Scripture: Psalm 81:1-3
Sing joyfully to God, our strength.
Shout happily to the God of Jacob.
Sing songs out loud, and strike up the band!
Play lyres and harps with their pleasant music.
Blow the winds and horns
for these are our festival days,
as all days should be our festival days,
singing, dancing, and playing thanks to our God.

Thought for the Day: It’s likely Psalm 81 was part of a festival liturgy, probably in the seventh month of the ancient Jewish calendar. It doesn’t seem to celebrate any single festival as much as it serves as a reminder that because of God’s great love for us, we have much to be festive about, no matter how bad the situation around us appears.

I know today’s news seems grim, and it doesn’t help that our media blows every little thing way out of proportion. The news is designed not to inform, but to sensationalize. This is not in any way meant to downplay the turmoil in the world today. Things are bad—but relatively, they are no worse than they ever have been before in human history. We just get bombarded with the bad news 24/7, and our fear is used to exploit us and beat us into submission to our corporate overlords, who control our education, our healthcare, our savings accounts, and our politicians. Things are frighteningly the way they were in the Roman Empire of the 1^st Century.

Something else that hasn’t changed is our means to combat our fear and the ills of the world. Just as it always has, our faith in God will not only see us through, but also create the change we want to be and see. I know this sounds trite. “Just have faith, everything will get better,” said the preacher to the comfort of no one. Yet faith is what it takes. If we don’t believe in the power of God to change the world, to change our hearts, then where does our hope for change lie? In human endeavor, which has been shown to never change anything for the better, save for perhaps a handful of the power elite? Not a chance. Without God there is no change, not even a little.

I’m not sorry for shouting happily and faithfully to God for help! I will play my music loudly, and I will proclaim the power of God to set the world right, because it is the only hope I have that humans will ever change, that our world will ever become truly peaceful, that we will gladly share our abundance with one another. I have faith that we will turn all our days into festivals, singing and dancing and banging drums in praise of God who finally, ultimately, inevitably, will lead us out of our darkest night into the light of a new and glorious era of peace, love, and happiness.

Prayer: Eternal Consciousness and Creative Force of everything seen and unseen, retune our hearts, minds and souls. We’ve been playing a cacophonous, cataclysmic symphony of terror, because we’re all playing our own tune without regard for a Conductor. Conduct us into harmony, remove our dissonance, and heal our broken hearts. Amen.