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Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
Isaiah 40:21-31
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

By Perry L. Williams

When I come to Psalm 147, it is so easy to join in. I quickly raise my voice with the chorus singing, 'Yes! Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.'

It reminds me of one of the songs from our Christmas cantata, simple and so beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. Then I read on, 'The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Jerusalem. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds their wounds,' and once again I am confronted and challenged with how truly holy, how radically different the Holy One of Israel is. My comfortable memory of the Christmas cantata is now not so comfortable.

The Holy One of Israel builds up Jerusalem but with outcasts. In my wisdom, the wisdom I?ve learned from the world, the world of management, sports and hurtful relationships, I would not recruit the outcasts. I would go after the powerful, the skillful, the worldly wise and intelligent to insure that my rebuilding of Jerusalem would be a success. Truly, my ways are not God?s ways. Success is redefined in the radical difference of the Holy One.

Success, for most of my life, was to win. I remember waiting on the playground at school to be chosen to play baseball or football. To be chosen first was great. It showed everyone you were a valuable player, the fastest or the strongest, that with you on the team they expected to win.

Sometimes kids were chosen due to their popularity or maybe they were best friends. Sometimes kids were not chosen at all, overtly rejected, with the intent to punish them, to show them who was really in control of the playground.

Everyone knew that you never wanted to be chosen last. It was better not to show up than to be chosen last.

To be chosen last said, 'Since you?re here, we have to include you, but we wouldn?t if we didn?t have to ? you are really worthless to us.'

But, the way of the playground is not that of the Holy One.

In fact, the way in which the Holy One is honored and glorified is the opposite of the playground attitude.

The Holy One of Israel builds up Jerusalem by gathering in the outcasts, by healing the broken, by receiving the outcast, by freeing the bound and feeding the hungry. In so doing, a new community is created. This new community is bound together by the grace of God. No one is left out, no one is less than.

The success of this community is as radically different as is the Holy One of Israel. My only glimpse of such radical holiness, such a radical redefining of success is through the person of Jesus.

When I hear this psalm, I hear Jesus saying, 'When you fed the hungry, when you clothed the naked, when you visited the sick and prisoners, when you forgave from your heart, when you set yourself aside for

another, you did it for me and new community was created ? of infinite worth, in my name.'

Rev. Perry L. Williams is the associate pastor at Wesley Freedom UMC in Sykesville.