Heaven Meets Earth

A Reflection on the Psalm for December 6th, 2020:
​Second Sunday of Advent

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Psalm 85

R. Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. 

R. Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.

R. Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
​Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.

R. Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Pause. Pray.​

And then read more...

I have sat before You and cried out in my pain. I’ve asked You, my heavenly Father, “Why?” because I know that You know: and Your steadfast love has looked upon me and brought me salvation. 

My reverence for You does not usurp my right to ask; in fact, it necessitates my coming to You with my questions and my feelings. My daughter-ness is the identity that gives me the worthiness to come before You with boldness and trust that You will love me well — You will love me the best — and You will show me where to place my anger, my sadness, my forgiveness. You can handle it. You offer no excuses except to say, “It is not what I wanted for you.” Tragedies, disasters, even our failures to love each other well are not Your fault — You always give only what is good, and ask us to do the same. This is the righteousness that goes before You and makes a path for Your steps into whatever mess we or our fallen world make.

Steadfast means unwavering, loyal. It implies a longevity, an ever-presence; and righteousness and peace do meet one another in Your presence, in the form of salvation. Healing salve, poured out on us in compassion and mercy, looks like righteousness and peace in our hearts. No amount of pain is too much for You: You’ve seen it all and You want to show us the other side. You want to show us the place where land and sky meet and kiss, where heaven and earth come together, where You give us glimpses of what is in store. Our land, and our lives will yield its increase… this I have seen as I allow Your compassion for me to seep into all the broken crevices of my heart. My compassion for others drives my desire for justice and for Your healing love to spread far and wide so that Your glory may dwell in our land.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

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Lindsay Elford
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