For the Week of December 6--12
The opening line of this week's Psalm sounds a note of thanksgiving--"You have been gracious to your land, O Lord"--and it was on our lips last week as we celebrated Thanksgiving. We gave thanks for the bounty of our land (we all know the verse, Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain) even under pandemic restrictions, even when longing for a traditional regathering next year. God has been gracious to this land in a multitude of ways. And that includes, basic as this seems, giving us time to work steadily for all that is "true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable" to cite another portion of Scripture. (from Philippians 4).
The gift of time gets little acknowledgement if you ask me in our media and elsewhere. We live in a culture that is so often playing hurry-up, like those hurry-up offenses in football in which the team does not huddle to catch its breath, hear the play, and offer insights and reminders before the next play. No, it back into the fray, taking things on the fly. The hurry-up offense in our culture is called the culture of immediacy, where the urgent often crowds out the important. Pay attention to me say the newspapers, the emails, the instagrams, the text messages, and phone calls. And while some of what is urgent is important, what can get lost is the gift of time--what I mentioned at the outset--to plan and set one's course.
If we are to be a land in which every person and social grouping knows the blessings the Psalmist goes on to name---forgiveness, mercy, righteousness, peace, and prosperity--all of which are blessing beyond the natural resources we have, all of which are social blessings, then surely we need a renewed sense of the gift of time, and the wisdom to spend time in the huddle, with others and alone with our God, to examine and reflect. Leaders who do not know this risk being blown off course by the noise of crowds. Potential leaders may miss their calling without practicing the discipline of solitude in which clarity and resolve are so often found. More positively, each one of us can flourish more, not less, if in the solitude of our hearts we cherish the gift of time for the missions given to us.
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Benedixisti, Domine
1 You have been gracious to your land, O Lord, *
you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
and blotted out all their sins.
8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
and to those who turn their hearts to him.
9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth have met together; *
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him, *
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.