ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
June 18, 2021
Scripture: Psalm 36:6-9
Your righteousness is like the strongest mountains; your justice is like the deepest sea. LORD, you save both humans and animals. Your faithful love is priceless, God! Humanity finds refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the bounty of your house; you let them drink from your river of pure joy. Within you is the spring of life. In your light, we see light.
Thought for the Day: God is not interested in mediocrity. God’s approach to almost everything sure appears to be extravagance and excellence. The language of this poetry leaves no question in regard to how the author of the Psalm views God’s relationship to the world. Revisit the verses above, and get caught in the excessive and over the top emotion being conveyed. These are the kinds of passages that stand out when the church, the representative of God’s extravagance, suddenly appears stingy and hesitant when it comes to things like mercy, kindness and love. Faith is not about talking a big game, but living it. The poet wasn’t blowing rhetorical smoke, but attempting to communicate the nature of God and the divine expectation of those who claim to follow such a God.
Prayer: The world will never be transformed as you wish, Lord God, if we approach everything with mediocrity. Infuse our spirits with the wonderfully outrageous blessings that you wish to share with the world, and then inspire us as the instruments by which you wish such gifts to be delivered. Amen.
