How Do We Picture You?--Oct. 22, 2010

I. Readings
Psalms 88, 148, 6, 20
Micah 6:1-8
Revelation 9:13-21
Luke 10:38-42

II. Selections
Psalm 6:1
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
      or discipline me in your wrath.

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
      and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
      and to walk humbly with your God?

Revelation 9:15
So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind.

Luke 10:39
[Martha] had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

III. Meditation

How shall we picture you? An avenging, wrathful God,
ready to destroy a third of humankind because of sin?

One who requires of us only that we do what is just,
that we love kindness, and walk humbly with you?

A tender, loving God, always willing to teach us
if we but listen to what you have to say to us?

I am most comfortable with the last picture,
but no one of these or any other suffices.