“What a refrain!”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, November 13, 2021
Psalm 136 (Forward, p. 15) CEV p. 638
I am sure that no one ever reading or reciting this psalm should ever miss or forget its dominant message. I mean, how could they? Every single verse ends with the same refrain, the same response: “God’s love never fails.” In one worship service I attended—obviously not a sedate Anglican service as we know them in the Western world—with each succeeding verse, the refrain got louder and faster and even more frenzied—something like a football cheer. And why not, this was a congregation that had experienced terrible hardship and persecution, and yet here they were. They had survived—and more—all because of the steadfast love of God. They were a Jewish Christian congregation and many of them had lost jobs and families and been threatened with the loss of their lives because of their new-found faith in the Messiah, Jesus.
Today’s psalm has two parts. In the first, its author praises God for the wonders of creation, for how God has put together this incredible world in which we live. In the second part, he extolls God for rescuing Israel from its slavery in Egypt, defeating those nations that opposed them, and brought them, safe and sound, into the Promised Land. It is a story that the Jewish people still remember and celebrate each Passover, for that rescue and deliverance continues year by year and day by day.
Indeed, this gives me an idea: what if we, you and I—or Israel itself for that matter—were to continue on with this psalm and its refrain. Israel could recount God’s leading in the wilderness, His sustaining help during the Exile, and His miraculous hand in their return to their own land and in the rebuilding of their city and Temple. Moving closer to the time of Jesus, they could praise Him also for that brief, flash in the pan, episode of freedom and independence under the Maccabees. And above all, they could praise God for His abiding faithfulness, mercy and forgiveness, even in the midst of their repeated backsliding.
And what about us? What verses could we add, from the glories of Church history, for instance, or from our own personal faith stories, our own experiences? At the very basic level, I would have to include the life, death and resurrection of Jesus: imagine, He became one of us, experienced our life and existence from ‘the inside out’ and destroyed death and sin and the power of the devil. On a more personal note, I would most certainly have to add my discovery that we are saved, not by anything that we do or are, but simply by the amazing and unearned grace of God--my discovery that none of us have to ‘measure up’ or merit God’s love. And, I would likewise have to add in there my family and my ministry, and my many gifts and experiences. There are so many things that I, as just one person, could add in there as evidence that ‘God’s love never fails.’ So, what about you? What would you add as your own examples? Here we are, rapidly approaching Advent and the lead up to Christmas, a time of remembrance and celebration if ever there was one. So, is this not an appropriate time, a great time, to write your own ‘God’s love never fails’? Amen.
Forward notes: “The moon and the stars to govern the night, for his mercy endures forever” (verse 9).
“In 2019, the Most Rev. Don Tamihere, archbishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, invited us to spend a week visiting some of the Maori communities and churches. This friendship had its beginnings a decade earlier after the Maori churches sent two of their young people to be part of the Red Shirt Project, a program that focuses on building projects and friendships in the community of Red Shirt on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
“On our first night in New Zealand, we stood outside gazing at the sky, and we noticed that it was different. We were now in the southern hemisphere, and the stars at night were new and stunning. One of my colleagues pointed south and exclaimed, ‘Look, the Southern Cross!’ The Maori call it Mahutonga, and it has great significance in their creation stories. I told Bishop Don the next day about our experience, and he replied that he had the same experience when he visited our lands. Friendship begins because of God’s never-ending mercy and love.”
Moving Forward: “Offer your prayers tonight from under the stars.”
