Ordinary Time

January 26, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 84

For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than live in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
   he bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
   happy is everyone who trusts in you. –Psalm 84:10-12

The Lord is brighter than the sun and more protective than the strongest shield. Envision a group of people waiting on a hillside for the sun to come over the horizon. A wonderful explosion of color surrounds it until it rises high enough and becomes so bright one cannot look at it without the help of sunglasses.

 The title of J. B. Phillips’s book, Your God Is Too Small, flashes through my mind when I read scriptures like this one. Scriptures like this give me great hope that God will restore us to wholeness from our wandering ways. I have become very cynical during the COVID pandemic because of our response to it. We seem caught in a web of total denial unable to deal with the reality that is around us. Our self-righteousness may be catching up with us. We have lived in a favored state for so long we forget the blood, sweat, and tears our ancestors experienced creating the privilege we now see as normal. Indeed, to whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48)  We have millions of fellow citizens who do not have enough of the basic needs of life and we have a world full of starving people longing for the people of God to relieve their suffering so that they might too enjoy setting under a rising sun with the protection of God’s love.

Prayer: O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God;
  look on the face of your anointed*. 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.