|
The Hope Of
The Poor
6 by 8 inches
Drawing
For the
needy will not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor
will not perish forever. Psalm 9:18
My drawing
serves as the frontispiece for an essay* titled “The Hope of
the Poor: The Psalms in Worship and Our Search for Justice.”
Both the image and the Psalmist’s words call us to account: to
care for those invisible people who have little hope and for
whom justice is often denied. These acts constitute God’s
justice, the actions that God wills for us. There is no more
apt way to speak about what we are called to—as individuals,
as community, as church, as country— than to simply quote the
Psalm verses:
But the Lord is
enthroned for ever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
It is he who rules the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with equity.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Psalm 9:7-8,18
Rise up, O Lord; lift up your hand, O God;
do not forget the afflicted.
Surely, you behold trouble and misery;
you see it and take it into your own hand.
The helpless commit themselves to you,
for you are the helper of orphans.
Psalm 10:12,14-15
(*The essay is by J. Clinton McCann Jr, in
Touching the Altar— The Old Testament for Christian Worship,
ed. Carol Bechtel, Eerdmans 2008) |
