“Not a very good track record”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, July 1, 2024
Psalm 106: 1-18 (Forward, p. 64) CEV p. 621
In horse racing, owners and betters alike keep record of a horse’s performance, its best time over a particular distance or at a certain track. This has become known as the horse’s track record and was seen as important as an indicator of how that horse would perform in the future.
It came to used figuratively, that is, to describe human performance in the late 1940’s, and it is in this sense that I use it in the context of today’s psalm. From what our psalmist has to say, Israel has anything but an enviable ‘track record’:
-they sinned terribly.
-they paid no attention to God’s marvellous deeds or wonderful love.
-they turned against God at the Red Sea.
-they soon forgot what God had done and rejected God’s advice.
-they became greedy for food.
-they tested God there in the wilderness.
-they rebelled against God.
If they had been race-horses, who would have ever bet on them? No one. And no one would give them much credence in expecting anything by way of improvement or reform. Most people would have given up on them.
And yet God, who has much higher and more stringent standards than any of us, does not give up on them. God is good to them, and His love never fails. God remained true to His name and rescued them and saved them and fed them. God’s ‘track record’ is superb and most enviable. We can always trust Him to ‘be there for us’—even if we turn away and are not ‘there for Him.’ His track record cannot be bettered. Amen.
Forward notes: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever” (verse 1).
Commemoration: Pauli Murray
“Today, the Episcopal Church commemorates the life of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. Like me, Pauli was a lawyer before being ordained a priest. Pauli was also a poet and an activist for racial and gender equality. Reading Pauli’s autobiography, Song in a Weary Throat, I felt a clear call to ordained ministry for the first time. My seminary field education assignment was at the parish where Pauli’s chaplain served. And, just this week, I helped lead worship with another priest who knew Pauli.
“This verse from Psalm 106 recurs in various iterations throughout scripture. I particularly love its appearance in Ezra 3:11. There, the whole assembly of God’s people sing it together at the dedication of the rebuilt temple. Some people sing it with joy and hope, but some sing it while weeping from the trauma they have endured during their exile. It touches my heart to know that God’s people have been singing this song together, shaped by the words, generation after generation, just as Pauli’s Song has helped shape my life.”
Moving Forward: “What does your song of thanksgiving sound like?”