Introduction
The Congregation Council at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., where I am serving as interim pastor, opens its monthly meetings with devotions. These are the thoughts for the August 2010 meeting. The Psalm is the one appointed for the seventh Sunday after Pentecost. The council read it in choirs—men and women.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Reading
Psalm 82
1God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment.
2“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
3Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6I say, “You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;
7nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
and fall like any prince.”
8Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
for all the nations belong to you!
Devotion
It’s really easy to feel overwhelmed. We might start out with enthusiasm…serving every few months at Warren’s Table, bringing a bag of groceries for the food pantry each month, maybe buying a few pairs of mittens, getting sponsors for the annual CROP Hunger Walk.
But then we start to read about the devastation that still plagues Haiti seven months after the earthquake. Floods have killed hundreds in Pakistan. Drug wars in Mexico catch innocent families in the crossfire. Local ministries need volunteers and funds. Church-related ministries seek support and people to lend a hand.
We want the world to be a just place. We desire for people who are weak and destitute to have what they need to live at least simply—if not entirely comfortably. But the needs are so great. It seems that, no matter what we do, how much we give, the demand for help outstrips our supply of assistance.
So it feels harsh to hear God taking the seat of judgment and looking at us, his people, and saying, “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” It stings to know that we have not done all that God desires of us to “rescue the weak and the needy; [and to] deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Even so, we can’t help but hear God when he reminds us that we are all “children of the Most High.” That means we don’t need to rely only on our own power to do his will. We can rescue all who need support and deliver all who need help because God gives us the strength. We can do what he desires because he is our God, a God of power and might, and “all nations belong to [him].”
Discussion
+ What thoughts and feelings do you have when you hear the Psalmist talk about God as a judge?
+ How do we judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
+ What could we, as a congregation, do differently?
+ What should we change about how we carry out our ministries, so that we promote “justice to the weak and the needy?”
+ What can we do to remind one another that we are “children of the Most High?”
Prayer
Lord God our Judge, look with leniency upon us, and when you see that we fall short of your desires for us, remember that your Son, Jesus Christ, clothes us with his righteousness. Look, then, at how we appear in the light of that Light, and strengthen us, by your grace, to rescue all in need and to deliver them; through Jesus Christ your Son and our Lord. Amen.