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If you are anything like me you may sometimes wonder about God’s wisdom in calling us, frail human beings, to be the people through whom God blesses the world.   Many days we may not feel up to the task, and yet as this poem from Walter Brueggemann rather relentlessly reminds us, we are the ones God has called.

Kingdoms rage … and we are called

Kingdoms rage;
empires tremble;
cities totter.
    You speak assurance;
    You designate human agents;
    You say, “This is my beloved son”;
    You say, “This is my anointed.”
Right in the middle of chaos,
you designate human agents who do your will.
And we are not sure:
    We would rather it were you,
                directly
                straight on and visible.
But you stay hidden in your holy splendor,
    and we are left with human agents
    about whom we are never sure.
So we name Jesus, “son of David”;
        so human and frail, even if kicked upstairs;
        so vulnerable, even if transformed in song and creed.
And then, in a flash, it may dawn on us:
    You call and designate people like us, your agents.
Kingdoms rage … and we are called.
Empires tremble … and we are designated.
Cities totter … and we are summoned …
    like the first David, like the second David …
    us, vulnerable, frail, anxious, your people.
    And we are dazzled.  Amen.

(Poem from: Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, Edited by Edwin Searcy, Fortress Press Minneapolis 2003. page 105.)

May God’s blessing be upon you today.

Dianne

Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash