from Psalm 146:
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in their God.
It is tempting to abandon the political process as we witness some of the antics of our elected leaders and as we wonder at the extent of corporate meddling in human affairs. Nonetheless, this is the system we have, and it is our place to demand change from those we elect. It means making the effort to become acquainted with these leaders and holding them to account for their actions by speaking up, by not just grumbling in our own corners.
So, what do we make of Psalm 146? One of my reflections is that trusting is the question here. Political leaders and parties are historical butterflies. No matter how forceful the nation, all societies eventually fall to dust. Witness the pyramids, the ghosts of ancient empires in Egypt, in Central America. War, weather, cultural shifts: all move people from one system to another. We take pictures and write our names on stones, even as we who are coastal know that time and tide will shift everything.
So where can we find some place to rest our souls in the midst of the constant flux of the universe, the earth, our place in it, our family and friends, our buildings? I think we can learn to rest in the eye of the storm, in the still small space where even God is silent. In that space, if we can relax into it, we will discover the moment when anything is possible, the space into which creation will be born. In that eternal moment, we can view life as it shifts and grows and blossoms and dies. Jesus invites us to share that space with him, and within the Holy One. That space is both at the centre of all life and death and also untouched by any of it. Being in that moment, that holy place, allows us to gain perspective, to see that present relationships — our care for each other, our care for our neighbours near and far, our care for our earth — are the most important reason to be alive.
Moving in and out of the Divine space is the incarnation of love, the death of dead ends, the resurrection of hope, a new, spirit-filled creation. It is all the movement of the Spirit into which we are invited to experience, to be fully and wonderfully aware!