4-7 I
said, “God, be gracious!
Put me together again—
my sins have torn me to pieces.”
My
enemies are wishing the worst for me;
they make bets on what day I will die.
If
someone comes to see me,
he mouths empty platitudes,
All
the while gathering gossip about me
to entertain the street-corner crowd.
These
“friends” who hate me
whisper slanders all over town.
They
form committees
to plan misery for me.
8-9 The rumor
goes out, “He’s got some dirty,
deadly disease. The doctors
have given up on him.”
Even
my best friend, the one I always told everything
—he ate meals at my house all the time!—
has bitten my hand.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Duvel, Chardonnay, Ben & Jerry’s … we are not short of material
things to give up during Lent, are we? But more challenging to relinquish are
the less tangible things. At least that’s our experience. We find it easier to
give up chocolate for 40 days than to give up slander, judgmentalism or a
critical spirit.
Verses 5-9 of Psalm 41 bring to mind the painful experiences that many of
our LGBT brothers and sisters go through. The whispered slanders. The notion
that they are sick and need to be cured. Rejection from friends and family.
Unfortunately, faced with judgement and persecution, LGBT people often
feel excluded from the church too. Some turn away from the faith as a means of
self-preservation. Tragically, some turn away from life itself.
Lord, during this Lent period and into the future, may we all seek, by
your grace, to give up our negative traits that hurt ourselves and others.
We pray, along with many others, that the worldwide Anglican church gives
up its remaining vestiges of discrimination when it comes to sexuality and/or
gender identity. And in its place, may we all welcome, accept, affirm and
celebrate everyone for their sexual orientation and gender identity. Amen.
Liz and Denzil WaltonLast
Judgment; Tortures (including slander having his tongue torn out), 1096-1107,
Sainte-Foy de Conques (Church), France
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