Living in the Spirit
September 26, 2018
Scripture Reading: Psalm 124
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth. –Psalm 124:1-5, 8
Funny the things we remember from high school literature classes or perhaps it was college. When I read the scripture above, William Wordworth’s poem flashed through my mind. The scripture drew it from my memory banks, but it well describes the status of my being after turning off the morning news and attempting to tune out the constancy of confusion that exists in our world today where we fact check the fact checkers and still search for the ever-elusive truth.
As an amateur student of history, I am aware that such times of dissonance have occurred before. I am currently in a study group examining the return of the exiles to Jerusalem after their sojourn in Babylon following the fall of Judah. I also am reading a book on the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire. I guess I am disturbed at how closely the descriptions of both nation’s mirrors our own. Nations come and go while God’s vision for a world ruled by love has remained constant over the centuries. I take heart in that and the knowledge that we can and are a part of the force that can make such a Kingdom a reality.
The World Is Too Much with Us
By William Wordsworth
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Prayer: Merciful God, comfort us when we despair but leave us just enough discomfort to rise up and with your help make righteousness the norm across our world. Amen.