Psalm 72 expresses our deep longing for leadership that is compassionate and caring and just; that will bring peace and prosperity; that will deliver the weak and the needy from oppression and violence; that will not leave us in the lurch. In other words, that will be better than the leadership we almost always get. We long for a Messiah not only for our souls but for our workaday, slogging-through-the-world lives. One who will help us deal with this mess we’re in here. Who’ll come to our rescue when we are lost and afraid. When we lay it all out like this for examination, it quickly becomes apparent that no earthly power can fulfill our longing. Of course not, how could it?
This psalm is looked upon by some as a prophecy of the coming Messiah, of the Christ, and it captures so well our hopes and expectations for the one to whom we look not only as the savior of our eternal souls but as the ruler of our lives here in this temporal realm. We pick it up as one of the Advent lectionary readings and it journeys right along with us until it seems to me that somewhere after Christmas it starts to become a sort of marching song to inspire us and encourage us as we head off to meet whatever will come our way in the new year.
Wonder O Wonder
words and music © Garrison Doles
from his CD Songmaker’s Christmas
refrain
Wonder O wonder and joy
God here among us, a little baby boy
Wonder O wonder to see
Holy mystery
Oh will You defend the afflicted
Saving the children of the poor
Will You drive out the oppressor
Will You always endure
Will You be like the rain on the meadow
Will You be like the waves on the shore
Oh will You be here when the sun and the moon are no more
Will You free us from this bondage of oppression
Will You free us from these bonds of poverty
We have been waiting for the one who will lead us
To the land of peace and prosperity
refrain
bridge
Son of Mary, a woman of this world
Son of heaven, from this earthly womb
Son of God is a man
Son of God is a man
Oh will You come to our rescue
When we are lost and afraid
Lifting us up
And being the light of our way
Will You be like the rain on the meadow
Will You be like the waves on the shore
Oh will You be here when the sun and the moon are no more
Will You free us from this bondage of oppression
Will You free us from these bonds of poverty
We have been waiting for the one who will lead us
To the land of peace and prosperity
refrain
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