Psalm 20

Pentecost +2 – Year B

Psalm 20

Presume for the moment that anointing is an equal-opportunity event. All have received an anointing. A gift has been received – to each for the benefit of all.

If a given, how does that change the process of calling upon an anointer? Do we anticipate or presume? Do we owe and incur obligation?

If all are anointed, why do some apply it more easily than others? (while on a Greg Brown kick, here are some more lyrics – and the music enhances them immensely.) For some it leads to charging in where an angel would fear to tread. For some there is a quiet confidence and an ability to stand no matter what the circumstances. For some there is disbelief that they are anointed.

Anointing was and is for every person, regardless of their status, inside or outside a Pentecostal room. When anointed, barriers are removed, we can cross the usual barriers (huge among them is that of language or culture). Stand tall, weapons of war will rust. Cross the barriers, before they are taken down. Doing so will add to the impetus to healthily remove our last barriers – until we clearly see one another as anointed.

This is a remarkably self-fulfilling prophecy. See another as anointed and they will begin to so see themselves. Withhold that vision and we will live up to our worst. Inasmuch as free will abides, these are not cause and effect actions, but deep calling to deep.