Kingdom Building

October 30, 2019

Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:137-144
You are righteous, O Lord,
   and your judgments are right.
You have appointed your decrees in righteousness
   and in all faithfulness.
My zeal consumes me
   because my foes forget your words.
Your promise is well tried,
   and your servant loves it.
I am small and despised,
   yet I do not forget your precepts.
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
   and your law is the truth.
Trouble and anguish have come upon me,
   but your commandments are my delight.
Your decrees are righteous forever;
   give me understanding that I may live.

What is right? What is truth? What can we learn about the acts of God from ancient documents that apply to our world today? What can we leave to our descendants that will be meaningful to their relationship with God?

I just heard a report on the morning news that fewer and fewer people identify as practicing any religion and more and more are leaving religion. I, too, cringe in disbelief when I hear things credited to God that seem alien to the God of love I was introduced to as a child. According to some, Jesus apparently does not love all the children of the world red and yellow, black and white. Just thinking about homosexual behavior must be exorcised through conversion therapy even though about six percent of our population have identified as homosexual since the beginning of time. If all were made in the image of God, people of color and homosexuals surely were too. However, heterosexual misbehavior including pedophilia and sex trafficking seems limited only by what one cannot get away with including clergy. Financial prosperity is a major indicator of one’s status with God according to others.

My faith tells me that the image of God implanted in each of our souls is the ability to love—to love God, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to love a life partner, and to love justice for all, or as the author of the above Psalm calls it righteousness. Righteousness is about community, is always needed when two or more are gathered together, and particularly blessed when gathered together in the presence of the living God.

Prayer: Lord save us from destroying the most important legacy we have received and will leave our descendants, your abiding love. 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.