Living in the Spirit

November 16, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
  he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

For some reason, yesterday I realized that for the first time in many years our country is not at war with anyone. Indeed, we are providing resources for Ukraine, and we pray that the war they face will soon come to an end. Getting out of our last war was not pretty, and the people of Afghanistan are suffering from the takeover by the Taliban.  Short of war, we must do all we can to bring the world to peace, where everyone has enough, and all can be the person God created us to be. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. He may have picked that descriptor up from the Wisdom of Solomon 10:10 from the Apocrypha. In my Bible study group last spring we studied the Apocrypha and learned that Jesus was well acquainted with it.  Jesus is quoted in the gospels 54 times mentioning actualizing the Kingdom of God as his and our ultimate goal. Acts uses the term six times, and Paul uses it eight times. We no longer live in a world ruled primarily by Kings so that term may not be as meaningful to us as it was to a first-century audience. I liken it to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Beloved Community: a community where everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate.

While the Kingdom of God is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible using that language, the Psalmist who wrote the above Psalm seems to have been well acquainted with it.

Prayer: Lord, guide us in our work toward your goal of the whole world being a Beloved Community. 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.