Pastor’s Page

So how do we Christians appreciate the Psalms? There are so many New Testament and Psalms translations out there that sometimes I think the idea is that the Psalms are part of the New Testament?! They are not. They are part of the Jewish scriptures, written by and for Jews. While some of them speak to universal human concerns, others, like this one, speak of, by and for Israel.

I can make, and maybe sustain, and argument that the Church is part of Israel in the broadest metaphoric sense. After all, we Christians claim the benefits of fealty to the God of Israel through Jesus' own faith, and through his Jewishness, his membership in the nation of Israel. We understand him as having been anointed to bring good news of God's love to those who would follow him, regardless of ethnicity. And so it's always puzzled me why so many liberal Christians not only question some of the actions of the Israeli government (I do too, and we should.) but also question the existence of Israel. Israel is the tangible manifestation of the fulfilment of YHWH's promise to the Jews and should thus be a fulfilment of God's promise to Jesus' followers too.

Of course, there are reasons why we as Americans and we as Humanists should support Israel. These involve our national security and the worldwide emergence of democracy, as well as, Enlightenment values such as freedom of speech and gender equality. Israel (often imperfectly, as the USA) stands for those freedoms in a region of the world where they are denied. But our solidarity with Israel is most important for us who claim the Jewish scriptures as part of our faith to support Israel.