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 surprised 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 us
abundantly. For mercy and truth have met
together, and righteousness and bliss have kissed one another!’ (pp.
44-45)