“A Way of Life”
Psalm 37:1-11, 29-40
I hope that today’s passage sounds familiar, as it is echoed throughout many places, including Jesus’ teachings.
What stood out to me was the instructions to not worry or fret over things like the wicked seeming to prosper, because following in the ways of the Holy One brings forth its own abundant life.
Taken out of context this could be misconstrued and misused a number of ways, but the psalmist tries to inhibit this. This is not a psalm in support of the idea that following God’s ways leads to financial wealth, or gain, any more than it supports the idea that the prosperous among us must be following the ways of God in order to receive such wealth.
Instead, it is a message affirming that the ways of the world and God’s ways of life are not always in alignment, and that we should choose the ways of life – that is the way of abundant love, above everything else.
And as a church, I think that is a message we need to engage as a community, so we can also tackle it as individuals. After all, it’s easy to be lured to the ways of the world that tell us our bank accounts need to hold a certain amount of money, and we need to accomplish certain things and attract more people. But this is not who or what we are called to do.
We are called to live a way of life together that follows the path of love, proclaimed throughout the Bible and by our teacher, Jesus. This means that we are called to help create abundant life for all. So, our duty isn’t to our bottom line, or the building, but our duty is to create more compassion, more justice, and more love.
How we model this as a community is important because it helps us to practice interdependence and learn and grow into it. In other words, practicing the way of love in the world in our own community is an antidote to the idea that we are all independent and can just do it our own way, or not at all.
And right now, we need that kind of community example more than ever. I keep thinking that in spite of everything we’ve accomplished SO MUCH with what we could do – remodeled, created a coffee bar, new doors, new heating & air units. Plus, we shared the love with porch drops of care packages, drives for supplies for schools, food for kids, the humane society, voter registration events, the garage sale, supporting camp sunflower…and more. If we can accomplish all that during a pandemic where we hardly get to see each other and where things are so difficult, I can’t wait to imagine the possibilities of how we will continue to share love in this world and work together to create abundant life for all the world. We are resilient and we are blessed. We may be in the wilderness but as long as we stay focused on sharing the love of God with each other and the world we are not lost, even if we’re not exactly sure where we’re going. Amen