Loved Right Now

 

You are loved just as you are, not as you should be.  Because you are never going to be as you should be.  Brennan Manning.

 

What is your initial response to the above quote?  Did the defense attorney who lives in your brain holler, “Objection!”?  Did your soul stand on tiptoes, wishing, wanting this to be true?  What would it mean to live from this place rather than the messages of scarcity and sarcasm and cynical criticism that too often author our lives?  What if those who bully and belittle others have so missed the point and don’t get to live rent-free in our minds?  What if we stop letting CNN, MSNBC, and Fox blare in the background of our lives?  What if being informed has nothing to do with a random smattering of headlines you glance over in the morning?  

 

We are taught and have caught a way of life.  You were formed and fashioned first by God, then reformed by voices of parents, teachers, media, church, experiences, and encounters ~ some of which you sought out and others arrived unwelcome at your doorstep like a traveling salesman who wouldn’t leave until you bought the steak knives they were pedaling.  Every day, Madison Ave knocks on your consciousness, telling you that you must have this item, now… because supplies are running low.  Every day, politicians tell you that if this legislation passes, the four horsemen will arrive with the apocalypse. Every day, the church tells you to “be good” because God is a cosmic Santa Claus ~ watching, always watching.  Every day, the media personalities spin all that has happened, sprinkling with fear and telling you to “stay tuned” because they will be back after a few short messages from the sponsors.  No wonder you are exhausted.  No wonder you are on cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and physical overload.  No wonder you just want to stay in bed and watch dog videos on YouTube.

 

So what if today the voice you seek out is that of God?  You may want to go down to the river to pray, wade in the water, and remember your baptism.  I am not promising a dove will descend with a James Earl Jones voice saying, “This is my beloved”!!  I am only saying that you are loved, not for who you could be, should be, might be, but who you are in this moment.  May this truth interrupt and disrupt all the other voices claiming and clamoring for your attention today.  Amen.

Hastily in a Hurry

 

Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from him/her/their own self ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

 

This week, we are looking backwards, around us, within us, and before us.  We have already prayed the prayer of St. Patrick, how Christ permeates and persists in every direction and dimension of our lives.  Yesterday, we turned to Oscar Romero’s profound prayer that we are part of God’s unfolding symphony which is more than we can imagine or can instantly achieve (or even perceive) in our humanness. 

 

Today, the above quote recognizes a “homelessness” that we all wrestle with ~ a restlessness that keeps urgently pushing us to do something!  We are Jacob wrestling with God.  We are both the prodigal son who leaves home and the prodigal son who stays put, criticizing the others because we constantly compare and despair.  We are in a hurry, running from life, convinced by the Silicon Valley mantra to move fast and break things!  Who cares if we leave sharp shards of glass in our wake?   Someone else will clean that up.  And Nietzsche was right, we can end up running away from ourselves.  But, don’t worry, there is another self-help book published to help you live your best life every.

 

Stop.  Wait.  Breathe.

 

I say that not to you, but to myself!  Stop.  Pause.  Listen.  Stop.  Pause.  Be.  What are you running from?  Who are you running from?  What are you resisting by gritting and grinding your teeth, so it continues to persist, no matter how many webinars you attend?  What if you are not a problem to be solved?  What if you, the beautiful broken, beloved, beheld you is enough?  Not because you are practically perfect in every way, not because you have mastered your own universe, not because you are being authentic or keeping it real, but because you are who you are right now.  You are this grand experiment made up of experiences and encounters in your life.  No one has ever collected the exact combination of moments that make you up.  No one ever will.  And your uniqueness has universality, because it can be said of every person, plant, creeping creature, soaring bird, and swimming sea monster there is.  The universality of uniqueness means that not only am I not a problem to be solved, but neither is the person who pushes the nuclear codes of my emotions today.  The question is not, “who does s/he/they think they are?”  Rather, “what happened to, in, through him/her/them?” 

 

Stop.  Pause.  Be.  Pray the prayer of St. Patrick, slowly breathing as truth for you and everyone you will encounter today.  Pray the Prayer of Romero as the mystery of life.  And be open to the One who shows up with holy interruptions and disruptions we cannot plot or plan or improve our way through.  Amen.

Prayer for Justice

 

Archbishop Oscar Romero was a minister in San Salvador when in 1980, he was assassinated for his commitment to justice for all people and his ministry to the poor.  He was killed while celebrating Mass, in the middle of worship. He spoke out against the political injustices he saw and the church’s complacency.  Many of us have not heard his story of courage, love, justice, and faith.  I am taken by a prayer that is attributed to the way he lived his life.  Please pray these words aloud with me:

 

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts; it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.  No prayer fully expresses our faith.  No confession brings perfection.  No pastoral visit brings wholeness.  No program accomplishes the church’s mission.  No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.  We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.  We lay foundations that will need further development.  We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.  This enables us to do something and to do it well.  It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

 

May the words of this prayer be a reminder that what we do and who we are is part of the unfolding, ongoing, unending, holy symphony God is composing and conducting with all creation in these days.  Amen.

Reflecting on the First Half of the Year

 

Here we are, rounding the corner to the second half of 2025.  I invite you to slow down, breathe with me this week.  Take a moment to reflect on what has happened so far this year ~ the good, the bad, and the ugly ~ the heartbreaking and heartwarming ~ the soul soaring and soul aching ~ the “this-ness” of the art project called your life.  What colors are on the canvas of your life so far this year?  What experiences and encounters? 

 

I can be tempted to interrogate my life with such intensity, shine a bright spotlight on my shy soul, demanding answers to the above questions instantly and immediately.  I want the truth, I declare.  And to quote Jack Nichols from A Few Good Men, my heart says, “You can’t handle the truth!”  Rather than thinking that I can totally fix my life today with this morning meditation, duct tape, and chewing gum, I want to offer you a prayer practice using the prayer of St. Patrick.  This takes the familiar words of the prayer and interrupts them with breath ~ with a pause to ponder, letting what you are saying be embodied, find residence in you.  I encourage you to say the words aloud with me.

 

Christ with me – breathe in Christ with you

Christ before me – breathe out, noticing Christ in front of you

Christ behind me breathe in aware of Christ supporting you

Christ in me– breathe out touch Christ dwelling in you

Christ beneath me ~  breathe in Christ as your ground of being

Christ above me– breathe out Christ as the One who hovers in the air around you

Christ on my right ~ breathe in, holding your right hand as if you are receiving a gift

Christ on my left– breathe out, holding your left hand as if you are receiving a gift

Christ when I lie down ~ breathe in deeply and slowly, finding rest in Christ

Christ when I sit down– breathe out, noticing the chair that supports your backside

Christ when I arise ~ breathe in gently, raising your arms toward the sky

Christ in everyone I meet– breathe out, reaching your arms to the unfolding day before you.

 

May this prayer practice be a way to greet and live every day for the rest of this year.

The Psalm of My Heart

 

Yesterday, I invited you to write a Psalm, so it seems only fair that I share mine with you.

 

Sacred seamstress who weaves together the fabric of life;

          Sewing God, who tends the tears and ruptures of life;

Mend my life, which feels full of holes and rips and ruptures beyond repair.

I cry to You, O God, for the ways we cling to violence that only begets more violence.

Why, O God, do we not trust Your love as our national policy?

Why, O God, do we claim to follow Christ as our golden ticket to heaven, but not when it comes to our budgets personally or communally or especially nationally?

Why, O God, do we treat Your beloved as less than created in Your image and laugh at people’s cruel nicknames?

Have You, O God, read the paper?

Let Your treads of holy love interrupt, disrupt, and disorient us, O God, like a tilt-a-whirl.

As You did in the time of Exodus, lead us out of a land of oppression.

As You did in the time of Exile, help us see fully the brokenness of humanity.

As You did in Jesus, help us be honest that we still crucify each other verbally and physically.

Let Your resurrecting ways rupture our life like when the angel kicked the stone away from the tomb on Easter.

Let Your unending hymn edge out the melodies of fear and frustration that too often are the radio stations of our souls.

Let Your grace, love, justice, peace, joy, and healing hope author another story, be woven into the garment of life that I wear in the world.

Sew in my soul, Your colorful threads.

Sew in my soul, Your grace to be lived through me.

Sew in my soul, Your faithful fabric that is a new outfit for me this day.

Let my life be tied to You, O God, who is my transforming tailor every day.  Alleluia and Amen.  

Now Your Turn to Write a Psalm

 

Today, rather than giving you a form to fill out, I want to invite you to compose your own Psalm.  Wait, stay with me, don’t run away.  I want you to turn down the volume on that voice that says, “Um, Wes, I am NOT a poet, and I know it.  I do not like to write a song, I would rather kiss a frog.”  Yes, I know song and frog is a bit of a stretch for a rhyme, but that is my point.  You don’t have to write the most beautiful Shakespearean sonnet today.  There is no grade for your psalm; you need only listen to your shy soul say what it has been longing to say and sing but couldn’t get a word in edgewise because we rarely slow down long enough to listen.  

 

Take a breath and then another.  Press mute on your inner critic.  Now, what is one experience, encounter, or event that has been running circles in your mind this week?  It could be a national news story; it could be a friend whose words still linger in your heart; it could be a pain in your shoulder (if that seems oddly specific, it is because that is something I am living with right now).  What is spinning on the hamster wheel of your mind?  For wars and leaders who think that being bullies is how the world works.  For people I love with cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, in the hospital to hospice.  For birthdays, celebrations, and vacations.  For music that stirs my heart.  Speaking of my heart, drop down into that center place in your body, put your hand on your heart.  What emotions do you feel as your heart works to pump blood from the top of your head to your pinkie toe?  I feel a strange brew of anger, fear, joy, hopefulness, and helplessness.  My emotions are all over the map because my head and heart are in communication/connection to each other.  Now drop down into your soul, what is your deepest longing?  If you could embody God’s dream, what would that mean? 

 

You now have the raw material for your Psalm.  You can start with praise, move to prayer, and resolve the poem with a promise to let God feed and fuel your life.  You can start with lament, move to laughter, and end with a longing to move toward where God is calling.  You can start with hope, move to where you need help, and then trust that all you’ve said and left unsaid is held by God.  Remember, the golden rule of writing ~ just write, don’t edit.  Your first draft of your Psalm will not be Mary Oliver spun words of gold.  Every writer pens crappy first drafts that are edited, refined, and re-framed over time.  So, too, don’t expect this first Psalm to win a Pulitzer Prize, because the prize is that you are letting loose what is living inside you as a prayer to God. Happy writing and I can’t wait to hear, read, and hold what you come up with!  Amen.

Mad Libs Psalms

 

Remembering that one-third of the Psalms are laments, let’s try a Mad Lib Lament Psalm, praying and processing some of your pain so you don’t pass it along.  We won’t use the entirety of Psalm 42, just the first three verses.

 

As a _______________ (animal) longs for __________________ (thing/place),

 

So my soul __________________________ (what is that deep desire you have today?).

 

My soul ______________________ (feeling or emotion) for God, for the _____________ (word to describe how you long for God to show up).

 

When shall I _________________________ (what question stirs in your soul for the Sacred)?

 

My tears have flooded my face because ___________________________ (what breaks your heart today?).

 

In response, people say, ______________________________ (what is that unsolicited and unhelpful “advice” that people offer to help fix or save you?  Or what cruel words do you hear leaders saying today?)

 

If you like, you can read the rest of Psalm 42 playing with the words, but I think what you have written above has allowed your shy soul to sing to your life today.  Amen.

Mad Libs Psalms

 

Mad Libs ~ Part 2 because yesterday was soooooooooo much fun!  Right?  Let’s try the Mad Lib version of Psalms with another of my favorites, Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to __________________ (where is your gaze right now?  OR where do you feel goose bumps race and run down your skin when you encounter this space?  For example, I lift my eyes to the clouds, sunsets, organ pipes, birds chirping in the trees, or squirrels scurrying on the limbs.)

 

From where will _________________ (what do you crave, deeply desire right now) come?

 

My _____________ (word from above) comes from __________ (name for God),

 

__________ (verb ~ how does God show up).

 

God will not ____________________ (how does God protect you),

 

Because God __________________________________ (how does God do the protecting).

 

God longs to ________________________________ (what is God’s prayer for the world).

 

God will ____________________________________ (if the above is true, what is God’s promise to you for today?)

God will ________________________________ (restate the promise in another way).

 

God will __________________________ (specific way God will be with you today).

 

God will __________________________ (a way God will show up in the days to come).

 

Amen.

Mad Libs Psalms

 

As a child, I loved Mad Libs (ok, full confession ~ I still love them).  If you are not familiar with this best creation since sliced bread, I apologize.  But you are in luck because I am about to introduce you to a game that will reshape your whole life (too much hype, you think?).  Mad Libs is an interactive story where you, the reader, get to fill in a character, verb, adjective, or body part to help write the story.  Imagine you are reading a sentence, when suddenly, a blank line appears, and you need to fill in a word from your sacred imagination.  Sounds awesome, right?  Let me give you an example from the often-imitated, never-duplicated Psalm 23.

 

The Lord is my ________ (you need to fill in an adjective).

 

From Sunday School, you learned the “correct” word is “Shepherd”.  But you don’t need to be confined and contained by that one word.  Perhaps you would also like to replace the words “The Lord”.

 

Perhaps, you would prefer the opening line is, “My God is the Composer and Conductor of life.”

 

Let me acknowledge that you might feel some resistance.  “I can’t change the Bible, Wes!!  There might be a lightning bolt with my name on it!!”  I believe in God’s steadfast love, which we have heard time and again in the Psalms over the last few weeks.  I believe God is a Creator, Artist, Benevolent, Dynamic, Empowering, and Inspiring part of life.  God loves to collaborate creatively with us.  God loves to play alongside our thoughts, like an improv group feeding off one another.  This week, I want to invite us to let loose, to pray the Psalms and create our own.  First, we will do this Mad-Lib style, taking a familiar Psalm and filling in new words.  Second, toward the end of the week, we will seek to let loose our own inner poet to write our own Psalms, prayers, and praise of God.  If you need a bit of inspiration, you can go read the Psalm of the day in the Voice Version or the Message Translation of the Bible, where both playfully reword the Psalms for today.  Let’s start with the 23^rd Psalm.

 

My God is my _________ (adjective).

 

I shall not ________ (if God is God, how does that transform your life?  Or maybe you want to rewrite in the positive ~ I shall _____.  For example, “My God is my Composer and Conductor, I shall keep on singing!”)

 

God invites me to ________________ (where does your soul feel alive?) and

 

_______________ (what do you do when you are at that location/destination?)

 

God ___________ (verb) my soul.

 

God leads me ______________ (place) because _______________ (why do you think you encounter the Eternal there?)

Even when, __________________ (emotion), I _______________ (what do you seek prayerfully instead?)

 

For God is with me, God’s _______________ (thing) and _____________ (thing/feeling) they comfort me.

 

God prepares ______________ (how does God show up), in the presence of my ____________ (who else might be there?)

 

God ___________ (verb) in my life; and I __________________________ (what response or reaction do you have.

 

Surely, ________________________ (if all the above is true, what is the conclusion you have?)

 

And I will _______________________ (how do you prayerfully live with God today because of what you have created together?)

 

Amen.

The Last Three Psalms

 

Read Psalm 147-150!

Insert confetti being thrown, trumpets being blown, and let it be known ~ you have read the psalms this summer.  Woo hoo!  Pause and ponder with me:

What is one lesson, truth, or insight you carry away from this experience?  Maybe it is that the Psalmist knew how to throw a pity party, and some felt like they were written by Oscar the Grouch.  Or maybe you carry with you how often you read the word “Steadfast love,” to describe God.  The Psalmist is adamant that God’s affection toward us is unceasing and unconditional.  Or maybe you found two or three Psalms that were meaningful, and you want to go back to those words again in the coming days.  Reflect on how this experience has left an impression and influenced your life.

 

What questions do you carry?  One trip, or even one hundred trips, through the Psalms is not going to solve everything in life.  We keep coming back to the Psalms because each time, a new word can leap off the page and land in our souls.  We keep coming back because each time we are different, and so the experience will be unique.

 

Finally, where might your soul be longing to go next?  You may want to take a breath, to soak and simmer in this Spiritual experience.  You may want to go back to some of the Psalms you marked to re-read.  You may want to go to the hymnal to read modern-day words of prayer and praise to God. 

 

My prayer for you is to continue to engage and encounter God in these days.  Please pray with me.

 

Hymn-writing, melody-making, chord-composing, Conductor of my life, thank You for Psalms that have nurtured and nourished us over the last several weeks.  Thank You for Psalms that let our Spirit soar like an eagle or where we felt like a deer lapping at the refreshing stream of Your presence.  Thank you for even those moments when the Psalmist's lament gave us permission to pray our pain and when the Psalmist's words felt like sandpaper to our soul, for Your truth is there too, O God.  Continue to sing to us and through us and inspire us to be instruments with all Creation in sharing Your on-going, unfinished, beautiful symphony here and now.  Amen. 

Winding down the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 144-146

 

What are humans that you are mindful of them?  Psalm 144:3

 

God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Psalm 145:8

 

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. Psalm 146:3

 

Today, one last time, I invite you to select one verse from each of the above three Psalms to sit and simmer in the laboratory of your soul.  Why do you think you chose that verse?  I know I chose verse 3 from Psalm 144 because that is my question.  I often wonder, why does God continue to desire a connection to us as humans?  Hasn’t God read the paper lately?   I know I am drawn to verse 8 in Psalm 145 because this is a consistent description of God in the Hebrew Bible and I deeply desire to dive into the Divine.  Note how 144 and 145 connect.  God desires us, and we desire God; our hearts are restless until we rest in God.  I know I need to hold in my heart verse 3 from Psalm 146, because I can be led and lured to put my trust in politicians, pundits, and marketers who are promising me the good life. 

 

Remember, the verses you select are yours.  I believe this is one of the many ways God shows up and speaks into our lives.  When we read Scripture slowly, chewing on the words, there are certain spices that will tickle our tongue and God can move through these ancient words in a fresh new way.  May your reading today draw you into words and linger in your life.  Amen.

Winding Down the Psalms

 

Read Psalms 141-143

 

The three Psalms today all ask for God to respond in some tactile, tangible way, preferably according to our timetable.  God, You can call, text, direct message, or email me; I am okay with neon signs or a cloud-shaped message sailing across the sky.  How does God get a word in edgewise, especially in a world where there are so many voices clamoring for your attention?  How does God respond amid the cacophony, in a world that sounds like a toddler banging on pots and pans, and leaders who join in making more noise and belittling others? 

 

Throughout Scripture, God walks in the garden seeking out Adam and Eve ~ God sings through creation.  God shows Noah a rainbow and then Abraham and Sarah the stars.  God wrestles with Jacob and dances in Joseph’s dreams.  God whispers in a still, small voice to Elijah and then sends a chariot to carry him away.  God works with steadfast love through Ruth’s care for her mother-in-law, Naomi, and God gives Esther courage to raise her voice.  God evokes Isaiah to dream of a peaceable realm, Amos to splash in a stream of justice, and Micah to call us to be about God’s justice, showing loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.  That is only a quick survey of a few passages. In book after book of the Bible, we hear testimony of how the writers are experiencing God. 

 

Pause and recall some of the images you have noticed and noted in the Psalms.  What image stays with you, besides the whole smashing a head against a rock yesterday, although I get that is hard to shake.  What image of God warms your heart?  What image of God do you resist or even reject?  What image of God does your sacred imagination create, because you have a psalm in your soul?  (More on that last question next week).  As we begin to wind down and wrap up this Psalm summer project, don’t race to the finish line; stroll and savor what this experience has meant to you and how this experience has left an imprint on your head, heart, soul, and life in these days.  Amen.

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.