Living in the Spirit

September 10, 2020

Scripture Reading: Psalm 114

When Israel went out from Egypt,
   the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became God’s sanctuary,
   Israel his dominion.—Psalm 114:1-2

Who owns God? Which is God’s favorite sanctuary? Who follows God’s rules best? We, humans have a need to encapsulate God when God is boundless. Indeed, Judah did become God’s sanctuary and Israel God’s domain. But the God of love is boundless and inclusive, and no one or no group has sole ownership of God.

God’s grace is greater than anything we as humans alone can fulfill.  There is no magic formula that makes anyone or any specific group closer to God than another. God is fully capable of loving each person, and each group fully and completely. From the experience of our ancestors in faith, we learn that our reaction to God is not to prove that we are better following God’s rules or worshipping God. Our most excellent response is loving one another as we love God. When we love like God, chaos falls away, and order prevails.

We are living in the chaos of hate and division now. While it is not Christmas or even Advent, we might benefit from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s hymn I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Hymnals do not carry all its verses now, but it was written in 1863 during the Civil War shortly after Longfellow’s son enlisted in the Union Army. Here it is in its entirety

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Prayer: Weave us together, Lord. Heal our divisiveness. Help us to turn hate into understanding and understanding into 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.