God is my Refuge

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Lectionary Reading: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 (NRSV)

We can see that this Psalm comes to us in the Easter season because Jesus quotes it while dying on the cross.  Only Luke gives us these words from Jesus in 23:46:

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

Of course, we know that these were not the last words that Jesus says in Luke's account because Jesus is resurrected and appears again to the disciples. 

Originally, this psalm is seen as a lament where the troubles of the day are given over to God.  Hope comes through this trust that God will see us through.  When Jesus quotes from Psalm 31:5, he may have included more of this Psalm in that sentiment as verse 16 states:

Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.

This is a reversal of the idea that to gaze upon God's face would be deadly.  God says as much to Moses in Exodus 33:20:

“you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.”

While the mystery of God gives us pause, the Psalmist declares to us that we ultimately have no place to go but to God.  What does it mean for God to be our refuge?  What does it mean to put ourselves in God's hands?

Sometimes larger hands hold onto the faith
for us as we grow.

I remember being ill with a migraine headache as a child.  My mother was away on a trip to visit my older sister to help with my new nephew.  I awoke and cried out and my father came into my room.  He was not normally the caregiver - that role went to my mother.  But he was there for me in my time of need.  He lay down in the bed next to me and held my head with his big hands.  He put just enough pressure on my head which relieved the pain somewhat.  He held me like that until I went back to sleep.

That image of comfort and love in a time of distress is what I think about when I read this Psalm today.  We certainly have some anxiety at this point in our lives with all of the isolation due to COVID-19.  I hear lots of stories about sleeping schedules being erratic.  Sometimes we may feel ourselves angry toward things that normally wouldn't be that big of a deal.  Even as we begin to return somewhat to society, there is still the need to remain apart so that the vulnerable are not infected. 

It's a lot of weight to carry.

This Sunday, we'll continue to explore the theme of "God is My Refuge" in worship.  You can join us through YouTube.  We reached 100 subscribers so feel free to jump on and add to the interest!  This milestone gave us an easier way to reach our page - you can find it at https://www.youtube.com/EdmondFirstUMC which should give you the option of subscribing.  Many people have told me that they prefer YouTube because they watch on their smart televisions on the YouTube app in their living rooms with their family on Sunday mornings. 

Of course, we are still available on Facebook and the advantage there is getting to check in with our friends - it feels more like we are at church when we see others we know commenting or liking the post.  This Sunday, being Mother's Day, we will invite people to post a picture of your mother - either a new pic or one from your past in the feed. 

On Sunday, we had some technical difficulties in that our internet went down while Jake was broadcasting the service from our church.  So only about half of it went out on Facebook.  Fortunately, most people switched to YouTube where it was previously uploaded.  We hope to find a solution of streaming "live" on Facebook at 11 am on Sundays from the cloud rather than our servers from the church.  This will hopefully keep these kinds of things from disrupting worship in the future.

My prayers are with you and I look forward to seeing you in person when we are safe to gather again!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Eric Chan via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.