November 4thPsalm 146
God have mercy
"He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing." — Isaiah 40:23
On Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the United States will vote for a new president, perhaps one of the most divisive and crucial elections in modern history. Listening to the radio on Saturday morning, one commentator said the world is watching and wondering as the United States elects a new president. Will there be an orderly process, a clear result, and a peaceful transition of power? Or will this election somehow provoke anger and lead to a time of deep social unrest in the American democracy? As several commentators intimated, maybe things will get better, but they could also get worse, for no country is immune from the violent forces of history that have convulsed many great empires.
Daniel Berrigan was a Jesuit priest (died at age 91 in 2016). Berrigan was a pacifist and antiwar activist, a poet and author. While he had a deep love for his church and his country, he was also a fierce critic of unjust powers which provoke violence and oppression. He spent more than a few nights in jail for his protests. When a reporter once asked him how many times he had been arrested, Berrigan replied, ‘Not often enough!’
Berrigan wrote a Credo poetically stating (bluntly) his commitment to faith in God over faith in politics.
I can only tell you what I believe; I believe:
I cannot be saved by foreign policies.
I cannot be saved by the sexual revolution.
I cannot be saved by the gross national product.
I cannot be saved by nuclear deterrents.
I cannot be saved by aldermen, priests, artists,
plumbers, city planners, social engineers,
nor by the Vatican,
nor by the World Buddhist Association,
nor by Hitler, nor by Joan of Arc,
nor by angels and archangels,
nor by powers and dominions,
I can be saved only by Jesus Christ.
Berrigan’s sentiments echo psalm 146. [1] For this psalmist the issue is: Whom shall we trust? (vs.3-5). That question is as timely now as it ever was. To put one’s faith in any one political power or person, the psalmist asserts, is not only folly, it is heretical.
"The Maker of heaven and earth," says our poet, cares for the oppressed. God feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, and heals the blind. God lifts up those who are weighted down, he defends foreigners, protects the orphan, and sustains the widow. These eight categories of people identified by the psalmist face different challenges, but what makes them similar is that they are all vulnerable to forces beyond their control.
Why, the poet says, should we not place ultimate trust in our political leaders? He offers two compelling reasons: First, leaders can’t deliver or help (v.3) people from their troubles. Now this claim seems somewhat outrageous but we should remember that those two verbs carry a lot of freight in the Psalms. Deliverance and help are something only God can truly do.
Secondly, you should not give ultimate trust to your leaders since they are only mortal, that is, they will die (v.4) like the rest of us. The plans they have in mind become irrelevant, their agendas are tossed aside for new agendas and programs imagined by new leaders.
Note well how this psalm begins and ends: Praise the Lord! In fact this psalm is the first of the five concluding psalms (146-150) and all of them begin and end with HALLELUJAH! The psalm, therefore is an urgent call to praise, to live a praiseworthy life. Our sung praise and our lived praise are unseparable. OT theologian Walter Brueggemann commenting on this poem-song takes verse 2, ‘Sing praises’ as key:
Israel holds doxology against the powerful … forces of the rulers of this age. Israel sings, and we never know what holy power is unleashed by such singing. One reason we may not sing is that such hope is intellectually outrageous….But the church and Israel do sing! This singing is our vocation, our duty, and our delight. We sing this staggering Name – and the world becomes open again, especially for those on whom it had closed in such deathly ways-the prisoners, the blind, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan. The world is sung open. Against this Holy One and this song, death cannot close the world into injustice again.
And here is the rub: God is worthy of our trust therefore we are to be like God and do the same. Loving our neighbour is loving the Lord!
Our poet encourages God’s people to sing and pray in the same way Jesus taught his disciples, affirming, ‘for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.’
A prayer for this election season
God, our Creator and Sustainer,
All the nations are like grass that withers and fades.
Sovereigns and magistrates rise and fall;
You make nations great and bring them low.
But you, Holy One — your Word remains forever.
Teach us your way,
That we may trust in your love and redemption
As we become a people of peace.
Melissa Florer-Bixler
Author and pastor, Raleigh Mennonite Church
[1] Psalm 146 is the Church Lectionary’s psalm for November 3 so I thought it appropriate to offer these reflections on it, though it is out of sequence. Next week we will return to our schedule with Psalm 125.