Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
Psalm 96
It’s not often that I reflect deeply on the Psalm of the day. My attention is usually captured by the Old Testament readings of our daily Liturgy.
But the events of our world in these troubling days cause me to ponder the bigger questions of our faith. Our core belief in God – that there is a God and we are not in control, but He is … guiding us on the right path, should we choose to follow with our free will.
Our Pastor this past weekend reminded us that when you drill down into all the controversies of the day, it is the sad truth that many are rooted in a basic loss of faith by so many people in our world today.
That’s why today’s readings – especially the Psalm – serves to remind us that we are called to first and foremost spread the “good news” of salvation. Sometimes I feel we take this for granted … it is so often said that we just consider it second nature. Something, perhaps, that everybody believes in one way or another.
But that is not the case. And that feeling of warm and fuzzy assurances of grace that will carry everybody – including our pets – to heaven, can lull us to sleep, or complacency and inactivity, when it is the opposite that needs to be expressed in this dark world of ours.
I’m not talking about cracking the whip on sinners and passing judgment on our friends and family.
I’m talking about reminding ourselves that we need to evangelize the world, revealing once again that God is real … salvation is our hope … and that there is love, truth and justice in Lord’s teaching.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king.
He has made the world firm, not to be moved;
He governs the peoples with equity.
When an entire generation of people embraces a culture that denies the existence of God, believes that they can set their own path and has no worries about everlasting life (which is probably a made-up fantasy, anyway) – then you have a culture of death.
I think it’s time to step back from the thousand little arguments and debates we have each day over so many complicated topics …
Time to stop painting one another into extreme corners …
Recognize that there is such a thing as truth … but that we arrive at that truth by first seeking common ground, love and understanding…
It is time – once again – to use our words and our actions (mostly our actions) – to show the world that God is real.
To share the good news to all.
To be … the true light of world.