Monday, 10 March

The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. 

Psalm 118:27

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, a about the troubles we experienced I the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

As a child, or even as an adult, did you ever put a comic strip right up to your eyes, so that you could see the individual dots which make up the image? I often find that looking at a Bible verse or two in isolation leaves me with the same perspective. Just like with the picture made up of dots, one needs to take a step backwards and look at the whole picture, or whole Psalm or Chapter.

On first impression, today’s verse from Psalm 118 seems positive, and indeed it is; however, the joy expressed by the Psalmist is one which comes after years of struggle against Israel’s enemies. It is in many ways a triumphal, nationalistic psalm, and the notion of God having a hand in earthly, military victories probably leaves us 21st Century Christians feeling uneasy.

Compare this with the text from 2 Corinthians, where the struggle endured by St Paul was one which arose in his missionary journeys, and the rejection he faced when preaching the Gospel. In 21st Century Britain, it is often the experience of Christians that our faith is alien to many, even though they themselves might identify as “Christian” in a national census, and we may find ourselves keeping our faith hidden.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) folk have the experience of “coming-out”, and thanks to changes in our society, and with equality legislation, that experience is now much easier; however, LGBT Christians often remark that it is harder to “come out” as Christian than to “come out” as LGBT.

In both texts, there is a common theme, one of trusting in God. In his Psalm, David was not reticent in ascribing Israel’s military victory to trusting in God; and Paul’s whole basis of mission was to trust in God.

Today is just the sixth day of Lent, and our Lenten resolutions are relatively fresh in our minds. Beyond the things we may have given up for Lent, at the heart of Lent is a desire for us to become better: that is, to trust in God more and to worry less about what others might think.

Another theme in both these texts is one of achievement: Israel won the war; St Paul completed his missionary journey. What specific goal do we have for ourselves this Lent? 

May God grant to each of us one more step each day in our walk with Him.

Walt Johnson

The Metropolitan Church