How pleasant

As I read the psalm assigned for this morning, psalm 133, I was struck by the translation in the Book of Common Worship I was using: “how pleasant it is when communities dwell together in unity.” The older translations of course had it “brothers:, and this is a way to be more inclusive. The Message keeps it in the family: “How wonderful, how beautiful, when sisters and brothers get along.” The community phrasing resonated with me because today is caucus day, or more precisely this is caucus night, in Minnesota. Community folks will gather but I am not sure if it will be pleasant. Our politics has made it harder and harder for folks to unify around anything. If we win, we dominate. If we lose, then we set out to thwart the victors so we can get them next time. I found this remarkable cartoon today that seemed to express it nicely.

In his devotion today, Mike Piazza expressed our problems very well. He was commenting on the Komen decision to defund Planned Parenthood, and then to Fund it again. Like Mike, I was appalled by the decision and glad that there has been some sort of reversal – though we do not know exactly what that means. Let me quote Mike. I recommend his daily feed:

“ This rabid attitude seems to be on the increase on both sides of many issues. We find it more and more difficult to be in relationship with people who might hold strong views that are different from our own. If we had been Jesus, Judas never would have had a chance to betray us, and Peter would have been out of the group long before he could deny.

For example, now that the Komen foundation has reversed their decision, how many of us will be able to reverse our opinion and support them again? Oh, there are other ways to join the fight against breast cancer, and diversifying funding might be a good thing. My question, though, is about our attitude. Can we be in relationship with others with whom we might not fully agree? “

Psalm 133 describes a situation that seems almost impossible.

It would be nice if God somehow intervened and changed our hearts and minds. Of course, I have usually believed that God changes our hearts and minds by calling us to do the changing.

Grace and Peace