Psalms 126 to 128
This is my new granddaughter Amber, Christine, Johanne, Davidson. She was born last Thursday at 11.20pm in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to my son Mark, and daughter in law Samantha. She weighed in at 7 pounds two ounces.
Through tense days last week, I was reading a Psalms 126 to 128. This cluster of Psalms talks about family life. I am very thankful that I have been blessed to live to see my children’s children Psalm 128v6 “May you live to see your children’s children.” Researching my family tree, I have discovered this is a gift few of my ancestors experienced. Babies are an investment in the future of our world.
Psalm 126 v5 states how “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with them.” Samantha, a midwife, described “how bring your husband to work day went pretty well in the end.” Childbirth is one of those times when pain and joy, laughter and weeping exist together in close proximity. The pain of childbirth is soon forgotten as soft skin is touched, a wrinkled face is observed and a first cry is heard. However, We did discover that while zoom allows you to swoon as you see and hear, it does not allow you to touch, or smell,, or taste.
Psalm 127 brings together the themes of work and children. The Psalmist bemoans how “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat.” Then, goes on to celebrate how,“Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.”
During lockdown we have had ample time to reexamine our priorities. We have wondered about the futility of cramming our timetables by dashing from one activity to the next, but neglecting to spend adequate time with family. It is in family that we learn how to both stand up for ourselves and how to compromise. We are learning to make adjustments for each other in lockdown. Mark and Samantha are learning new sleeping patterns. While Amber is a Scottish lassie, her mother is English, her Dad is Irish, having lived on both sides of the border, and her cousins are Welsh. So to flourish within her wider family, she will soon learn to embrace difference.
In his recently published book “Morality,” Jonathan Sachs bemoans the devaluing of family life in modern culture. “A generation have imbibed the idea of sex without responsibility, and fatherhood without commitments, as if there were no victims of that choice.” He argues, that Judaism survived the destruction of the second Temple in AD70, and the Holocaust because they were an intensely family orientated people who preserved a special day, the Sabbath, to worship God together as family.
In these Sabbath days of lockdown, when we cannot go to church, but can worship God as a family around a computer screen in our homes, perhaps we will also learn to see family life again as a gift from God, which helps us to flourish in our wider society.
Tony Davidson
IMG_3681.e544e62eef2549c88a344c155444795d.jpg