On the High Ground of Language

AM Psalm 93, 98 • PM Psalm 66
Exod. 12:14-27 • 1 Cor.15:1-11 • Mark 16:1-8

During this time of upset I thought of the time during the Blitz of WWII. England waited to hear whether or when help would come from President Roosevelt and the United States. Yet, it did not.

While England waited, Churchill injected courage into the British people with soaring speeches. Yet when the words from Roosevelt finally came they were given not by the President but by a Mr. Harry Hopkins, his advisor, described as having a rumpled sickly-looking body and, by some accounts, resembling a “crumbling lighthouse...”

However, this man was able to meet Churchill on his own high ground of language. The words he used were a paraphrase from the Book of Ruth. Quietly he began as he told Churchill what he would say to Roosevelt: “Wither thou goest, I will go. And where thou lodgest, I will lodge: Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, even to the end.”

Today we are a little “down” we say. Or, we are worried. We stand to lose lives and to grow in desperation, and fear. But in Psalm 93, I read this exalted poem of courage:

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice,
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea.

And, Psalm 98

Sing to the Lord a new song,
For He has done marvelous things!
The Lord has made known his victory...
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.

Remembering the gentle words of Ruth we are not powerless.

Written by Rebecca Newth

Rebecca Newth is a lay reader and sings in the choir.

Sections of this reflection are taken from a review titled Civilization at the Abyss by Candice Millard, the New York Times.