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I am grateful for the safety net that our society provides, especially Social Security and Medicare. Our family has had dealings with the Social Security Administration related to an issue over 10 years ago. It’s quite a tale. At one point they seemed to think we owed them money. There was a review and we were absolved of paying. That happened again several years later. Same result. Then, recently, we got notification again that we owed money. We were not absolved this time. We paid. Wages were garnished anyway. This resulted in overpayment. We were then told they owe us money. Whew! Then we get a notice that we still owe several thousand dollars more, after supposedly overpaying and not getting a refund. The latest notification tells us we are getting some money back. Of course, we don’t want to pay any more that we have to. But the greater concern is the constantly changing story with virtually no justifying explanation for the whole situation. It doesn’t give me much confidence in the government and its ability to properly administer a program that supports millions of people. And I am one who believes that we should be able to count on the government to be fair and competent in its dealings. I think we should be able to fully trust the government not to take advantage of people because the government is not driven by the profit motive or greed.

In Psalm 118, we are told:

It is better to take refuge in God
than to put confidence in mortals.
It is better to take refuge in God
than to put confidence in princes.

As I said, I am by nature a trusting person and think that we should be able to have confidence in the government as well as others. But human institutions and individuals are always prone to error if not corruption. Greed and self interest can win the day over honesty and ethics. The writer of the psalms knows this, too. This is simply part of the human character. Thus, the psalm encourages us to put our full and complete trust only in God.

I agree with this advice. But it invites comment on the nature of God. If the concept of God is a judgmental, mercurial, unpredictable, vengeful God, then I might hesitate about that trust. There are other concepts of God that I would find equally objectionable. The point is, if you are going to put your full and complete trust in God and orient your life around that trust, then it really matters what that God is like. Putting your total trust in one kind of God could have a completely different result from putting your total trust in another kind of God. Our concept of God really does matter if we are putting our total trust there.

If we feel hesitant about putting our total trust in God, maybe part of the problem is the way we are thinking about God. Perhaps our understanding or definition of God needs revision so that we can put our total trust in God. I think a valid working conception of God should be far more that the typical superhero supernatural God rescuing people and doing favors for them when he is not punishing them. That kind of image does not work for me. That is not a God that I could give my total trust to. The more we make God in our image, the less trustworthy that God is in my view.

As this Lenten season draws to a close, we may want to spend some time thinking about our conception of God. How do you think of God? How do you experience God? How do you define God? How do you talk about God? Then ask yourself if you are putting your trust in God. If you trust God, then your behavior should reflect that trust. Does it? Do you trust God more than you trust other people, social institutions, the government? I certainly want to be able to trust God more that I trust the Social Security Administration, even though SS can seem just as mysterious as God! People and human organizations will inevitably let us down at times. God, while mysterious, should always be steadfast.

Prayer
We pray that we keep our commitments and can be trusted by others. We want to be honest and dependable adding integrity to our society. Yet, at times, we will disappoint ourselves and others. May we seek the forgiveness we need and to be forgiving of others. May we keep God at the center of our lives for God is truly worthy of our trust. In this, as in all things, may Jesus be our guide. Amen.

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? It happened to me once at a hotel on South Beach in Miami. I was there with a Florida Conference UCC committee and our group of about 6 people was all in the elevator together. We all knew each other. And then it happened. The creaking and the slight shudder and the elevator stopped – between floors. We were talking and laughing while someone was trying to call the desk to let them know what had happened. While we were in the elevator, my phone rang and it was my daughter, who was in college at the time. She called to tell me that she had finally decided on her thesis topic. She was going to do a study assessing the relationship between level of religiosity and level of life satisfaction, i.e. happiness. After telling me this, she commented on the laughing and joking in the background and asked where I was. I told her I was stuck in an elevator in a hotel on South Beach with a bunch of people from a Florida Conference committee. I told her it was evidence for her study: Here was a group of church people, high on the religiosity scale, stuck in an elevator laughing and joking while we waited for help, high on the happiness scale.

Being stuck in an elevator gives us a story to tell, but I don’t think anyone likes being confined and closed in like that. When we visited Alcatraz in January, it was shocking how small the cells were. I know when I fly, I don’t like being strapped in and confined to that small seat. Many people find it distasteful to be crammed into the subway or bus at rush hour. For the most part, I think we like to have room to spread out and move around. We like breathing room. We like to feel a sense of space and openness and not feel crowded in.

In Psalm 118, the writer refers to a “broad space:”

Out of my distress I called on God;
God answered me and set me in a broad space.

There it is. That sense of room to move, openness, freedom, lack of confinement and constraint. When I think of a “broad space” I think of more than literal, physical space. To me a “broad space” has broader meanings. A broad space can be associated with an open mind willing to learn new things and see things from new perspectives. A “broad space” conjures up a lot of room for differing ideas and diversity. A “broad space” suggests plenty of space for welcoming people who are diverse. A “broad space” implies room to learn, grow, emerge, transform. A “broad space” gives an impression of room to move around and not just be sedentary and stagnate.

I like this image of a broad space with room for growth and change, with room for differences, with room to breathe, and with room to dance. You may want to consider where you feel hemmed in in your life, where you feel constrained, and think about what a “broad space” might be like and how to move into that space.

Prayer
Divine love is broad: broader than our imaginations, broader than our sins, broader than our comfort zones. May we rest in that love, and let that love bring us to a broad space where there is room for us to heal, to grow, and to extend ourselves in service to others. Amen.

At a demonstration or a march, call and response cheers get everyone’s spirit’s up. Think: “What do we want?” “Peace.” “When do we want it?” “Now!” Cheerleaders at a football or basketball game are great at getting the crowd going using call and response cheers. This is a way of getting everyone involved and getting a message across.

Many of the psalms, if not all of them, were originally used in worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. The priests and people would offer the Psalms as prayers during the rituals and services. In Psalm 118, the focus psalm for this week, we see a call and response liturgy. It is almost like a cheer.

We can almost hear the priests chant, “Let Israel say – ”
And the congregation responds, “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
The priest again, “Let the house of Aaron say – “
And the congregations chants back, “God’s steadfast love endures forever!”
The priest again, “Let those who trust God say – “
And the congregation replies, “God’s steadfast love endures forever!”

If we were using this format in church, we might say:
Let the women say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the men say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the children say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the parents say –
Let the working people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the unemployed people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the retired people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the joyful people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the grieving people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the contented people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the angry people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the frustrated people say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the lovers of justice say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the lovers of peace say –
God’s steadfast love endures forever.

We could go on for the whole service, naming all sorts and conditions of people, and the response could stay the same, over and over again: God’s steadfast love endures forever. God as all-encompassing, never-ending love, never changes. No matter what our circumstances, no matter how we feel about life, no matter what is going on in the world, nothing changes the nature of divine love. It is constant. It is eternal. It is ever present. Now that is something to cheer about!

Prayer
We are grateful for love which infuses our lives in so many forms and ways. Divine love pursues us whatever our life circumstances. Perhaps when things are at their worst, divine love becomes all the more persistent. There is no escaping the power of love. May we look for that love and give thanks in all situations of our lives. Amen.

In his memoir, True Compass, Ted Kennedy reflects on the incident at Chappaquiddick. He does not rehash the actual event, but he does discuss his feelings about the tragedy and its aftermath. As one point, Kennedy writes,

“I had suffered many losses during my life. I had lost all of my brothers and my sister Kathleen. My father had been lost to me in many respects because of his debilitating stroke. And now this horrible accident. But again, the difference this time was that I myself was responsible. I was driving. Yes, it was an accident. But that doesn’t erase the fact that I had caused an innocent woman’s death.

“Atonement is a process that never ends. I believe that. Maybe it’s a New England thing, or an Irish thing, or a Catholic thing. Maybe all of those things. But it’s as it should be.” [page 292]

Kennedy never forgot that terrible tragedy, and it haunted him every day of his life. But as he said, atonement is a process.

I think sometimes when we seek forgiveness from God or someone else, we want a magical “zap” that vaporizes the whole grisly experience. That’s not how sin works. We do things that harm others, ourselves, the world, and we feel regret and remorse. We do our best to repent and reconcile. Yet the memory is with us. Maybe that memory keeps us from committing the same wrong again. Maybe it reminds us of our humanity. Maybe it makes us more sympathetic to others. Maybe it reminds us of divine forgiveness. Maybe it is a sign of transformation in some way that continues to give us hope. But we don’t forget. So atonement becomes a process.

Maybe the writer of Psalm 51 continues to pray the psalm each and every day. A reminder of God’s deliverance. Remembering where he was and how far he has come, thanks to God.

Perhaps if we see forgiveness of a sin(s) as a one time over and done episode, we are disappointed that our memory revisits the situation over and over. But maybe there is value in the remembering. Atonement is a process. That may make it an even more precious gift.

Prayer
It is said that only God can forgive and forget. We can only forgive. May we cherish our memories of forgiveness we have received and give thanks for the new life that has come to us in the process. May we cherish the forgiveness we have given so that our capacity for compassion and grace continues to grow. Amen.

We live in a society that is based on buying and selling. You want something, you pay something. If the exchange does not involve money, then there is the assumption that it will involve time, or expertise, or payback in kind, or some kind of compensation. We all know that you don’t get somethin’ for nothin’. The presupposition of market transactions pervades our lives. And this had led to the commoditization of people and relationships. What’s this person worth to me? What can I get from this person? And, sadly, we think in those terms even outside of the workplace and business world.

We can also see how this transaction mentality has taken hold in some expressions of Christianity. In classic theology, we have sinned. We owe God a debt for our sin. We cannot pay that debt. Nothing we can do can satisfy that debt. So God has sent Jesus to live a sinless life, and to give that life in payment of our debt. If we believe in him as God come in human form for this purpose, then our debt is paid. If we are of another religious tradition, or do not believe in Jesus that way, then our debt is not paid, and we will spend eternity in hell. That’s the thinking behind “Jesus died for my sins.” Jesus completes the transaction with God that nullifies our sin if we buy into him.

This perspective may sound familiar to us, even if we do not subscribe to it. Let’s look a little deeper. I’m wondering about a God that has to be “paid”? This sounds like an account keeping God. A bottom line God. An assets and losses God. And that’s not at all the way God is conveyed in the stories associated with Jesus. Jesus talks about forgiveness with no payment. He doesn’t ask people to make recompense before they are forgiven. He tells of God like a shepherd looking for a lost sheep or a woman looking for a lost coin. This doesn’t sound like a God waiting to be paid.

Also, Jesus freely forgave people, fed people, healed people, and he didn’t ask for their money or their theological credentials ahead of time. He doesn’t ask for their insurance card, verifying belief in him as the divine son of God sent to pay our way to heaven, before offering his services. He goes right ahead and extends compassionate care and community to all, no questions asked. That also does not fit with the God who requires correct belief as payment to gain access to heaven.

In Psalm 51, the writer pleads:

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

This is not a request to go to heaven in the next life. This is a plea for healing and restoration in this life. The word salvation is related to the word for salve, and implies healing. The writer wants to be restored to right relationship with God by receiving God’s forgiveness and mercy, here and now. And this is before Jesus. Salvation is life lived in right relationship with Divine Love, one another, and the earth. It is about ethics and outlook, not doctrine and dogma. It is based on grace, which can never be acquired through a transaction, or it is not grace. That’s the scandal of divine grace. No transaction. No purchase. No bartering. No quid pro quo. No exchange. No compensation. No payback. No commoditization of grace. That’s why the writer of Psalm 51, from the depths of despair, in anticipation of the grace that God cannot withhold and still be God, declares: “my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance. . . and my mouth will declare your praise.” No payment required. Only praise.

Prayer
In a world of exchange and transaction, it is hard to shift gears to a dominion of love, free grace, and uncompensated service. And yet that is the reality we are invited to be part of by Jesus. May we accept what we are offered and keep no score. Simply praise, praise, praise! Amen.