the land of the living

What if I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living?

My heart responds to those words from Ps 27.  It is spoken (rather, sung, since these are songs) in the midst of a plea for physical and spiritual protection from enemies that are fierce and out for blood.

The psalm begins
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?

It then goes on to explain exactly who, and how the Lord protects from these enemies.

It goes on to state the desire of his life:  to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple.

We shouldn't go to war and pray to an unknown God for peace and protection.
No, we should live our lives in His service and spend our days in his temple
(under the shadow of His wings)
Then when trouble comes, we know the corners where we can hide.
We know the Father to whom we pray,
and we understand the surety of salvation in the evil day,
For we have spoken to him about it in the days, weeks, and months before.

So many of us go about our daily lives without any thought to our Lord God.
Then, when the hour comes in which we cry for comfort and peace,
we are surprised when we are left comfortless.

We don't understand.

It isn't that we are left comfortless,
It is that we don't recognize the Comforter.

So go to your secret place,
Call out to your Father now,
Don't wait for the day of trial to get to know him better.

He is here today, waiting in that still place--
That place that you know instinctively exists--
Go and meet him there.

He will teach you trust,
And hope,
And he will build your faith
From mustard seed to mountain.

Then when the evildoers come to your door
When death, darkness and despair come to call,
You will know where to turn.

He is truly a friend in the darkness,
But it's so much easier to see him in the darkness
If you have first walked with him when it was light.

On the steps

Walking up the steps that the great man never climbed.
Stopping for a moment to look upward at the Greek temple--
Would he have been impressed
Or would he have guffawed at the thought
The boy from Illinois
The homespun hero
Enshrined like a king
Like a god
In a temple of white marble.

He sits sedately
Hair and suit ruffled.
Sitting, he seems less imposing somehow.
A benignly beaming god looking amiably down
At those who make history below him.

What does he think as he gazes across the open space--
Reflecting pool, Washington Monument, Capitol Building in the distance?
Does he remember the great moments?
Does he see Martin Luther King in memory?
Does he hear the throb of the crowd,
Cheering on the man of peace
Hoping for latter-day freedom?

Do you remember Mr. King, Sir?
Did you cheer him on in his cry for equality?
And did it surprise you
That even after 100 years,
It still had not come?

As I look into your eyes
The eyes that searched for freedom
It seems that you see something far away
Something longed for but not yet realized

We are still struggling, Sir.
Sometimes it feels that we are treading water
Just barely
Water as murky as the black reflecting pool.

But then, the pool is black
To better reflect.

So maybe today
In the darkness of political rivalry
and bitter feuds between the left and the right
and the disrespect that permeates our society
We can stop and look

See your reflection,

Remember your struggle

And maybe that can help us go a day further

So that we can continue in the cause.

For we share this cause,
Not only you,
But John and Martin and so many others
Known and unknown.

We reflect your hope
As we take up your cause
And we hope that we have it in us to say,
As you did

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,  let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

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