Responsively Yours

March 2005

Bringing Out the God-Flavors

In a recent worship service, the liturgist led the congregation in singing responsively a lyrical version of Psalm 85, with music and text by Rory Cooney. The refrain in part is:

Let me taste your mercy like rain on my face;
Here in my life, show me your peace.

The Psalms are full of references to the senses as vital to comprehending faith. We are invited repeatedly to taste, touch, see, smell and hear God’s presence. For example, Psalm 34:8 says:
O taste and see that the Lord is good... Psalms 63:1says: O God...I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land...

Our ritual of Holy Communion invites us to taste and drink the fullness of our faith in Christ. The liturgy found in The United Methodist Hymnal says: “Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ...”
Being the body of Christ for the world is who we strive to be as United Methodist Women. In my home congregation, Wesley United Methodist Church in Columbia, S.C., one way we seek to be the body of Christ for the world is by feeding the homeless. United Methodist Women members provide some of the labor for this ministry, which grows larger by the month.

As in many cities, the number of homeless in Columbia is on the rise. The causes are varied and complex, involving both personal and social failures. One massive social failure is the lack of a living wage -- a wage that provides for bare necessities -- for the working poor. Many adults who work 40 to 60 hours a week in minimum-wage jobs cannot earn enough to house, feed and clothe their families. Many become homeless.

One of the strengths of United Methodist Women is connecting the personal to the social. We strive through mission to provide charity and material aid directly to those who suffer, including meals and day care for impoverished children. Through advocacy and education, we also work to change the social order so more families can provide for themselves. A living wage rather than a minimum wage would lift thousands of people out of poverty and homelessness.

In 2005, A Call to Prayer and Self-Denial national and international grants will go to projects focused on the theme “Women Seeking Justice in the Workplace.” In the United States, emphasis will be on working for a living wage.

I wonder how our lunch guests at Wesley United Methodist Church think about Psalm 85. As they survive outside in the elements, do they experience the rain in their face to be like God’s mercy? I doubt it. Do they taste and see that the Lord is good when they come to our church and partake of the bread we offer? I hope so. Do they find the mercy and love of Jesus as they feast at the table we prepare in Christ’s name? I pray they do.

In Eugene Peterson’s translation of Mathew 5:13, he writes:

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?”I like to think living the purpose of United Methodist Women brings out the God-flavors, helping us all taste godliness. As women organized for mission, let’s keep on being the salty Christians that season the world for God.

Jan Love
Women’s Division
Deputy General Secretary