Kingdom Building

October 2, 2019

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon—   there we sat down and there we wept
   when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
   we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
   asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
   ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ –Psalm 137:1-3

I feel we are caught in a political tornado where the real issues of providing for the Common Good are buried deep under piles of distraction. Funny, I have begun to picture what the world will look like after the storm, and the rebuilding begins. Spending at least 20 years of my life coordinating planning for a large human service agency most likely ingrained planning for the future in my being. The Psalm above indicates the wishful thinking of its author and some fellow exiles taking a few minutes playing their harps by a river remembering their homeland, Israel, when the locals tormented and taunted them.

I do believe we need to live in the now, be present in whatever situation we may find ourselves seeks facts to drive our decision amid the propaganda as we seek to do justice. My experience tells me that a reckoning will come, and the trash will be swept away, and we will start rebuilding.

I attended a public meeting regarding mental health services yesterday and was pleased to hear the progress that is being made in discovering new treatments that are promising and that we are providing preventive service starting at early ages. The bad news is that one out of four Oklahomans need some type of mental health service and we are only able to serve one out of three of those who need help.

These distractions in our world serve a purpose. They slow or stop progress and support the maintenance of the status quo where the rich get richer and the rest of us muddle through the best we can. At this public meeting, I also heard once again the suicide rate in the USA doubled in ten years for persons between the ages of 25 and 65. We can do better than that.

Prayer: Lord we need you to see us through the times of chaos but help us use that time to find better ways of loving each other for the Common Good. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.