Psalm 64 - Refuge

I’d like to invite you to imagine with me a bit. Imagine you are on an island surrounded by beautiful blue waters. It has been your home for many years. It is safe. It is home.

Now imagine that you begin to notice something changing. You notice that the beach seems closer than it was a few years ago. The number of steps to the beach seem to be fewer today than in the past. You notice that when the rains come, the streets flood more easily and when the rainwaters recede, they don’t recede quite as far. For a while it seemed gradual but recently over the last few weeks and months the waters seem to be rising faster. Your island seems to be shrinking. Your safe spaces seem to be getting smaller and smaller. The place that once felt secure and safe is no more. What was once refuge now feels like a dangerous threat is growing around you.

I wish this was just an imaginary story. But it isn’t. It is a literal reality of life in a growing number of low-lying islands in the oceans because of rising sea levels due to climate change. More and more island nations are seeing this reality. But it is also a reality that is more figurative but no less real for others. LGBTQ+ individuals, notably transgender individuals, are experiencing this - what felt like a country that was growing in welcome and acceptance has turned 180 degrees. More and more bills are being introduced and orders being signed that lead to an emerging reality that safe spaces are shrinking and the waters are rising. Immigrants, refugees, and students on special visas are feeling this as well. One of our children attends Tufts University where Rümeysa Öztürk was taken by masked officials and her visa revoked. She has since largely disappeared into ICE detention centers. I was in a zoom small group a few nights ago with an admissions officer of a small midwest private liberal arts university who shared that 3 of their students had their H1B visas revoked seemingly for no reason and expecting that there will be more. (This university, btw, has an enrollment with ¼ of its students on H1B visas, so there is not only a threat to the students but also to the survival of the university). People who live at or below the poverty line are seeing the prices of everyday goods go up and up (with likely a sharper climb to come) and knowing that their limited incomes are far less able to absorb rising costs than those who have a greater level of wealth. Each of these is a figurative sense of the waters rising and closing in.

This was the scene two mornings ago at the lake. This part of the path was an island surrounded by the flood waters. Yes, the reality is that the path appeared because the flood waters are receding but in this singular moment, it looks like an island surrounded by waters whose depth and dangers are unknown. This image has been sticking with me for the last 48 hours especailly as I read Psalm 64 - another of the Psalms that is a prayer for protection and refuge from enemies.

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers...

This is just one part of the larger Psalm which calls upon God for protection and refuge. It is one thing to think of the times in which these Psalms were written and remember the ways that nations were with one another then (and to an extent similarly today). It is also a reality that someone like King David (to whom this Psalm is attributed) also had many enemies both within the nation and beyond his nation (leaders today face similarly). But for someone like me, a pastor of a small church in Northern Kentucky, I don’t directly know people that feel like true “enemies.” But enemies don’t have to be people - they can be systems and actions that do exactly what I described above - slowly shrinking places of safety and security, a feeling that there are threats on all sides, and a deep sense of isolation and despair. These are realities for many today - in my case it is the reality for some close to me in my life as well as those I don’t personally know but whose stories I have engaged.

So today, I am writing this in solidarity with those for whom the flood waters are literally or figuratively getting closer, for those who feel a growing sense of unease, fear, or despair, for those who wonder if anyone sees them truly as persons rather than “others.” Unlike the Psalmist, I don’t pray that God will destroy or ruin those who are causing the waters to rise. But I do pray that God will frustrate their plans and most of all that hearts will be changed. But my prayers are not just words but also in the actions I am taking and in sharing stories like this. I can’t change everything but I can share here and I can take action. I invite you to

Let’s return to our imagination where we started. Imagine those waters slowly returning to where they once were. Imagine anxious hearts beginning to relax. Imagine the onslaught of laws slowly fading away. Imagine a greater sense of welcome rather than fear. Imagine. Imagine. Imagine. While I am grateful for our nearby lake’s waters to recede, I hold to hope of these other threat waters will begin to recede and places that once felt safe and felt like refuge will one day (soon) be again.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

PS - This is the look of a dog who has just successfully chased geese off a walking path…