Let your loving-kindness come to me, O Lord,
and your salvation, according to your promise.
Then shall I have a word for those who taunt me,
because I trust in your words.
Do not take the word of truth out of my mouth,
for my hope is in your judgments.
I shall continue to keep your law;
I shall keep it for ever and ever.
I will walk at liberty,
because I study your commandments.
I will tell of your decrees before kings
and will not be ashamed.
I delight in your commandments,
which I have always loved.
I will lift up my hands to your commandments,
and I will meditate on your statutes.

- Psalm 119: 41-48

On the day a new presidential administration is ushered in, these verses of Psalm 119 elevate our consciousness and lift our eyes beyond secular ceremony. We are reminded that it is God’s word alone that brings loving kindness and salvation. And while we may at times resist obedience, it is indeed - perhaps paradoxically - the surrender to God’s commandments that gives us liberty. This freedom is interpreted as being taught by God’s spirit to actually love what his law commands…. being so led by the Spirit. Then, flowing from this liberty comes the courage to speak God’s word, to delight and meditate on it.

The grief, turbulence, and fissures caused by the pandemic, social inequities, and now January 6, etc., provoke anguished cries for help, for redress, and ultimately for reconciliation. They call for spiritual balm and solutions. A columnist in The New York Times wrote about the need for the violators of liberty in the Capitol destruction to be reattached to reality. He said, “[they] have to be reminded that all truth is God’s truth.” Recent EfM readings of backbone gospel teachings become even more relevant: the vision of John’s gospel that all believers are one in Christ and Paul’s vision of the cross as an emblem of Christian salvation and Christian conduct.

The tools of truth - divine teaching and the meaning of the cross - are at hand as they have been for centuries.

Dear God, help us do our small parts in seeking harmony by practicing your Word, your commandments, and let us discover solace and courage in them.  Amen.