The Right Thing To Do
The House Of The Lord Is An Encounter With Words
by Eric Elkin
“Who can live in your tent, Lord?
Who can dwell on your holy mountain?
The person who
lives free of blame,
does what is right,
and speaks the truth sincerely;”
Two U.S. presidents, one current and one former, were both resoundingly booed this past week for doing the right thing. What made the reactions newsworthy was the source of the rejection. Both men were being condemned by their own support base. The rebuke only strengthened the position of their opponents.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters in Alabama, former President Donald Trump tried to encourage people to get vaccinated. The gathering let him know they disagreed with his position. The reaction appeared to catch the former president off-guard. Alabama has the lowest vaccination rate in the nation.
On the other side of the aisle, President Joe Biden was being criticized for removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Actually, his critics were more concerned with the speed at which they were removed. The decision created chaos and left thousands of Afghan citizens at risk.
In my mind, both men were doing the right thing. The problem is, there are a lot of people who would disagree with me. Who decides what is right? I think about this whenever I read things like “the person who…does the right thing” in scripture. It is hard to get religious people to agree on the right thing to do.
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they’ve tried everything else.”
Consider for a moment, you were going to meet God face-to-face. Let say you received instructions to climb a peak. At the top of that mountain, the Almighty would appear to you in full glory. How would you prepare for the encounter? And, what do you think God would say about your ability to do the right thing?
Essentially, we are invited to experience this encounter every Sunday morning. Theologian J. Clinton McCann Jr.described what it meant for Jewish people to go to the Temple. He wrote, “God’s “house” was where one went to encounter and be encountered by God.” Unlike our Jewish ancestors, as Christians, we believe we meet God in Jesus of Nazareth. Through the Holy Spirit, we have daily access to God. Still,
worship is an intentional move to encounter and be encountered by God.
This encounter is not determined by a place but through words. The words of scripture read, the words of a song sung, and the preaching of a sermon. These words invite us to be transformed into better people. This time of worship asks us to consider if our actions outside this unique experience reflect the will of God.
Are we “right” in our actions? Are we speaking with sincerity? Are we damaging others with our words? We are invited to bring our failures to this meeting. Yet, right when we think God will boo us for our poor decisions, we hear something else. Instead of rejection, we receive God’s love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
I don’t know about you, but the joy of this weekly encounter is not in having my actions blessed or my inactions condemned. The joy is discovering, even in my failures, God still loves me. And God’s word transforms me to live better so the world might be better as well. Then I know, coming to this place was the right thing to do.
Click to read Psalm 15
Reflection Questions:
Have you ever been rejected for doing the right thing?
How do you know when an action is a right thing to do?
What do you hear when sitting in worship?
How can unconditional love inspire you to do the right thin?
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