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A LENTEN MEDITATION
(from the lectionary for February 21, 2010)
OLD TESTAMENT: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 10:8b-13
GOSPEL: Luke 4:1-13
PSALTER: Psalm 91
The lectionary readings given above for February 21, the first Sunday in Lent, include motifs common to the observance in the Christian calendar of the season of Lent, the time of re-examination of our spiritual state and our need for the mercy of God. Deuteronomy 26:1-11 reminds us that since it is God who has brought us thus far in life, we need both to pause and reflect on God’s providence, and respond to it with a concrete gesture such as an offering out of the fruits of our prosperity. Romans 10:8-13 reminds us that God’s mercy to us is truly amazing, freely offered to anyone willing to acknowledge one’s desperate need of it and willing to ask for it. Finally, Luke 4:1-13, in its recounting of Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, reminds us that if even the Son of God was not exempted from trials and temptations in this life, they must surely form a part of life for all mortals.
But I have found Psalm 91 - also part of the lectionary for that day - sometimes hard to accept, both for its apparently too rosy promises to the average worshiper, and for the fact that in the Gospel reading for that very same Sunday, the devil himself quotes part of Psalm 91 in an attempt to trick Jesus into presuming on the grace of God. Though part of Holy Scripture, Psalm 91 is clearly subject to misapplication. Some people of any age expect, like some small children, that God owes them good fortune as a reward for acceptable behavior, and their trust in God may collapse when bad things happen to them. In view of the life experience of most of us, Psalm 91 can sound at first reading just too good to be true.
One way of understanding the psalm is to notice that the devil’s version of the verses he quotes (11 and 12) is not exact. When he basically dares Jesus to jump off the temple tower, assuring him from the psalm that the angels will rescue Jesus if he does that, he omits one crucial phrase found in the original: the angels promise to guard the psalmist him not in just any foolish act, but “In all your ways.” The promise claimer must subject all his or her thoughts and actions to the sovereignty and will of God, and not try to force God’s hand in any private adventure. In other words, when we ponder Psalm 91 or any other Scripture, we must GET GOD’S WORD RIGHT.
There is also another way to understand Psalm 91. The Book of Psalms includes prayers and confessions from many different people with many different faith experiences, of which Psalm 91 is one example. Faith is a gift given to us from God in different amounts to different people. Psalm 91 is a statement of faith by someone with a simple and sincere heart, who has perhaps been given more faith than most other people, and has certainly experienced a marvelous personal deliverance. The author is not a theologian, or even someone who is sensitive to the greys of life. He (or she) is not necessarily more nor less sinful or saintly than any one of us for this reason, but merely different. Our sinfulness and saintliness are not based on what God has given us, but on what we do with what God has given us. Deeper or more philosophical treatments of evil are found in Job, or Ecclesiastes, or other psalms - not to mention the New Testament. What Psalm 91 does give all of us, especially in its last three verses, is the assurance that God is always watching over us, in mays we may not even suspect. It promises us, no matter how robust or how feeble the faith we feel we have, however hard it may be to see the hand of God in a given situation, that God does not and will not ever desert us. Ever! .
Will thousands fall around me while I am unscathed? Will I be able to walk safely on snakes and lions? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps the author of Psalm 91 had experiences like those, but I admit I do not want to put God to such testing on my behalf any more than did Jesus in the wilderness. But will God desert me in any situation, however frightening or appalling, which might befall me? Look carefully at vs 14, 15, 16 : “Those who love me, I will DELIVER... I will be WITH THEM... I will SHOW THEM MY SALVATION.” (From the NRSV version) .
If we call for help, if we look for God, God is there to work God’s will and support us, no matter what the circumstance. God will never allow those who turn toward God to drift out of reach. Let us remember this throughout Lent, in the light of Easter, and through our whole lives.
Pastor James Alley
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Reverend James C. Alley
James Alley came to the Kingston area in 1955, when he was 7 years old. His father was a doctor in Kingston.
Jim graduated from Kingston High School in 1965, Princeton University in 1969, and Brown University in 1971, graduating with an M.A. in Medieval European History.
He traveled and did construction work through South America and Alaska from 1972-1985, returning to our area in 1986. He was a Sunday School Teacher at the Fair Street Reformed Church in Kingston, and attended Princeton Theological Seminary from 1993-1996. He was ordained at the Fair Street Church in February of 1998 and has held various area ministries from then until 2003.
Jim is married. His wife, Joan, is a librarian in the Kingston School District. They have one son, Johnnie.
On October 16, 2005 Jim was officially installed as our Pastor.
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