Becoming Trees
(Psalm 1)
Jade Souza is an attender at Camas Friends Church. She is in her first semester at Earlham School of Religion (ESR). In collaboration with ESR and as a show of support for Jade’s studies and calling, this will be the first of three sermons Jade will give at CFC during the ’20-’21 school year.
Psalm 1 (NRSV):
1 Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread,
or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Queries:
What adversity do I face in my life? When do I feel powerless?
Do I trust, hope in, meditate on, and delight in the law of Christ (love), even when facing adversity?
Do I consent to God’s creative love? When I do, how am I empowered?