God's Mercy Endures Forever

You are welcome here my sister, my brother!

In our monastic breviary (the book that contains all the psalms, canticles, and prayers that we say at every Office), we pray Psalm 136 at Saturday Vespers in Week II (we have a two week cycle). And on almost every Saturday, not just those of Week II, I find myself thinking about Psalm 136 all day. In fact, I think about on many days of the week, because I simultaneously love it and fear it.

I love it because the overriding theme of this psalm is that God's mercy endures forever (in our breviary and in the Book of Common Prayer the word "mercy" is the translation used, while in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the phrase "steadfast love" is the translation used). Knowing how much not only I, but all of God's people need mercy, I really respond to this. Some of the verses are so full of the loving, non-violent and creative ways that God has demonstrated God's mercy toward the people it makes my soul sing with gratitude for all the mercy that God has shown to me and to us all.

My fear comes from the verses that want to attribute great violence by God committed on behalf of the Chosen People. That just does not sit well with me. It is so easy to look back on history, and attribute a victory to God having been on "our" side, and a loss to God having abandoned "us", whoever the "us" is. People all over the world, and throughout history, have been attributing horrific violence to God or to their gods and have justified all kinds of atrocities in this way.

 The point of view that "God is on our side" leads peoples and nations to commit awful violence against one another. This violence has plagued our world for a very long time and continues to do so. But I believe Jesus showed us another way - a way that begins from within and among the Chosen People but leads us to Christ's understanding of who the Chosen People are. That is, an understanding that opens salvation to all of humanity.

And so, as we are chanting Psalm 136 at Saturday Vespers, I often "write" in my head how I think it might be chanted in the context of a non-violent approach to Christianity that I believe Jesus taught and that God calls us to. Here, for the first time, I actually write it and offer it to you with the caveat that I don't regularly spend time re-writing Scripture. On the other hand, this comes up so often in response to this psalm that I love (for its evocation of God's mercy) and fear (for the horrors we sometimes commit ourselves, but attribute to God) so much - that it just seems appropriate at this time.

The first nine verses and the last verse are from the psalm itself. All the rest of the verses are my understanding of how God, in God's tender compassion, has shown us that God's mercy endures forever.

Psalm 136
A non-violent re-interpretation 

Give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good,    
 for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the God of gods,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who only does great wonders,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who by wisdom made the heavens,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who spread out the earth upon the waters,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who created great lights,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

The sun to rule the day,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

The moon and the stars to govern the night,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who granted Abraham and Sarah a vision of the future,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led the people of Israel from slavery to freedom,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired David and others to compose the psalms,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who gave Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the Prophets a voice to cry out with,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago through the fiery furnace,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's holy incarnation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for the Holy Cross,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's loving descent into hell,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 

Give thanks to God for Christ's triumphant resurrection,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for Christ's glorious ascension,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to God for the Coming of the Spirit,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 

Who called Mary to respond with a yes,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who called Joseph to be compassionate,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who called John the Baptist to cry out in the wilderness,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led monks and nuns to the desert,
for God's mercy endures forever.

Who inspired Martin of Tours to lay down his sword,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Benedict to welcome all as Christ,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Francis to seek peace with Muslims,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Rumi to write poetry,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Menno Simons to embrace pacifism,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to struggle for women's rights,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Paul Jones to oppose all war,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Mahatma Gandi to teach us non-violence,
for God's mercy endures forever.

Who led Dorothy Day to care for the poor,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led Jonas Salk to cure polio,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who inspired Martin Luther King to give us the way to liberation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who led us to marry whom we love,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who is present to us in all our sisters and brothers,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Who is present to us in all the creation,
for God's mercy endures for ever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for God's mercy endures for ever. 


I could go on and on I suppose, but I will not. Perhaps you have ways that you would like to add how God's mercy has endured for ever in our history or in your life. May God continue to bless us in God's mercy, for God's love endures for ever.

Please feel free to add a couplet in the comments section of how you believe God's mercy endures forever.

Peace be upon you.