Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and a deceitful tongue (including mine). Psalm 120 “gets us out of an environment of deceit and hostility and sets us on our way to God,” writes Eugene Peterson.
So much of so-called Christian behavior is embedded in our legal system and social expectations as to be coercive. We don’t know how much murder, theft, perjury and falsification would happen apart from the law. “But worship is not forced,” writes Peterson. “Most Christian worship is voluntary.” It’s where we are free! It’s where we encounter the great foundational realities—that God created us, redeems us, and provides for us. It’s where we discover in ritual the truths that God forgives our sins and makes it possible to live without guilt and with purpose. (from Peterson’s A Long Obedience In the Same Direction)
These realities ground us to think about Ukraine, about famine in Sudan, about transition in Syria, about chaos, deceit, and challenges on the home front.
