Living in the Spirit
May 30, 2018
Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it. –Psalm 139:1-6
I am hearing the word transparency a lot in political ads. While I support transparency in government, the transparency that really matters is that God knows every detail of our being and loves us anyway. That symbiotic* relationship linked together having been made in the image of God is the source of hope that we each are persons of worth and that we each have a support system in God willingly striving toward our becoming fully the persons we are capable of being. God created us with a full spectrum of choices of how we live out our potential from farmer to doctor, prophet to priest, mother to advocate, writer to artist, all options together or any combination of them. Our roles develop and grow as we age. What was once a primary purpose may become a springboard to another calling.
The essence of Psalm 139 that God is fully aware of our capabilities, is that God is fully aware when we are not using them. It really does not matter what anyone else thinks about us when we are synched into God’s will for our development as God’s creation. At this time in history, alas at every time in history, the full force of God-driven talent is needed to shape our world into the Kingdom of love God desires for all.
While transparency in government is desirable it is also very scary. It requires a much greater knowledge of our world than most of us acquire. While we may possess in-depth information on a few subjects, none of us can know everything. We are interdependent on the wisdom of each other. Such trust is best formed in relationships of mutual respect and dare I say love to make the pursuit of the Common Good a reality. Thus, we come full circle back to Jesus’ instruction that the most important commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Prayer: Lord, in this election year, move us to action as citizens striving for the Common Good and help us identify and elect those who practice mutual respect and love. Amen.
*The intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in any of various mutually beneficial relationships, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/symbiosis