righteousness and peace have kissed each other

"Seek the Truth, come whence it may, cost what it will" gang aft agley, at least with me as a oneTime someTime partTime amateur astronomer reading all the English language astronomy textbooks in Japan and gazing with my telescope into the night sky over Tokyo Bay decades ago in my twenties; and now again in the second half of my life as I finish my eighties and start my nineties, having a mainline theological seminary education that was meant to yield more questions than answers and stirring its stories and doctrine with images coming back from NASA's Hubble and JWST peering into ever more distant vastness of the Universe - -

as I enjoy tension among life experiences of religion, cosmology, myth & mystery, faith, hope, knowledge and love of God, confidence, science, heaven & earth - - my search for infinite Truth, whatever or Whoever Truth may Be, continues to intrigue me - - thinking of last Sunday's responsive Psalm 85, "mercy and truth have met together" but they have not briefed me on the outcome of their meeting. 

All this is mental, of course, it's all in my mind. Will I recognize Truth if I see it? Pontius Pilate did not, what makes me think I will? Going a sidestep off the main path is the question "Why are we here at all, in the first place?" and looking objectively the answer is the same for us humans as it is for other animals, right down to salmon, ants, rats, and bedbugs: we are here to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). The divine dictum goes as well for flora as for fauna, with humans peculiarly perceiving the Creator being in touch and adding other tasks and responsibilities for us. Some of us are here secondarily to serve as food for others of us. We humans were here to mind the Garden, to till it and keep it, to name the other animals, and to have dominion; but at the end of it we are all of us Earthlings here to procreate, that's what it's all about.

That psalm is in my brain,


Psalm 85    Benedixisti, Domine
 
1You have been gracious to your land, O LORD, *
    you have restored the good fortune of Jacob.

2You have forgiven the iniquity of your people *
    and blotted out all their sins.

3You have withdrawn all your fury *
    and turned yourself from your wrathful indignation.
4Restore us then, O God our Savior; *
    let your anger depart from us.

5Will you be displeased with us for ever? *
    will you prolong your anger from age to age?

6Will you not give us life again, *
    that your people may rejoice in you?

7Show us your mercy, O LORD, *
    and grant us your salvation.

8I will listen to what the LORD God is saying, *
    for he is speaking peace to his faithful people
    and to those who turn their hearts to him.

9Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *
    that his glory may dwell in our land.

10Mercy and truth have met together; *
    righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11Truth shall spring up from the earth, *
    and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

12The LORD will indeed grant prosperity, *
    and our land will yield its increase.

13Righteousness shall go before him, *
    and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.


Top image: "Righteousness and Peace Have Kissed Each Other" by Lisa Cooke, source online https://tonycooke.org/free-resources/articles-by-lisa-cooke/