James 24:7 - Psalms

10 Ways the Psalms Help Us to Pray V

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:34:06 -0400

The Psalms provide a vocabulary for prayer.

While a case can be made that prayer is the totality of a life lived as an offering to God, we do also identify as prayer those moments when we actually speak to God.

We speak to God with our mouths in two ways: through gestures-grunts, groans, sighs, cries and anguised shouts- and with words. While the gestures may stand alone as prayer, words are always nestled in gesture.

All prayers are songs.

We do not offer God words alone. We offer God words couched in gesture. In what gesture did the Psalmist couch: "My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?" Anger? Despair? Disappointment? Frustration? Did the Psalmist sigh those words or cry those words?

While we may not always be able to determine gesture from a text, we can learn the words of the text, the vocabulary of the text. Those words can infuse our prayers and broaden our range of expression.

The Psalms provide a vocabulary of praise, of confession, and of contrition. They teach us the words to use when we address God and express our thoughts and emotions about God and about our lives.

Think about the vocabulary of praise. The Psalmists (at least in our English translations!) use words like "praise", "extol", "bless", and "worship." Each of those words expresses praise and yet each word provides nuance to our praise. As we learn the vocabulary of praise we are freed to address God and express ourselves.

"I praise You God;

I extol Your name.

I bless You, Lord

And worship You."

Think about that little prayer of praise. Do the different synonyms of praise suggest even slightly different things or are they all the same?

10 Ways the Psalms Help Us to Pray IV

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:19:09 -0400

Reading and praying the Psalms puts us in the company of all the saints who have preceded us.

I read this morning that Etta Baker has died at the age of 90. Etta Baker was a Piedmont Blues guitar player who influenced every finger-style guitar player there is- whether he or she knows it or not. Any picker who plays a Merle Travis lick or even a Chet Atkins riff can thank Etta Baker for inspiring those guys to pass along the pickin'.

Few people outside the fingerstyle or blues community have ever heard of Etta Baker. (She spent most of her working years laboring in the Buster Brown factory in North Carolina) However, her finger plucks, picks, and pulls reverbrate through generations of players.

Of course, each of those players adds their own twists and turns. Every so often one of them, usually some kid still wet behind the thumbpick, brings along an innovation and leaves us older guys scratching our heads wondering "why we never thought of that"- if we can even make out what the kid is doing.

However, true innovation is rare. I suppose you could say true innovation- that is, bringing something new to the world- happens...oh...once in a not-ever.

Most pickers are part of a tradition and are damn proud of it. To be told that you played something as well as Chet or with as much life as Merle Travis or in the style of Doc Watson is be truly complimented. To be told that you are an innovator is good too...but only if the innovation pays homage to the Ettas, Chets, Merles and Docs who have gone before you.

Playing with the pickers of the past is a fine way to spend an lazy evening or a lifetime.

To read and pray the Psalms is to pray with all of the saints who have gone before you. You may be praying with your grandma, or your great, great grandpa. You will certainly be praying with Martin Luther and Thomas Aquinas. You will also be praying with the Apostle Paul and Peter, James and John. You will utter the words that helped shape Jesus' prayers. You will weep and praise with all those Hebrew saints who worshipped God in the Temple, the synagogues and out on the hillside.

Think about it: It is quite something to utter the words of David, the King- the man after God's own heart.

When we read the Psalms...better...when we pray the Psalms we enter the company of the beloved saints of God. Their voices become our voices; their habits become our habits.

I firmly believe that many of us have shot ourselves in the foot by falling so deeply into the "contemporary." Contemporary music. Contemporary worship. Contemporary ministry. Contemporary..."with the times." We have especially shot ourselves in the foot if we are so arrogant to think that what we have brought upon the earth is anything truly innovative.

Recently I've rekindled my interest in poetry. I dug around and found a book by the American poet, Mary Oliver. Here is what she says about the "contemporary" as it applies to young poets and their poetry:

"...since you want to be a contemporary poet, you do not want to be too much under the influence of what is old, attaching to the terms the idea that old is old hat-out of date. You imagine you should surround yourself with modern only. It is an error. The truly contemporary creative force is something that is built out of the past, but with a difference.

Most of what calls itself contemporary is built, whether it knows it or not, out of a desire to be liked. It is created in imitation of what already exists and is already admired. There is, in other words, nothing new about it. To be contemporary is to rise through the stack of the past, like the fire through the mountain. Only a heat so deeply and intelligently born can carry a new idea into the air." (A Poetry Handbook, p. 11-12)

When we read and pray the Psalms we enter into a tradition and we praise and cry and rage with that great cloud of saints who cheer us on and wait for us to join them.

10 Ways the Psalms Help Us to Pray III

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:26:52 -0400

lll

The Psalms remind us that we can bring everything before God.

In his book, The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud wrote: "We hide our moral arrears in the breeches of respectability." The story of the Fall tells us as much. After the Great Rebellion, Adam and Eve, covered themselves in fig leaves and hid in the brush.

No one wants to stand in the presence of God with his pants down.

We not only hide our "moral arrears", we hide our fears, doubts and questions behind veils of piety. As a former professor of mine used to put it: "We would rather offer God our dignity than our selves."

Perhaps we think God will not notice our drooping drawers or will not call the roll and note our absence. Maybe we think that when we are out of sight, skulking in the bushes, we are out of mind. Maybe we think God is as easily duped by a plastic smile as our all-too-willing friends and neighbors are.

The Psalmists teach us that we can bring our sins, our failures, our doubts, our rage and even our faithlessness before God. They remind us that God is always open. They assume a vision of God as One who leans forward with an ear cocked to catch the slightest nuance of every gasp, groan, and growl we utter.

The Psalms teach us that we can- no, that we must- come before God "just we are without one plea".

Naked.

The Psalms teach us to surrender our dignity and offer our briar-scratched selves to God.

10 Ways the Psalms Help Us to Pray II

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 07:54:29 -0400

The Psalms speak for us when we cannot speak for ourselves.

Not long ago a friend dropped me an email and told me that he was so low he could not pray. His world lay in pieces at his feet. His thoughts raced. The words would not come. He asked me what he could do.

I told him to pray the Psalms.

The Psalms speak for us when we cannot speak for ourselves. Written by people lost in joy and mired in despair, the Psalms express almost every emotion there is. The poetry of the Psalms articulates our fears, anxieties, and worries.

The Psalms are authentic. Nothing raw is concealed in dignity; no pain is hidden in piety. The Psalmist falls on his face before God in sadness. He shakes his fist in rage and pleads for God to open heaven's bolted doors. He curses his neighbor and begs God for forgiveness and mercy.

We fear our feelings. We ingest, digest, suppress and repress them. We wear the false face. As the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote in his poem...

We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn, and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why must the world be overwise

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O Great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but O, the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

We forgot how to speak our pain.

Yet sometimes the world is simply too much. Like Job's friends we are stunned by the sight of so much sorrow and we sit for seven days in shocked silence.

When we cannot find our voice. When the pain within us is too great to be expressed in the company of the pious or when our mouths are shut by horror, let us turn to the Psalms.

They speak for us when we cannot speak for ourselves.

10 Ways the Psalms Help Us to Pray I

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:24:16 -0400

This past summer I conducted a Bible study on the Psalms for the good folks from North River Community Church and West Gwinnett Christian Church. I'm no expert on the Psalms (I'm not expert on anything!) but I have found the Psalms to be of tremendous benefit in helping shape my prayers. For the next several days, I thought I would share these thoughts on the Psalms with you.

The Psalms teach us about the nature of God.

While all of scripture tells us things about the nature of God, I believe the Psalms teach us at least three things that figure heavily into our prayers. The Psalms teach us (1) that God is righteous, (2) that God is faithful and (3) that God is free.

Because God is faithful, we can rest assured that God will "never leave us nor forsake us." God has been faithful to us, God is faithful to us and God will be faithful to us. Over and over the Psalmist speaks of the "loving kindness" of God, or of God's "covenant love". Over and over the Psalmist recalls God's acts in the history of Israel, to testify to God's faithfulness. Because God is faithful, God can be "depended upon".

Because God is righteous, we can trust that God will do what is right. God will act out of righteous judgment and do the right thing. God can do nothing but the right thing because God is righteous.

However, God is also free. Just as we can count on God to always do the right thing we can also count on God to act out of God's own freedom. I believe that is why we often read the Pslamist crying out, "When, O Lord?" Or, "How long, O Lord?" Or, "Where are You, Lord?"

The Psalmist knows that God is faithful and that God is righteous. However, the Psalmist also knows that God is free. The awareness of the freedom of God, to my mind, is what drives the Pslamist to make promises or bargain with God. The Psalmist is trying to get God to make a move.

I often put it this way: "Our problem is not in wondering whether God exists or whether God loves us or whether God will be faithful to us or whether God will do the right thing or not. Our problem is the anxiety of wondering whether God will show up by Friday at 3."

We pray in light of the faithfulness of God, the righteousness of God and the freedom of God. While we are willing to grant faithfulness and righteousness to God (after all that is in our interest!) we sometimes struggle with granting God the freedom that is due God.

We want to depend upon God to do the right thing when we want God to do it. "Lord, I trust that You are faithful and that You, in your infinite righteousness, will act justly but I also trust that You will do so by the end of the business day Tuesday, September 5th. Amen."

It seems to me that if we are willing to grant God (what a funny phrase!) God's faithfulness and God's righteousness, that we ought to be willing to grant God's freedom.

After all, God is free.

The question is whether we are capable of such trust.

Yahweh's

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:57:25 -0400

Last night in our Psalm study we finished up with Psalm 73- the one that speaks of the profound dangers of envy and jealousy- and started into Psalm 24.

To read a Psalm that opens with, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein" seemed like a good idea after contemplating the dangers of envy. We need to be reminded that even if we get it well.. it's not ours.

Some of us have read that Psalm our whole lives and yet have not been touched by the boldness of its claim. Think about it: here is this hymn being sung on a regular basis by the Jews. Here they are making this bold claim about their God and implying that other gods in the neighborhood are nothing like Yahweh who created everything and owns everything in this plane of space and time.

That's one thing and maybe that's enough. However, there is this one little fact that often goes unnoticed: this claim is made by a people whose history is little but conquest and oppression. They were enslaved in Egypt, pounded by the Assyrians, hauled off by the Babylonians, beaten by the Persians, conquered by the Greeks, oppressed by the Romans, dispersed to the four corners of the world, despised in many quarters, suspected in others and almost annihlated by the Nazis.

And all the while they sang, "The earth is Yahweh's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein."

In the faces of those who sought to destroy them, in the presence of those who towered over them with bloodied sword and heavy shields they sang: "You belong to the God of our Fathers; You and all you claim for yourself belongs to Yahweh."

I can only speak for myself but when I left our study last night I could not escape the thought that this was and is a song sung by those who go on believing, go on asserting, and go on standing for their God even in the face of evidence that seems to contradict their claim.

And, as I drove home, it occurred to me that we ought to practice repeating those lines everyday of our lives. When our crisis emerges and when all the apparent evidence argues against it, will we go on singing? Will we say in the face of that which would destroy us: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein?"

The Prayer of an Old Man

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:55:49 -0400

I taught Psalm 71 not long ago. This is a paraphrase I put together after I meditated on the fears associated with growing old and weak.

Psalm 71

Lord, I am hiding out in you. Please don't ever expose my nakedness or let anyone know of my sad situation.

You are right. (How could you be otherwise?) You always do what is right and always (maybe, I should add 'eventually') put things right.

So, if you will, please come and get me out of this mess I'm in. Lean way down so you can hear my weak and failing voice and lift me up.

Be, to me, what others have said you are: a hide out, one that is hard to find, one that is impossible to penetrate.

Be a rock, a big rock with a hollow place where I may take refuge.

You have to help me because I am in the grip of bad people, folks who are unfair and mean as snakes.

And You, Lord, are my only hope.

I trust only you because, well...because it's just in your nature to be trustworthy. That's not just something I think and it's not just some theological abstraction cooked up by folks with bigger brains than mine.

I've seen it my whole life. You have been trustworthy from day one.

You were there in the steady hands of the doctor who received me into the world. (You showed up just in time!)

You have been as faithful as my old dog who used to trot ahead of me when I stayed too late in the woods behind the house, the one who always glanced back to see that I was still close behind.

How could I not worship the One who has loved me from before my birth and tromped with me my boyhood trails?

But, I have to tell you, Lord. Lately folks have begun to watch me. (Or maybe in my weakness I have just noticed that they are watching me!) They read me like a gypsy's tea leaves.

Even though I praise you all the time and have little on my tongue but worship songs, I still feel the fear.

I am old and I confess that I sometimes think you might shake me off like a dog shakes off fleas.

(The world sure shakes me off. I am afraid of becoming as useless to you as they say I am to them.)

I am not as strong as I used to be and not nearly as productive as I once was.

I hear them,Lord...listen...do you?

One gets with the other and says, "See how weak he is and how alone? It would be nothing to jump him and take everything he has. How easy it would be to kick in his door and beat him! Who is there to help him?"

Lord, my God, you must be closer than the voices in my mind; nearer than those who haunt my dreams.

Kick their tails, Lord!

Strip them naked and let the world see them for who and what they are. Make them a public spectacle of shame- these 'men' who would harm the weak and profit from the defenseless.

And if you will do that..why I will go on like I always have- well, almost always have...hoping in you and singing your praises to anyone who will listen. I will number your innumerable deeds of kindness to anyone who will lend an ear. (They may grow tired of hearing it but I sure won't grow tired of telling it!)

I have a lot of work to do, Lord...that is if I'm going to number the Innumerable and describe the Unfathomable to a new generation.

Whatever you do, don't forget me as I am turning old and gray.

I know you always do what is right. And I know you are always faithful. But I also know that you are free to do what you do when you take a mind to do it.

(Your freedom...that's the part that scares me, Lord.)

I'm an old man and have seen many things. I can say with authority there is nobody like you! You've let me see a whole lot in my lifetime- ups and downs and twists and turns- and you have always seen me through.

I know you will be there to help me live an honorable life and you will comfort me in my old age.

I tell you what, O God. I am going to get out my guitar and sing songs about old dogs and my good God; songs about fidelity and goodness and yes... even freedom.

Every so often I may holler like a wild man. I may bay at the moon and shout at the sun when I think about your faithfulness and the way you always do what's right to set things right.

And I may laugh like a fool as I watch you chase those home invaders from my front door!

Hitting Bottom

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 08:34:08 -0400

I led a study of Psalm 73 last night. This morning I got up and was thinking about how contemporary it is and decided, as a way to plant it more firmly in my own mind, I would rewrite it- at least in terms of how I understand it and how it speaks to me.

Psalm 73

"Well, this is what they tell me:

'God is good to those who are upright, to those who are pure in heart.'

I have to tell you: I just didn't see it.

I remember a time when I almost fell flat on my face because I experienced so much envy for the arrogant; I was taken in by the peaceful and happy lives of those who don't give a rip about God.

I watched them and it seemed to me that they had no pain. All I saw were buff bodies, great teeth, beautiful hair, sharp clothes and cool cars. It seemed to me that they didn't have a care in the world. I never saw them sweat. They just didn't seem to experience the hard edge of life like everyone else. I never saw them beaten up or beaten down.

What was not to envy?

They got away with murder. They strutted their stuff. Their pride was their bling and they wore their violence on their sleeves. Their botoxed eyes swelled only with their own wealth. I got the impression that their imaginations were filled with all kinds of crazy ideas. ('Last week I did this and next week I'll do that!') Life, to them, was like one big candy store- open and ready to be robbed.

They seemed to come out of their guts with their disdain for other people (even people like me!) and sometimes I thought, 'They are looking for ways to own me too!'

Their hypocrisy worked for them. They went around with their mouths shouting the joys of heaven while their tongues dragged the earth lapping up everything in their path.

And everybody ran after them sniffing like hounds for autographs and photographs. They howled, 'Oh please like us. Please accept us. Please acknowledge us.' They bought their image and made it their own and thought of them as gods and goddesses.

And the buff and beautiful said things like this: 'What does God know? God is off in the la-la land. What does God care? What can God do? God is way, way away; God cannot reach this far. If you want it, go get it. If you can conceive it, you can achieve it. The world is your oyster. Follow me! Buy my DVD series; get my CDs. There are 3 simple steps and 4 keys to my kingdom.'

And, as I watched them and envied them...and, yes, even hated them, I saw the rich got richer, the beautiful glowed in their own reflections. Even when they fell in dung they got up smelling of roses. Even when they tripped, they landed on a step higher up on the ladder of success.

And then I looked at myself: I did everything God wanted in just the way God wanted it: first the heart, then the hands. I didn't fall for 'mere religion' with it's outward show. No, I purified my heart before God and I cleansed my hands.

But you know what? Those were just empty gestures. I may as well have been cleaning my toilet for what it got me. I get the royal hell beat out of me everyday. The boss. The traffic. The 'hurry up and wait.' The mindless daily grind. And then the so-called 'sanctuary of home.'

Right!

Of course, I had to hide all of this from the kids and the people who look up to me. I couldn't be all that out front about my feelings, my anger and my jealousy. I wouldn't want to cause them to lose faith. (How ironic! Here I was disbelieving the God-thing while encouraging them to persist in it! What a wretch I was and a hypocrite too!)

I tell you: I came to the point that I just about broke under the strain of it. My envy. My jealousy. My anger. The buff and beautiful had it all, got away with murder and did so by saying that everything I had been taught was a lie- that God was not loving, close at hand and prone to be involved. It was if everything I held dear was made a mockery by people who only became richer and healthier and more beautiful and adored.

I just couldn't get my mind around it all and, to be honest, I hit bottom. I took my rage and confusion and plopped down in the presence of God...

And then, suddenly, everything fell into place. Just like that I saw the truth.

I had been looking only at the surfaces. I had been thinking only of the present. I had been seduced by the bling of the bold and beautiful. I had been basing my whole life on a snapshot in a celebrity magazine. I had not thought of them in the totality of their lives; I had not contemplated their end.

On top of that, I had begun to build up ideas about God based upon what I observed in one glitzy moment.

How could I have missed it? I needed the presence of God to see that those who set themselves up as gods- who bedazzle the masses with their lies and their wealth and their success- are idols on ice, ready to slip, fall, and break into a million pieces. They are characters in God's worst nightmare. When God wakes up they disappear and God says, 'Good riddance!'

Yes, I had always heard that God is good to the pure in heart but I decided not to listen to that. I became enchanted by the beautiful- those who seemed to have the world by the tail.

How stupid of me! I had become 6 billion pound slug intellectually, emotionally, morally and spiritually. I was like some worm which lies in the mud at the bottom of a deep, dark sea. And, to make things, worse...I was like that toward God!

I see now, God. I see that my hand has continually reached out to you- even in my stupidity! I thought I wanted what they had when all the while I wanted You!

Even in my stupidity you held on to me and did not let me go.

I see now how you guide me with your word and comfort me by your Holy Spirit. I hope in my future with you- a future filled with such glory as to make the glory of the godless like utter darkness. You guide me in the present and wait for me in the future!

I have no one in heaven but you, O God. And what could I possibly need on earth or even long for on earth that is better than you?

You can count on me to fall flat on my face, Lord. You can count on me to fade away like the fog I sometimes embrace. I see now how great it is that you go on with me, that you are merciful and strong...my very heritage.

Yes, those who reject you and lead others astray, those who hold themselves up as gods will fall flat on their faces even though appearances may argue the opposite. Their lives will be judged by the totality of their days. Their ends will show them for what they truly are.

All I know is that what I was told is true: You are good to the upright and present to the pure in heart.

What can be better than having God? What can be better than snuggling up to a loving Father? You, O God, are my rock.

And now, if you will excuse me...I am going out to tell everyone I know!

Our Fears and God's Freedom

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:56:03 -0400

I've been leading a joint Bible study with folks from North River Community Church and West Gwinnett Christian Church for the past several weeks. We are studying the Psalms with an eye to learning about how those old hymns can help shape our prayer lives.

Part of the joy of studying the Psalms is that you just keep running into yourself. For the past couple of weeks we have been studying Psalm 71. If you are AARP qualified you may find that Psalm very helpful. (And if you are not so qualified yet, remember the old epitaph: "As you are, so I once was. As I am, so you shall be!")

In Psalm 71, the psalmist, most likely a musician, feels his age creeping up on him. He also knows that some young whipper-snappers are watching his every move to see him fail so they can revel in their belief that God has abandoned him. He's feeling vulnerable and fearful. He senses his fears giving way to doubt.

He cries out to God in three ways.

He lists certain attributes of God. He notes that God always does the right thing and that God is always there, always faithful, always the supreme keeper of the covenant.

He remembers how God has acted in the past. Unlike those of us who seem to develop amnesia in the face of crisis, the Psalmist recounts how this faithful God was there doing the right thing from the moment that the Psalmist came into the world.

He pledges fidelity to God. He promises God that just as he has trusted God in the past, he will go on trusting God and proclaiming God to the generations coming along behind him.

Why does he do this? I believe he does this because he knows something else about God-something that is implied in this and other Psalms.

He knows that God is free.

Isn't that the way it is? We believe that God is and will be faithful. We believe that God will always make things right. However, we also know that God is free to act out God's own..well...Godness.

As I often put it, it's not that we don't believe that God exists. We do. And it's not that we don't believe that God loves us. We believe that too. Our question is, "Will God show up by Friday at 5:00?" Will God show up when we need God?

That is often the tension we feel with God. We are mired in our particular agony asking, "How long, O God? How long?"

The Psalmist, even in his negotiations with God, reminds us to keep on trusting God because God can be counted on (God is faithful) and because God will do the right thing (God has a history of 'righteous acts.'). However, he also reminds us to remember God's faithfulness in the past and to give to God the respect God deserves.

God will do the right thing.

God can be counted on.

But God is free to act when and how God chooses.

Hmmm...now that I think about it...maybe the Psalmist is reminding us that trust in God requires patience.

How to Write a Psalm 2

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 14:58:51 -0400

Just like English poetry, Hebrew poetry bears certain characteristics. Whereas English poetry, at least traditionally, often makes use of certain forms of rhythm and rhyme, Hebrew poetry made use of certain forms of repitition. These forms of repitition are called parallel forms or parallelism.

The following are some examples of parallelism:

1. Synonomous parallelism: The expression of the first line is repeated in the second.

e.g. Psalm 24:1

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it,

the world and they that dwell in it."

(Parallel terms share the same emphasis)

The second line often focuses the first line. i.e. "they that dwell in it" is more specific than "the fullness of it."

2. Antithetic parallelism: The second line is contrasted to the first line.

e.g. Psalm 1:6

"For the Lord knows the way of the righteous

but

the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Often the first line expresses a truth that is supported by the contrasting claim in the second line.

3. Synthetic parallelism: The first and the second line show some relation to each other such as cause and effect or "this statement follows from that statement".

Psalm 119:11

"Your word have I hidden in my heart

That I might not sin against you."

The idea is that the hiding of the word is the cause of the "not sinning against God." Not sinning follows on the heels of hiding God's word in the center of our being.

4. Progressive parallelism comes in several forms such as:

staircasing: each element adds a little more to the previous element perhaps to add emphasis or to expand the thought of the first line:

e.g. Psalm 22:20-21

"Deliver my soul from the sword,

My life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion!"

Note how the ascending metaphors add a little bit more to the thought. First, it's just the sword but then the psalmist goes on to speak of the power of the dog and the mouth of the lion...each metaphor progressively more powerful.

Climactic: The second line (or third) completes the thought of the first line.

e.g. 29:1

"Give to the Lord, O mighty ones, (give what?)

Give to the Lord glory and strength!" (oh!)

introverted: The first line is repeated in the fourth and the second and third are parallel to one another

e.g. Psalm 91:14

"Because he has set his love upon me

Therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high,

Because he has known my name."

Understanding the structural elements of Hebrew poetry (1) helps you develop an eye for the poetry and (2) enables you to better interpret the psalm.

Psalm 71

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:26:04 -0400

Psalm 71

1 In you, Yahweh, I take refuge

Never let me be ashamed.

2 By your righteous deeds deliver me and rescue me;

Bend your ear to me and save me.

3 Be for me a rocky refuge- you have ordered me to

come regularly- to save me, for you are a rocky

crag and fortress.

4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked,

From the grasp of the perverse and cruel.

5 For you are my hope, Lord;

Yahweh my trust from youth,

6 On you have I leaned from the womb,

From my mother's belly you extracted me;

In You is my praise continually.

7 I have become a virtual portent for many,

But you are my strong refuge.

8 My mouth is full of your praise,

All day long your wonders.

9 Do not toss me aside in old age;

When my strength diminishes, do not abandon

me.

10 For my enemies say about me,

"Let us observe him and take common counsel:

11 God has abandoned him;

Pursue and seize him, for he has none to

deliver."

12 God be not distant from me;

My God, rush to my aid.

13 Let them who oppose me be ahsamed and

consumed;

Let them be a reproach and disgrace-

those who seek to hurt me.

14 But I keep on hoping

And increase your praise.

15 My mouth will recite your righteous works,

Your saving deeds all day long,

Although I do not comprehend their number.

16 I will come in strength Lord God

I will sing of nothing but your righteous deeds.

17 God you taught me from my youth;

And until now I proclaim your wonderful works.

18 Even until I am old and gray, God,

Do not forsake me,

Until I tell your might to a generation

Your power to all who come.

19 Your righteous deeds unto the heavens, God,

In that you have done great things,

God, who is like you?

20 That you have shown me numerous adversities and evils,

You will renew me once more;

And from the depths of the earth you will lift me

up again.

21 You will increase my honor, embrace me, and comfort me.

22 Also, with a harp I will praise you for your faithfulness, my God;

I will sing about you with a lyre, O Holy One of

Israel

23 My lips will sing, indeed I will sing about you,

I, myself, whom you have redeemed.

24 My tongue will also meditate throughout the day

On your righteous deeds,

For those who seek to hurt me have been

shamed and disgraced.

How to Write a Psalm 1

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 21:04:17 -0400

How to Write a Psalm:
Growing in Prayer by Contemplating the Psalms

An 8-Week Bible Study Series beginning June 21^st

We understand God to be a loving Father who always leans forward listening for the prayers of His children. However, many of us feel that once we come into the presence of God we do not know what to say. We may feel that we have fallen into rote patterns, uttering the same phrases over and over again. We may sense that our prayers ring of selfish desire, an extended “holy whine”.

We all long for a deeper, richer, and more sustainable prayer life. Our desire is to lift up praise or pour out our anguish or confess our sins or express our confusion but when we pray we feel that our words fall flat.

The purpose of this study is to help us all enrich our prayer life. We will accomplish this through a study of the Psalms employing an ancient method called “Lectio Divinia”. We will practice what we learn by composing our own Psalms.

Upon completion of the class, participants will:

Understand the Psalms as a school of prayer

Know how to read the Psalms and better understand their meaning
Practice a method of reading scripture that is guaranteed to enrich understanding and application
Possess a wider array of tools to express themselves in prayer to God
Demonstrate skills to compose prayers that serve to enrich their lives of prayer

The study will be conducted in two locations, West Gwinnett Christian Church in Duluth and North River Community Church in Lawrenceville. We will meet at WGCC on June 21^st and NRCC on June 28^th and alternate locations on a weekly basis after that. The study will begin promptly at 7 p.m. each night.

The study will be led by Dr. Jim Street, pastor of the North River Community Church.

Session 1

Introductions

The Study

The aim: to grow as people of prayer

The means: to contemplate the Psalms
The method: “lectio divinia”
The practice: Putting pen to paper

Growing as People of Prayer

What prevents growth in prayer?

Friction

The “flesh”

Lifestyle
Self-Consciousness
Limits of Expression
Constricted Boundaries
Lack of instruction in prayer
Other?

Measuring “growth”

How will you know that you are growing in prayer? What will you be doing differently?

More frequently
More “in the will of God”
More scripturally
More freely and flexibly (less rote)
More broadly encompassing more of human experience
More consciously
Other?

Means: to contemplate the Psalms

Finding quarters at the pool

To contemplate means to look deeply into something, to get between the lines, the get behind the words. (con-template- to sit in a templum, a place for divining mysteries in the presence of a god)
Slow down, take time, etc.

Method: Lectio Divinia

A thousand + year old method of reading scripture that combines both head and heart. Not a substitute for the hard work of hermeneutics but an extension of it.
Some expressions are more extreme than others. Lectio Divinia has been likened to eating. We put the food in our mouths, we chew it up, we savor the flavors, and we live and grow as a result.

4 Step Non-linear process

Lectio- We read the text
Meditatio- We meditate the text
Oratio- We pray the text
Contemplatio- We live the text

Lectio: Reading the text

To read in this way is not simply to let your eyes fall across printed words on a page. You have to attend to what you are reading. Remember you are working to get beyond, behind, and between the ink on the paper. Therefore, it is really important to attend to not only what you are reading but how you are reading it. (c.f. Eugene Peterson Eat This Book)

Understanding a Psalm is like appraising a house

Zip Code – The big picture/ context, etc.
Type of neighborhood – Genre of Psalm
Style of house - structural literary devices
Floor plan- Expressive literary devices
Contents- Meaning of words

Meditatio: Meditating on the text

To meditate on the text is to enter into it; to put yourself in the place of the psalmist and apply all of your senses to the task

To see what he sees, hear what he hears, feel what he feels, smell what he smells, taste what he tastes
What is the context? What is going on?

Empathize with the psalmist

Have you ever felt like the psalmist feels?
When? What did you think, feel, or do then?
Have you ever been in a situation similar to the psalmist?

Oratio: Praying the psalm

Rewrite (re-pray) the psalm in your own words

Use your own experiences

Try to follow the form of the psalm

Contemplatio: Live the psalm

The Gospel and Our Culture Network encourages Christians to read scripture with these questions in mind:

How does this text orient me/us to the coming reign of God?

How does this text convert, change or transform me in my personal life, in my relationships, with my community?

How does this text speak good news and evangelize me/us?

How does this text read me/us and our world?

How does this text prepare me to witness and compel me to go out?

The Hope of Others

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:36:29 -0500

I love the 16th Psalm. I love it for its boldness. I say "boldness" because the Psalmist begins by putting God in a bind. In effect he says, "God I take refuge in you so you have little choice but to keep me safe!"

Once you see that the whole Psalm opens up to you. If God is obligated to keep safe those who take refuge in Him, then life can be lived in confidence and fear can be held at bay.

"God...I don't know what to tell you but I've crawled into your pocket and do not intend to move. What can you do but look after me now?"

The Psalmist goes on to praise "the saints." (vs. 3) My paraphrase of that verse is something like this: "Lord, I look around me and see your saints and they all shine like the sun! I am delighted by them because I see that even in my doubt I can rest in their faith; even as I sink into despair I am lifted up by their hope."

When I was going through a hard time I was comforted by the prayers of friends.

This morning my agent, "Irv", sent me a prayer she picked up from Beliefnet.org. The prayer is by Vienna Cobb Anderson and it about says it all...

Prayer for Friendship

You have blessed us, O God,
with the gift of friendship,
the bonding of persons
in a circle of love.
We thank you for such a blessing:
for friends who love us,
who share our sorrows,
who laugh with us in celebration,
who bear our pain,
who need us as we need them,
who weep as we weep,
who hold us when words fail,
and who give us the freedom
to be ourselves.
Bless our friends with health,
wholeness, life, and love.
Amen.