Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries by Captain Michael Ramsay, 28 November 2021
Psalm 25 is an acrostic poem which means that every line begins with a different letter in the Hebrew Alphabet. If it was our alphabet, it would run A through Z in sequence. It is a poem written during some very difficult times. We, now, are in some very difficult times: Flooding around the province, fires in the summer, the plague that still ravages the world and seems to mutate almost at will (if that were possible); our economy is in shambles and we are making it worse; our country is more and more involved in many -at best- questionable aggressive international actions; our country is divided over things like vaccine passports and vaccine mandates. People are scared. People are mean. People are uncertain. All of this is coming across on social media and in person. I have heard multiple stories of people ‘losing it’ and I think we have each probably encountered someone ‘losing it’, getting noticeably upset in public when they never would have before. That person ‘losing it’ in some cases may even have been us. These are some very difficult times. Psalm 25 is an ABC poem written by someone in very difficult times. Let us take a look at the first 10 Verses of this poem, those in the lectionary for today and let us find some encouragement from this ABC poem as we look at an equivalent of letters A through I. (I have adapted it slightly here to fit that form)
A.
Always to you Lord, I lift my Soul
B.
Benevolent God, in you I trust…
In our struggles today with all that we already mentioned and the more personal, immediate things that we are each facing today, let us take a deep breath; let us sit maybe in silence for a while; let us lift our thoughts and our hearts to God. Let us release our minds from all the things that want to work us up into a frenzy and let us instead place our trust in God.
… do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.
C.
Champion us, do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
Lord as we come to you today with all of the things we are struggling with; Lord as we come to you in vulnerability, aware of the forces and powers and principalities aligning against us, please champion us, please do not let those who wish to divide and conquer us succeed. Please help us not to tear at each other to bits but rather to be unified in our love for you. Please may we not tear and be torn apart. Please help us to persevere in peace. Please may we not be put to shame.
D.
Do make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
E.
Everyday lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
God, please help me to know what to do in these times; You are my salvation; God, please let me know what to think in these times; You are my salvation; God please show me how to show love to my neighbour in these times, even though they may be my accusers and tormenters in these time. Lord please help me to persevere; You are my salvation; please help me to always follow You in truth which is love and forgiveness. Lord, please help me to quiet myself so I may have Your peace in these times.
F.
Forgiveness and Mercy: Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
Lord you are merciful on everyone. May I be the same. May we be the same. May we be charitable with one another. We are blessed through your covenant faithfulness. Each of us can think back on troubles in our lives and the older we are and the more troubles we have had, the more experiences we have that we can remember your never-failing faithfulness. You have always been faithful in pulling us through so that we have survived even until today and you continue to pull us through so that we may survive even until tomorrow and eternity. Lord, may we never forget your love, your mercy, your faithfulness and may we always be faithful and merciful with one another.
G.
Gracious God, do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD!
Lord, I appeal to your mercy. I appeal to your forgiveness and your never-ending love. I know that I have done and said many things in the past. I know I have thought many uncharitable things. I know I have made comments that were not and are not okay. I know I have done actions and said words that are harmful. Lord, please forgive me and thank you for forgiving me my sins and the harmful things I have done, said, and thought.
H.
He is Good and upright; therefore, the LORD instructs sinners in the way.
God is good. He loves all of us. Even those of us who fail and flail about. When hate grabs our heart, and despair, and helplessness, and unforgiveness, and all else that can grab ahold of us and drag us under, the Lord is here offering to teach us the ways of forgiveness that lead to peace. Unforgiveness is one of the key things that rob us of peace and love. It is only through forgiving others that any of us can ever hope to have peace. Unforgiveness is a self-inflicted wound. It is only we who can heap that debilitating injury upon ourselves. The Lord can free us from its suffocating grasp. The Lord taught us that in His life, in His Death, and He continues to teach us that in His resurrection life. Love overcomes death. In the Lord, we can be free.
I.
In what is right, He leads the humble and teaches the humble His way.
J.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
As he instructs the sinners; so too does he lead the humble. As we humble ourselves before the Lord in our times of trouble, He will lead us through. As we humble ourselves to realize that we may not always be correct, as we humble ourselves to acknowledge that we do not know everything, as we humble ourselves to see that we cannot solve the problems of the world – much less the problems in our own lives – all by ourselves, as we humble ourselves to follow the LORD, He will lead us through our troubles.
And this is the hope that I wish to leave us with today. On this Advent Sunday, 2000+ years after the birth of our saviour and 2000+ years closer to His return, I want to encourage us all to turn to the Prince of Peace, experience His love and forgiveness and indeed, as we do, He can and will see us through even the most difficult of times.
Let us pray.
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