December 10, 2022

Psalm 146:5-10; I Samuel 2:1-8; Luke 3:1-8

Balance

Art Credit: Mark Lawrence

It seems like we are living in an era of opposites, with little opportunity to meet in the middle.  Inclusive/exclusive; rich/poor; good/evil; isolationist/global; diverse/monocultural..  Today’s passages could be a study in opposites – the high and the low; the rich and the poor; the full and the hungry; the barren and the fertile; crooked and straight; prisoner and free.  These three passages seem to highlight the extremes of our existence as individuals and as groups/societies/nations.  It sounds like at some point there will be a reckoning and everyone and everything will switch places.   Is this what we are waiting for this Advent season?  Is this what God promises?  Won’t we have the same extremes, with just a new batch of folks in each?  

According to the notes in my Bible for the I Samuel text, “The Lord pays attention to human circumstances, weighs them, and, when necessary, sets them in balance.”  I like the image of balance.   Perhaps what God is promising is a sea change.  Wikipedia describes a sea change as “a substantial change in perspective, especially one which affects a group or society at large, on a particular issue.”  So, these passages offer NOT a switch in groups at the extremes but a move to a middle place, where everyone is fed, housed, cherished, respected.  That God will reign forever (Psalm) and all flesh will see the salvation of God. (Luke) cements the idea that we should be striving for, and praying for what is promised, a world that functions as mutually beneficial for ALL with God at the helm.

How is God calling you to live in this place?

Art Credit: Coloring a world where men and women are equal Asian Development Bank www.adb.org

 

Lynne Noble