Today's Scripture Reading (September 16, 2025): Psalm 43
Martin Luther King reminded us that "human progress is
neither automatic nor inevitable … Every step toward the goal of justice
requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and
passionate concern of dedicated individuals." The status quo too easily
influences us. We want things to remain the same. Even inside the church, we
seem only to want to grab onto what is familiar. I have been reminded in the
past, and in many ways, of the dangers of bringing uncomfortable ideas inside
the church, even when I am sure that the ideas are straight from the throne of
God. There seems to be a list of things that we don't really want to hear. We
don't want to hear that God wants us to love our Muslim brothers and sisters,
even if Jesus did tell us to love our enemies and pray for those who might wish
to persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Our stance seems to be, "Come Holy Spirit,
just don't challenge me by your presence." Or as one parishioner put it, "Jesus
is welcome in my church as long as he doesn't do anything weird." Come,
Lord, but don't ask me to sacrifice the things that I think are important.
Psalm 43 is a short prayer for vindication. The psalmist has faced
the struggle and needs to be rescued from his enemies. And when he is rescued,
he promises that he will go to the altar of God with a song of joy in his heart
and on his lips. But what is sometimes so easy to miss is that the altar is
actually a place of sacrifice. It always has been. In the tradition I grew up
in, we would make that long walk from where we sat to the altar railing at the
front of the church whenever we felt God calling us to change. There we knelt
and prayed, or we lifted up a song of thanksgiving, but the idea was always
that we had come to a place of sacrifice. I do not agree with everything that
the Hindu teacher Sathya Sai Baba wrote. Still, he did remind us that "Life
is a sacrifice … offer it." (The full quote of Sathya Sai Baba, who
believed that he was the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, is "Life is
a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life
is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy
it." I am not sure that I would want to correct him on any of these
assertions.) But life really is a sacrifice, and I believe that the
psalmist understood that. If he came through this trial, he would sing his
praise at the altar because his life remained forfeit to his God. His life was
on the altar, and God could do whatever he desired with it.
The apostle Paul wrote what I think is a New Testament
equivalent to this Psalm. "I have been crucified with
Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the
body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"
(Galatian 2:20). I have laid down my life in sacrifice at the altar; I have
offered my life to my God. He is the One who has chosen to pick it up once
again, not me. And to him, my life, every portion of it, is dedicated. And that
dedication is with joy, delight, and praise.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Psalm 44
Originally Published on May 18, 2016
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