How many times recently have you cursed the American government? How many failures of will, of vision, of understanding of the problems our people face have sent you into despair? Not to mention our inability to mobilize government agencies to handle the crises we face, individually and nationally.

But Psalm 72 encourages us to a positive attitude. Not a Pollyanna response. Not to be “cockeyed optimists.” But to take the power that the Holy Spirit gives us to change the world around us so that the Reign of Heaven is realized.  We begin by praying for Bush, Cheney, et al....

I know that this is a hard first step. I remember back in the first days after 9/11, when I said that this is where the Jesus program begins, when we have a clearly defined enemy who seeks to do us harm, who has in fact been able to afflict us. That this is the moment when our faith is most severely tested. We begin by doing what we do not understand: by praying for our enemies.

People were flocking to churches in those days, but not for that message. I was supposed to tell them that God was on our side, that Yahweh of Armies would fight with us against the Godless heathen. I was not supposed to say that if we could pray for our enemies in those moments of horror and fear, that the Kingdom of God could be realized, at least in part.

But here that message is again, and hundreds of years before Jesus. The Psalmist begins by praying for the king:

Endow the king with your justice, O God,
the royal son with your righteousness.

May he judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.

The people of the Old Testament were fully familiar with tyranny, greed and the corruption that power creates. But they hoped for better. The Psalmist leads them in this prayer. Perhaps in his words, we can take heart, for we may fine that he, too, recognizes the dichotomy between what is – a ruler who knows nothing of the concerns of the poor and struggling – and what we hope God will bring about for our nation, and the world.

He will defend the afflicted among the people
            and save the children of the needy;
            he will crush the oppressor.

In his days the righteous will flourish;           
            prosperity will abound till the moon is no more.

He will rule from sea to sea
            and from the River to the ends of the earth. 

We, like the Psalmist, can pray for and so help establish the truly righteous kingdom of God. Not to establish an empire, but to fulfill the hopes of all those who, throughout history, longed for a place where freedom might be realized, and the land – even “to the ends of the earth” might enjoy prosperity because “the righteous flourish” under an honest and truly compassionate government.