Winding Down the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 138-140

 

If the only prayer we ever prayed is, “Thank you,” it would be enough ~ Meister Eckhart

 

Research tells us that gratitude matters and makes a difference.  For what, whom, where, and when do you give thanks as you read Psalm 138?

 

When I read Psalm 139:1, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me,” I wonder, is that good news or bad?  I mean, do I really want God to know every part of me, especially that part that holds anger at family members who hurt me, or that part of me that puts on a happy face when inside I am exhausted, or that part of me that wants harm to befall those who are hurting others?  Do I want God to know that, while I follow Jesus, Mr. Turn-the-Other-Cheek, at times I am much more invested in eye-for-eye justice and revenge being a dish best served cold?  I invite you to read Psalm 139 slowly and then do a full body scan.  This is a prayer practice where you draw a stick figure.  Around the head, write down the thoughts that are running and racing around your mind like a hamster on a wheel.  For me, I might write down concerns I have about my family, being a pastor, members of the church, and problems that keep waking me up at 4 a.m. to talk ~ because that is the best time to solve problems ~ I say sarcastically!  Then, move to your heart, what causes your heart, like the Grinch’s, to grow three sizes so far in July?  What has broken your heart recently?  Then, move to your physical body, where do you feel aches and pains ~ from your shoulders to stomach to legs to pinkie toe.  Finally, how is it with your soul ~ your soul which seeks to receive information from your head, heart, and whole self to integrate and inspire your living?

 

If you sit with Psalm 139 for a minute, or ten, suddenly Psalm 140 makes sense.  To be open to God and our fullest self is vulnerable, which will lead us to pray for God’s protection, especially because we know humans out there who seem to delight in preying and profiting off those who are least.  May these three Psalms today meet you where you are in gratitude, openness, and need for God’s sheltering, shielding, shepherding, and sustaining steadfast love.  Amen.

Winding Down the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 135-137

 

The ending of the Psalms is a rousing and roaring rendition of singing praise at the top of our lungs for all our neighbors to hear.  This week is a Gospel of joy and delight.  Joy that doesn’t need everything perfectly polished or some reward at an imaginary finish line, this is joy uncontained and uncontrolled.  Today, the word “Praise” or “Hallelujah” is repeated.  Where do you feel praise rising from your pinkie toe toward your tongue to be let loose in the world?  Part of Psalm 135 is to look in the rearview mirror of life to remember when and where God showed up.  I am not always good at recognizing God in the moment.  I miss God right in front of me. The mystics say that life is lived forward but understood backwards; we make meaning based on where we have been and what we are experiencing right before us.  Hold this truth.  Praise is not only based on what is, but on what was and the hope of what might be.  When we lean forward, trusting that God is not finished yet, even though the world is bruised and broken, we stay open to God’s unfinished symphony. 

 

That leads right to verse 1 of Psalm 136, “God’s steadfast love endures forever”.  God’s love is unceasing.  Over 25 times, the Psalmist in 136 repeats that refrain of “God’s steadfast love.”  This either means that the Psalmist needed Chat GPT to come up with an alternative suggestion of what to improve the repetition, or that this is one of the main points of the book of Psalms.  God’s steadfast love is the thread and theme that is woven by our Seamstress God into the fabric of life.  Right now, in this beautifully imperfect moment, where do you sense God’s steadfast love knit into your life?  Can you name and notice one place where God’s love holds you?  Remember, it doesn’t have to be splashy or spectacular, in fact, most of the ways God enters our lives is through the holy ordinary of friends, family, fun, honest tears, and being seen as fully ourselves ~ created in God’s image. 

 

In Psalm 137, the writer offers the truth that in moments of captivity, when we feel confined or caged, stuck and stymied between a rock and a hard place (like when Israel was defeated by the Babylonians and sent into Exile), we hang up our harps…the music may stop.  Or maybe tears are their music.  Weeping has a melody of a minor key that God still hears and moves through. To be sure, Psalm 137 doesn’t hold back.  The Psalm ends with the Psalmist gritting his/her/their teeth and demanding God to smite and strike the enemy's children ~ smash their heads against the rock.  Gulp.  Um, that turned violent quickly.  First, it is shocking that this is in the Bible.  Second, I think the Psalmist is encouraging and empowering us to pray our pain, our prayers of revenge to God, rather than taking matters into our own hands.  Sometimes, when I say aloud, “Dear God, kill my enemies.”  Those words shock me spiritually.  And, God already knows that I say things in hushed tones to friends.  Praying our anger, out loud, when we feel in exile ~ when we feel unseen, unheard, and unloved.  You can either process or push down the pain.  The three Psalms today are a rollercoaster from praise to pain ~ which verses connect to your soul?  Which verses did you think went to one extreme?  Which verses might God be asking you to sit with, the heartfelt honesty alongside the holiness we all need in these days?  May these words provoke our prayers and praise and openness to the Presence of God this week.  Amen. 

Friday Prayer

 

Read Psalms 132-134

 

Prayer based on Psalms 132-134: God, You are my resting, residing, and refuge place.  How I long to linger and never leave You!  Yet, I have to get groceries and go to the doctor, so I am about to leave now.  Guide me, lead me, move through me, especially when other people have the gall to use the same road as me!  Especially when someone cuts in front of me.  Especially when the doctor is running 10 minutes late.  Especially when that person says something that hurts and harms me, and I struggle to live out forgiveness.  I long to live in harmony.  I know what it is like, O God, to sing in Your divinely diverse chorus.  I can still hear music over my head and in my heart from last Sunday.  But the sound diminishes to a whisper with each passing moment.  Drench me with Your presence and help me notice Your goodness and enough-ness of what has filled my life this week.  God, I know that Your blessing doesn’t just live on the cul-de-sac of my soul, You long to empower me to let loose with Your Eternal presence.  Go before me, leading the way.  Go beside me to help when I stumble and bumble.  Go behind me when fear says, “turn around”.  God beneath me when the road gets too rough and rocky.  Go above and within me, awakening me to Your goodness and grace and love that longs to author my life and sing through me this day.  Amen.  

Waiting with the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 129-131

 

As you read the three Psalms for today, I wonder, who do you feel like is attacking you?  This may not be literal, but we all feel threatened by “the other” today.  We live in a constant state of fight/flight/freeze/flock/fawn ~ fear is the currency that is pontificated from pulpits to pundits to politics to economics.  Yesterday, we prayed, Dayenu, enough-ness of the Eternal, even or especially when we don’t get what we want, when we want it, how we want it.  We live in an age of abundance, but all feel like we gotta get ours while the getting is good, because someone else will take it.  We live in a time when we are more connected than ever, but loneliness and isolation are an epidemic to our health.  We live in a time when we are told and taught that only winning matters, even as we worship God born in a barn and crucified on a cross.  Good Lord, no wonder we are confused, because the messages we receive sound like Chicken Little, “The Sky is falling!”  No wonder, Psalm 129 flows and is followed by Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O God, hear my voice.”  I gravitate toward verse 5 in Psalm 130, “I wait for the Lord; my soul waits.”  To be sure, waiting can feel like an affliction, especially when we don’t feel, “safe and secure from all alarms”.  Waiting can feel like an attack when our Spidey senses are always searching for something that isn’t good enough.  Waiting can feel like an offense when we are oppressed.  We don’t like that the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, a whole generation.  We don’t like that the Exile was at least that long, if not longer.  We want to see progress, and we want to see it yesterday.  But waiting need not be passive, read Psalm 131:

 

God, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain.
I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans.

I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.
Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.

Wait, Israel, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always!

 

Can/do I trust that these words are true?  Can I live these words resting in the enough-ness of God?  Those questions are never answered once and for all.  These questions are not one-and-done, but continually creep around the crevices of our lives each day.  May God, who cradles you with love, enfold and hold you in real ways and remind you that you are enough and you are beloved.  Amen.

Praying the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 126-128

 

In Psalm 126, we hear the Psalmist turn toward an attitude of gratitude.  The Psalmist gives thanks for all God has done, great things.  This reminds me of a Jewish Prayer, Dayenu, at the Passover.   This is the last part of the prayer:

If God had split the Sea for us and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough for us.

If God had taken us through it on dry land and had not pushed down our enemies in the Sea, it would have been enough for us.

If God had pushed down our enemies in [the Sea] and had not supplied our needs in the wilderness for forty years, it would have been enough for us.

If God had supplied our needs in the wilderness for forty years and had not fed us the manna, it would have been enough for us.

If God had fed us the manna and had not given us the Shabbat, it would have been enough for us.

If God had given us the Shabbat and had not brought us close to Mount Sinai, it would have been enough for us.

If God had brought us close to Mount Sinai and had not given us the Torah, it would have been enough for us.

If God had given us the Torah and had not brought us into the land of Israel, it would have been enough for us.

 

I love the image of “enough-ness” and the extravagance of God.  How God’s liberating love, embodied in Moses, sets God’s people free.  Notice how each verse builds on the next and how each verse proclaims the “enough-ness” of God’s action without needing/longing/wanting more.  This goes against the grain of modern-day thinking and living.  We live in an age of not enough-ness, where you are always being marketed to that you need to read another book, watch that webinar, do that thing to be “enough.”  You can play with this prayer practice, asking, “what is enough for you?”

 

Or a question to ponder based on Psalm 127, how is God the Construction Manager of the building of your life today?  Or do you see yourself as the architect, designer, developer, and laborer all by yourself?

 

Or a question to ponder based on Psalm 128, where do you taste the fruit of God’s love so far this week?

 

May God, whose enough-ness enfolds our beautifully fragile/holy incomplete lives.  May God’s enough-ness be felt, experienced, encountered, tasted, and heard for you this day.  Amen.

Praying the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 123-125

 

“Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,” verse 3 of Psalm 123 sings and prays.  Where do you need mercy this day?  Perhaps you long for mercy, relief, and release, in physical pain or emotional lethargy or spiritual drought or relational ruptures that no amount of duct tape can put back together.  Where do you long for the mercy of God to sit with you this day?

“If God hadn’t been for us, when everyone went against us, we would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger.”  Where do you sense God’s strength sustaining you?  Maybe God’s strength does not instantly and immediately make everything magically better, but gives you courage to keep on keeping on?  I think of that great Spiritual, “We’ve come a long way, Lord.” 

 

We’ve come a long way, Lord,
a mighty long way.
We’ve come a long way, Lord,
a mighty long way.
We’ve borne our burdens in the heat of the day,
but we know the Lord has made the way.
We’ve come a long way, Lord,
a mighty long way.

 

The long way may not be measured in miles, but in millimeters.  The long way is not about distance, but Divine connection.  Where is God’s presence holding and enfolding you with the mercy you prayed for above?

 

As I sit with Psalm 125, there is an echo of Psalm 1, this deep desire to return to a world where everything makes sense and everyone plays according to God’s prayerful pleas for harmony.  This need not be foolishness, rather Psalm 125 invites faithfulness to keep opening us to “dream God’s dream” ~ not my agenda ~ but what is God’s realm that we pray to inhabit and how do I practice that today? 

 

May the Psalms continue to sing to your soul and be lived in your life this day.  Amen.

Praying the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 120-122 

Last week, I introduced and invited you to read the Psalms through a prayer practice of Lectio Divina, where you slowly savor each sentence, paying attention to the words that are leaping off the page.   Perhaps the words that catch your eye or ear are because they warm your heart or maybe because they feel like sandpaper to your soul.  I invited you to sit with the words, pondering why those words caught your attention, and what God might be longing to sing to you?  Then, you prayed the words and committed your intention to living those words ~ embodying them as part of the wider Body of Christ that we are all seeking to be part of ~ as we heard yesterday.  This is not about getting it “right”.  There is no test to pass or badge for your heavenly sash.  This is about embodying and embracing, seeking to let the words of the Psalms sink and simmer in your soul, guiding your life.  After all, there are all kinds of forces seeking to preach and proclaim their gospels on your life right now ~ from capitalism to politics to even the church in our Churchianity. 

 

This week you may want to keep practicing Lectio Divina.  Like anything, the more we engage in this prayer practice, the more comfortable and natural it will become, like a basketball player shooting free throw after free throw to find a rhythm.  The point of Lectio is not to become an expert, but to engage the Eternal. 

 

Or you may this week want to find one verse in each Psalm that sings to your soul and one that is sandpaper to your soul, and ask, “Why?”  Why does that verse cause me fascination or frustration? 

 

For example, in Psalm 120, I find verse 7 like sandpaper: “I am for peace but when I speak, they are for war.”  This verse frustrates me because when I speak peace, I want others to cheer and say, “Thank you so much for that brilliant insight, I am going to change my life right now!”  This verse annoys me because it reminds me, I can’t fix or save or advise another featherless biped.  And, when you make your living writing and speaking, suddenly this verse exposes my own vulnerability and inability to control the outcomes.  Finally, this verse needles me because it creates a division ~ us versus them mentality.  This leads me back to the beginning of the Psalm, verse 2, “Deliver me, O God, from lying lips from a deceitful tongue.”  Maybe this isn’t about that politician or pundit or huckster and trickster out there, but the pundit and huckster who lives in me.  To simplify this verse, God deliver me from myself…from my ego that needs to be seen as successful, competent, and in control.  God deliver me from myself…from saying things that hurt and harm others.  God deliver me from myself…from all the ways I am so convinced of my own brilliance.

 

This leads me right into Psalm 121, when I sit with the verse, “My help comes from God, maker of heaven and earth.”  God is the One who fashions and forms all life from the smallest particle to the vastness of the universe.  This is part of the ending in Job, where God shows Job the whole of creation and reminds Job that Job doesn’t get to control or create everything.  While it isn’t exactly the happy ending that we want, there is a powerful truth of our own vulnerability.  This leads me to Psalm 122, where the Hebrew Poet proclaims the joy of worshiping together.  I need other people on this journey.  Christianity is not a solo sport ~ we are inter-dependence as we celebrated yesterday.  To say I am an individual Christian is an oxymoron.  We are designed and built for community, and we are shaped by/through community.  I pray you continue to find words in each Psalm as you read today.  Amen.