Print

12 Police on a Pedestal Hope for reconciliation in relationships that have historically been antago- nistic. The kind of hope that is found in a religious text: Psalm 85. As a per- son of faith, I enjoy reading the Psalms ­ because I appreciate the candor and openness that comes through many of them. ­ There ­ were multiple writers of the Psalms, and each of ­ those writers brought their own personalities, temperaments, hopes, and fears to each poem. I even appreciate the diverse types of emotions that come through the words of each unique writer—­emotion that is based on what they, or a col- lective ­people, ­were experiencing at a unique time within history. Many times, the fact that they ­were writing from an emotional standpoint caused them to express a greater level of vulnerability and transparency about what they ­were feeling. This level of vulnerability and transparency caused them to leave every­thing on the ­ table as they communicated with a power they believed was greater. Psalm 85 is one such writing that is filled with vulnerability and trans- In it, the writer reminisces over the past, a time when good ­things ­parency. were happening in life, and si­mul­ta­neously expressed hope for a better ­ future for themselves and the nation they belonged to. We ­ don’t know what the prob­lem was that the writer and nation ­were facing at the time this psalm was written, but apparently, ­things in their world ­were not ­going very well. As an aside, ­ don’t we tend to remember the past as usually being better than the pre­sent? I ­ don’t say that in a negative way, but when we face chal- lenges in life, we tend to see our current prob­lems or position in life as not being as good as what it had previously been. How many times have you found yourself saying, “If we could just get back to what we used to be!” Or, “Back in the day, ­things ­were so much better.” This is very relevant for me at the time of this writing ­because my oldest child recently turned 21 years old, and I must acknowledge that I miss what the past used to be like. I miss the ­little child that used to be, and as I look at pictures of him when he was a baby and a ­ little boy, all I can think about is what used to be, for- getting about what is ­ today and what can be for him tomorrow. We ­don’t know what prob­lem Psalm 85 was referring to, but in the writ- er’s mind, ­things ­were looking bleak. What­ever the circumstances, the writer pleaded with their Creator to restore their life to the way that it used to be. To have it restored to a time when their Creator’s anger was short and forgiving and was pointed somewhere ­else other than at them. This would be their only hope for a worthwhile ­future. Their hope could only be found in their Creator restoring them to a prior level of relationship that functioned through love and compassion. This hope is exemplified in a key word that the psalmist uses multiple times in the passage. It’s the word “peace.” ­ Others know this word as “sha- lom.” In general everyday use, “shalom” can mean peace, harmony, ­ wholeness,