God is love - a Lenten series 20 Love rescues
Psalm 82
Asaph the psalmist is mad at injustice, at oppression of the poor, favoritism to wicked enablers, abuse of the needy. The gods in the great assembly are the rulers of the world's nations, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, in Asaph's world. The rulers who are not blind, who do understand are rulers who insist on justice, who defends women and children, who champions the cause of the poor and oppressed, who rescue those oppressed by the wicked.
Love rescues. Thus I approach politics the same way. Because I am a privileged upper middle class white man. My interests come second. Black lives matter. End sexual harassment and gender pay disparity. Remove assault weapons from the public. Minimize coal and gas and oil and increase renewable energy. Increase public parklands. Respect indigenous land rights and honor treaties. And on it goes. We are not free until we are all free.
1 God presides in the great assembly;
he renders judgment among the “gods”:
2 “How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
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| "Assembly of Gods" by Antoine Coypel |
Asaph the psalmist is mad at injustice, at oppression of the poor, favoritism to wicked enablers, abuse of the needy. The gods in the great assembly are the rulers of the world's nations, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, in Asaph's world. The rulers who are not blind, who do understand are rulers who insist on justice, who defends women and children, who champions the cause of the poor and oppressed, who rescue those oppressed by the wicked.
Love rescues. Thus I approach politics the same way. Because I am a privileged upper middle class white man. My interests come second. Black lives matter. End sexual harassment and gender pay disparity. Remove assault weapons from the public. Minimize coal and gas and oil and increase renewable energy. Increase public parklands. Respect indigenous land rights and honor treaties. And on it goes. We are not free until we are all free.
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