Psalms for Today

 

Read Psalms 79-81

 

Psalm 79 is a communal lament.  That sometimes the brokenness isn’t just in us, it is shared between us.  This happens in times of war, hatred, racism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, and all forms of discrimination.  We, as humans, are not the “we” God created us to be.  We smudge and smear the image of God we are called to let loose through us.  How does a country lament?  On Thursday, we honor Juneteenth, the day federal troops arrived in Galveston, TX, in 1865 (two and a half years after signing the Emancipation Proclamation) to ensure all enslaved people were free.  It is so easy to skim and skip through history, thinking Lincoln signed that proclamation and that next day there were chocolate rivers and pony rides for everyone.  Let’s face it, we also know that even after June 19, 1865, racism still persisted and pervaded people’s hard hearts right up until today.  Communal laments ask for God to interrupt and intercede, not just for those people over there, but for us people right here.  Psalm 79:11, “Let the (collective) groans of the prisoners (because all of us can feel caged and confined in life) come before God.”  Too often, the church, especially in America, has idealized the individual and forsaken the communal.  We shine a spotlight on each person as an end to him/her/them self, rather than caught in a web of mutuality.  The tension is that both are true.  There are places where I am free to choose, and there are spaces where systems of brokenness give me the privilege to take an easier path.  What would you have us lament as a church, community, country, and creation today?  Then, as you turn to Psalm 80, I love verse 8, remember God brought a vine out of Egypt, God listens to God’s people, our collective cry, even when it comes from individual beds.  We are part of a chorus even when we feel like we are singing a solo.  While there are concerns about social media, this tool allows us to connect in both healthy, healing ways as well as ways that hurt and harm.  What does it mean that God will bring a vine, something that could be easily transported and transplanted?  A vine isn’t splashy or spectacular, but Psalm 80 says it is sacred.  What is that vine, that one part of life, God is tending to in your life?  What and where would you like God to be the Gardener of your life today?  Where do you need restoration or recitation, or release this day?  Where do you need good news, like our enslaved siblings back on June 19, 1865, to come into your life so that you can sing Psalm 81?  May these questions provoke prayers in and through you this day. Amen.