1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Her smile was one of those thousand-watt smiles. It did not come that often, but when it did, it absolutely lit up the room, or in this instance the corn field. We had been working hard all day and, as usual, it was hot and muggy in the Midwest. But we had to get this done today. The pollinators would soon pop out and ruin the seed corn if we did not clean them out. I was doing quality control, walking behind the crew, doing counts, making sure we could tell the seed company representative that we had indeed cleaned up this field.
I came up to the group and announced, “That was perfect – well done!” And the smile broke. We were all tired and wanted to go home. This meant we were one step closer. She smiled and it was beautiful. We were all looking a little rough: sunscreen smudged across our faces, muddy feet, hats and shirts stained with sweat, and our hands a little green from handling corn stalks all day. But that smile was beautiful.
We read twice that the Psalmist asks God to smile. I wonder what that beaming face is like. Smile on us that we may be saved, he pleads. If you read the whole psalm, this is about half of it. He repeats the line again at the end, each time with a prayer that we be restored. Today is the feast of St. Stephen. If you have a chance, read his story in Acts 6 and 7. He is the first martyr of the Christian movement. As he lay dying, he saw the face of Jesus. God heard the psalmist’s prayer and our prayers by sending His Son, His only-begotten Son, Jesus, into that manger and into our humanity. He smiled upon us that day in Bethlehem and throughout the life of Jesus. He continues to smile on us. Jesus has risen from the dead and smiles on you today. Stephen believed that too.