Yahweh,
you have been favorable to your land.
You
have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You
have forgiven the iniquity of your people.
You
have covered all their sin.
You
have taken away all your wrath.
You
have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
Turn
us, God of our salvation,
and
cause your indignation toward us to cease.
Will
you be angry with us forever?
Will
you draw out your anger to all generations?
Won’t
you revive us again,
that
your people may rejoice in you?
Show
us your loving kindness, Yahweh.
Grant
us your salvation.
I
will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,
for
he will speak peace to his people, his saints;
but
let them not turn again to folly.
Surely
his salvation is near those who revere him,
that
glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth
have met together.
Righteousness
and peace have kissed one another.
Truth
springs out of the earth.
Righteousness
has looked down from heaven.
Yes,
Yahweh will give that which is good.
Our
land will yield its increase.
Righteousness
goes before him,
And
prepares the way for his steps.
Psalm 85
“Mercy and truth, my friends, have met together. Righteousness and bliss have kissed one
another!”
These words are the crescendo of Babette’s
Feast by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen’s pseudonym) spoken by General Löwenhielm
as the mystical nature of Babette’s feast becomes evident to the participants.
So often, we say mercy must be tempered
by truth, that bliss can only be achieved by justice and righteousness.
The question posed by God is, “Why?”
‘Man my friends,’ said General Löwenhielm,
‘is frail and foolish. We have all of us
been told that grace is to be found in the universe. But in our human foolishness and short-sightedness
we image divine grace to be finite. For this
reason, we tremble ….’Never until now had the General stated that he trembled;
he was genuinely surprises and even shocked at hearing his own voice proclaim
the fat. ‘We tremble before making our choice in life, and after having made it
tremble again in fear of having chosen wrong.
But the moment comes when our eyes are opened, and we see and realize
that grace is infinite. Grace, my
friends, demands nothing from us but that we shall await it with confidence and
acknowledge it in gratitude. Grace, brothers,
makes no conditions and singles out none of us in particular; grace takes us
all to its bosom and proclaims general amnesty.
See! That which we have chosen is given us, and that which we have refused
is, also and at the same time, granted us. Ay, that which we have rejected is
poured upon s abundantly. For mercy and
truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss have kissed one another!’
(pp. 43-45)
Remember the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the parables of the vineyard workers, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son. It is not about achieving merit. It is about the abundant grace of God, poured out on all regardless of merit and with plenty left over. There is nothing over which to fight or about which to judge ourselves or others. If we insist on shaming ourselves and others, God will sit on the ground and fashion garments to cover our shame.
