Psalm 67 is a beautiful song of God’s love and blessing to all 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, and their families and caregivers. Some people are born disabled in some way. Others are disabled by accident or illness. There are 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.
This month’s reflections are written by an anonymous Anglican.
Editor’s Note: Throughout the summer, we are thrilled to be able to reintroduce to you a number of Life Lectionary lessons we’ve gathered over the past few years. You can look for these passages and teachings that affirm and celebrate life biweekly.
