Advent

December 9, 2020

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 126
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
   we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
   and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
   ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’
The Lord has done great things for us,
   and we rejoiced.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
   like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears
   reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping,
   bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
   carrying their sheaves.

I just heard a leading health official say that the COVID pandemic is the worst disaster in USA history. That was followed by a report of hospital beds being set up in a parking garage because of hospital overflow. Much of the rest of the news was about election disarray. Federal support for people impacted by the pandemic is scheduled to end soon if Congress does not act. Oklahoma City just picked up the broken tree branches from my front lawn left from one of the worst ice storms in state history. Fires continue on the west coast, the south is recovering from hurricanes, and the east coast is recovering from winter weather. Some are excited about the stock market breaking record highs while one in four people in our country is deemed food insecure.

We, as individuals, communities, cities, states, our nation, and the world, are in desperate need of the Lord’s restoration. It must start with the repair of our souls as we turn to God to discern what part, if any, we played to get into this mess and what God is calling us to do to recover from it.

The word translated “fortunes” above in the phrase Restore our fortunes, O Lord, is rendered as untranslatable by Strong’s Concordance*. Some translators use the word fortunes others use the word captives. Being freed from captivity could be considered fortunate, but that probably is not what most of us would think when we read the word fortune. I fear, though, that decisions are being made on recovery based on restoration of wealth rather than wholeness or health or freedom.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in recovering Shalom—wholeness, wellbeing, and peace–for all. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/psalms/126-4.htm

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.