May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Psalm 67

The sixty-seventh Psalm is a beautiful song of God’s love and blessing to people of all nations.

The prayer of this Psalm is that the God of Israel would make himself known to all the earth, and would save and bless all people. That all peoples would praise him, and be glad and sing for joy! That God’s equitable justice would ring out, and the earth would again be fruitful. Finally, as God blesses all the earth, people would finally revere and honor him as our loving God, our creator.

He is the God of all peoples of the earth and of each person on the earth.  Each and every person we meet is beloved by God. He is gracious and loving and to know him is to be saved.

One people group among us is people with intellectual and developmental disabilities including their families and caregivers.  Some people are born disabled in some way. Some are disabled by accident or illness. Some people are not able to produce monetary value due to mental disability. Not everyone can support himself, not everyone can keep herself alive and functioning every day. And yet all people are beloved of God, and He is their creator.

Sadly, many proponents of abortion would rather we terminated any pregnancy in which such a disability is suspected. In fact, this is happening more and more. Yet we are Psalm 67 people. We believe that everyone is able to praise the Lord in his or her own way.  Everyone deserves life, everyone has a purpose.

I recently learned of a ministry in that helps churches partner together to provide worship services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, called Rejoicing Spirits. This is an example of a group that is living out Psalm 67.  Let all peoples praise him!

This Psalm was written to be sung thousands of years ago, and yet we still sing it today. May the Lord make his face to shine upon all people, abled and disabled! May he bless and save all people.

Heavenly Father, may we raise our voices up as one, in celebration of the God who created each one of us as individual and unique.  Bring joy and meaning into the lives of those who are intellectually or developmentally disabled and listen to the struggles of their loved ones or caregivers.  May the Church welcome both of them with open arms and hearts, as Christ would do. We ask these things in Your Name, Amen.

This week’s reflection has been written by an anonymous Anglican.