My Hope is in Your Word
AM Psalm 119:97-120 • PM Psalm 81, 82
Joel 2:12-19 • Rev. 19:11-21 • Luke 15:1-10
As I write, midterm elections are two weeks away and I have little idea what we will have woken up to today. Obviously, some will be celebrating, some grinding their teeth—or we may all still be confused and terrified, working through real or imagined shenanigans state by state.
Today’s readings praise God for outcomes (or asks God for outcomes). We do this because we care. But in these same readings we also hear a deeper, vaster theme of love-and-possibilities-no-matter-what—and the related joy-in-small-things like finding one lost sheep among many. The Psalms awaken this deep, spiritual posture (not so dependent on outcomes) with the simple, often misunderstood phrase “My hope is in your word.” Words are vibrations and meanings—not outcomes. (Correlated, “the word of God” is not simply scripture. The word of God is an expansive, uncanny vitality which fuels scriptures and so much more). The phrase evokes Divine longing, love, curiosity, creativity—all of which seem to come out of nowhere, from the beginning, to linger among us no matter what. This Word has been with us from deep time when the Spirit of the Lord moved over the chaos and first drew it toward life.
This Spirit came like a wind, hovering over, wondering, moving with developments, calling beauty and life out of the waters. This was the first prayer—God’s own prayer. It attended to the chaos, not as its enemy, but as love for its possibilities. Even then, mind-breaking eons would pass before we would stand upright and walk in the Garden. Is it not strange that the life this Word first called forth would not include us, civilization, or democracy for billions upon billions of years?
This Divine Vibration hovers over us individually and collectively even now, even if we are a cold rock in space, an exploding star, a frog, a donut, a Democrat, or a Republican. In rare moments, we can feel it whelming up and guiding us through. We are closest to this Voice when we listen, marvel, hope—also hovering over the chaos—loving the not yet and still to come. Everything is becoming. This Vibration enters us when we ourselves vibrate within it, hating/fearing neither our own chaos, nor that of others. This is a hard saying—and easy to misconstrue as passive, amoral, and impractical. Nevertheless, outcomes begin as tiny mustard seeds when we lean back into this ancient, creative Desire. This Voice is always astonishing—always a beginning.
Written by David Orth
David is a professional sculptor and liturgical artist. He enjoys process theology and the wisdom traditions of East & West. Today he will buy a single glazed donut to remind him of the wonder of small things.