 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Wednesday, May 18, 2022 Psalm 67 What if we meant it? What if we prayed this way for real?  Psalm 67 May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us. Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving help among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth. Let all the peoples praise you O God; let all the peoples praise you. The earth has brought forth her increase; may God, our own God, give us his blessing. May God give us his blessing,and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.  Some things to think about Christians sometimes use this psalm to express a desire and need to go preach the gospel to every nation – and to every people in order that all the people will come to know God as he is revealed in Jesus.. And yet, it is a Jewish song. What did it mean to those who first sang it – and who still sing it? If you read it carefully – the focus is on the community of the people of God: “May God be merciful to US, and bless US, show US the light of his countenanceand come to US.” The implication, as I read it, is that if the people of God are really who we say we are, everything else will follow. What if THIS was really the prayer of our hearts?. This is a plea for US to seek God and to welcome God. God already “judges the peoples with equity and guides all the nations upon the earth. “What we get to do is to seek God’s mercy and blessing so that we can BE – and if we ARE, then others will come to see and know the God we serve. If we aren’t, it hardly matters what we say, anyway. |
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