Every Wednesday, we invite you to pause and pray with us. Today’s Pause & Pray is written and curated by Assistant Director of Theological Admissions, Kirsten E. M. Trambley.

Image: picture by Kirsten from Wicked’s 20th anniversary performances

Read

Psalm 1:1-6 (CEB)

1 The truly happy person doesn’t follow wicked advice, doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things, these persons love the Lord’s Instruction, and they recite God’s instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water, which bears fruit at just the right time and whose leaves don’t fade. Whatever they do succeeds.
4 That’s not true for the wicked! They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice – neither will sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted with the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked is destroyed.

Meditate

Does good conquer evil? Does truth outlive a lie?
It’s easy to call out the wicked. They are lonely, they cry alone, they die alone, they reap what they sow.
It’s easy to point out that there is loathing between good and wicked.
It’s easy to determine that wickedness must be punished, evil should be effectively eliminated.
But who decides when something is bad?
Are the good just seeking attention?
Do the wicked have this thrust upon them?
Maybe it’s not so limited.
A person could be seen as a traitor or liberator, thief or philanthropist, crusader or invader. It’s all in which label is able to persist.
Is there really such a divide between choosing to do something for good and being called wicked?

written by Kirsten E. M. Trambley, based on lyrics from Wicked the Musical

Listen

For Good (Live) from Wicked: One Wonderful Night