Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

At the center of God's affection

Monday, March 2, 2009

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord.

A memory from the old days, beating reggae rhythm on my carryaround guitar, strumming simple chords and singing these words from Psalm 19. This is the refrain of "By the Rivers of Babylon," a song of slaves about the home they have been stolen from.

In my memory I'm surrounded by other whiteboy-wannabee-Jamaicans, probably smoking pot, certainly with our eyes closed, letting the music spin us slowly into a whirling wind of freedom and peace.

Now today, thirty years later, I think of Rastas and Moonies, Mormons and Christian Scientists, and of Muslims and Hindi and Buddhists and Baptists. For a moment in my mind, we are all singing together, "Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord."

Draw together all the threads of our spiritual genetics, Lord. Bring us back to the Tower of Babel and let us speak together again. We are all one people.

Jesus opened wide the gates of the temple, inviting in the unclean, the heretics, the gentiles. He offended many self-righteous Jews by doing so. He didn't seem to care. He called them awful names: blind guides, whitewashed tombs, a brood of vipers (Matthew 23).

Jesus said he came for the sinners, not the sinless. He looked for humility rather than pride, and knew what he was seeing in a man's eyes. He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14). Come to me, all of you. You are weighed down with heavy burdens. Let me lift them off you. I will give you rest" (Matthew 11).

Jesus said, "When you feed the hungry you feed me. When you wash the wounds of the wretched, you wash me. When you invite in the stranger without fear, you welcome me. I am with all the least of my brothers. You will find me there" (Matthew 25).

Don't think for a moment he wasn't opening his arms to every one of us, every member of every strange religion, every homophobic fool, every sex abuser, every politically correct lobbyist, even all those hippies resting around the fire back in the 70's.

My meditations are not always acceptable, I know that full well. God's arms are always open anyway. Within his arms is where I rub shoulders with all those other folks so different from me. So ... just like me. It's only there that I have found freedom and peace.

The heavens declare your glory, God; the skies proclaim the work of your hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Devotions Archive

At the center of God's affection

Monday, March 2, 2009