There is a voice of rebellion deep in the heart of the wicked;
[PSALM 36:1-4]
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
He flatters himself in his own eyes
that his hateful sin will not be found out.
The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has left off acting wisely and doing good.
He thinks up wickedness upon his bed
and has set himself in no good way;
he does not abhor that which is evil.
| ADVENT DAILY OFFICE READINGS |
|---|
| AM Psalm 26, 28; PM Psalm 36, 39 Amos 7:10-17; Rev. 1:9-16; Matt. 22:34-46 |
We are living in tense and anxious moments.
It is almost too easy to take the words of Psalm 36 above and apply it to the present, and in particular, to one individual, as the feature image above might suggest.
But it is important to keep in mind that these words were written centuries ago.
Thus, we have been living in conflict with wickedness for a long, long time.
Psalm 36 is one of those psalms that I referred to a few days ago (December 2) when I introduced the “imprecatory psalms.”
These first four verses, by the way, comprise one of the longest meditations on the nature of wickedness in the entire Psalter.
There are at least twenty-five imprecatory psalms in the Psalter. That would suggest to me that Israel was very familiar with conflict and suffering.
As a matter of fact, the Jewish people down through history had spent more time in captivity than they had spent as free people.
They had been conquered and exiled by the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, and every other surrounding nation. Even at the time of Jesus, they were under the dominance of Rome.
And if you carefully read the stories in the Gospels surrounding the birth of Jesus you’ll realize that it is not a story that sounds very Christmassy, but it was the real world then as we are experiencing the real world now.
Jesus was born to a world like ours; some would argue, into a world even worse than ours.
It was a world in which tyranny ruled everywhere, and poverty and hunger and cruelty and suffering was overwhelming for all but a very few.
The cry for freedom, the plea for justice, is a cry for God.
We are seeing that in full display in our present times
Yet, if history has taught us anything, it is that societies do not fall apart because evil people are doing evil deeds, but rather that societies rot away because good people are so focused on themselves and what they want, that the good that needs to be done fails to get done.
We’ll be celebrating the birth of Jesus in just a few short weeks.
He made it crystal clear that the kingdom of God is most concerned with the forgotten, the rejected, the excluded, the lost, the last, the least, the downtrodden.
His coming into the world also serves as a reminder that as a church, we are also called to speak and act for those who are struggling with hunger, homelessness, poverty, and injustice; as well as raise awareness on issues that affect the earth and its environment.
Christmas reminds us that we are never alone in our struggle.
We have God in Christ at our side and in our heart to empower us.
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the clouds.Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,
your justice like the great deep;
you save both man and beast, O Lord.How priceless is your love, O God!
your people take refuge under the
shadow of your wings.
(Psalm 36:5-7)
Let us pray:
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 826)
Walking Together in Faith 