Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.” vs, 7
Psalm 96:1-9
To his credit, the psalmist did not consider the Lord to be Israel’s national God. Even though there was a temple in Jerusalem, there was no statue of the Lord to be found there. The God of Israel was also the God of the nations, and the psalmist dreamed of a day when all the families of the peoples would ascribe to the Lord glory and might. It is a worthy vision but it hasn’t come close to being a reality. Instead the world is adrift with gods galore and even people of the same religion or faith are hopelessly split by their contradictory definitions of the Divine Presence. We can agree in theory that there is but one God but we show by our practices that we prefer the old gods of our various traditions. We’re separated by our rituals and dogmas and will fight to the death to preserve our separate ancient creeds. Instead of being a great unifier, religion has continued to be a source of division and even warfare. Our most horrendous atrocities continue to be those done in the name of religion–is it any wonder that millions have sworn off religion altogether? Some even say that humans would be far better off if they stopped ascribing allegiance to any god–and it’s hard to make a good argument against such a notion. Perhaps someday we’ll grow up and truly become one people under God. Who knows?
Thought for the Day: What might cause me to give up on faith?
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