ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
April 13, 2022
The opening words of Psalm 70 are: “Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me!” Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter from prison in which he referenced some words a previous prisoner had carved on the wall. It read, “In 100 years it will all be over.” Bonhoeffer reflected on the words and suggested how they represented the painful laments found in the Psalms, similar to cries of “How long?” Psalm 70 is often considered a lament as well, yet it carries with it an expectation. When you tell someone to hurry along, you’re still expecting the person to show up… just not quite sure when. I ponder those words in light of Jesus’ birth and death. As absurd as it sounds, the Christian faith has presented the ideas of a God who was born in the form of a child and a God who was executed on a cross. God shows up in human weakness and suffering, a sign of God’s solidarity with humanity in all of life’s great moments of affliction and tribulation. My take away from Jesus is how the Psalms need a slight modification. Instead of asking when or if God is going to show up, maybe faith should tell us how God has forever been present in our suffering. Our plea is to recognize and claim the sacred and eternal presence already in existence no matter how deep and dark life might become.
May I know your everlasting and ever-present grace, O God, even when I am at my lowest low. You’ve already made the journey and promised to never leave us. For this, I am thankful. Amen.
