"Unity Stamp" by Paul Gioacchini
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
(Psalm 133)
Dear Friends,
The other day I received a kind card in the mail from one of the long standing members of Fairhope United Methodist Church. It simply read:
Our government keeps sending me money that I am lucky I don’t need. So I am sending this check to the church as I am sure you can find someone who does need it. Thanks and keep up the good work.
It was a generous offering (what some might call a ‘stimulus’) that signaled to me the depth of this man’s contentment and joy. His action portrayed a certain peace the passes most of our understandings. As I thought to myself, ‘surely his left hand did not know what his right hand was doing’ (Mt. 6:3)! And I may be mistaken, but I did not interpret his words to be a social critique as much as they were a personal confession. He was simply grateful to be one of the “lucky” ones. Others might go so far as to call him “blessed.”
The gentleman’s note had me visualizing the kind of blessed mess that is described in Psalm 133. More than the mere notion of ‘trickle-down economics,’ this, it seemed to me, was a case of precious pouring. As he said of the woman who anointed his feet at Bethany, so I could hear Jesus say of this man and his relationship to the body of Christ: “(he) has done a beautiful thing for me” and “what has (he) has done will be told” (Mt. 26:10, 13).
As James L. Mays says of Psalm 133, “The life that the Lord gives his people in their unity is the supreme family value…The psalm is a witness that God is at work building a family that transcends all the given and instituted barriers that separate and diminish life.”
As we celebrate this Easter season, we have the opportunity to reclaim the power of the resurrection for ourselves and for our family (in all of its blessed forms). And how often is that power revealed through the generous sharing of our collective gifts and graces! As we heard last Sunday, those who were living in the afterglow of the empty tomb “had all things in common” and were living “with glad and generous hearts.” How marvelous! How wonderful! Where there is abundance, so there is life.
Can’t you just picture Aaron’s beard? “Where was the dignity and restraint?” we might ask. It does not sound very self-respecting. Maybe not, but was there joy?
And what about his nice robe? If not careful, the excess is sure to leave a stain. Do you suppose that old priest was concerned?
And come to think of it, who wouldn’t enjoy a shipment of Mountain Dew, fresh from Zion? If the teenagers don’t appreciate it, then surely someone else will.
Would you…could you…or do you agree? How good and pleasant is our unity!
We praise you, God, from whom all blessings flow. How good you are to us, and how good you have called us to be toward one another. Through your grace, you do not trickle, but pour your love lavishly upon us. Help us, as your Church, to do the same for others in freedom and with joy. AMEN.
Grace to You,
Darren
