Life Saver
AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 • PM Psalm 73
Exod. 1:6-22 • 1 Cor. 12:12-26 • Mark 8:27-9:1
“I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning”
Today’s Morning Psalm begins:
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God. (69:1-3)
The Psalmist goes on to tell of how his enemies attack his faith as well as cause him bodily harm. The Psalmist is hurting. And very, very tired.
One day at a swim camp in the Adirondacks in the summer of 1964, my lifesaving coach, Joe Reiners, Sr., reviewed ways to rescue a person in trouble in the water. If the person were by the dock, we could extend an arm, or a leg, or a canoe paddle. Or throw a lifesaving buoy. Or paddle a canoe or row a boat. If the boat had a motor, so much the better if the person in distress were far from shore.
Or we could swim to the person if we were sure we could make it, and our lifesaving technique was good enough to keep the person from drowning us. But sometimes the person might be beyond our reach. Sometimes there would be no canoe, no boat, and no way we could swim that far. In such cases, it is better, Coach Reiners said, to save one life rather than lose two. No matter how hard the person in trouble was crying for help.
I write this piece two weeks before it will find its way to your Inbox. At present, state legislatures here and there are passing laws that, among other things, prohibit giving medical care to trans kids, threaten the parents of such kids with arrest for child abuse, and make it easier for kids to sue their teachers for simply doing their jobs.
I seem to remember an article from a poli sci class (1970) that criticized Martin Luther King for saying he would have stood up to the Nazis and told them in no uncertain terms that they were wrong to persecute Jews and others. The writer of the article (Joseph Cropsey? Leo Strauss? Herbert Storing? Somebody else from the University of Chicago?) argued that of course the Nazis were wrong, but King standing up and making himself an easy target would have gotten him killed and not have benefited anyone. Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer did in fact stand up against Nazi tyranny, but along with so many others eventually died in the camps.
As for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the western powers seem relatively in accord, not only condemning the Russian action and boycotting Russian goods and services, but also sending supplies and armaments to help Ukrainians fight – indeed to help them survive. But how many more Ukrainian citizens will have to flee their homes? Or die? (I have heard anecdotally that a large demographic of Ukrainian refugees consists of babies and toddlers under two years of age.)
I talk a good game of acceptance, but lately some matters on the local and world stages are those “deep waters” of a “flood” sweeping over me.
Currently, state legislators are not passing laws against me personally. Nor do I have some of the health issues that afflict some of my fellow parishioners. I have food, clothing, a beautiful wife, friends in and out of church, and a roof over my head. And I can go to Washington Regional Hospital, knowing (for now) that a Russian missile is not likely to blow me and the rest of the patients and medical staff to smithereens.
But in today’s selection from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, Paul reminds us that we are all as parts of one body. If “they” are coming after others and I do nothing, if I stay stuck, how long is it before “they” start coming after me?
Helpless. Mired. Stuck. Powerless to help those men, women, and children in Ukraine (you’ve seen the pictures). I have an auto-immune condition that sometimes complicates my life, but most days I get along well enough. I do ask that God guide my thinking and show me the way out of the mire of helplessness, which may be an illusion as much as anything else. Surely, some of the people who can get out of Ukraine—and some who can’t—are begging God to save them from the “floodwaters” of missiles and airstrikes that rain down upon them. How many of us have faith strong enough to say
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.
With your faithful help, rescue me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies.
and from the deep waters.
How long is an acceptable time? God only knows.
Lately, in addition to Psalm 69, I have been reading Psalm 31, which begins, in the NRSV, In you, O LORD, I seek refuge... (31:1)
Equally resonant for me is Psalm 31’s first line in the KJV: In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust... (31:1)
I seek that refuge even on days when my trust is pretty shaky, whether I feel rescued or not. I don’t want to be stuck in the mire anymore.
Written by James Gamble
...who is grateful for in-person meetings of Education for Ministry and hopes to return to in-person services at St. Paul’s before Easter. He earned his Red Cross Junior Lifesaving certification in August of 1964.