions. When we are disturbed, we tend to let the issue ferment and when we turn away from God at such times, our actions are often not appropriate. It is a paradox but it is true, we are most often more successful with overturning injustice when we are at perfect peace with our Lord, when we seek righteousness and not self-righteousness, and when we can commit to seek justice for ourselves without fear or stand without fear with those who are suffering injustice. When we sin in response to our quest for justice we, too, become oppressors.
I served as a monitor at a local grade school yesterday as they administered the mandatory testing to measure what the children had accomplished during the year. I do not know how I feel about these tests. I do know that they are more a measure of what we citizens, who are providing public education, have accomplished than about anything the children have done. I watched a sensitive, caring and obviously liked teacher administer the test. I watched a well-disciplined group of students take the test siting at a mishmash of desks of varying sizes and colors, beat up and scared by too many years of use. I watch a young girl squirm at her desks as she finished before everyone else not wanting to be the first to close her book. She did not close it until the boy setting in front of her confidently tucked his test in the book, closed it, and starting reading the book the students had brought to busy themselves until all their classmates had finished. The girl then did the same. Are we still sending messages to girls, I wondered, that they are not supposed to be as smart as boys? This school does not have a program for students that excel. I watched a boy yawn and stretch and nod off several times. I did not ever see him turn a page. He did pencil in a few of the dots on the answer sheet. He requires the special attention that one teacher without an assistant cannot provide in a classroom with 18 children. We citizens demand tests but do not invest in the resources needed that their results dictate. I hope I am angry enough to make a difference for these children. I pray that God will grant me the serenity to do the things I can.
Prayer:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.* Amen.